My Typical Mental Health Client: Functioning, Wickedly Smart and Severely Creative

[caption id="attachment_410" align="aligncenter" width="600"]904-725-2500x115 Jacksonville, FL 32211          Parkwood Counseling Center                           904-725-2500x115 Jacksonville, FL 32211[/caption] The vast majority of the clients that I serve are functioning in society, wickedly smart and severely creative. I enjoy them and understand them and just receive so much from working with them!

Society's current idea of "mental illness": someone who is an outlier or an extreme type of person.

I do not see it play out this way in my experience. Instead, I see that we live through seasons. In different seasons we are the outlier and when seasons change we fall in step with a group. You see this when our kids are developing- They are ahead! They are just right! AND THEN... they are behind! The outlier depends on the day and the hour. You see this in middle school lunch rooms- I was so popular today! until tomorrow when Justin gets the newest iPhone or your friends don't think your shirt is cool. We are all outliers in different seasons. Sometimes seasons are coupled with chemical imbalances that make us outliers for longer and occasionally there are symptoms that are present that really do place us at either end of the spectrum; however, the majority of people I work with in counseling are there for mental health fitness. [For guidance to be the best they can be or to have a healthier family.] May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the question that I want to focus on is: what are you doing to stay fit/healthy? Stay tuned for a self-assessment that may give you some guidance of what problem areas you may have and where you need to tone up.

Take good care of those around you by taking good care of you!