Jeni Monks in Forster, New South Wales | Alternative & holistic health service

Jeni Monks

Locality: Forster, New South Wales

Phone: +61 414 296 859

Address: Hallidays Point, Taree, Nabiac, Old Bar 2428, 2430 Forster, NSW, Australia

Website: https://fingerpaintingforthesoul.wordpress.com

Likes: 73

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Medical and health
• Alternative & holistic health service

25.01.2022 Quiet time, bedtime ritual for carers and kids

24.01.2022 I've had a few clients ask if I am now offering #telehealth counseling appointments? Yes! I am seeing clients via Skype/WhatsApp/Face-time/ Zoom ... Contact me to schedule an appointment As I find them, I will continue to share, fun free creative activities for kids and young people to reduce social isolation and engage young minds during the 'covid-19 lockdown'. Please feel free to share with your networks

22.01.2022 School-Holiday-Booklet

19.01.2022 TRANSFORM TUESDAY A creative activity for all ages! Every Tuesday we will post a new creative prompt of an everyday item (this item will change each week)... Your task is to create an image that includes this everyday item and share it with us online. Submit each week’s challenge by 9pm on Sunday and we will publish the images each Monday. Share with us via Facebook messenger upload to Insta or post to your wall with #TransformTuesdayMRG See more

18.01.2022 https://www.facebook.com/163000207975/posts/10157946838797976/?sfnsn=mo

16.01.2022 https://facebook.com/events/s/from-our-house-to-yours-free-d/197608448208168/?ti=as. Opera house online content

16.01.2022 Quiet time, bedtime ritual you children

14.01.2022 " producing visual art diminishes the experience of negative emotions and increases positive ones and reduces depression, stress, and anxiety. There appears to be a significant connection between producing visual art and physical health as well, especially since visual art production has been linked with reducing cortisol, the hormone associated with stress."

14.01.2022 The healing power of music is being put to the test in a fire-ravaged community on the NSW mid-north coast. Children traumatised during the bushfires are learning how to play instruments, and it's hoped the sounds of the drums lead the way in their recovery.

09.01.2022 More fun for kids staying at home https://facebook.com/events/s/your-museum-defining-moments-t/175504880072970/?ti=as. They will have other events too

09.01.2022 " is a sensitivity to rejection that causes people with ADHD to be hypersensitive to criticism, and rejection. The challenge is, that people who struggle with rejection sensitive dysphoria can perceive criticism, or dislike where there is none. "

