Heffelfinger Psychotherapy

09/05/2024

Those in our great community who know me understand my drive to help normalize everyday mental health! Recently I have had the honor to team up with 2 amazing people and create The Healing Heights Foundation!
The Foundation helps to bring awareness to su***de, everyday mental health and the need for us to find our limits and askfor help. We have an event “Hell on the Hill” and am asking for your support to participate, come cheer on those who are, or donate. We hope to create an awareness that life will get hard, you can stop and take a break but you cannot quit!
Help me fill the Hill!!! Be part of the change, impact our future generations to normalize everyday mental health!

Adults sign up online, add your participants to fill your team of 4. If you feel you want to push yourself you can register alone.
Students, youth to college register as a team for $50. There is not an option for this registration online. I am signing up all students independently and collecting their entry fee. Please just send me their names and T-shirt size. Once I receive the information I will send you my Venmo, or address. If you cannot make it and would like to donate please visit our website to be a sponsor or make a donation! This is tax deductible and I will send you out an acknowledgement letter.
This is going to be a day of finding strength, supporting one another, learning to find your limit and ask for help. Let’s do this!!

At Healing Heights Foundation, we believe in the power of community, support, and the strength that comes from facing and overcoming life's challenges. We are here to walk alongside those on their journey to mental wellness, providing support, resources, and a community that understands and cares.

07/11/2024

I am so honored to be part of the Healing Heights Foundation and the impact we can make on one another, all of us. My motto has always been life is simple, it’s just not easy. Each of us have reasons for being part of this foundation, for me it is to push the impact of everyday mental health when life is not easy. Understanding, that you can take a break, you just can’t quit. Leaning on those around you, being aware when those around you need someone to step in and let them take a break. No one is meant to face life alone. Help us create empathy, awareness and push yourself to face the struggle of the hill and know your limit to take a break, ask for someone to step up, so you can keep going!
Join us September 22, 2024 at Pioneers Park for Hell on the Hill!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/PhXXSJAJbjAL5Y4Q/?mibextid=LvJtn9

12/25/2022

Holiday’s are a time to reflect, refocus and remember what is in important in life. Find time to enjoy the small moments and make each day meaningful.

09/11/2021

Perspective ~ Be grateful and thankful for what you have and who you share it with today, whether it be a moment, coffee, friendship or life, that is the meaning of happiness. Today we vow not to forget, yet often we think our lives are at its worse, on a 1-10 scale 20 years ago today was a 10 for so many, I cannot imagine. Compare that to the crummy days we experience, yeah, in the end our life is good. Enjoy your moments, with your family and your friends, that is what happiness is. Find a reason to be happy not angry, hurt or offended. That leads to destruction.

12/07/2020

As long as I can remember I have walked with an open cup, it is calming, slows me down and makes me mindful of what I am doing. With Covid my open cup moments are only at home, it is amazing how something that little out of my control has changed the balance of my day. Having something that balances you is more important today than ever. I have created a daily 5 to help bring that balance and mindfulness into my "out of routine" day. Ask yourself each day, "what have I done for the good of...."
1) My mind
Challenging your mind through school work, reading, puzzles etc

2) My body
Walking, yoga, hygiene, eating healthy, etc

3) My soul
What makes you happy, calms you, brings you peace

4) My family
Connecting, engaging, doing for others

5) My house
Being part of the team, cleaning, cooking, organizing, your part

Adding these 5 can help to bring routine and balance in a world where everything around us seems out of our control.

09/10/2020

Mindfulness.......
For me, I feel tomorrow is the first time I truly can say, " I remember where I was when I heard." That day we hugged tighter, rethought things we say, our plans for the future and remembered each day has a meaning! We became mindful of all around us. Tragedy brings us back to center. I will never forget my son telling me as a 2nd grader the Monday after a school shooting, " Mom, today and everyday I am going to school for all those kids who will never have a chance to go to school again." Our daily life can become routine, meaning lost, leading to stress and unhappiness. Let's not wait for tragedies and loss to find meaning, to remeber our purpose, but instead be grateful for the opportunity of the day ahead. Be mindful everyday.

