10 Tips for Navigating the Pre-School Blues

Navigating the pre-school blues is a hot ticket topic at home currently. My little one (LO) just started pre-school and it’s triggered so many emotions and catastrophic thoughts for everyone in my family. My LO has been crying at drop off every day. “It was gutting” is what I said to my husband when he asked […]

What do I say to my suicidal loved one?

I had the great honor to participate in an Instagram discussion on Mental Health and suicide within the POC (person of color), in particular the Latinx community. Check out the instagram account @thestrangeisbeautiful for the full conversation. There were 3 topics and I picked #1 to respond to as a mental health professional. Topic # […]

Free Download: Tips for Managing Loneliness

Loneliness comes up quite often for many people. Below is a list of the top 5 recommendations I discuss with my clients who want to address this complicated and difficult to manage feeling. Observe the feeling. To work on loneliness, you first have to know that’s the emotion you’re experiencing. When use the observe skill, […]

10 Reasons ‘This is Us’ is All of Us

*Major Spoiler Alert* This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.  If you’re like me, you love the emotional, romantic and tear-inducing NBC show This is Us. All my therapist friends, those who love a good cry and sad stories can’t get enough of this show. Every time my husband sees me […]

Your loved one is depressed. How to tell them about therapy

  You’re sitting with your BFF (best friend forever) as she’s depressed, in tears and describing her extremely painful situation(s). You feel so much for her and also feel frozen. You don’t know what to do or say to make her feel better. All you know is you want her pain to end and don’t know […]

SMART Intentions

  Happy New Year! On January 1, most Americans vow to make some sort of New Year Resolution, behavior change, or as I’d love for you all to call them, “SMART Intentions.” As a therapist and someone who believes in recovery and change, I couldn’t be happier about someone making positive changes to their lives. […]

Free download: Coping through an Emotional Crisis

by Sofia Mendoza, LCSW Coping through an emotional crisis can be incredibly tough. Here are some do’s and don’ts on coping that can help you get through it. Please note that these are ‘band-aid’ and temporary skills that one can use to get through the most difficult parts of a crisis. You are urged to […]

A Mental Health Gift Guide to Inspire Healing

by Sofia Mendoza, LCSW It’s officially the holidays and with that can come with gift giving, stress and trauma triggers for many. Since the holidays can trigger painful memories and emotions for many, I always recommend finding things to soothe with during this difficult time. While it’s hard to be going through the difficult time, […]

15 Statements to Convince Yourself to Self-Care: A love letter to all parents

  “What to say” Series: Last week I wrote a blog post on 20 easy 5-minute self-care ideas for parents. Today, I continue the conversation in the guest post, “15 Statements to Convince Yourself to Self-Care: A love letter to all Parents” on The Productive Parent website. I provide 15 statements and quotes that parents […]