Blog – Page 6 – Therapeutic Center For Hope

17May 2017 by alexiamcleod

Health Is More than Caring For the Body

As the summer months approaching quickly, our news feeds have been filled with “summer body” advertisements and advice columns. While seasonal fitness has become a health trend in recent years, personal health isn’t just how you eat and how much exercise you get. Studies have shown that overall personal health is affected by much more, including sleep, socialization and brain activity. Overall homeostasis is determined by a healthy balance of mental, emotional and physical health. So when considering getting on the summer bikini ready bandwagon, take into account that optimally diet and exercise go along with several other factors in your life that allow you to function at your highest potential. The first and most important aspect of personal health is a good night’s rest. Getting several consecutive hours of…

01Apr 2017 by alexiamcleod

What to Say When Someone Tells You They’ve Been Sexually Assaulted

Blog, Health, Therapy, Tips

What would you say if you friend came to you and told you they were sexually assaulted? Like most people, you would probably be at a loss for words. How are you supposed to respond to something like that, especially if you have never experienced anything like it yourself? Knowing what to say can be hard, yet for the survivor what you say is critically important. With statistics like 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men would suffer from sexual assault, you most likely know someone who has been through that experience. Sadly, sexual violence is a very real issue in our world regardless of where you live or who you are. This is an issue that affects people everywhere, every day. So, what should you say if…

01Apr 2017 by alexiamcleod

Spring Cleaning for the Mind, Body, and Soul: Stress Management Tips

Blog, Health, Therapy, Tips

As the weather gets warmer and summer approaches, many of us find ourselves with a change in mindset as well. It is during this time of year that we begin to work on our “beach bod” and clean out our closets full of jackets and winter clothing to make room for our summer wardrobe. Its also a great time to re-evaluate how we are doing internally. April is the perfect time of year to take a personal inventory of how things are going in your life. Coincidentally April is also stress awareness month, a time to relax, prepare for finals, prepare for vacation, or get back to our goals for the upcoming months in a productive, stress-less way. So how do we do this? Spring comes with many a motivational…

29Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Letting Adoption Be the Answer

Adoption, Parenting, Therapy

The differences between those who are “pro-life” and those who are “pro-choice” has caused a political, societal and social wedge between anyone and everyone with an opinion on this hot button topic. What many people don’t realize however is that although this is often a topic of conversation, it is also something that affects the decisions of women worldwide regarding their civil liberties once they find out they are pregnant. In a day and age with so many lines drawn separating people politically, there is always a grey area left to be examined. There is often so much pressure to choose a side, political party, or particular stance on an issue, that people don’t really give themselves the opportunity to think “what if this decision arose in my own life…

21Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

From The Eyes of a Birthmother Part II

Adoption, Blog, Parenting, Therapy

Now, I want to start off this second part taking it back. Lets go back to where my whole decision making process started. I know that there are 3 options when you become pregnant: Parenting, Adoption, or Abortion and for me I knew I wanted this baby. I was taught that life began at conception so there was no doubt this baby would come into this world. It was the coolest but most difficult thing that had ever happened to me. It was hard knowing that this was something I could not hide. If you lie or steal it’s a lot easier to hide the evidence, but a baby isn’t something easily hidden. People would eventually see a big belly on me. Now, I’d be lying if I didn’t have…

15Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

Celebrating Your Beauty Even when You Don’t Feel It

Blog, Health, Motivation, Therapy

Everyone is uniquely beautiful on their own way, but it is hard to feel beautiful all the time. With the hustle and bustle of life, we sometimes forget to make time to appreciate how great and beautiful we are and our life is. Forgetting your beauty can be taxing mentally and emotionally, as we tend to get down on ourselves when we feel like we are not living up to our expectations. We know that beauty looks different for everybody, but here are some universal ways to integrate beauty into your life so that you can remember and appreciate it – even on days when you simply are not feeling it. Smile. It sounds cheesy, but research has proven that the act of smiling can actually make you feel happier.…

09Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

28 Day Relationship Challenge

Blog, Motivation, Relationship, Therapy, Tips

This relationship challenge is designed to have you focus on your partner and the relationship. Taking a different perspective in the way you approach your relationship. The challenge will help you and your partner to not only just regain the spark back in the relationship, find new things about each other, or to overcome an obstacle but also to push the relationship to new heights. For the next 28 days, you are learning to not just see what areas that can be worked on but also workiing it out together while having fun. Who says that challenges can be fun right? Take it and see how strong your relationship will become

08Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

Creating Our Own Standard of Beauty

Blog, Health, Motivation, Therapy, Tips

Early on in our lives, we as women are bombarded by social standards of beauty. The media we have constant access to leads us to formulate beauty standards based on what celebrities are wearing and what magazines tell us is “hot” or “not”. As we grow older a greater emphasis is put on individuality, and finding likeminded people who share the same styles and tastes as we do. Still, the media, Hollywood, movies, TC shows and pop culture will always be a part of daily life in the 21st century, forever shaping the way we see ourselves and those around us. For women’s history month, it is important to both look at women throughout history but also to create history with our choices today. It is these choices that will…

07Mar 2017 by alexiamcleod

The Secret to BEAUTIFUL Children and a BEAUTIFUL Life

Blog, Health, Motivation, Parenting, Therapy, Tips

Have you ever found yourself trying to think of ways to be more beautiful? You probably have. We live in a society that is obsessed with beauty, so this is a normal thought that many people experience. The question of how to become more beautiful is one that comes up time and time again and it leaves people chasing the things that they think will make them truly beautiful, such as different brands of clothing, makeup, hair care products, etc. However, are these things what really make us beautiful? The question of being beautiful is one that has been around for a long time and is not going to be going away anytime soon, as you probably know because it has most likely been a question that you’ve spent a…

28Feb 2017 by alexiamcleod

Single? Good! It’s an Opportunity

Blog, Relationship, Therapy

Since adolescence, an emphasis on finding “the one” seems to be the topic of conversation causing many young people to spend the greater part of their young lives in pursuit of a relationship. It is in our twenties when many family members start questioning us about whether we are in a relationship and when we will settle down. While a good amount young people do get married and start families in the decade after high school, many have started to see value in spending our twenties single. It is during this time period, the prime of our lives that we are biologically eligible to start families, but that doesn’t mean it is a requirement. Today it has become just as acceptable to rearrange our list of priorities in the order…