For the month of March on my blog, I talked a bit about mental health. (This is part of my Year of Healing series.) I wrote about my own journey of depression and the lessons I’ve learned. I then offered a meditative prayer to help calm one’s mind during depression, anxiety, or stress. I want to end this month with a podcast interview (linked below) with Alyssa Hogan–a professional therapist and someone I connected through over email a few months back.
In this podcast:
~common misconceptions about depression
~signs of depression
~what can trigger depression`
~different types of therapy, etc.
Alyssa also will walk us through an art therapy project to help us start thinking through our own emotional landscape and our needs for healing.
Alyssa Hogan is an occupational therapist with a master’s degree in education who has worked in healthcare for 15 years. She has treated range of ages from babies to older adults in settings such as hospitals, rehabs, home care, early intervention, and inpatient psychiatry. Workshops Alyssa has attended, as well as subjects and interventions she has studied, include: sensory approaches, trauma, the recovery model, therapeutic yoga techniques, mindfulness, social psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, narrative therapy, and art therapy techniques.
She is also the author of a book about anticipatory grief and loss: “I Left through the Garden Tree,” which is a short story and art journal. Alyssa is also the creator of Healing with Fiction, Write it Out. This website hosts her Healing Blog, where Alyssa offers creative outlets as way to start sorting out your thoughts and emotions. You can contact Alyssa through Healing with Fiction (alyssa@healingwithfiction.com).
