Re-Introduction
| Perhaps it’s been a while… so I wanted to share again… |
| A new beginning September always feels like a new beginning for me. That could be because I grew up in New Jersey, and the school year started the day after Labor Day. Maybe it’s because I have worked around school schedules throughout my entire career. Maybe it is because the Jewish New Year is coming up, and that is always a time of reflection for me. Regardless of why, here we are! It’s September, and it feels like a new beginning to me. With this new beginning comes reflection over where I have been and dreams of where I will go. I realized that I started this email list in 2013. That is when I started my blog and shared my thoughts with the world. The idea of putting my voice out into the world was terrifying at first. I knew I wanted this to be a space where I could share thoughts, offer insights, and provide strategies for your life. Over the years, what I share has evolved from just written ideas for parents to help their children, to videos and my YouTube channel, to mental health tools for all, and now, more personal stories about my life and learning. If you have been here since the beginning, thank you for going on this journey with me! If you are joining, thank you for joining and for reading. I am so grateful to every person who has been part of this community and to all the moments you have turned to me for support. Your time, your family, your mental health, your organizations—thank you for sharing them all with me! |
| What I’m doing now However we met, whenever we met, it is very possible that the side of my work we met through, is all you know of my work. I intentionally created this space as one of support, not for the promotion of my work. Some, I thought I would share today about the buckets of work I do. Perhaps there is a way that I work that can unexpectedly help you. So here I go, and I hope this helps you see the fullness of my work. I think of my work in 4 buckets: 1. Parenting Expert – working to help families navigate challenging moments and find more happiness. I do this through in-home weekend intensives and virtual parent training sessions. Often, I am the person who can help in the unique situations, the times when nothing seems to work and no one seems to understand. My sessions include the entire family, so at times the sessions feel like marriage counseling or we are working on social skills between siblings, not just one individual. I believe the complexity of a family is where the power lies to change challenges in homes. A video that shares more about this bucket. 2. Speaker and Trainer – working with organizations to improve conflict resolution skills, build bridges to mental health, and understand the impact each individual can make. I do this through keynotes, workshops, and training sessions of varying lengths, and individual or small-group sessions. Providing concrete tools to help bring communication skills and mental health skills to life. A demo exercise that shares a bit about this bucket. 3. Crisis mental health support – working in communities impacted by crisis. I have supported communities through the death of a beloved member, through loss from natural disaster, and through burnout when overworked, because times of crisis demand so much energy and effort. I provide individual sessions and group trainings to understand how we respond to times of crisis. 4. My own self-care – working to learn what supports my body, heart, and soul to keep going and doing this connected work each day. Along my journey, I have become a yoga teacher, a Reiki master, and a craniosacral therapist. I have taken classes to understand herbalism, meditation, the chakra system, and kabbalah. For me, if I am going to work in a space where I support others to continue to grow and change, then I must continue to grow and change. It is not always comfortable, and it has all helped me be a better practitioner and person. |
| Golden Nuggets of the Week: 1. I am always evolving – If I made this list several years ago, it would have been different. As I keep learning and growing, so does the way that I support others. You keep evolving also, even if you don’t realize it 🙂 2. The way we do anything is the way we do everything – It may seem strange that I do parent training and conflict resolution, because often we think of them as very different skills. Yet, to me, they are so similar. The way we resolve conflict at work is the same as the way we resolve conflict at home. Our mental health impacts our patients in all environments. For me, my work has expanded as I see a more integrated view of how we each navigate the world. Notice the overlap in different areas of your life! 3. It is the combination that has led to my success – When I reflect, I can see that one of the elements that makes my work so unique is the combination of all the elements I bring together. I overlap the world of special education and mental health, often buckets that are separated in educational settings. I combine mental health practices with conflict resolution because we need to see our own part in a conflict before we can really move through it with another. You do this too, so celebrate yourself for the way your unique view of the world! |
| One step at a time I’m not sure what the small step is for you, based on this week’s note. There are a few different possibilities. Maybe you want to take some time and reflect on the journey you have been on for the past decade. How has your life changed? What is better today than it was before? What skills do you now have that you didn’t have before? Maybe you want to consider where the overlap is in your life? What skills did you learn in one area of your life that would benefit another area? Maybe you are really disciplined in one area, and that skill could help another part of your life? You may want to connect with me about an area of my work that you just learned about. Perhaps you are considering how we can work together in a new and different way! I am always open to new collaborations and possibilities! There may be something else you see here that supports you…that is also great! Honestly, if you asked me in 2013 to predict what my career would look like today, I never would have described it like this. It is way better than anything I would have said back then! It has been such an amazing journey, and I am so grateful for everyone who has been a part of it! Life can feel uncertain, especially these days. We don’t know what tomorrow brings. What I do wish for you is that you step forward with curiosity and gratitude. What I wish for all of us is that, through the ups and downs, we look back and are proud of where we landed! |
