Sleep Hygiene: 8 Tips to a Better Night’s SleepLauren Chapin, LICSW Lauren Chapin, LICSW
Sleep plays a pivotal role in our daily functioning. Sleep is restorative, and not only replenishes our energy but also contributes significantly to preserving our mental well-being and overall physical health. Unfortunately, according to the CDC, one-third of adults in the United States acknowledge receiving less sleep than what is medically advised. As per the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, there is a profound impact of insufficient sleep on our cognitive abilities. Without an adequate amount of high-quality sleep, our brain's capacity to forge and sustain the essential neural pathways required for essential tasks of learning, memory creation, concentration, and responsiveness becomes impaired. While some individuals boast about thriving on just a few hours of sleep, the National Sleep Foundation emphasizes that people can inadvertently build a tolerance to sleep deprivation as their brains and bodies grapple with the consequences of such sleep deficits. Sleep needs vary by age and developmental stage, but less than 7 hours is not suggested for anybody. This underscores the significance of prioritizing sleep instead of putting it on the back burner. So what can we do to improve how we spend one-third of our lives on average? Creating your sleep retreat
Before-Bed Behavior
Change is hard, so don’t expect yourself to implement all of these habits at once. Pick one or two and log your hours/quality of sleep for a week. You might be surprised by the results! A Note From the Executive Director: A Kinder, Gentler New YearBy Kerrie Toole, LICSW I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions anymore. I found that even with the best intentions and a commitment to change, I usually ended up with a sense of disappointment that things did not easily happen, or guilt and self-judgment that I didn’t have enough “motivation” to keep up with a Resolution.
Now, I use the New Year as a natural reminder to simply check-in with myself, to determine if I have a balance in my life that works for me. Different stages of life require different levels of energy, and domains of life where we focus that energy. Over time, our priorities change. So, the New Year is a great time for me to reassess. Here are some ways that I like to reframe the idea of a “resolution” to be more compassionate toward myself: Resolutions Vs Intentions Even though it was self imposed, having a “resolution” felt too much like a rule I needed to follow, and this often led to disappointment or frustration when I inevitably had things happen in my life that got in the way of this resolution. So, I have switched to the idea of having an Intention. A hope. A theme. A goal. And this Intention is not “Drink 20 ounces of water every day,” but more of, “Take better care of my health by doing one thing differently each day.” I’m lowering the bar to make it more likely to have success, not beat myself up for a “failure.” Small Shifts - 1 % Different I don’t start off the year with an expectation that I will do something every day, because usually something throws my schedule upside down within the first week! Now, I look at the year as a whole and try to build a theme. If I want to improve my health, I look at where I want to be a year from now and reverse engineer small steps over the months to get there. If I want to spend more time together as a family, I look at small ways to change our routines that can build over the course of the year. One inspiration I got this year about that was from the Martha Stewart “Gentle Reminders” calendar, where Martha shared what routine tasks she has on her schedule over the course of one month. So I used that technique to schedule out different family fun events over the next year, and the kids had to be involved in that brainstorming process. I also factor in that my best intentions will sometimes get thrown out the window, and that this is not a failure of motivation or commitment, this is how life goes. If starting therapy is one of your Intentions for 2024, this is a great time to begin! The process of therapy is a journey, and at times it can be a challenging one when we approach patterns or obstacles in our lives that we have been unaware of or ignoring. There is no true “quick fix,” and as I like to say to clients, we therapists do not have a magic wand to make things better for you (we wish we did, though!!!), we are only guides along your path. So, if the turn of the new year has found you in a point of self reflection, be kind to yourself, be accepting of yourself, and make a commitment to small, 1%-different steps toward change that are sustainable. DBT Conference Fun!By Kerrie Toole, LICSW, DBT-LBC Certified Clinician, Executive Director
In November, I attended the 28th Annual International Society for the Improvement and Teaching of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (ISITDBT) Conference and Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Conference. This year’s combined ISITDBT and ABCT conferences were held in the birthplace of DBT, Seattle, Washington, and also coincided with the 30th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Marsha M. Linehan’s groundbreaking treatment textbook. While Marsha herself has retired out of the public eye, a number of her early team members were present at the Conference and shared their wisdom, alongside researchers and practitioners who are on the cutting edge of exploring aspects of BPD and the benefits of using DBT to treat this and many other conditions. Dr. Sheila Crowell presented the Keynote Address for the ISITDBT conference, regarding Emotion Dysregulation factors across the lifetime, and the impact of providing DBT interventions to pregnant mothers to improve emotion regulation skills and the intergenerational transmission of stressors. A Research Lighting Round followed, with four groundbreaking studies regarding varied topics of utilizing apps and programs to enhance practice and skill usage between sessions, utilizing DBT in schools, skill building to help clients integrate skills beyond short-intensive treatment episodes, and ways to reduce risk of emotion dysregulation in early life experiences. Two break-out sessions of clinical workshops followed, as well as a presentation to the full conference by Christina Moon, a Zen Priest, regarding the racial and historical context of Zen and Buddhism and considerations for DBT practitioners. An update on DBT research in the past year was presented by Dr. Melanie Harned, the developer of the DBT-PE treatment protocol for PTSD. Dr. Harned reviewed research that showed promising results as well as mixed results with adolescents, which shows important guidelines about how much “dosage” of DBT and who is teaching DBT skills is effective with this population. The main takeaway is that, unsurprisingly, the longer the intervention over time, the better the outcomes. Due to the hybrid nature of this year’s conference (and conferences to come!), Castlebrook had the greatest number of therapists in attendance! There was lots of excitement from Castlebrook therapists about being inspired by the presenters, ideas about new directions in DBT, and new ways to support our clients. I also got to participate in the ABCT Conference on Friday through Sunday, with many panels, mini workshops, and research symposia directly pertaining to DBT, BPD, and emotion dysregulation. These presentations have given me inspiration to bring back to the Castlebrook DBT Teams to streamline and enhance our DBT Coaching and Consultation Teams, and explore therapist stylistic strategies to engage clients and their families. This year, I noticed an increased focus on ways to engage and train up Parents and Caregivers of adolescent and young adult clients, and I spent a lot of time talking with the foremost experts in this area about aspects of our respective Parent Programs. In addition to all the revolutionary research and program development shared by presenters, much fun was had connecting with DBT experts and practitioners from across the country and nerd out together. I was even invited by my friends at the “All Therapists Are Jerks, And…” podcast to talk with them about our experiences at the conference, and you can listen to those episodes here. As I love to say, this annual conference is my version of Comic-Con! |
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Castlebrook Counseling Services, Inc. is a group of private practice clinicians with a shared goal of strengthening our community by providing therapy and clinical support designed for children, adults, and families to successfully meet life’s challenges.