What is Perinatal Mental Health?

Yes, you read that right! Perinatal mental health, not just Postpartum Depression. It is becoming more known but still important to get the word out that mental health challenges can impact parents during any stage of pregnancy and up to 1 year postpartum, not just right after the baby is born. Perinatal mental health also encompasses so much more than...

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Also referred to as SAD, seasonal affective disorder is classified by the DSM-5 (essentially the therapy bible of all disorders) as “major depression with a seasonal pattern.” Typically this means a depressive period that usually occurs in the winter and is resolved by the spring. While there can be summertime episodes, this isn’t often...

The air begins to get cooler in the mornings, it gets darker in the evenings just past dinner time, and before you know it daylight savings time is here and gone and we enter the darkness of winter. Along with the leaves changing, flowers and grass becoming dormant and our bodies undergo multiple changes with the seasons, some are more noticeable than others. As for the body, your...

What comes to mind when you think of the word “Rest”?  Refreshed, restart, new.... guilt, a waste of time?  Those are some of the words that Claudia Hammond’s research participants came up with in a study which was done across 135 different countries with 18,000 participants.  Claudia found that though many people define rest differently there were some things...

Sometimes the hardest part of doing anything is simply starting. 

Starting a new skincare regimen, workout program, Bible study, reading plan, eating habit or really anything- it can all be challenging. If we take time to simply learn how to just start, it can help us so much in the long run. 

Here are 5 tips to help you start a solid self care routine:

1. Determine areas of your life...

Earlier this month IOME announced that things are changing. Well, now is the time to tell you how things are changing. 

IOME is launching three brand new membership types. There are components that are staying the same like: 

• discounted therapy
• discounted self care services and products from business partners
• weekly check-ins and accountability 
• monthly included...

Hopefully you've heard the news that things are changing in IOME. If you haven't here's a quick recap: because of the growth of IOME, the membership structure is changing. The intent is to create an all-encompassing 'one-stop-shop' for all things self care. 

Starting January 1, 2021 IOME will provide three new levels of memberships: 

Community 

Community +

Community + Pro

...

If you are someone who has been a member or a supporter of IOME for awhile now, you have probably heard over and over again how important community is to our mission. 

IOME has created, and is growing, its community of like-minded people who share similar attitudes, interests and goals of practicing consistent self care. 

Big things are coming to the IOME community. Are you...

Loneliness effects more than 55 million adults, that's more than double the number of those who have diabetes. 

Nearly 22% of Americans say they often or always feel lonely or socially isolated. 

This was all from a 2018 report by Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation. Can you imagine what those numbers must look like now with the rules around limiting social interaction with...

National Self Care Day is on July 24th. The reason why it's on this day (7/24) is because the benefits of intentional self care are felt 24/7. If you're practicing self care on a regular, or somewhat regular basis, you should be able to feel the difference all day, everyday.

So, this probably brings up a good question: what is self care?

Self care is the practice of taking an active role in...