It didn’t go at all as I expected… To be frank, I failed miserably.   For ten months, I trained my butt off swimming in the pool. Then the day came: May 3rd, 2017 – my first ever, open-water, outdoor swim.   My goal was to swim two laps, 1.2 miles in total, around the .6 mile course.   As…

Your Mind is a Muscle   Here at Mental Fitness, we believe the mind is a muscle. It can be trained. It can be conditioned.   Just like we’re not born overweight, we’re not born stressed or depressed either. We’re conditioned to be that way; but just like one can lose weight with the help of a physical trainer, so…

  The Opposite of Little Finger Rule   For those who may not be familiar with the character, “Little Finger,” he is one of the many villainous characters in the HBO series, Game of Thrones.   Knowing that, here’s how he ties into therapy!   Yesterday in a session, I was talking with a client and we’re discussing how to…

UBI Now: We Can’t Afford to Wait   As a society, we grossly underuse the resources we already have at hand, and instead try to implement social programs that, quite frankly don’t work well. For example…   Millions of Americans went to food banks for the first time in 2020 as grocery stores in some areas went without customers –…

  Doing Mental Health Therapy is Actually a Lot Like Being a Masseuse   Just like people come see a masseuse when their posture is poor and their muscles have knots, people come in to see us at Mental Fitness because their mind is kinked and their path is unclear.   Whereas a masseuse works with a client in teaching…

Allegheny County has been awarded a $21.8 million grant to help reduce homelessness. The county says the 65 projects will be funded representing 20 different agencies. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a social worker. I’m all for helping the homeless. The question for me is, is this really the best way to go about it? 21.8 million is a…

As a society, we ought to assume good intent in people more often.   It’s 2021. It’s easy to misspeak. We’re all doing the best we can to keep up with the newest way to be politically correct, but we need to stop overvaluing subjective individual impact.   Rather, let’s spread more love, kindness, and forgiveness. We’ve all been slighted….

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always felt weird about the terms “leader,” “boss,” or “supervisor.” To me, they suggest a power dynamic that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of grandiose importance, or on the other side, dependence.   Perhaps mentor/mentee is a bit better in its connotation, but for me, even that’s still not quite there.   For me,…

  As a professional substance abuse counselor who has worked with thousands of people working to achieve recovery, I do believe we should regulate and legalize all drugs. We’ve been fighting and losing the war on drugs for years and we need some new approaches.   The truth is, only about 25% of people who try heroin will become addicted…

Maybe Imposter Syndrome never fully goes away… For those who may not be familiar with the term, Imposter Syndrome refer to “an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be.” Well said, Google.   Still, as much as it pains me to admit, it’s true… I’ve been operating Mental Fitness for over three…