08/14/2020

Routine, it is a little word, one that is used but overlooked daily. Today we started a routine again back to school, it is not the same as before, it is a new normal but we adapt. Adaptability is coping, growing, it is how we reach our potential. Learning to adapt allows us to create a new normal to continue our routine. Something as routine as walking into school can empower so much in us. Find your routine!

06/03/2020

Understanding that intolerance, injustice and racism have been systemic issues for years in our society is pivotal in making change. Physical evidence has brought it to the forefront today, but it has been occurring in front of our eyes daily.
Change comes from Hope that everyone who is standing up today for a difference creates daily change in thier own life to be the difference in the future.

04/22/2020

How are you feeling?
The most common response I am hearing since the pandemic Covid-19 has started is exhausted, including myself. Rearranging our lives to sheltering in and working from home has created underlying stress that we may not even know is there. Everyday life has changed, we are in the midst of creating a new normal. Activities out of the house have stopped, social distancing continues yet we still feel drained, why?
Identifying how stress can impact our life is essential during a change such as this. Our entire daily routine has been changed, as has that of our family, adding more emotional strain for us to carry.
Assessing and understanding what can lead to our stress is the first step to releasing it and self-care.
What leads to exhaustion:
Change in routine: From when we shower, eat, work and finally get to sleep, everything has changed.
Self-care: Creating a daily routine of basics is essential, without this we feel lost.

Unknown: When will we be back to normal, getting to the grocery store, the anxiety of the virus itself, and meeting the needs of our family, work. These are a few daily “unknown” stressors that lead to anxiety. Carrying this with us day to day and ultimately draining us. It is believed that stressing for 1 hour depletes the body as if you ran a mile.
Self-Care: Identify what is within your control, make a plan to follow through with that plan and let what you cannot control go. Seeking validation of what we cannot control leaves us unsettled and drained.

Compassion: It is human nature to be compassionate, empathetic, understanding. You may be taking on the stress of your family, friends or those around the world struggling. Add to this holding onto our own stress and anxiety and we can deplete ourselves quickly.
Self-care: Awareness of what is within your scope from home and accepting that is making a difference. Owning your feelings, supporting others but understand your limitations and what we need to allow others to own.

Grief: We are reminded daily of the trauma this virus has created, the lives lost, families struggling, financial fears and life moments canceled. Being personally impacted or simply being exposed to media, we are all grieving. This is a loss. As simple as a loss in our routine, our plans, our daily connections, watching our own children miss opportunities to the loss of a loved one and everything in between, we are all grieving.
Self-care: Accepting what has been taken, allowing yourself to grieve and work through the loss is the beginning of healing and transcending from this.

Boundaries: It is easy to work on and off all day, although ultimately never shutting it off. Before you could leave it at the office, walk out of the building, today it is in every room of your house.
Self-care: Find a balance, set boundaries, get control back of your daily life!

Feeling exhausted is something that we are all feeling, it is part of this process, part of creating our new normal. Allowing yourself to stop and listen to your body, taking time each day for you. What does that look like? Meditating, yoga, walking, connecting with friends and family, self-care, exercise, reading, anything that allows you to shut things off, stop and listen to what you need.

03/26/2020

With so much around us that we cannot control, we forget that we can control us, through our breathing. Meditative breathing is an essential part to lowering our stress, anxiety and improving overall health. Find time today!

Deep breathing is a form of meditation. Research shows that meditation can reduce anxiety, sharpen memory, treat symptoms of depression, promote more restful sleep, and even improve heart health.

03/20/2020

Today we find ourselves creating a new normal. From social distancing and sheltering in, to worry regarding the health of your loved one or yourself. Change is hard no matter the reason, add a pandemic and it impacts your entire life. I have recently added Telehealth sessions to my practice to help. Please let me know if I can answer any questions or be a resource for you.