GFG Counseling and Consulting Services

02/28/2024

Join us for our Mental and Behavioral Considerations for Youth Workshop Series - March 1, 2024

Registration Period: 8:30 a.m.- 9:00 a.m.

Workshop: 9:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. (lunch on your own)

John Garrick Hardy Student Center, 2nd Floor Theater

Parking available at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome

Registration Link:

Please click the link to complete this form.

09/20/2023

05/20/2023

Check out this Presentation designed by Theresa Steele Mitchell.

05/20/2023

I have been away for quite some time. I must confess, social media presence is not one of my talents. However, I do not want to neglect the posting of important self-care tips. I believe we are on #5:

Tip #5 Seek professional assistance. If you are employed and have medical insurance, see if it also provides mental health coverage. Seeing a counselor once or twice a month can be beneficial. If not mental health coverage, see if your employer has an Employer Assistance Program (EAP). If we are not employed or our self-employed, also look into scholarship offerings for free services. The following link provides free counseling services:

Book an appointment.Mental health services such as counseling can play an important role in providing Black individuals with strategies for coping from stress, healing from trauma and prioritizing their wholistic wellness. Unfortunately, a number of barriers prevent Black women and girls from utiliz...

12/27/2022

Happy Holidays! I have been away from social media for some time, but the series on self-care is still on! I have shared a few tips to help you improve your current self-care practices--three tips to be exact. Tip #4: Recognize and Avoid Energy Stealers!

This is an excellent tip to talk about as we close out our Christmas celebrations and begin to prepare for the coming of the new year. Energy stealers come in the form of people, places and things, thoughts, and events. It is important to recognize those different forms of energy stealers so you are prepared to address or plan to avoid them so that you can maintain mental and emotional stability. Let's identify a few of those energy stealers:

People: also referred to as "energy vampires". Healthline.com defines "energy vampires" as people who — sometimes intentionally — drain your emotional energy. They feed on your willingness to listen and care for them, leaving you exhausted and overwhelmed. These people can be family, friends, and co-workers. Healthline.com provides additional descriptions on how to recognize people who steal your energy as well as tips on how to address them: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/energy-vampires

Places and Things: these energy stealers come in the form of messy spaces, dark rooms, messy desks, social media surfing (frequently), and couches (especially if you find yourself cooped up on the couch most of the week). Thehealthy.com highlights 15 surprising things that drain your energy: https://www.thehealthy.com/fatigue/surprising-things-that-drain-your-energy/

To avoid encouraging one of those energy stealers with a long social media post, be on the lookout for part two of Tip #4 in the coming weeks. Happy Holidays!!

10/01/2022

Are you still with me? Mic check, one two, one two.....

We have been talking about self-care and providing tips each week. We talked about REST in tip #1. Now......let's talk about sleep, baby! Sleep hygiene can be defined as healthy habits, behaviors, and environmental factors that can be adjusted to help you have a good night's sleep.

Tip #3 Healthy Sleep Hygiene is Essential!! The Mayo Clinic offers six steps to creating healthy sleep hygiene:

1. Stick to a sleep schedule.
2. Set aside no more than eight hours for sleep.
3. Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Stop intake of caffeine and ni****ne after 3p.
4. Don't go to bed hungry or stuffed.
5. Create a restful environment.
6. Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet.
7. Limit daytime naps.
8. Include physical activity in your daily routine.
9. Manage worries. Journaling and/or meditation can assist with managing worries.

For more tips on improving your sleep hygiene, visit

Looking for ways to sleep better? Improving sleep hygiene can make your habits, routines, & environment more conducive to consistent and restorative sleep.

09/22/2022

Tip #2 exercise self-compassion.

Self-compassion is giving ourselves the same kindness and care that we give to others. It's giving yourself some grace and being forgiving of your slip-ups. See.....guilt and shame are the results of not having compassion for self. You can feel bad about making a mistake, especially if it had a negative effect on yourself and others, but do not dwell on it! Learn from it! Leave the guilt and shame right there at the moment the event took place and do not bring it into a new event or even a new day. It is over and you have learned what adjustments are needed to avoid that mistake again. But what if you make that mistake .......again.......show yourself some care and seek assistance with understanding where you need to make adjustments. You deserve it just as much as your friend deserved the care you provided during a time they were in need.

Self-compassion.org has a number of self-guided exercises and practices to assist in exercising self-compassion. Try this tender self-compassion break when you begin to get frustrated with yourself:
https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Tender-SelfCompassion-Break-2.mp3

09/15/2022

The Self Care Federation defined self care as follows:

Self-care is the practice of individuals looking after their own health using the knowledge and information available to them. It is a decision-making process that empowers individuals to look after their own health efficiently and conveniently, in collaboration with health and social care professionals as needed.

Make the oath, today, to practice looking after your own health using the knowledge and information made available through GFGCC self-care series.

Tip #1 Get some rest. Yes, sleep hygiene is very important, but I am talking about REST. Relax, Exhale, be Still, Take Time Out! REST! Our first thought is vacation or maybe even a spa day. Those things can assist in achieving rest, but cannot be done everyday. We need to find moments of REST each day and several times out of the day. Take an actual lunch break. Leave your desk and take your packed lunch with you to a park bench. REST. Cut the lights off and close your eyes and focus on one word for ten minutes. REST. Enjoy reading? Download the Kindle app onto your phone and/or tablet and read a genre of choice for 30 mins to an hour. REST! Engage in guided stretching exercises with soft music or the reading of scriptures (I suggest growwithjo's Morning Scripture Full Body Stretch https://youtu.be/59_8pH3h4T8)

Try one of the suggestions for one week and share if you experienced a change in your mood or changes in how you approached challenges throughout the day. REST!

Stretch it out with me while listening to uplifting scripture. To release tension and worries from the week.Do this stretch every day or even every week to s...

09/11/2022

Let's start this series off w/a "Recipe For Self-Care". Descriptions of the ingredients and tips will be provided over the next several weeks. Remember to provide feedback on any of the information provided that you may have incorporated into your self-care routine.

09/09/2022

The conference is now Virtual!! It is not too late to register:
https://form.jotform.com/222208739094156

09/09/2022

September 10th is World Su***de Prevention Day. GFGCC will start the observance of the prevention day by looking at self-care! Tips will be provided weekly that can be incorporated into your lifestyle and enable daily self-care. I encourage you to share the tips or invite others to follow the page. As you start to incorporate the tips, leave comments on how they have improved your mental health.