1. Comprehensive Understanding: Holistic mental health care recognizes that mental well-being is interconnected with various aspects of a person's life, including physical health, social relationships, environment, and spirituality. By considering these interconnections, it provides a more comprehensive understanding of the individual's mental health.
   
2. Individualized Care: A holistic approach tailors treatment to the specific needs and circumstances of each person. It acknowledges that what works for one individual may not work for another, and it seeks to address the unique factors contributing to mental health challenges.
   
3. Preventive Focus: Holistic mental health care doesn't solely focus on treating existing mental health issues but also emphasizes preventive measures. It promotes a proactive approach to maintaining mental well-being through lifestyle choices, stress management, and self-care.
   
4. Emphasis on Root Causes: Instead of solely addressing symptoms, holistic mental health treatment seeks to identify and address the underlying causes of mental health challenges. This approach aims to provide long-lasting solutions rather than temporary relief.
   
5. Incorporation of Mind-Body Connection: Holistic mental health recognizes the strong connection between the mind and body. It integrates physical health practices like nutrition, exercise, and sleep into mental health care, acknowledging that these factors can significantly impact mental well-being.
   
6. Promotion of Self-Awareness: Holistic approaches often encourage individuals to develop self-awareness and self-empowerment. This enables them to take an active role in their own mental health journey and make informed choices.
   
7. Reduced Stigma: By acknowledging that mental health is just one aspect of overall well-being, holistic approaches help reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues. It normalizes discussions about mental health and encourages individuals to seek help without shame.
   
8. Integration of Complementary Therapies: Holistic mental health care may integrate complementary therapies like mindfulness, meditation, yoga, art therapy, and acupuncture. These practices can provide additional tools for managing mental health challenges.
   
9. Long-Term Success: The holistic approach seeks to create long-term, sustainable improvements in mental health. By addressing the person as a whole, it can lead to lasting positive changes and a higher quality of life.
   
10. Collaboration and Communication: Holistic care often involves collaboration between various healthcare professionals, such as therapists, doctors, nutritionists, and alternative therapists. This interdisciplinary approach fosters open communication and a more well-rounded understanding of the individual's needs.
    

In summary, a holistic perspective on mental health treatment takes into account the complexity and interconnectedness of an individual's life and well-being. It promotes a more patient-centered, preventative, and empowering approach to mental health care, ultimately leading to more effective and sustainable outcomes.
​Check out our holistic treatment options, and schedule a session today!

1. Research-Based: The Gottmans have conducted extensive research on couples' interactions and relationships, observing thousands of couples over many years. Their research has led to the development of the Sound Relationship House Theory, which forms the foundation of their therapy. This research-based approach ensures that the therapy is grounded in empirical evidence.
2. Assessment Tools: The Gottmans have created assessment tools, such as the Couples Satisfaction Index and the Love Maps questionnaire, to help therapists and couples gain a better understanding of their relationship dynamics. These assessments provide a starting point for therapy and help identify areas that need improvement.
3. Focus on Communication: A significant emphasis is placed on improving communication skills within the relationship. The therapy helps couples learn to communicate more effectively, express their needs and feelings, and listen empathetically to their partner.
4. Conflict Resolution Techniques: The Gottmans teach couples specific strategies for managing and resolving conflicts. They emphasize the importance of managing conflict in a respectful and constructive manner rather than avoiding it or engaging in destructive patterns of interaction.
5. Emotional Regulation: The therapy helps couples learn how to manage their emotions and avoid emotional flooding, which can lead to destructive conflicts. Couples are encouraged to develop self-soothing techniques and emotional awareness.
6. Building Friendship and Intimacy: The Gottmans stress the importance of maintaining the friendship and intimacy in a relationship. They provide exercises and techniques for deepening emotional connection and maintaining a strong bond.
7. Turning Towards Bids: The Gottmans' research has shown that successful couples consistently "turn towards" each other's emotional bids for connection and support. The therapy teaches couples to recognize and respond positively to each other's bids, which strengthens the emotional connection.
8. Positive Perspective: The therapy aims to shift the couple's perspective from a negative one, where they may focus on each other's flaws and shortcomings, to a more positive perspective, where they recognize and appreciate each other's strengths and positive qualities.
9. Relationship Education: The Gottman method educates couples about common relationship pitfalls and dynamics, such as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling), and provides strategies to overcome them.
10. Ongoing Support: The therapy is often structured to include ongoing check-ins and support, helping couples apply what they've learned in therapy to their daily lives and navigate new challenges as they arise.

Gottman Couples Therapy is considered effective because it combines research-based knowledge, practical techniques, and a focus on building and maintaining healthy relationships. The Gottmans' approach is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather a flexible framework that can be tailored to the unique needs and dynamics of each couple. It has been widely adopted by therapists and has helped many couples improve their relationships and build a strong foundation for the future.

Book a session with our Gottman couples therapist, Laura Brown, today!

A standard Tarot deck typically consists of 78 cards, divided into two main categories:

1. Major Arcana: These are 22 cards that represent significant life events, archetypal experiences, and major spiritual lessons. They include cards like The Fool, The Lovers, The Chariot, and The Tower.
2. Minor Arcana: These are the remaining 56 cards, which are further divided into four suits (similar to playing cards): Wands (or Rods), Cups, Swords, and Pentacles (or Coins). Each suit contains 14 cards, including the Ace, numbered cards from 2 to 10, and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King).

Tarot readings typically involve the Tarot reader shuffling the cards, while the person seeking a reading (the querent) concentrates on their question or issue. The reader then draws a certain number of cards, usually in a spread or pattern, and interprets their meanings based on the card's symbolism, their position in the spread, and the reader's intuition and knowledge.
It's important to note that Tarot is often considered a tool for self-reflection and guidance, rather than a means of predicting the future with absolute certainty. Tarot readings can provide valuable insights, provoke thought, and help individuals gain a deeper understanding of their current situations and potential paths forward. Many people find personal meaning and spiritual insight in Tarot, but its effectiveness and interpretation can vary from one practitioner to another.

