My Stories
My blog, essays and articles feature stories on healing from trauma, coping with disorder and practicing mindfulness
What Receiving a Bipolar Diagnosis in My 40s Says About Me
I’d been struggling again. And was feeling suicidal. So I decided to make an appointment with yet another psychiatrist. It had been three years since my last psychiatric evaluation. I was long overdue. It took me months to get in with this new natural psychiatrist. Then I was assigned a PA. I like the PA I see. She listens. And seems to genuinely want help. Not something that’s always....
Chronic Pain, PTSD and Trauma: Using Yoga to Let Go of Pain (and 5 Tips for Getting Started)
When I first started yoga, I would cry. Every time I was challenged with a new pose my body didn’t know how to hold, the tears would flow. I would feel defeated. Like I couldn’t do it. Couldn't get it [...]
PTSD, SPD and Trauma: What It Means to Ground Yourself (+5 Tips for Grounding)
I recently shared my story with a group of people, and we started discussing what happens when one dissociates—leaves one’s body—and how one can learn how to ground oneself again. Which led to a conversation about what grounding is. Grounding [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: Learning the Mindfulness of Observing (and 5 Tips for Observing)
One of the most useful things I’ve learned during trauma recovery has been to observe. It’s the simplest idea, yet one of the more difficult things to do. It's when you remove yourself from your emotions, from your feelings, from [...]
Burnout: When You Just Can’t Take It Anymore (+8 Tips for Feeling Better)
I’ve been hearing a lot about burnout lately. That place you get to where you can’t handle it anymore. Where you can’t take it. When you feel as if you don’t even care. And you’re over it all. I find [...]
Bipolar, Depression and PTSD: How to Deal with Let Downs and Lows (and 9 Tips for Managing Them)
Feeling let down by things isn’t fun for anyone. But when you’re bipolar or if you suffer from PTSD or depression, and your lows can get low, feeling let down can be a dangerous thing. When I’m let down by [...]
Anxiety, Depression and Trauma: How Scheduling My Day Helps Me Make It through the Day (+5 Tips for Successful Scheduling)
I started working from home in 2017. When my PTSD and SPD made it too hard to be in the classroom. When my boss was kind enough to let me teach online. And I’ve taught online ever since. While working [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: How Practicing Self-care Helps Me Find Myself Post-trauma (+5 Steps to Assessing Your Self-care)
Self-care was a new concept to me when I first started learning about it in my late 30s. After my repressed trauma had surfaced. And it was by practicing self-care that I was able to find my way back to [...]
Anxiety, Depression and Trauma: Meeting Yourself Where You’re at (+6 Journaling Tips to Get There)
I recently read an article that discussed feeling sad at the beginning of a new year, and it made me think of the concept I learned during trauma recovery of meeting yourself where you’re at. A concept that saved me [...]
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: Building Confidence by Setting Goals (And How You Can too)
In setting my goals for the new year, I realized that one of the things that stops me from thriving is my confidence. Or lack of. It’s like I can do the things I’ve always done (which at some point [...]
PTSD and Trauma: How Having Hobbies Saves Me from Depression and Helps Me Be Mindful (+5 Tips for Getting a Hobby Started)
For decades, having hobbies was a foreign concept to me. Doing mindful things in my free time wasn’t possible because there was no free time. I spent so much of my time surviving that I wasn’t living. I knew how [...]
PTSD and Trauma: Taking Back Christmas
It has been four years since my repressed trauma surfaced. And since my worst memory was from Christmas Eve, it has also been four years since I’ve celebrated Christmas. But this year, I’m taking Christmas back. For four years, [...]
10 Ways to Connect to Our Interoceptive Sense to Help With PTSD
I didn’t know I was having a fight-or-flight response. For 23 years. A response that sent me flying outside of my body — dissociating — every time I became triggered. When there was too much sensory input. When I [...]
“Loved reading this Jenna, what a great explanation of how your OT helped you. I have taken a few tips for a client of mine I am treating at the moment! Great post. Cheers!”
JAYNE OT