I’ve often wondered what our world might look like if there were less ‘hang-ups’ about seeking treatment in the form of psychotherapy or counselling. I imagine that most of us who provide this treatment as well as those who choose to receive treatment aren’t as impacted by those who choose not to seek support or delay their therapy or counselling. …
What Would You Like More Of In 2016?
When I think of 2016, there is one word that I hope to describe this year to be. This word is TRANSFORMATIVE. During this time of year, you will usually find that I am on a journey to inspire others to re-assess or to create a personal vision, mission and values statement that will align them to a life that …
The ‘Super Woman’ Syndrome: 5 Tips to Balance our Lives
What comes to your mind when you think of a South Asian “Super Woman”? Do you picture her in a saree, salvaar kameez or in that red & blue onesy? How you answer this question may give you an idea of the challenges that each of us women are facing in balancing our versions of the East and West in …
Parenting 101: Positive Skills To Nurture A “Successful” Child
So are you going to go to school to be a doctor, an engineer or something of a similar [professional] caliber? Being born into a South Asian family myself, these questions remain common amongst most the first and second generations of newcomers. Parents worked hard to immigrate to a country wherein their children are given an opportunity for a better …
Living Your Dream Life
Since ancient times, many wars have been fought battling the ‘good’ armies versus the ‘bad’ armies. But what does this mean to us in our modern day lives? Perhaps we can extend this ancient good versus evil concept towards developing ourselves. In today’s world, each of us has personal battles between the good and evil forces within us. Evil aspects …
What Is Beauty?
Have you ever wondered why you even need to change or redefine what you consider to be “beautiful”? I recently went away for my holidays to Mexico and decided to get my hair braided into “corn rows” or “dreads” because of the extreme heat and humidity as I was unable to manage my curly and unruly hair. It was also …
What Is Your Parenting Style?
Parenting can be a hugely stressful yet rewarding experience. For most parents, the ultimate goal is to raise children who are healthy, happy, well-behaved, well-adjusted and resilient as adults. However, the means to achieve this goal for kids through ‘good parenting’ has been debated for centuries. For example, punishment has been a type of discipline used to curb ‘bad’ behaviour …
What does being a ‘Canadian’ mean to you?
When I was growing up as a young girl, I wanted to desperately ‘fit in’ with the rest of my classmates. During our primary school days, my sister and I were the only children who looked racially ‘different’ from the rest of the students in our elementary school. We had ‘brown skin’ and many of the children were unwelcoming to …
Mental Health for Newcomers
Mental health services for Canadian newcomers have huge gaps to help understand and support our communities as they are increasingly becoming more culturally diverse. People who are new to this country and who are experiencing the migration or settlement and re-settlement stages are under a tremendous amount of stress. During the stages of resettlement: loss, and adaptation, and during the …
South Asian Mental Health Action & Awareness (SAMHAA)
Mental Health and Wellness knows no nationality, race, colour, culture, community, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation, or profession. In fact, it impacts and is impacted by all areas of one’s social, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and financial health. Canadian society has begun to shift its focus entirely from the ‘problems’ and reducing these ‘problems’ to focusing on how we …