​Interested in a tarot session? Book a session with our tarot reader, Priscy, today!

Miley’s new anthem, ‘Flowers’, has all of us under her self-love spell, with single and cuffed women alike feeling the energy of independence. ‘Flowers’ was the most-streamed song over a week on Spotify at its debut, and it’s easy to see why the hit single feels like the song women have been waiting for. Her lyrics are a direct response to a song that ex-boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, dedicated to her, where Miley responds to each verse with how she can give herself everything that she’s ever wanted without him by her side.
For anyone who is unfamiliar, here is the song’s melody:
I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don't understand
I can take myself dancing
And I can hold my own hand
Yeah, I can love me better than you can
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, what better time to remind yourself that love starts from within (and you don’t need to rely on anyone else to give it to you)? Here are 5 ways to practice self-love this Valentine’s Day that will have you belting out, “I can love me better than you can,” as you do.

1. Go out to dinner and dancing solo
   1. Forget waiting for a partner to take you out! Take advantage of the flexibility of going out solo, and enjoy a date night for one. Grab a book you’ve been hoping to find time to read, and choose a restaurant with a crave-worthy menu. Bonus points if you head out after to dance the night away!
2. Learn to make fancy mocktails
   1. Non-alcoholic beverages are having a moment, with alcohol-free bars and bottle shops popping up all over the country. With the rise in popularity that booze-free bevs are having, dedicated TikTok and Instagram accounts are teaching people how to create decadent mocktails that will have you feeling like you are a mixologist. Try one or two out on a solo evening, and sit in front of your fire with your masterpiece. Added bonus? There won’t be a hangover in the morning.
3. Take a cooking class
   1. Couples cooking classes are a thing of the past. If you want to learn a new skill, you can do it all by yourself! Nervous about trying this alone? Recruit a friend to go with you.
4. Try a new healing practice
   1. What better time to have a complete energy reset than your self-love focused Valentine’s Day? Shadow work, reiki, kundalini, acupuncture, whatever holistic way you’re interested in deepening your connection to self this year is worth a try (P.S. a lot of those services are offered at The Wellness Collective!
5. Find a Galentine’s Day Party to attend!
   1. Philadelphia is officially the city of Sisterly Love! With more Galentine’s Day events then you can imagine, there are an endless abundance of options for you to choose from. Check out a few of our favorites here:

SELF(ISH)philly Galentine’s Day Party at Alchemy X- Feb 25th
The Walnut Club’s Galentine’s Day Party- Feb 9th
Museum of Illusions Galentine's Day Event- Feb 13th

-Danielle Massi, TWC Founder

Many people enter into remarriage with rose-colored glasses, believing that the early years will be similar to the honeymoon period they experienced in their first marriage. With so many additional factors at play in a second marriage, this is almost never the case. Here are three commonly believed myths about remarriage, and a more realistic view of what to expect.
 
This marriage will be different from the first
            Unless you have fully looked at and addressed the issues that came up in your first marriage, history is likely to repeat itself. While the divorce rate for first marriages is 50%, the number increases to 67% for second marriages and 73% for third marriages. This is where couple’s therapy can be a huge asset! As a couple, you have the opportunity to do some preventative work in therapy to help lessen the possibility of a split.
 
Your children and stepchildren will support the marriage
            Divorce and remarriage are extremely difficult times in a child’s life, leaving them feeling confused, lost and uncertain about their future. They are not choosing your new partner- you are. Children feel like they don’t have much of a voice in these instances. So it is important for you as an adult to be patient and prepared to help the kids’ work through whatever personal issues the remarriage brings up for them.
 
After the wedding, you will instantly become a family.
            In your first marriage this may have been a true statement. You got married, bought a house, had children, and each transition was smooth. But in a remarriage the formula is a bit different. The children already have a mother and father and a house that they call home, and this life they had has been disrupted. So it will be crucial to the development of your new family to take your children and stepchildren’s wants and needs into consideration in the hope of speeding the transition process for them and for your new family. 

Reiki is a Japanese spiritual healing technique that can help us return to harmony & balance. Reiki is usually referred to as Energy Medicine but Reiki goes a lot deeper than just energy. It is actually Primordial Consciousness (Divine Wisdom) and we channel that through from Practitioner to recipient.

Reiki does work very closely with our auric field to promote the body’s relaxation response & strengthen our natural ability to heal by encouraging balance. But my favorite part as a Practitioner is connecting physically with my recipients and creating a level of sacred intimacy in healing touch…. because at the end of the day, we are all not held enough.

During a session, the reiki practitioner will place their hands lightly on different areas of the recipient’s body, sometimes starting from the head and working their way down to the feet. Sometimes the hands might hover and/or sometimes the hands touch the recipients body. I usually like to ask my clients what they prefer before a session so I am not overstepping a boundary (this is important!)

Reiki sessions can also include other modalities like breath work, crystal therapy, somatic movements & sacred dance, card pulling, smudging, sound therapy, sacred shares, where you can express anything that is coming up for you in a safe space and really any other modality that intuitively fits the session.

~ Deep Relaxation
~ Relief of Stress & Anxiety
~ Eases Muscle Tension
~ Spiritual Awakening
~ Increased Intuition
~ Releases Toxins
~ Boosts Immune System
~ Enhances Creativity

I would love to know! Have you ever seen experienced reiki? What has been your experience?

Sign up for a reiki session with us at The Wellness Collective today!

This post was written by our reiki practitioner, Amanda Burke