Shannon Mick, NCC, LPC Finish Stronger Counseling

12/16/2025

Journal Prompts: Have a healthier relationship to food (free download)

Having a better relationship to food is about mindset, which takes unraveling the current messages you have been operating under and re-wiring the brain with messages that serve you.

This all starts out with discovering your current messages and limiting beliefs.

After completing these questions, go back through your answers and look for behavioral and emotional patterns.

What do you know now that you didn’t know before?

How can you improve your relationship to food?

How do you take action?

Do you need to speak with a professional for support?

Download these questions below and print them out.

- What does “food” mean to you? What do you associate food and eating with?

- What is your relationship to food like? Describe it like you would a relationship with an actual person.

- How does food make me feel? How do I wish I felt about food?

- Why do I eat?

- What 3 words describe my relationship to food right now? What 3 words do I wish did?

- What do I want food to do for me?

- Do you consider where food comes from or do you think of food as an end product?

- Are you a distracted eater or do you just eat? If you are a distracted eater, what usually distracts you?

- Do you record everything that you eat and drink? If so, what are your intentions behind it? Are your intentions healthy and appropriate?

- What are the negative thought before, during, and after eating? Eating very little? Eating just enough? Overeating? Binging?

- When, Where, and What is happening when you feel intense pulls toward food?...

These aren't even half of the journal prompts in the free download.

Having a better relationship to food is about mindset, which takes unraveling the current messages you have been operating under and re-wiring the brain.

12/15/2025

Gratitude practice:

Think to yourself, what are 1-3 things that happened in the last few days that you are grateful for.

Also consider, what have others done that has benefitted your life, even if you don't know who those people are.

12/02/2025

Exercise, Yoga, and Qi Gong for Managing Anxiety and Depression

I'm going to be sharing with everyone some recent research findings on a few exercise-based therapies for depression and anxiety. Hopefully some of this will be useful. Mental health, which includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being, affects the way that a person acts, thinks, and feels. It is now well-established that mental health issues can increase a person's risk of physical health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke....

I'm going to be sharing with everyone some recent research findings on a few exercise-based therapies for depression and anxiety. Hopefully some of this will...

11/25/2025

Grieving the Loss of a Child

In this article, you will learn about grief, symptoms, and questions to ask yourself as you go through grief.

There are five helpful resources for grieving parents, families and healing professionals:

The Miscarriage Map Workbook; Pregnancy and Infant Loss at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital; Pittsburgh Bereavement Doulas; David Kessler’s (grief expert) teachings; Healing Reflections for a Grieving Mom’s Heart.

I share my personal story about going through child loss twice, how I made it through the two most painful events of my life, and what I’m doing today to remember my babies.

There are 13 things that I’ve done to help me through this, including getting a beautiful miscarriage awareness and baby memorial tattoo. [Trigger warning: sad story about miscarriage]

https://finishstrongercounseling.com/2023/05/30/how-to-grieve-the-loss-of-a-child/

In this article, you will learn about grief, symptoms, and questions to ask yourself as you go through grief. There are five helpful resources for grieving

11/18/2025

Hyperarousal vs Hypoarousal: Regulate your nervous system after trauma

What is trauma?

Trauma is a deeply disturbing or distressing experience that can impact people physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

The emotional distress following experiencing a traumatic event can be greater than someone's ability to cope.

Whether the trauma is a single catastrophic event, like a car accident and a terrorist attack, or a long-term exposure to a traumatic environment, such as child abuse, domestic violence, and war, all human beings are vulnerable to trauma....

Trauma is a deeply disturbing or distressing experience that can impact people physically, psychologically, and emotionally. The emotional distress following...

11/14/2025

Things that you can do to get the most out of counseling

1. Be picky about who you work with and make sure that they’re a good fit. Find someone who you see yourself talking with and who specializes in what you need support with.

2. Supplement therapy by doing things outside of session. This can be reading credible mental health sources, journaling, doing a workbook and other mental health-related homework assignments throughout the week.

3. Do the homework assignments, even if they seem pointless because they are small. Simple assignments or therapeutic strategies can be effective. Trust that your counselor is giving you assignments and strategies that could be helpful...

Things that you can do to get the most out of counseling: 1. Be picky about who you work with and make sure that they're a good fit. Find someone who you see...

11/07/2025

Take your medicine today and everyday! I'm here to help if you want to work on these things.

- Routine

Let's build better habits together.

- Movement

Get moving! Whether you do yoga, hiking, lifting, cycling, running, whatever!

- Sleep

I've got some pretty good information on sleep, anxiety, and exercise. It is one of my favorite topics to discuss.

- Breath

Regulate your nervous system, slow down, live in the present, increase awareness, and take care.

- Consistency

I can help hold you accountable to your goals, so you can be more consistent.

- Laughter

I have a happiness tool kit for sprinkling happiness in the day-to-day.

- Storytelling

I'm all ears. We can unwrap difficult topics or discuss light-hearted ones.

Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions or want to learn more about working together.

(I'm supporting people in PA. Please share to reach others.)

11/05/2025

3 Mindfulness Strategies that Increase Positivity During Hard Times

1. Limit exposure

Limit the time you’re exposed to the situation.

Be informed, but limit the amount of news, media, social media, that you take in.

For social media, you can choose to follow and unfollow certain accounts and channels.

Use social media to build yourself up, promote positivity, and connect with non-toxic people.

Social media is a fantastic tool when used this way.

2. Practice reframing thoughts...

https://finishstrongercounseling.com/2021/09/06/3-mindful-strategies-to-increase-positivity-during-hard-times/

Limit the time you're exposed to the situation. Be informed, but limit the amount of news, media, social media, that you take in. For social media, you can...

11/04/2025

Dialectics (DBT) for a Flexible Mind

What are dialectics?
Dialectics relate to our theories and ideas, in terms of the OPPOSITE way we think. Here are some thinking patterns that we all experience, and get caught up in, it does us no favors to become stuck!:

▪︎ “All-or-nothing” thoughts.
▪︎ “Either-or” thoughts.
▪︎ “Black-and-white terms.”

These examples of thoughts are called cognitive distortions.

Instead of thinking this way, we should think in terms of seeing the shades of gray, between black-and-white thinking.

Practice being flexible and find middle-ground options in your behavior. Trying to see the opposing side.

Examples
▪︎ When in conflict, find something to agree about in the other person’s perspective.
▪︎ Instead of procrastinating on a task, break the ice with one or two small steps.
▪︎ Make a list of at least five positive qualities you (or someone else you are down on) have.

If you’re stuck in the above thought patterns, try the opposite.

Look at the other side of things. We often default to the negative side of situations or ourselves. We can be critical and harsh. Look at the opposite side of the dialect...

https://finishstrongercounseling.com/2020/06/02/dialects-dbt/

Dialectics relate to our theories and ideas, in terms of the OPPOSITE way we think. Here are some thinking patterns that we all experience, and get caught up...

10/29/2025

Digital detox is a great topic that many of my clients are asking about, so let's talk about it. Our phones and screens can cause significant distress because they are frequently grasping for our attention. When we turn to them, we can lose touch with reality and the importance of self-care and emotional well-being. About detoxing Let's look at the first step in detoxing....

Digital detox is a great topic that many of my clients are asking about, so let's talk about it. Our phones and screens can cause significant distress because