Sound Health Counseling – Laura Tauzin – York, PA

The holidays can be a great time for some, but a particularly difficult time for others. Family can be a source of support or aggravation, or the lack of it can be lonely. Maybe you feel pressured to spend more money on gifts than you can afford. Some things to consider for your holiday stresses:

• What would happen if you did not attend your family gathering?
• What would happen if you ignore that annoying family member?
• What would happen if you stood up for yourself?
• Family doesn’t have to be defined by blood
• Are you actually defined by what they think?

Perfection is an impossible standard to live by. Pleasing everyone is simply not going to happen. 

If you feel lonely during the holidays, consider joining a community event. Go to church, volunteer to help others, go for a walk to get out of the house, make a phone call to that person that you feel guilty not talking to for a long time. 

If your family overwhelms you, take a deep breath. You can do this. 

If these suggestions aren’t enough or you don’t know how to get started, reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions for an open and welcoming place where your voice will be heard.

If you are trying to help change the behavior of a loved one with ADHD, the task might seem easy in planning, but starting it suddenly becomes a more difficult task. The person can become distracted, forget what the steps were, and crossing the finish line is a big accomplishment. In the world of behavioral health, there is a concept called, “Shaping”. You start with the easiest step and work your way up to more tasks and more complex tasks. Keep in mind that this process can take weeks, months, or longer, depending on what you’re trying to do. Behavior shaping requires a lot of patience, but it pays off when you see the person able to do more and more on their own. 

If you don’t know how to start or tried to start and you got stuck, that’s okay! Reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions and we’ll help you get on track.

A question I frequently ask friends and clients alike is what’s stopping them from doing something. Overcoming obstacles with ADHD is talked about a lot, but how do you get past them without identifying them? 

“I don’t want to” or “I don’t feel like it” is often overlooked because you judge yourself for it, and others judge you for it. Instead, I ask why they don’t. There’s a reason for it, and discounting those thoughts is clearly preventing you from doing it, so look into it. What is standing in your way? Look at each detail and identify what you can do to change the barrier. Accept that it’s there or you’ll keep bumping into it. Go through it, not around it. People with ADHD already have self-confidence issues and doubts about their competence; don’t add to it by pretending an obstacle doesn’t exist and trying to push through it without trying to make it easier. 

If you need help dealing with your obstacles, reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions today!

Time away from work, school, and other daily responsibilities is often refreshing and good for clearing the mind. New sights are seen, new activities are participated in, entertainment is watched, and maybe recreational learning is done if that’s part of a hobby. Vacation is exciting, and is usually a mental reset. When a person has ADHD, though, the return to reality can be a bit….disorienting. 

How Can I?

In daily life, a person is responsible for planning and organizing what they do and where they are going. On vacation, this might not be the case. So, when a person returns to reality, they’re tossed back into the chaos of planning and remembering- two things ADHD is known for disrupting. What can be done?

• Review what daily and weekly life looks like.
• Look at a schedule or checklist and see what you usually do.
• Go over it piece by piece to bring yourself back into the swing of things without becoming overwhelmed.

As I write this blog, it’s my first day back to work after a week of vacation. I’m having to recall a lot of details, so I formed the very plan I suggested here, knowing that I won’t succeed if I bite off more than I can chew. 

Needing More Help

If you try to return to daily life and struggle, Sound Health Counseling Solutions can help you reorient yourself and make future transitions smoother. Reach out today!

I’m being serious. Cleaning and organizing are not my favorite things to do. Given the difficulty from my executive dysfunction to plan, start, and remain motivated in these tasks, I’m prone to procrastination. When I finally overcome the struggle, interesting things happen.

 Solo Going

Without effective medication, I have to be really bothered by my surroundings to change them. First, I pick up garbage, and if I have an extra hand, I might pick up something else that can be put away on my journey. Since I’m up and moving, the getting started piece is in motion. I might have uncovered something else that I can easily put away- or at least put in the area where it belongs (the system isn’t perfect).

With Medication

Sometimes medication lets me choose, other times it chooses for me. If the medication chooses for me, I see a wall of equally important tasks and I want to do ALL OF IT. But I can’t, because I only have two arms, and I get stuck trying to figure out what to do. If I’m paralyzed with indecision, sometimes I create a list of everything I want to do (as specific as possible). I can’t move to act, but I can think to plan, so I take advantage of it. When my brain calms down, I can start doing things and feel great about it later. Fighting an ADHD brain is a lost battle- the key is adaptation. How can I do what I need to do? The answer is different for everyone.

Get Help

Whether you struggle with motivation to get started or struggle with the direction to channel your motivation, Sound Health Counseling Solutions can help you figure out the techniques that work for you. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!

ADHD is tricky. There is a history of stigma attached to it with the idea that it’s a parenting issue or character flaw. Sure, there might be parenting practices that need to be refined, or there might be some character flaws in the person who has ADHD. It’s a complex web of cause and effect. There is no simple answer

Biology

What many people don’t know is that ADHD is hereditary. It’s also easily mistaken for anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and other disorders. Add to the mix that an individual can have all three of the conditions I just mentioned, and it’s no wonder people are so confused about it. There is evidence for genetics and environmental influence, prematurity and prenatal exposures, and significant head injury being causes of ADHD. Notice that sugar and food additives are not in that list.

What You Can Do?

If you are the loved one of someone with ADHD, work with them and set limits. ADHD cannot be cured, but it can and must be managed. Social skills can be learned, directing energy depending on the environment can be learned, a system of functioning can be learned. People with ADHD are often very intelligent- harness those smarts with them!

If you read all of this and feel daunted or just plain exhausted, reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions today. We create your treatment with you and help you through each step.

