Jamie Harkins Counseling, LLC

10/17/2023

Traumatic experiences leave an imprint on us, affecting our behaviors and relationships. Old wounds contribute to current belief systems about ourselves, which in turn, contribute to our reactions.
But belief systems can be changed and our traumatic wounds can be healed.

11/23/2022

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07/01/2022

How to deal with fireworks when suffering from PTSD

Last week Pittsburgh City Paper posted an article with tips on how to deal with anxious pets and fireworks. In Pittsburgh, and around the U.S.,...

05/16/2022

Our ability to feel our feelings, to feel our pain, gives us our best hopes for healing.

07/28/2021

Simone Biles is an incredibly brave young woman who has risked more than most of us could ever imagine, in an effort to take care of herself and to speak about performance anxiety, sexual abuse, retraumatization, medication, and therapy.

"What Biles did on Tuesday is perhaps her greatest example of heroism. With mental health still stigmatized in much of society, it takes a tremendous amount of bravery to open up to the public, say you’re struggling and take mental struggles as seriously as a torn ligament.

The gold medals, the competition, all pale in comparison to Biles looking after herself. In the end, regardless of what happens next, Simone Biles walking away from competition for her mental health could become the greatest example of being a role model in her career."

There’s more to being a role model than just competing.

05/05/2021

"The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it.
All too often these ill-conditioned implicit beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives.
We create meaning from our unconscious interpretations of early events, and then we forge our present experiences from the meaning we've created.

Unwittingly we write the story of our future from narratives based on the past…

Mindful awareness can bring into consciousness those hidden, past-based perspectives so they no longer frame our worldview." -Dr. Gabor Maté

02/25/2021

Please take a moment to tell your legislators to vote YES to pass the Equality Act [HR5] when it comes to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

This legislation would provide nondiscrimination protections to our LGBTQ+ loved ones in employment, housing, education, credit, and public accommodations.
The Equality Act passed in the House today, but hasn't hit the Senate floor yet. Two years ago it passed in the House, but failed to get the necessary Senate votes. Hopefully this time will be different.

The time has come to pass the Equality Act, so that LGBTQ+ people will have the same rights and protections in the United States as all others.

02/11/2021

There are several reasons that therapists need the ability to practice across state lines, which you can read further about in the full petition. In my practice the biggest factor is with clients who primarily reside in PA and temporarily relocate out of state for college or job/internship opportunities.

Under the current regulations these clients are forced to start over with a new therapist in their state of temporary residence, and then return to see me when they are back home for winter and summer breaks.

These state-based limits also forbid a therapist from engaging in therapy any time a client is not physically in the state in which the therapist is licensed.
(Think: You're visiting family in another state and a crisis arises. It doesn't matter that we have an established and ongoing therapeutic relationship. It doesn't matter that I know your triggers, or I know what skills we've worked on to manage your stressors, your panic attacks, your trauma responses. If I am licensed only in Pennsylvania, we can't have a session until you and I are both here, in this state.)

Current licensing laws simply do not adequately address the continuity of care we owe to clients, and which is now so evidently available and effective via telehealth services.

We need a solution to the problems and major barriers created by state-by-state licensing limitations in mental health care.

This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign the petition here:

There are several reasons why counselors need the ability to get a national license, not one that ends at the state border. 1) Mental health needs are going to skyrocket in the aftermath of the pandemic. Creating an agile, responsive, national force of mental health workers that can respond to menta...

12/22/2020

Scientific studies prove over and over again that our language-- and specifically consistent language of gratitude-- can have a significant and lasting impact on mental health.

"...when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. This is striking as this effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time."

New research is starting to explore how gratitude works to improve our mental health.

10/22/2020

As cooler weather approaches prepare your warm clothes, heaviest coat, and clean masks for outdoor get-togethers, and get ready to revisit those Zoom calls with friends and family.

We maintain distance to protect our physical health, but please do not overlook the importance of social connections in caring for your mental health.

“Accept the fact that it might be a crappy winter. Don’t try to fight it. Let the emotions come. It’s a wave. It crashes over you, and then it passes.”

Mental health experts offer advice on how to handle the return to indoor life the cooler weather will bring.

08/10/2020

"You deserve to feel physically and emotionally safe. An argument with a stranger, staying in a space that doesn’t feel safe or not advocating for your needs won’t help you achieve that sense of safety. So prior to being in a difficult situation, think about how you’d like to handle it. You’ll be more likely to respond rather than react and feel better about it as a result."
A helpful quick read by Casey Swartz, LPC

On the list of public health recommendations known to help stem the global coronavirus pandemic, mask-wearing and social distancing are at the top. Unfortunately, complying with these basic public health measures has become politicized, leading some folks to refuse to do either or both.