We mostly accept that it’s good practice to go for a yearly physical. It’s helpful to talk with the doctor about what’s going well and where we may be off track. They take our blood pressure and run some basic blood tests so that we get a sense of how we are doing. We do this to stay well, not because we are already sick. We know that prevention is better than intervention. However, that logic is only extended to our physical health. When it comes to our emotional wellbeing, far too many people wait until they are in a serious downward spiral, and only then decide that therapy might be helpful. That’s not the best approach. It’s time to think of therapy as prevention as much as an intervention. When should you come to therapy? The moment when you notice you are negatively     . . . read more

Big news: We are pleased to welcome Leah Ottow, LCSW to New Approaches! Kind, compassionate, insightful, and intelligent, Leah is an excellent therapist and we are thrilled to have her on board. Some words from Leah: My style is collaborative and based on the belief that a trusting relationship is the foundation for therapeutic growth and change.  My approach is integrative and includes elements of humanistic, cognitive, family systems, and mind-body theories, with treatment tailored to a client’s individual needs. Areas of interest include anxiety, relationships, perfectionism, identity, depression, mindfulness, trauma, stress management, loneliness, pregnancy/post-partum. . I’ve worked with adults, adolescents and children in Southern and Mid-Coast Maine since 2007.  A Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Maine, I hold a Master’s in Social Work from Boston College and a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College. She joins Hannah Curtis, LCSW     . . . read more

The motivation is clear: it can feel so good, so powerful to be “right.” But is it really worth it? What do you gain? The truth is: you can pursue being right but at the cost of being unhappy. Basically, if you approach conversations, dialogue, or arguments with the intention to “win” or “be right” you are playing a lonely game. How we interact with others is not a sport. You can’t win, but you can certainly lose the relationship. Every interaction is a chance to connect or disconnect, to step towards understanding or discord. If you treat your interactions as a chance to “one up” another person, you are fundamentally missing the point. You will continue to create disconnection- even if you feel you have “won.” You have to decide what’s actually important- do you want to be right or     . . . read more

I stopped blogging a few months ago to pursue what turned out to be a fairly involved personal project: baby #2. She arrived just before Thanksgiving and has brought a joyful chaos with her. I started wanting to write again a few weeks back, but there was always stuff to do. I kept thinking: maybe I’ll write when my laundry pile is gone. Or my paperwork pile. Or when I’ve slept through a night. So here’s my blog post. I must be doing great, accomplishing those thing, right? NOPE. Not even close. I’ve got lots of piles and minimal connected sleep. The truth is I’m not going to have everything done. There is no immediate future involving all things cleanly squared away while I sit down to write. So here I stand (literally I’m standing), dishes in the sink, laundry     . . . read more

Note: I’m pleased to feature this guest post by Darcy Forrest, LAc., Dipl. OM.  The leaves have started to turn color, and the brisk fall winds have already begun to scatter the dried up leaves about the ground.  Without much notice, we were plunged into cooler temps, shorter days, and darker skies.   This change of season proves especially hard on some, as this particular season change is about decline. Yet, this is the nature of all things, the end of one thing leads to the beginning of another. The continuous cycle of the seasons changing is represented in the Five Elements of Chinese Medicine.  Fall brings with it this notion of grief, the emotion associated with the Metal Element, and of the lung and large intestine organs.  Often times, the thought of decline might bring with it, a negative connotation.      . . . read more