Ride the Waves Counselling Service

12/24/2022

When stress hits us, many of us will turn to some impulsive strategies to help us cope (myself included as I really realized during the earlier parts of the pandemic). One tool utilized by many is food!

If you would like to learn more, you can join this webinar by Jaime Saibil (author/psychotherapist) that will discuss emotional eating (Jan 12/23 @ 7:00pm):

11/15/2022

Tools for Therapists:
Providing therapy to people is a job filled with joy, fulfillment, difficulty and connection with others. Despite the number of years one has been practicing, the work always brings new challenges, dynamics and novelty. Effective work with clients requires time and effort to reflect on client issues, reflect on the therapeutic process and to plan for working on goals with clients. One tool I utilize as a therapist to try and maximize time for reflection on client work is the use of pre-made presentations on client issues.

Ride the Waves Counselling Service is excited to announce the introduction of a ‘Tools for Therapists’ section on our website. This page will be dedicated to providing therapists, counsellors, youth workers, and/or any person wanting to explore various personal and social issues with clients. This page will start off with two slide decks, but with time, I will work to increase the number of presentations and tools available.

Please visit the page at: https://www.ridethewavescs.com/toolsfortherapists and share with anyone that may find it of interest.

05/21/2022

When we hit difficult moments and conflicts in our life, it can throw us into a state of disarray. Our mind does not function at optimal levels and we may require assistance to lessen our reactivity. Adding to the very successful SNAP (Stop Now and Plan) acronym by the Child Development Institute, I created one that gives more specific steps on the process of conflict resolution (SURF). To learn more, read my post at:

https://www.ridethewavescs.com/post/surf-for-resolving-conflict

Let me know your thoughts and please share with anyone you feel would benefit from it. .U.R.F.

(Photo source: https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/black-pro-surfer-hunter-jones-fight-for-diversity-in-the-water/)

11/01/2021

The process of therapy can be a difficult one but also has great potential for bringing about positive changes for a person's life. One way to view the therapy process is to view it as a class and/or refresher course. In my new blog post (https://www.ridethewavescs.com/post/why-therapy-therapy-as-a-class-or-refresher-course-some-tips-on-finding-a-therapist), I discuss what therapy can offer, provide some tips on finding a therapist for you and make some suggestions on how to make the therapy process more productive for you.

Moreover, on the post you will find a link to an episode of the Soul's Work podcast ((https://lnkd.in/emwyGBCw), where I participated in a discussion on healing in relationships, the process of therapy and reasons one may want to seek out counselling support.

The Soul's Work Podcast explores various topics including trauma, resilience, relationship difficulties, and most importantly, is a sharing on her (Janice Ho) story of growth. It is honest, raw, and does a great job at showing the great potential of people to be resilient. Her current series can also provide a light on what the therapy process may look like and how it was helpful for her.

The process of therapy is sometimes perceived as a difficult process that should not be encountered. It is a place that may: bring up difficulties; lead us to be blamed for our problems; identify what’s wrong with me and all-around, not that helpful. However, this perception of therapy is inaccura...

09/12/2021

Anger brings challenge for most of us - even people who are well-disciplined and able to manage their tempers, can attest to the difficulties anger can bring into our lives.

In this post, I share about viewing anger like learning to swim: https://www.ridethewavescs.com/post/swimming-to-manage-our-anger

Hope you find it helpful. Share you thoughts if you'd like.

When we are young, and don’t know how to swim, we enjoy playing with the water, splashing everywhere and getting everyone (including yourself) very wet. Although it is messy, it can be fun and brings pleasure into our life. However, if we end up in deep waters, we get ourselves into trouble. As we...

04/03/2021

For awhile, it seemed that the 'end' was somewhat in sight. However, as the COVID-19 numbers go back on the rise, stress and anxiety levels are likely increasing again. I am happy to inform that I will be offering the Mindfulness for Youth (aged 15-21) program again. The next start date is May 11/21 - please register early as space will be limited. Please contact Chris at clam@ridethewavescs.com or call 647-456-7751.

Social Worker providing counselling/therapy services to youth and adults at Yonge/Sheppard (North York). A counsellor to help you Ride the Waves of life better by learning to manage our emotions better.

02/14/2021

Ride the Waves Counselling Service is excited to announce that it in March 2021, we will be offering a Mindfulness Group for Youth (aged 15-21). For more information or to register, please contact Chris at clam@ridethewavescs.com or call at 647-456-7751.

We are almost a year into the worldwide pandemic and the fatigue of this life is definitely settling in or has settled for too long! This year has provided a time of reflection and a personal exploration of what is important, what is not so important and maybe even, what is not important anymore. Du...

