March 5, 2012
March. A month that marks a transition between seasons. From inward-turning Winter to exultant Spring! The Spring Equinox arrives this month on March 20, 2012. This is a day in which the light and dark within the day are of equal length. As we emerge from the longer nights of Winter and the cold, breathtaking beauty this season brings, the entrance of Spring opens to magnificent light and new and renewed life! More light. More warmth. New growth. Fresh Beginnings....Ah, Spring!
In some ways the very field of mental health is entering a phase of new beginnings, a Spring if you will. All around us there is blossoming varied and new approaches to attending to the whole of the person, mind, body, emotion, spirit. And as I always add, relationship. I see individuals as existing in a state of health in the context of relationship. Relationships allow for a collective and multifaceted whole and bring completion. We are discovering that our brains develop new neural networks in the context of healthy, attached relationship. The is exciting as science continues to support the very interpersonal talk therapy in which many of us engage, both as Psychotherapists and as clients or patients.
However, mental health and attached relationship involve much more than words.
The field of mental health is also burgeoning with new life as it embraces its whole self. We are finally acknowledging and honoring the body and the energy that is essential to our very existence. Without our body, breath, and energy there would be no mental or emotional or even spiritual life on earth to experience or express. It is fascinating really that we in Western Mental Health have historically cut off parts of our selves in the very search for "the Self" and its healing!
There has always been a thread of holistic mind-body and mind-body-spirit thought, theory, and practice woven through our history of humanity and the Western practice of mental health. Previously sidelined or worse, maligned, it is now expanding, weaving both old and new bold threads into the whole of the garment of mental health. These are exciting times in the current zeitgeist of the field of health and mental health.
I have slowly been integrating yoga and acupuncture into my mental health treatment model over the last several years. I do this through the context of relationship with professionals from fellow health care disciplines. These are professionals I have learned to trust and then treatment team in new and exciting ways. They are learning from me as I learn from them. Together we are creating an exciting new treatment team approach (see CE training below/sidebar to learn more) that is facilitating deeper, sooner, and longer-lasting healing in the cases we have referred to one another and treated collaboratively. This is Moonstone Center.
Moonstone Center's Mission
Includes Professional Devlopment in the Context of Self-Care
6 Hour Boutique CE Event
I invite you to join us Friday May 18, 2012 at The Beach House in Hermosa Beach, CA. I am leading Moonstone Center's Network of independent healthcare professionals in a groundbreaking and exciting 6 hour CE training on how to attend to the body and the whole individual when treating mental health issues. The Power of Collaborative Treatment Teaming: Bridging Complementary- Alternative Therapies with Traditional Mental Health Treatment.
Weekly Consultation Group
In response to requests for more on Dancing the Transference, I am starting a weekly Consultation Group in the South Bay area of Los Angeles to address not only transference and countertransference, but also the somatic transference that is occurring in psychotherapy process.
Attending to the ways we and our clients make meaning of experienced emotion and relational dynamics as well as recognizing and attending to the body's process in psychotherapy are key in true whole, ethical treatment. This consult group will allow you an experience of challenge, support and renewed, clearer focus on your cases and yourself as the therapist treating those cases. Please consider joining. Space is limited. Email today to learn more!.
LACounty Psych Association: Brown Bag Lunch
And, if you are a member of LACPA,please join us as I present at the Brown Bag Lunch Series on Monday, March 12, 2012. For more info.
Please explore the rest of The Healer's Life!
Check out new editions on the SideBar. Links to the Upcoming Boutique CE Event, Consultation Group as well as Elisabeth's speaking schedule and other events on the Moonstone Center Calendar.
The Highlited Article is an interview with a renowned Yoga Therapist, Amy Weintraub, who has great success in treating Depression. She is interviewed by Psychologist and Editor of the International Journal of Yoga therapy, Kelly McGonigal, PhD. It will give you a bit more insight into this new and growing field of yoga therapy.
Read below to learn more about the May 18, 2012, event: The Power of Collaborative Treatment Teaming: Bridging Complementary-Alternative Therapies with Traditional Mental Health Treatment (See Below & SideBar). It will be another powerful experience of dynamic learning in a setting of self care with yoga incorporated. Bring a Colleague and Register Today!
Before I write you again, take time to attend to your body and your spirit. Take a yoga class. Go to church or temple. Have coffee or a glass of wine with a friend. Check out Joel Osteen, a Christian minister I find deeply encouraging and spiritually uplifting (see sidebar). Take a long walk through your neighborhood. Experience nature. Spend a moment in silence. Be grateful...
Until next month!
Peace and Gratitude,
Elisabeth and the Moonstone Center Team
