Orlando Counseling : Harmony Counseling Group

This from Amanda Smith, President of the Florida Borderline Personality Disorder Association:

FBPDA friend and supporter, Amanda Wang, has been instrumental in educating her peers, families, and mental health professionals in Orlando, Tampa and surrounding areas about borderline personality disorder by sharing her own personal story.

Amanda recently interviewed Frank Yeomans, MD and has posted the video online. You can watch Understanding the BPD Mind and BPD, Treatment & Assumptions by going to our web site. 

Both videos are well worth watching. Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t wait to register for our April 23 conference! Click here for more information!

For more information or apointments for mental health therapy and counseling in the Orlando, Winter Park areas, call 407.835.3673 today!

This from Amanda Smith, President of the Florida Borderline Personality Disorder Association:

Please join us and Tampa-based psychiatrist, Emily Lazarou, MD, at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:00 pm for an important discussion about the use of medications in the treatment for borderline personality disorder.

This presentation is open to individuals diagnosed with BPD, their families, and mental health professionals. Seating for this event is limited and there is a cost of $10 per person.

Please RSVP by e-mailing us at amanda.smith@fbpda.org.

For mental health counseling and therapy in the Orlando, Winter Park areas, call for an appointment today! 407.835.3673.

This from Amanda Smith, President of the Florida Borderline Personality Disorder Association:
Please join us at St. Petersburg College’s EpiCenter in Clearwater on Friday, April 23 at 8:00 am for our latest conference.

While borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex and serious mental illness, it’s important for healthcare professionals to understand that BPD is also highly treatable. This one-day conference will provide an overview of evidence-based treatment and care practices that actively promote and encourage recovery. At the conclusion of the program attendees will be able to describe the longitudinal course of BPD including etiology, prognosis, and remittance of DSM-IV-TR criteria over the course of the illness; describe the role of neuroplasticity in effective treatment; outline a theoretical model of recovery; and identify the obstacles to recovery from a patient’s perspective.

Individuals diagnosed with BPD and their families are strongly encouraged to attend.

Conference Sponsors

· The Good Prognosis Diagnosis: Exploring the Myths Surrounding BPD. Stacy Louk, PhD
· Emotional Regulation Strategies for Clients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Aaron Norton, LMHC, CAP
· Neuroplasticity: Significance in Treatment and Prognosis in Psychiatric Illness with Specific Implications for BPD. Emily Lazarou, MD
· I’ll Have What She’s Having: The Realities of Recovery. Gisele Requena, MA
· In the Here and Now: Strategies for Mindfulness. Joan Dyer, LCSW and Janet Waye, LCSW
· Helping Patients with BPD Overcome Emptiness: Plugging the Hole and Filling the Cup. Mardie Chapman, MA
· The Role of Family in Treatment for BPD. Nancy Gordon, LCSW

Please see FBPDA for more info!

For counseling and therapy in the Orlando, Winter Park areas,

please call 407.835,3673 for an appointment today!

 For Events and Resources in the Tampa area for your children:

This article adapted from Playful Post Pinellas County Please look through the issue & reply to playfulpost@gmail.com. 

Showing Love Every Day…  Beyond Valentine’s
 How can you show Love to everyone in your life every day?

2. Respond promptly and lovingly to physical and emotional needs. 

Banish put-downs from your vocabulary.  Be available to listen when he/she wants to talk with you.

3. When someone is angry, argumentative or in a bad mood, offer him or her a hug, cuddle, pat, secret sign or other gesture of affection he favors and then talk with him about it when he’s feeling better.
 
4. Make plans to spend time together doing something he or she enjoys. 

If there are several people, break up into Quality Time Pairs for an hour.
 
5. Mark family game nights on your calendar so the entire family can be together. 

Put a different family member’s name under each date, and have that person choose which game will be played.
 
6. Go to the park, zoo, or aquarium. 

Watching or playing with an animal can make people, feel better by stimulating physical activity, enhancing their overall attitude, and offering constant companionship of a pet.
 
7. Cook together; encourage good food choices by cooking together. 

Get involved in the entire process, from planning the menus to shopping for ingredients to the actual food preparation and its serving. It is wonderful when families eat together as much as possible. Good food, good conversations. 
 
8. Strengthen bonds through strengthening health- body, mind and spirit. 

Create active routines in your daily life by going to bicycle rides together, or practice Rollerblading, walking, yoga, sports and other athletics together.  Go to the library, find & read books about your hobbies together. 

9. Foster positive relationships with friends, siblings and members of the community.  Volunteer together.
 
10. Don’t forget to say, “I love you” to children of all ages!

For counseling and mental health appointments in the Orlando, Winter Park areas, call 407.835.3673