Your loved one comes home from school or college. They drop their belongings on the floor and gravitate to their toys, their electronics, or the kitchen- or both. Or maybe your loved one comes home from a day of work and they still gravitate to electronics or the kitchen. When it comes to ADHD, these habits can happen at any age, and they frustrate their neurotypical loved ones. 

When I worked a job helping kids with ADHD manage their behaviors at home and in the community, it was a daily reminder for the kids to put their backpacks, shoes, and coats in the designated spots, take out their homework, start it and stay on task, and put their homework away before going to activities they enjoyed. As an adult, I come home on Fridays and often leave my lunchbox with my work bag, full of empty containers and a melted ice pack. I’ve written about setting routine before on this site and how it helps manage ADHD behaviors. If you did that, I’m proud of you! If you’re still frustrated, keep reading. 

The Routine

Someone with ADHD completing a routine of non-preferred tasks might be running on autopilot to get it done, they might do it to get what they want faster or avoid complaints from others, or they might be okay with doing it and be receiving guidance until it becomes a habit. The key is consistency.

Consistency

Sure, those in the household are probably tired of repeating the reminders and steps every day, but this is important. Consistency teaches and reinforces expectations and guides behaviors. Verbal guidance of each task or a checklist with each task will alleviate ambiguity when it comes to what the person is responsible for, and maybe when they’re responsible for doing it. No matter their age, this strategy can be highly effective. Make sure the consequences are also clear- this aids with motivation. 

Consequences

If a child or teen knows the routine but isn’t doing it, verbal reminders of tasks help, but reminders of consequences do too. If that isn’t enough, consistently using those consequences is important. The delay of a desired activity, the loss of a desired activity. For adults, if they don’t do what they need to do, they don’t have clean items to eat with, cook with, or wear- this can include if someone else sticks to not picking up their slack for them. If someone else in the household does the laundry and the teen or other adult doesn’t bring their dirty laundry as requested, their laundry doesn’t get washed and they need to figure out the consequences that naturally follow. 

What Else Can You Do?

If your loved one or household is struggling with these habits and you don’t know how to start or struggle to follow through, reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions today! We’ll work with you to create a personalized plan of action.

Struggling at home with tantrums, not getting things done, battles of attention at school…should you medicate your child? Instead of “should” or “should not”, let’s look at the situation asking if the benefits outweigh the risks. For some parents this is an easy decision; their child or teen can’t function without medication. For other parents, there’s a fear of stunting growth, negative behavioral changes, appetite and weight changes, or fearing future addiction. There is also the consideration of stimulants and non-stimulants and what will work.

Sometimes, medication is unavoidable. However, some changes made by medication can also be made gradually with counseling. Your child’s therapist can teach your child, and you, strategies to manage self-control and focus, big feelings, and social skills.

If you want to try counseling before medication, or in addition to medication, reach out to Sound Health Counseling Solutions today!

Summer is coming to an end. Your child has not dealt with homework and has not had to spend long periods of time sitting still. However, the school year is quickly approaching, and with it the deadlines, the rules, the expectations, and possibly social issues. What’s your game plan to help your child handle all of this? 

Academic Support

Does your child have a support plan, such as a 504 or IEP? If so, be sure to review that plan so your child’s needs are met when school is in session. A change in school environment, your child’s development, or both, impact how effective the accommodations are, so keeping the plan up-to-date and adjusted now will clear the path for success.

Emotional Support

Does your child have separation anxiety? Consider practicing to prepare for the transition back to school so that the process becomes familiar. Incorporate morning routines, if they were disrupted during the summer, and review expectations with your child. Oppositional behavior is often eased when expectations are set and consistently reinforced. Also, make communication a regular part of the day so that your child is comfortable sharing details with you.

Sleep

It’s understandable if your child’s sleep routine changed during the summer. Begin to return to sleep routines so that your child is set up for adequate sleep. With screens being a temptation, have a plan for addressing this; it’s not unheard of for a child to sneak a screen into their room at night and stay up late.

Stressed about having a lot of things to do? Struggling with trying to remember everything? Burning out over doing both of those things while also thinking about how to do what needs to be done? I suggest listing things out. You have a list to fall back on in case you forget things, and it can help a lot with anxiety. You have a list to aid with processing a set of tasks, broken down into smaller amounts. If you have ADHD, you are probably rolling your eyes by now.

But What About…

The idea of having ADHD and maintaining a to-do list is complicated. 

• Remembering to create a list
• Remembering the list exists
• Remembering to use the list
• Remembering to maintain the list

If you do not have ADHD, those tasks may seem straightforward and obvious. To someone with ADHD, the existence of the list is its own hurdle. 

It’s Not That Simple

The next set of hurdles to overcome:

• Paper list or digital?
• Where to keep it?
• How to design it
• How to remember it

Ideas

If non-digital is preferred, a paper method can be used; a notebook, a classic tab of tearable lists, laminated lists, a photo frame with a dry erase marker, or a dry erase board are some ideas. If digital is preferred, there are many apps available, some with reminder settings, some with attached calendars, or the simple note app built into the phone. Find a way to create a routine that includes checking the list. You might not maintain this routine, but it will help remind you that the list exists and to use it. Get in the habit of actually using the list. 

I know someone who uses the notes app on their phone. I know another who uses a paper with a list design on it and this is kept on their bedside table. I personally use a to-do list app that’s connected on my phone and computer. The system isn’t perfect (I still forget sometimes), but I have a lot less stress because I am less likely to forget something and I can break tasks down into steps.

What Else You Can Do

Managing ADHD is a daily set of tasks, and there are often speedbumps. You might need extra guidance, and that’s okay. Reach out to Sound Health Counseling today to get help managing your ADHD.