Feeling discouraged, worn down, or overwhelmed? This blog post encourages a mindful reset by exploring the powerful link between physical and emotional wellbeing. With simple, actionable tips—like moving your body, fueling it well, and getting enough rest—it offers a compassionate reminder to care for yourself holistically during challenging times.
Expressive writing is a powerful tool for emotional healing, offering a way to clarify thoughts and release unspoken feelings. This post explores how journaling can reduce distress, improve physical health, and deepen self-awareness—whether through structured prompts or free-form reflection. Even a few minutes of intentional writing each week can create meaningful shifts in your mental and emotional wellbeing.
Love is a commitment to caring for another person who is just as imperfect as you are. A commitment that requires hard work when difficulty arises. Love means forgiving when hurtful mistakes are made. It often requires a level of sacrifice to self for the good of the other person and the good of the relationship. Here are some concrete ways to put love in action amidst difficulty.
Amid the quiet rhythm of a daily walk, this reflection explores how the changing seasons mirror the inner transformations we often overlook. With gentle observations and spiritual grounding, it’s an invitation to slow down, breathe deeply, and notice the beauty—and the divine presence—woven into everyday life.
Taking small steps and accomplishing small tasks (like making your bed in the morning!) leads to a sense of pride, helping you work towards another task and another and another. In the end, you realize that small habits matter as they support larger habits. These small daily routines can lead to further positive decisions over the day and a determined sense of taking charge in your life.
Very often in counseling sessions, I hear from clients a form of the sentiment, “I know that God is all powerful, loving and good, but I doubt He is like that with me.” This is related to experiences that point to feeling forgotten by God, or overlooked by Him, or worse, being punished by Him for not being ‘X’ enough. Recently in my personal study of the Word, I was looking deeply at the book of Ruth, and the plight of Naomi struck me as echoing what my clients often express…
Written by Dan Brown, MA (Director of Operations, Senior Clinician)
"Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’ The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:13-15)
Oftentimes we forget that God is in control of our lives and the battles we are facing. We also can wrongly think that He is always on our side in a disagreement. Both you and the person on the other side of the disagreement are made in the image of God. Our pride can keep us from seeing this as we become caught in a vortex of ME ME ME. Or we just forget. Or possibly our self-confidence can be low to the point where we can only see the ways in which we don’t stack up in the midst of these moments. Joshua was surely doubting his ability to lead, and he too turned inward and forgot God’s presence.
In his book The Gift of Being Yourself, David Benner illuminates the idea of true self and false self. For the Christian, the true self is in touch with its humanity and knows its limits and can deeply connect with the Almighty. The false self is critical of self and others and tries to control and manipulate. In these false self moments, we must realize that we are out of center and return to our true self in order to hear God more clearly and understand ourselves more fully.
St. Augustine prayed, "Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee." Similarly, John Calvin asserts in his Institutes, "It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself." As we grow in our understanding of self and live within our true selves more authentically, we can more easily discern God's voice and presence. We can be freed from illusions and misconceptions and stop striving to be someone we are not or think the world around wants or needs us to be. When we do this, we come to realize that we can be standing on holy ground in the midst of our deepest struggles.
Written by Megan Farcas, LMHC CMHIMP (Clinical Supervisor, Senior Clinician)
"I’ve been thinking of coming to therapy for the past year or so."
"I’ve always wanted to try therapy but thought 'there are people that have it worse than me'."
Statements like these are often some of the first things clients say to me in session. By the time they make it in, many feel at a breaking point amidst crisis, wishing they had sought therapy sooner. Others feel like they shouldn’t 'take' a session away from someone else who 'has it worse.' Out of these conversations I have realized there is often a misconception about when it is best to start therapy and who therapy is for.
Many clients reach out for therapy when they feel they can no longer function or in response to concerns of friends and family. While these are certainly appropriate times to seek therapy, they are not the only time. In fact, reaching out for help before you get to this point can help potentially avoid a crisis. Reaching out when you feel like you have a lot going on or when you are running out of resources can be a way to start the process of addressing stressors and developing new ways to manage them. When you can’t talk to anyone else or are starting to feel hopeless or lonely, therapy can help navigate the process of creating change. Often the first cues are difficulty with regulating your emotions, changes in performance at work or school, and disruptions in basic functions like sleep or appetite. All may be good indicators that therapy could be helpful, a space to talk through what is going on and identify ways to positively manage stressors. Therapy can be preventative to help address what is going on before you get to the breaking point.
That being said, seeking therapy doesn’t always have to correlate with distress. Many utilize therapy to learn more about themselves. This can involve processing their upbringing or becoming more aware of their own emotional triggers. For others, therapy can help with personal and emotional development to have better relationships with others. For still others it can be a way to maintain mental and emotional health and in turn manage stressful events or triggers as they arise. These, and many more, are all legitimate reasons to engage in therapy.
So, do you find yourself resonating with any of this? Are you interested in therapy? What’s preventing you? Are you waiting for things to get worse before you reach out? Right now could be the best time to take the first steps.
Written by Matt Warren, LMHC MDIV (Executive Director, Senior Clinician)
The overlapping national crises of this year have taken a massive toll on the mental health of our communities. Recent reports indicate that roughly 40% of Americans have experienced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or increased substance abuse since April and that the prevalence of such has more than tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to previous years. Demand for mental health services has skyrocketed at roughly the same pace, leaving providers stretched beyond capacity and still just barely scratching the surface of these seemingly inexhaustible needs.
This has certainly been the case at Harbor during the past six months. We are privileged to be able to serve our community at such a critical time and with higher volume than ever before. At the same time, it has also been a uniquely taxing and heavy season for our staff. Mental health providers are, in many ways, serving as “front line workers” amidst this particular aspect of our current crises. As human beings, they are faced with all the same stressors and hardships as most people during this time, while, as therapists, they are also called to carry the overwhelming burdens of a wide range of people afflicted in a wide range of ways by these very same circumstances and to do that with absolute steadiness and compassion. To complicate things further, the boundaries between personal and professional life have been blurred as most services are provided via telehealth typically from a private space in one’s own home and with greater fluidity of schedule. This results in an often jarring shift back and forth between personal stressors and concerns and those of the clients with very little buffer in between.
And yet…
Our team at Harbor has been unwavering throughout this challenging season – unwavering in their empathy, wisdom, patience, resilience, prayerfulness, and care. They have also worked hard to ensure that they are being sustained in body, mind, and spirit while carrying the unique burdens of serving on the “front lines” of mental health during this time. So to celebrate them, we wanted to highlight their voices and let them share their insights on how they have been managing to “survive” under the many pressures of the season.
To read the reflections shared by our team, click here to download our latest newsletter and sign up to receive our monthly newsletter at the bottom of this page. To learn more about this fantastic team, click here.
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