Counselling and Psychotherapy Month

Gratitude is about expressing thanks or appreciation for someone or something. It involves recognizing the positive things in your life and the impact they have on you. Taking the time to slow down and reflect in this way has proven benefits for mental health, physical health and improved sleep (among other benefits).

Ways you can practice gratitude:

• Being mindful and taking note of the here and now
• Journaling for self-reflection
• Giving thanks directly to others or through prayer
• Doing something kind for another
• Telling another you’re grateful for them and how they helped you

Benefits of gratitude:

• Boosts your immune system
• Increased satisfaction of life
• Enhances empathy
• Improved quality of sleep

For the month of April (and beyond), we encourage you to reach out to colleagues and other trusted supports to share how they have supported you by expressing gratitude.

This month, show your gratitude to your colleagues and work friends by sending them a Counselling and Psychotherapy Month Gratitude card. Various templates available in English and French.

• When we fill up our cup, we have enough to share.
• Self-care comes in so many different shapes, and has so many clear benefits, making it necessary to the flourishing of every human.
• There is often a perception that self-care is only a priority in times that we are stressed or suffering. Self-care for many is a form of a reactive solution.
• Therapist self-care is different from that of the public.
• Taking care of one’s well-being is central to the ability of Psychotherapists helping clients thrive, prevent burnout and ensure longevity in their careers. This looks like proactive actions that Counselling Therapists create space for in their daily lives, with the intention that their cup does not run dry before it is refilled.
• Counselling Therapists are the tool of their trade. Our members use their emotions, mind, spirit and body to help lift others and set them on a path of self-discovery and healing. For this reason, our members, along with the public, hold themselves to a higher standard when it comes to their well-being. The safe and effective use of self is a professional ethical responsibility.
• Self-care for psychotherapists goes beyond relaxation techniques and walks in nature. This practice within the context of our work can look like energy and time management skills, connecting with colleagues, self-reflection, cultural immersion, professional development and business practice skills.
• So this year we bring you Counselling and Psychotherapy Month – Self-Care: Therapist Style

Youtube Channels

• Yoga With Adriene
• Arianna Elizabeth
• Calm App

Apps

• Headspace is a top-rated, subscription-based app that provides a mental wellbeing program for individuals and teams along with support for mindfulness meditations.
• Anxiety Solution: Calmer You, provides an anxiety toolkit, covering practices to help you focus on self-care, overcome anxiety and worry, practice mindfulness, and improve your sleep.
• Grateful offers tools to help you manage anxiety, stress, and work through worries. Use the tools included to calm your mind and balance your body.
• Use the Gratitude app to capture the things in your life for which you are grateful and focus attention on the positive things in life.
• Daylio is a mood tracker app offers the ability track daily moods, write out your thoughts, track activities and look for trends between moods and activities.
• Sunnyside is an mindful consumption and alcohol moderation app can help you to cut back on drinking with no pressure to quit.
• Mindful.org is an online platform, app and physical magazine that highlights research and practices around mindfulness. They offer courses, resources for clinicians and the public, research and coaching.

A Self-Care Plan for All

Print out the plan!

Working as a mental health professional can be both incredibly rewarding and draining at the same time. This is why it’s vital for your wellness to ensure you’re taking a balanced approach to your self-care plan.

The Wellness Wheel, created by psychologists Jane Myers, Thomas Sweeney, and Melvin Witmer to help achieve a life defined by optimal health and wellbeing, “in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live more fully within the human and natural community” (Myers et al., 2000).

This tool can be used to consider how you’re managing the different aspects of your life and can highlight where you are succeeding, and where you may want to give additional attention.

These categories can include:

• Emotional health – managing stress, sufficient sleep, staying on top of work, seeking therapy
• Intellectual health – staying curious, learning new things, reading, joining clubs, enhancing intellectual interests
• Physical health – sufficient exercise, balanced nutrition, preventative medical care
• Social health – robust social network offering guidance and reducing stress
• Environmental health – caring for surroundings, avoiding clutter, recycling and volunteering for environmental initiatives
• Financial health – living within financial means, creating a budget
• Spiritual health – understanding the beliefs and values that shape who you are and guide your life

Click here to learn more about the Self-Care Wheel from Positive Psychology and use this along with CCPA’s Member Self-Care Plan worksheet below to reflect on how you’re caring for your needs.

Reference: Positive Psychology

Prizing

• One grand prize of a 1-year subscription for Owl Practice (valued over $1,200)
• Eight  webinar participant prizes each consisting of a 6-month subscription for Owl Practice (valued over $600 each)

• • For the Owl Practice Session on April 25 – the prize will be the 6-months subscription AND a Muse headband  (Biofeedback Meditations) Total value of prizes on this day is over $900.
  • 8 sessions are April 5, 6, 12, 19, 20, 21, 25 & 26 April 2023.
  • No cash substitute

Offer

• First 2-months free subscription (Value up to $200) for all new subscribers that subscribe by April 30th 2023.

Eligibility: The contest is open to all CCPA members who reside in Canada and are at least 18 years old.

The following people are not eligible to enter the contest:

1. Employees and contractors of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) and its lead partner, Owl Practice (with their parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, related and associated companies, successors, assigns, licensees, etc.);
2. Related advertising and promotional agencies and contest prize providers;
3. The household members of any of the parties listed in Sections (1) and (2) above.

How to Enter: To enter, find something yellow in your life, take a photo of it, and share it on social media with the hashtag #accessmentalhealth and tag CCPA.

Prizes: Two (2) winners will receive a spa gift card. The prizes are not redeemable for cash, and no substitute for any portion of the prizes is offered.

Winners Selection: The winners will be selected randomly from all eligible entries received during the contest period. The draw will be done at the CCPA’s national office on May 3, 2023. Any person who has been confirmed as the winner of another prize during C&P Month cannot win another prize during the same period. If that is the case, another participant’s name will be drawn.

Contest Period: The contest begins on Yellow Day (April 12, 2023) and ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on April 28, 2023.

Announcement of Winners: The winners will be announced on the CCPA’s social media channels within 5 days of the end of the contest period.

Rights Granted: By entering the contest, participants agree to allow CCPA to use their name, image, and social media handle for marketing and promotional purposes.

General Conditions: The CCPA reserves the right to cancel, suspend, or modify the contest if any fraud or other factors beyond its control impair the integrity of the contest.

Disclaimer: The CCPA is not responsible for any lost, late, misdirected, or incomplete entries, or for any technical or human errors that may occur in the administration of the contest. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by any social media platforms on which the contest may have been promoted and/or publicized, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter. Any personal information provided in connection with the contest is being provided to the CCPA and not to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter. Any questions or comments regarding the contest must be directed to the CCPA (via email at [email protected]) and not to any of the social media platforms on which the contest may have been advertised or administered.

Privacy Policy: Information collected from participants will be used solely for the purpose of administering the contest and will not be shared with third parties.