Generation G(oogle) - children, anxiety and the web?

/ The Grove Counselling/
Generation G(oogle) - children, anxiety and the web?

I noticed on Facebook the other day a meme came up on my feed that read, “Please don’t confuse your Google search with my medical degree.” And it got me thinking about the power of Google in our lives and in particular the lives of our children, the access it affords them to the wondrous and unknown, that generations before us could only have dreamed about. There is much said in the media and taught in our children’s schools about the dangers of inappropriate, unsupervised access to the Internet. We are all too aware of social media trolls, cyber bullying and online predators but what of the seemingly harmless websites our children visit and the hidden impact they can have?

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Who is your teacher…?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Who is your teacher…?

All my life I have lived surrounded by beautiful gardens.  As a child the garden was a place of escape into wonder and make believe.  As I grew older the garden became a place of family working bees - arguing with my siblings and protesting with my parents as we raked leaves, watered the garden beds and mowed the lawns .  As a young adult home from university, the garden grew into a place where I could talk with my mother about the questions of life, as I helped her toil away in the vegie patch or prune the roses.

The garden grew and transformed, as I grew and transformed.

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Taking a break … and remembering who I am?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Taking a break … and remembering who I am?

We are on our way home from 4 days away. Away from the routines, of school lunches, laundry and of work.  Four days in a different place.  Four days in the outdoors and with the tribe of our family. 

Sometimes it had can be hard to find a way to stop, to take stock, to break the routines of life.  As a mother, as a therapist, as a believer in the importance of being with experience, there are definitely times when I can find this a challenge as much as anybody else. 

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Community ... we all need it.

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Community ... we all need it.

Last night I had the privilege of connecting with a group of people whom I journeyed through university with.  It had been a long time since we had all seen each other.  Yet the conversation flowed and the peels of laughter echoed as we shared stories of our life together as students, as well as the life that has become for us each since those days of endless study and personal reflection.

A seemingly random group of people, all from such different worlds, yet all so touched by the humanness of experience…this was a gathering of therapists.

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Embracing the fear of Menopause...

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Embracing the fear of Menopause...

"It is 2:30am, yet again I have awoken bolt upright dreaming of the worst for my children.  This cycle of interrupted sleep takes its toll.  I go over it in my head, perhaps I am trying to fit too much in, or maybe it’s that accident I saw on the road last week…or maybe there really is something terribly wrong??  It’s quiet in the house, I don’t want to bother anyone, so I lie here thinking, thinking, thinking…until by early morning and having consulted Dr Google... I am convinced that my symptoms tell me there is something very wrong with me. 

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Memories ... the last dance...

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Memories ... the last dance...

I have a distinct memory from when I was quite little…dancing with my Dad after dinner.  I was probably 3 or 4 years old, and after dinner each night, my father would put on the record player and teach me to dance.  My Dad was an older father, so the music was not of the time, but of his youth and he taught me how to waltz, to foxtrot and later how to jive. 

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Learning how to 'ground' - a path to meet anxiety.

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Learning how to 'ground' - a path to meet anxiety.

As the year starts to roll on and the pressures of life ramp up, many people can begin to feel anxious about their capacity to cope.  Anxiety is often a response to a feeling out of control or overwhelmed.  To help combat this feeling of anxiety, it can be helpful to develop skills around 'grounding'.

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Success … facing up to life and developing resilience …

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Success … facing up to life and developing resilience …

“Exam time”…. it may feel like a long way off, but how you think about it, may influence how you navigate the year…

At the end of last year, as I was driving the kids to school, the fluid happy banter and bickering, was not there.  Instead of the usual silliness that made each other laugh, the air was pricked with anxiety. 

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