mental health Archives - LindsayBraman.com

Image of a vibrant, multi-layered rainbow that has clouds on each end, one light grey and the other dark grey. The background of the image is two-toned: light blue on the left side and dark blue on the right side. Beneath the rainbow is written,

Window of Tolerance and Addictive Behavior Rainbow

It’s not just negative feelings that can prompt a relapse- positive emotions can, too. Whether the addictive behavior is substance use, self-harm, gambling, shopping, or …

Image is an illustration of an origami paper airplane on a blue background with stars and has text that reads,

Trauma Origami: How Trauma Impacts Our Sense of Time

One of the most unique impacts of trauma is the way that it informs a person’s sense of time. 🕰️ In this illustration, all of …

Learning About the Brain: A Brain Worksheet PDF Resource

This simple brain worksheet PDF is designed to be an easily approachable visual teaching aid for all ages. By emphasizing basic geography over anatomical correctness, …

complex post traumatic stress disorder symptom wheel

The C-PTSD Symptom Wheel

Recently, I discovered an academic journal article exploring the symptoms of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and I was inspired to create this illustration. In …

illustration of two roses with the text cutting someone off versus setting hard boundaries

Going No Contact with Parents: How to Be Estranged

Estrangement (also called cut-off or “no contact”) always brings heartache and loss for everyone involved. However, when we set boundaries with kindness as our “north …

This is an image of a flowchart titled “Anxiety - Choose Your Own Adventure.” The flowchart is hand-drawn and has a yellow background. The flowchart has multiple decision points and paths, with each decision point represented by a speech bubble. The flowchart starts with a white box that has a yellow striped border and reads, “Start Here.” This is pointing to a box that says, “Uh-Oh! Anxiety Increases.” If you ignore the increase, you can choose to ignore by disassociating or neglecting it, but you’ll end up at the same point: “You’re still anxious but have secondary problems,” and you’ll be sent back to the start. If you decide to pay attention to the increased anxiety, you get to a flowchart point that says, “Good call! How?” If you choose to be mean instead of kind, you may have a shame spiral or self-contempt, making you feel worse and spending you back to the start. If you choose to be kind, you can choose to seek care and connection/movement/journaling, and it may help lead to self-care, or you can choose self-care directly. Will it be with others or solo? If solo, you can pet a dog, garden, or make art. If you do it with someone, you can talk, move together, or hug. Either way, your anxiety may improve! The flowchart is credited to @lindsaybraman.

Anxiety Worksheet: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure

Sometimes, a roadmap is all we need to find our way out of a confusing journey. I find that flowcharts can sometimes be that roadmap …

black and gray pencil scribbles to visualize anxiety drawing

Anxiety Drawing: Visual Insights into the Anxious Mind

Sometimes words fall short to describe feelings. For many, the feeling of anxiety is difficult to capture. As a therapist and artist, I’ve seen drawing …

infographic highlighting 8 ways to cope when your therapist goes on vacation.

7 Ways to Cope When Your Therapist Is On Vacation

It’s okay to feel upset, sad, or even angry when your therapist goes on vacation. A relationship with a therapist, which is a significant relationship …

A mockup of a download about fantasy and imagination.

Escaping Fantasy to Engage Imagination: The Role of Play in Mental Health

In the context of mental health, there is a subtle but key difference between fantasy and imagination. Although these concepts are similar, they’re different in …

A Beginner’s Guide to Drama Bonding

For most people, conflict is scary, dysregulating to relationships, and an experience that makes us tiptoe around others. But that’s not true for everyone. Enter: …

PDF Download of sketchnote of Episode 109 from Adam Young's Podcast

Anxiety, Bodies, and Family of Origin – The Place We Find Ourselves Podcast Sketchnote

If we’ve spent our childhood learning that certain feelings are Very BadTM and Totally UnacceptableTM, it’s no surprise that we may grow up to craft …

A therapist-designed activity book created to help kids process COVID-19 and thrive beyond quarantine

COVID Kid’s Activity Book | A Workbook to Help Families Cope

Most of us are more than a little concerned about the mental health of the kiddos that we care about during this pandemic. The natural …

Image Description: An image of two women walking through a puddle, one is trying to avoid a big puddle unprepared and scared while the other confidently steps into a shallower puddle. The first person is labeled -coping with trauma triggers before treatment- and the second is labeled -after treatment-.

How Good Therapy Works to Reduce Trauma Triggers

When we endure traumatic events, the experience may stay with us in various ways – even in ways we may not recognize. Good trauma treatment …

Image of an open bullet jounal on a white background, pages contain mental health related templates.

4 Bullet Journal Layouts to Support Mental Health

Bullet Journal blogs and hashtags are filled with mental health and self-care focused templates, but are these layouts actually effective for maximizing the mental health benefits of a bullet journal? In this article, I explore existing research on how journaling and expressive writing can benefit mental health and, from that research, outline three ways to maximize the mental health benefits of your bullet journaling practice. Along the way, I’ll show you a few of my worksheets and resources that are perfect for adding to a bullet journal.

How to Choose a Therapist – Illustrated

When you’re new to therapy and aren’t really sure what therapy is supposed to feel like, it can be really confusing to try and figure …

Title reads, “Spectrum of anxiety coping Underneath, a spectrum is drawn. There is red on the extreme ends of the spectrum with labels. The red spectrum end on the left has text underneath that says, “Shaping life to avoid triggers.” The other red spectrum, on the right, has text underneath that says, “Self-harm via over-exposure.” Next to the red ends of the spectrum are orange and yellow blocks, with a green block in the middle labeled, “Growth Zone,” where the dial is.

Anxiety Illustration: Spectrum of Anxiety Coping

Everyone has a different “default” way of coping with anxiety – and many of us will experience a shift from one extreme of the spectrum to the other at least once during our lifetime. While our culture praises the “brave” approach and shames the avoidant, the extremes of both approaches are equally harmful ways of avoiding the discomfort of being present to the tension of the middle ground. In this middle space – where we feel our fear but choose to tolerate some discomfort in order to grow – we inhabit our bodies, we have self-compassion for ourselves, and let ourselves experience the emotions inherent in doing things that are really, really hard.

Rainbow of Emotional Regulation - A Printable PDF Social Emotional Learning Resource.

Rainbow of Emotional Regulation – A Social Emotional Learning Printable Infographic

All of us have some resiliency to cope with challenges. When we encounter difficult experiences that take us past the range of our ability to tolerate, the ways we tend to respond fall into one of two categories: those of us who get agitated, and those of us who shut down.

Emotional regulation refers to our ability to stay present, engaged, and able to listen and learn despite challenges. My rainbow of emotional regulation is a social-emotional learning resource that can help teach this concept in the classroom, in counseling sessions, or at home.