11/22/2020

Netflix recently released a great documentary-movie exploring the impacts of social media-networking sites. I would highly recommend checking it out if you can.
You can find some of my thoughts in my blog post below:

https://www.ridethewavescs.com/post/social-dilemma-the-importance-of-self-reflection

05/13/2020

Never in my personal lifetime has this world ever gone through Covid-19 life. Although I was in graduate school during SARS, the measures required were not as intense as it is now. This time of crisis can bring about lots of anxiety and uncertainty and may even trigger us into a fight-flight-freeze response. This new lifestyle brings worries about our future and may even bring us to a place of existential questioning and investigation of our ‘self’ in this world. To further add to the anxiety, is social isolation due to social distancing. These distancing measures are required however; it is having great impacts on personal well-being and mental health.

Without a doubt, this unusual time will bring about great worries of how to manage until the next day – there needs to be some energy spent towards ensuring our survival needs are met. But, this time also provides us with some opportunities for reflection, analysis and change.

There are options for us – we can continue to tune into the ‘anxiety channels’ (I.e., constantly watching the news outlets and layman’s research on Covid-19), which may give some knowledge but may also further aggravate worries, or we can try to re-establish control in areas we can truly control.

For those with children:
• Many of us (myself included) are in the position of working a full-time job yet are also full-time daycare. This is a very challenging and difficult time. However, this time may also be viewed as a small blessing – it gives us an incredible amount of time with our children (that we typically wouldn’t ever have and sometimes wish for more of), gives us an opportunity to teach them about challenge and change, and may nourish our lives in a way that it reminds us why we work so hard to ensure that our children have the best futures ahead of them.

For those in career limbo and uncertain about their present day jobs:
• This time away from our regular jobs and increased time at home may provide us a great chance to brush up on our resume and start browsing around for new career opportunities and/or career changes.
• This time away from the ‘regular job routine’ may help us identify what we like and don’t like about our current jobs and hence, help us pinpoint what type of job-career I may be truly looking for.
For those saying, “I always wanted to learn and/or try this activity”:
• This time will provide a great opportunity to research where and how you can obtain those goals/dreams of pursuing those activities. You may even be lucky enough to start now with more affordable rates of virtual classroom/online learning.

For everyone:
• This time at home should encourage a personal reflection on what you truly find to be important for your life. It may trigger feelings of great longing for those activities I miss (I.e., going for a hike), it may make us question the relationships we have and/or don’t have in our life, and it may also accentuate great feelings of indifference to activities I once thought as very important to my life.

These are only a few ideas on how this Covid-19 life at home can be a great moment of opportunity and change for us. This time may provide an opportunity to reorganize your priorities to ensure those that truly matter to you, are taken care of.

If you are interested in getting some counselling support to help you consider some of these areas of reflection and change, I offer teletherapy sessions with Ride the Waves Counselling Services as an option. Feel free to contact Chris at: ridethewaves.cs@gmail.com or visit www.ridethewavescs.com/.

I wish everyone well and continued safety and leave you on this great idea I have stumbled upon during this time:
• Every day that you wake up and find yourself wishing that you could do a certain activity (but can’t due to social distancing), write it down on a piece of paper and collect these papers in a box/bottle (whatever you so choose).
• When the isolation period and/or when social distancing rules are lightened, go through your box each day and pick out one paper.
• Complete the item on your list with presence, awareness and appreciation.
• Then, move on to the next item

Social Worker providing counselling/therapy services to youth and adults at Yonge/Sheppard (North York). A counsellor to help you Ride the Waves of life better by learning to manage our emotions better.

03/12/2020

Over the years, I have worked with people who are greatly focussed on the ‘now’ and no focus on the future. For some, this is due to trauma, however, for some others it is a focus merely on the short term. A belief that ‘life will happen’ and ‘I will take what life presents to me’. This belief is partially reliant on ‘luck’ coming your way. However, as I have grown in my own personal life journey, I have come to the realization that a good amount of the time, ‘we make our own luck’. Over a time of reflection on how I share this idea with a client I was working with at the time, I came up with this saying:

“Every decision you make now, is a decision made for you later”.

All the choices we make in the present will either limit our future choices and/or provide us with more options to choose from. Moreover, life will require taking some risks and accepting that the important steps are the journey and not necessarily the final destination. Therefore, in your life, be open to opportunities, accept some failures as a bigger life message (that this may not be the right path for me), and be aware of the traps in place that could limit our desired future destination.