Fall 2023: Letter from the Director
DC’s GirlsUp summer camp
Before we jump into the rush and fast pace of fall, I want to take a moment to pause, reflect, and, yes, savor summer!
I’ve been leaning into savoring recently as a practice; it’s a wonderful psychological and mindful awareness skill that can bring us back to the present and help us notice moments of joy even with life’s challenges. It can also help rein in the innate negativity bias that often focuses us exclusively on life’s problems.
Savoring is not toxic positivity; when we savor, we’re not dismissing life’s difficulties or telling ourselves we’re not feeling a negative emotion when in fact we are. Rather, we’re intentionally savoring the joyful experiences and moments of our lives. Maybe it’s how the breeze feels on our face as we sit outside, our child’s goofy giggle, or the way our tea or coffee smells or tastes first thing in the morning.
We can also savor a memory, and right now I’m savoring my recent visit to DC’s GirlsUp summer camp — a camp for girls ages 10-13 with a focus on cultivating their voices and authentic selves. When GirlsUp called to invite me, I resonated immediately with their mission and felt it aligned perfectly with the Girls InTune (now InTune) groups we’ve been offering for several years at our Center. So I jumped at the chance and even brought along my pal, yoga and mindfulness teacher Linda Feldman. Here are a couple of pictures from this wonderful experience:
As director of the Center, I set a summer goal for myself to get out and connect with our community, including visits to places such as GirlsUp. I wanted to serve — and to spread the word about the Center’s services, amazing therapists, and our passion for providing individualized high-quality holistic mental health care. We want to help you grow and nourish the foundations of well-being — mind, body, spirit, and relationships — at every age and stage. We have so much evidence that early intervention with kids, teens, and families works, and our intention is to provide excellent evidence-based mind-body-heart therapies for all ages, while also growing the skills of emotional awareness and resilience for the journey ahead.
So, as we flow into fall, we’re savoring the vision of your well-being. What are you savoring?
And before you go: take a peek at our new fall InTune clinical group line-up, including groups for 4th/5th grade girls, middle school, and high school teens; a new mind-body stress reduction (MBSR) group for adults; and a Parents and Infants In-Tune group.
Also, keep checking our website for more about our fall programming, including a self-compassion for teens workshop — and a workshop for parents and caregivers about polyvagal theory and the language of the nervous system.
Finally, just a reminder: We now have some openings for individual therapy as well.
See you at the Center!
Heart-to-heart,
Kate, on behalf of all of us at The Center for Family Well-Being