Nancy Boxer

What we can learn from the young ...

Every year a few college freshmen come to me for help adjusting to life on campus. Here are some top tips and tricks to prevent a meltdown: 1. Set realistic goals for yourself. You don’t have to ace every exam, go to every party, make friends of every person in your dorm. This is just the beginning of your college years; there will always be time for more later. 2. Don’t isolate yourself. Reach out and make some friends. Everyone else is going through some version of this ad...justment, and you can help each other get through the tough times. 3. Ask for help if you need it. Professors have office hours where students can go if they don’t understand something or need some extra help. Don’t be shy; they would rather you ask now than fail later. You may also have access to an adviser, a dean, others who can help you figure out how to cope. 4. If you’re interested in some activity, but your friends are not, it’s okay to try it out on your own. You might make more friends than ever, that way. 5. If you need a break, give yourself one. Go for a walk, get off campus for a few hours, go home for the weekend. Freshman year is intense and a little time off might be just what you need. 6. Go slow with the party scene. Drugs, sex and alcohol may be easy to find but too much can make you feel worse than ever. 7. If you need more help, reach out. Your college counselor or health service may offer private or group therapy. Or set something up with a private therapist who may be able to teach anxiety management skills or other coping techniques. Best of luck to all you students for the new school year! See more

Wisdom from my fortune cookie

Worth keeping in mind:

This month is Mental Health Awareness month. Time to be aware of the state of your own mental health, and to be there for others in your life with mental health issues of their own. People have been observing this since 1949 and yet there is still such mystery and self-consciousness about it.

Oprah and Prince Harry just announced a new partnership to promote positive attention on the subject of mental health - really looking forward to seeing what good comes of this!

The recent rash of suicides among survivors of mass shootings is a sad, but preventable tragedy. For those who have been caught up in violence or trauma, please reach out. Because therapy can help you through this. That's what we therapists live for - to be a light in the darkness, a helping hand through the struggles of life. https://www.nbcnews.com//parkland-newtown-apparent-suicide

I was interviewed recently by Meddkit, a consulting firm working with private practitioners, for their channel on how therapists and doctors are working through the COVID-19 restrictions.

If you're ADD, adjusting to work from home can be a special challenge. Here are some tips and tricks:

For those wondering how to reenter your work places and help each other maintain new safe behaviors, here's a good discussion, courtesy of the Harvard Business Review:

Sidewalk art - reminding us what's important!

If you feel like the walls are closing in, check out these 6 different nature cams and grab yourself some serenity:

This may seem excessive but could save your life...