09.01.2022 We all do it in everyday life

05.01.2022 From a psychologist: After having thirty-one sessions this week with patients where the singular focus was COVID-19 and how to cope, I decided to consolidate my... advice and make a list that I hope is helpful to all. I can't control a lot of what is going on right now, but I can contribute this. Edit: I am surprised and heartened that this has been shared so widely! People have asked me to credential myself, so to that end, I am a doctoral level Psychologist in NYS with a Psy.D. in the specialities of School and Clinical Psychology. MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS TIPS FOR QUARANTINE 1. Stick to a routine. Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time, write a schedule that is varied and includes time for work as well as self-care. 2. Dress for the social life you want, not the social life you have. Get showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, wash your face, brush your teeth. Take the time to do a bath or a facial. Put on some bright colors. It is amazing how our dress can impact our mood. 3. Get out at least once a day, for at least thirty minutes. If you are concerned of contact, try first thing in the morning, or later in the evening, and try less traveled streets and avenues. If you are high risk or living with those who are high risk, open the windows and blast the fan. It is amazing how much fresh air can do for spirits. 4. Find some time to move each day, again daily for at least thirty minutes. If you don’t feel comfortable going outside, there are many YouTube videos that offer free movement classes, and if all else fails, turn on the music and have a dance party! 5. Reach out to others, you guessed it, at least once daily for thirty minutes. Try to do FaceTime, Skype, phone calls, textingconnect with other people to seek and provide support. Don’t forget to do this for your children as well. Set up virtual playdates with friends daily via FaceTime, Facebook Messenger Kids, Zoom, etcyour kids miss their friends, too! 6. Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food. Drink plenty of water, eat some good and nutritious foods, and challenge yourself to learn how to cook something new! 7. Develop a self-care toolkit. This can look different for everyone. A lot of successful self-care strategies involve a sensory component (seven senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (comforting pressure). An idea for each: a soft blanket or stuffed animal, a hot chocolate, photos of vacations, comforting music, lavender or eucalyptus oil, a small swing or rocking chair, a weighted blanket. A journal, an inspirational book, or a mandala coloring book is wonderful, bubbles to blow or blowing watercolor on paper through a straw are visually appealing as well as work on controlled breath. Mint gum, Listerine strips, ginger ale, frozen Starburst, ice packs, and cold are also good for anxiety regulation. For children, it is great to help them create a self-regulation comfort box (often a shoe-box or bin they can decorate) that they can use on the ready for first-aid when overwhelmed. 8. Spend extra time playing with children. Children will rarely communicate how they are feeling, but will often make a bid for attention and communication through play. Don’t be surprised to see therapeutic themes of illness, doctor visits, and isolation play through. Understand that play is cathartic and helpful for childrenit is how they process their world and problem solve, and there’s a lot they are seeing and experiencing in the now. 9. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and a wide berth. A lot of cooped up time can bring out the worst in everyone. Each person will have moments when they will not be at their best. It is important to move with grace through blowups, to not show up to every argument you are invited to, and to not hold grudges and continue disagreements. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it through this. 10. Everyone find their own retreat space. Space is at a premium, particularly with city living. It is important that people think through their own separate space for work and for relaxation. For children, help them identify a place where they can go to retreat when stressed. You can make this place cozy by using blankets, pillows, cushions, scarves, beanbags, tents, and forts. It is good to know that even when we are on top of each other, we have our own special place to go to be alone. 11. Expect behavioral issues in children, and respond gently. We are all struggling with disruption in routine, none more than children, who rely on routines constructed by others to make them feel safe and to know what comes next. Expect increased anxiety, worries and fears, nightmares, difficulty separating or sleeping, testing limits, and meltdowns. Do not introduce major behavioral plans or consequences at this timehold stable and focus on emotional connection. 12. Focus on safety and attachment. We are going to be living for a bit with the unprecedented demand of meeting all work deadlines, homeschooling children, running a sterile household, and making a whole lot of entertainment in confinement. We can get wrapped up in meeting expectations in all domains, but we must remember that these are scary and unpredictable times for children. Focus on strengthening the connection through time spent following their lead, through physical touch, through play, through therapeutic books, and via verbal reassurances that you will be there for them in this time. 13. Lower expectations and practice radical self-acceptance. This idea is connected with #12. We are doing too many things in this moment, under fear and stress. This does not make a formula for excellence. Instead, give yourself what psychologists call radical self acceptance: accepting everything about yourself, your current situation, and your life without question, blame, or pushback. You cannot fail at thisthere is no roadmap, no precedent for this, and we are all truly doing the best we can in an impossible situation. 