Understanding and Reframing Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is often misunderstood and stigmatized. At Boreal Therapy Collective, we offer compassionate, evidence-based care to help you experience symptom relief and improve your emotional wellbeing.
Mental Illness Is Real: Evidence You Should Know
Mental illness is often misunderstood and stigmatized, which can prevent people from seeking the support they need. Learn more about what causes mental illness and how treatment can be effective with Boreal Therapy Collective.
How to Effectively Co-Parent During a High-Conflict Separation or Divorce
Boreal Therapy Collective offers therapy for co-parenting during high-conflict separation and divorces. This transition can be tumultuous and seeking support can be one of the best decisions you make. Learn how to establish your communication boundaries, let go of ideals, avoid badmouthing the other parent, learn your own parenting style, and more with Boreal Therapy Collective.
How to Cope With Seasonal Depression (No Matter How Dark and Gloomy It Is!)
Boreal Therapy Collective offers therapy for seasonal depression (seasonal affective disorder). Learn how to cope with the dark and cold gloomy months by getting more time outside, staying connected with friends, prioritizing your physical health, getting consistent sleep, and reaching out for medical support (if needed).
6 Important Reasons to Consider Therapy After a Breakup
Boreal Therapy Collective offers therapy for coping with breakups and other challenging life transitions. It may be beneficial to seek professional support if you’re struggling with difficult emotions, feeling stuck, experiencing low self-esteem, or engaging in unhealthy behaviours after a relationship ends.
What Depression Is (And What It Isn't)
Boreal Therapy Collective offers an overview of depression including the symptoms of depressive disorders, the various types of depressive and mood disorders, the causes of depression, and treatment options for depression, including cognitive behavioural therapy and play-based therapy. We suggest seeking professional support if you or a loved one is struggling with depression.
8 Guidelines to Consider When Choosing a Therapist
Boreal Therapy Collective offers eight guidelines to consider when looking for a therapist. We suggest considering your personal preferences, the therapist’s approach, training, registration, credentials, whether they have a protected title, and their affiliation with the Health Professions Act, your personal finances, the hours of operation, and goodness of fit.
How Parents Should Discuss and Approach Suicide With Their Teenagers
Boreal Therapy Collective explains how parents should talk to children, tweens, teens, youth, and young adults about suicide. We suggest having an open dialogue, acknowledge your child’s mental health, ask what your child thinks and knows about suicide, understand the risk factors, refrain from providing immediate solutions or advice, know when to seek professional help, and do not blame yourself. Consider therapy for suicide ideation, including CBT and DBT.
Social Inclusion: What It Is & Why It Matters So Much
At Boreal Therapy Collective, we are passionate about delivering mental health care that is socially inclusive. To be more socially inclusive, we recommend using respectful and inclusive language, recognizing your biasses, challenging discrimination when you face it, continuing to educate yourself, honouring your growth process, and being mindful of your privilege.
When Emotions Feel Too Big, Here’s What You Can Do
Boreal Therapy Collective explains how to navigate big emotions. We recommend naming how you feel, riding the wave of emotion, expressing the emotion, sharing the emotion, implementing more mindfulness, and considering therapy.
Why Self-Compassion Is Your Superpower (And How to Cultivate It)
Boreal Therapy Collective explains how children, teens, and adults can cultivate self-compassion. We suggest identifying your patterns of self-judgement, leaning on shared humanity, considering being more neutral with yourself, practicing more mindfulness, taking to yourself as you would a friend, and validating yourself more often.
Do You Need to Set Better Boundaries With Your Friends?
Boreal Therapy Collective offers eight guidelines to consider when assessing boundaries in your friendships. Signs of poor friendship boundaries include always saying yes, not communicating your needs clearly, often feeling hurt, gossiping about your friends (or friends gossiping about you), feeling unsupported, dreading spending time with friends, feeling as though friends “just want something from you”, and frequently being passive-aggressive or aggressive with your friends.
Understanding Self-Harm
Boreal Therapy Collective explains the reasons behind self-harm behaviour. Reasons include tension release, seeking control, self-punishment, compulsive behaviour, peer pressure, using physical pain to cope with emotional pain, a way to cope with mental health challenges, and low self-esteem. We recommend reaching out to a therapist for support to navigate self-harm behaviour as soon as possible.
How to Understand and Release Anger Effectively
Boreal Therapy Collective explains how to understand and release anger. Strategies include accepting your feelings, practice pausing, take a few deep breaths, get physically active, consider creative expression, be patient with yourself, and seek therapy when needed.
Your Thoughts Might Be Tricking You: How to Restructure Negative Beliefs
Boreal Therapy Collective explains how to challenge negative automatic thoughts. Strategies include recognizing your cognitive distortions, practicing cognitive restructuring and cognitive reframing, allowing yourself to imagine worst case scenarios, pretending that you’re talking to a friend, remembering that thoughts do not dictate actions, and reaching out for therapy if you need support.