14. Limit social media and COVID conversation, especially around children. One can find tons of information on COVID-19 to consume, and it changes minute to minute. The information is often sensationalized, negatively skewed, and alarmist. Find a few trusted sources that you can check in with consistently, limit it to a few times a day, and set a time limit for yourself on how much you consume (again 30 minutes tops, 2-3 times daily). Keep news and alarming conversations out of earshot from childrenthey see and hear everything, and can become very frightened by what they hear. 15. Notice the good in the world, the helpers. There is a lot of scary, negative, and overwhelming information to take in regarding this pandemic. There are also a ton of stories of people sacrificing, donating, and supporting one another in miraculous ways. It is important to counter-balance the heavy information with the hopeful information. 16. Help others. Find ways, big and small, to give back to others. Support restaurants, offer to grocery shop, check in with elderly neighbors, write psychological wellness tips for othershelping others gives us a sense of agency when things seem out of control. 17. Find something you can control, and control the heck out of it. In moments of big uncertainty and overwhelm, control your little corner of the world. Organize your bookshelf, purge your closet, put together that furniture, group your toys. It helps to anchor and ground us when the bigger things are chaotic. 18. Find a long-term project to dive into. Now is the time to learn how to play the keyboard, put together a huge jigsaw puzzle, start a 15 hour game of Risk, paint a picture, read the Harry Potter series, binge watch an 8-season show, crochet a blanket, solve a Rubix cube, or develop a new town in Animal Crossing. Find something that will keep you busy, distracted, and engaged to take breaks from what is going on in the outside world. 19. Engage in repetitive movements and left-right movements. Research has shown that repetitive movement (knitting, coloring, painting, clay sculpting, jump roping etc) especially left-right movement (running, drumming, skating, hopping) can be effective at self-soothing and maintaining self-regulation in moments of distress. 20. Find an expressive art and go for it. Our emotional brain is very receptive to the creative arts, and it is a direct portal for release of feeling. Find something that is creative (sculpting, drawing, dancing, music, singing, playing) and give it your all. See how relieved you can feel. It is a very effective way of helping kids to emote and communicate as well! 21. Find lightness and humor in each day. There is a lot to be worried about, and with good reason. Counterbalance this heaviness with something funny each day: cat videos on YouTube, a stand-up show on Netflix, a funny moviewe all need a little comedic relief in our day, every day. 22. Reach out for helpyour team is there for you. If you have a therapist or psychiatrist, they are available to you, even at a distance. Keep up your medications and your therapy sessions the best you can. If you are having difficulty coping, seek out help for the first time. There are mental health people on the ready to help you through this crisis. Your children’s teachers and related service providers will do anything within their power to help, especially for those parents tasked with the difficult task of being a whole treatment team to their child with special challenges. Seek support groups of fellow home-schoolers, parents, and neighbors to feel connected. There is help and support out there, any time of the dayalthough we are physically distant, we can always connect virtually. 23. Chunk your quarantine, take it moment by moment. We have no road map for this. We don’t know what this will look like in 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month from now. Often, when I work with patients who have anxiety around overwhelming issues, I suggest that they engage in a strategy called chunkingfocusing on whatever bite-sized piece of a challenge that feels manageable. Whether that be 5 minutes, a day, or a week at a timefind what feels doable for you, and set a time stamp for how far ahead in the future you will let yourself worry. Take each chunk one at a time, and move through stress in pieces. 24. Remind yourself daily that this is temporary. It seems in the midst of this quarantine that it will never end. It is terrifying to think of the road stretching ahead of us. Please take time to remind yourself that although this is very scary and difficult, and will go on for an undetermined amount of time, it is a season of life and it will pass. We will return to feeing free, safe, busy, and connected in the days ahead. 25. Find the lesson. This whole crisis can seem sad, senseless, and at times, avoidable. When psychologists work with trauma, a key feature to helping someone work through said trauma is to help them find their agency, the potential positive outcomes they can effect, the meaning and construction that can come out of destruction. What can each of us learn here, in big and small ways, from this crisis? What needs to change in ourselves, our homes, our communities, our nation, and our world?

03.01.2022 Next time you feel broken, remember this...

01.01.2022 #LettingGoOfControl #SynergeticPlayTherapyInstitute

01.01.2022 Sometimes natural disasters like bushfires and drought can have a big impact on those affected. There are things you can do to take care of yourself and your me...ntal health. The Rural Adversity Mental Health Program have compiled some advice on things you can do to look after yourself and family, and when you should seek some assistance. For more information and to find a local RAMHP Coordinator who can link you to the most appropriate support, visit www.ramhp.com.au