Greater Valley Behavioral Health by Justin Biske

As a licensed counselor with years of experience in helping clients overcome their mental health challenges through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), I know firsthand how effective this type of therapy can be. CBT focuses on changing negative thought patterns and behaviors to improve overall mental health and wellbeing. In this article, I'll explore how I use CBT to help my clients and the practical steps you can take to incorporate CBT into your own mental health routine. Step 1: Identify negative thought patterns. The first step in CBT is to identify negative thought patterns, also known as cognitive distortions. Examples of cognitive distortions include black-and-white thinking, catastrophizing, and overgeneralization. I help my clients identify these negative patterns and work to replace them with more positive, rational thoughts. Step 2: Challenge Negative Thoughts Once negative thought patterns have been identified, I help my clients challenge them by looking for...

As a mental health counselor, I see many clients who struggle with work-related stress. Long hours, tight deadlines, and heavy workloads can all take a toll on your mental and physical health. However, there are steps you can take to reduce work stress and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Here are five ways to reduce work stress that I recommend: Practice self-care: Take care of yourself by eating well, getting enough sleep, and engaging in physical activity. This can help you manage stress more effectively and improve your overall well-being. Establish work boundaries: Set clear boundaries between work and home life. Establish times when you will not check work emails or take work-related calls. This can help you recharge and focus on personal relationships and activities. Use relaxation techniques: practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga. These techniques can help reduce stress levels and improve mental clarity. Prioritize tasks: Cre...

Photo by Justin Biske When life throws you difficult or distressing situations, it can be hard to know how to navigate them. Let’s look at coping skills for your daily life.  One of our most powerful coping tools is learning coping skills and understanding coping mechanisms. These strategies involve taking action or changing a situation rather than avoiding the emotion or problem altogether. By understanding coping skills and how to use them in your daily life effectively, you can better manage difficult emotions in a healthy way. In this blog post, we’ll discuss coping mechanisms, different coping strategies, and tips for finding coping methods that work best for you. Let’s get started! WHAT ARE COPING SKILLS?  Coping skills are coping mechanisms that help us to manage stress and emotions. They can be either short-term coping strategies that help us in the moment, such as deep breathing or counting to ten. Or they can be longer-term coping strategies that involve changi...

5 ways pets help your mental health Pets can reduce work-related stress. Two out of three employees say work stresses them out and 40% say their job gets in the way of their health. Studies show that pets in the workplace help reduce stress and improve employee satisfaction. Pets can help increase productivity, wherever you work. When a dog joins a virtual meeting, group members rank their teammates higher on trust, team cohesion and camaraderie. Pets help manage anxiety. Now more than ever, many people are feeling anxious or struggling with mental health. Pets provide companionship and support. Pets can help you be more active. They give you a reason to get outside, get some fresh air and get active, which is proven to improve your mood, sleep and mental health. Pets provide a sense of togetherness. The bond with a pet helps you to not feel alone. When owners see, touch, hear or talk to their companion animals, it brings a sense of goodwill, joy, nurturing and happiness.

Question: A central concept in most psychodynamic theories is a belief in the importance of the unconscious in understanding the human psyche”. Counselor's who work with recent refugees from war-torn countries, might view the explanation for unexplained physical problems refugees are experiencing such as temporary blindness, episodic memory loss, and insomnia. Answer:  I think the counselor would view these "unexplained physical problems" as psychosomatic issues stemming from the trauma of war. That the deep emotional trauma from this type of experience has manifested it-self in a physical way for the refugees. There are biological factors such has chemicals warfare that could cause mass unexplained symptoms, but the symptoms described (blindness, episodic memory loss, and insomnia) all sound like symptoms of PTSD; or to be more culturally sensitive, PTSR (Post Traumatic Stress Reaction) *** Just learned that in my "Counseling and Helping Professions" class, so ...

Question: Freud’s radical idea that an individual’s physical problems might be best alleviated by a “talking cure” served as the foundation for many more theoretical approaches over the past 100 years.  Even today, at the beginning of the 21 st century, the many forms of psychodynamic therapy are used by mental health professionals worldwide.  In your opinion, why has Freud’s theory had such enduring and “staying” power for so many years? Answer: I think the simple reason that psychodynamic/ "talk therapy" has had such staying power is because it works. As Breuer helped to discover with Anna O., psychological trauma can manifest itself with somatic symptoms. Personally I don't think I've had any psychosomatic issues due to trauma, or certainly none serious enough that I've taken notice. I have had two friends that had serious back problems due to psychological trauma. Both ended up having several back surgeries, and had to go through the long arduous p...

Question: There is an ongoing debate about whether counseling/psychotherapy is an art or a science. Michael Mahoney wrote in 1991 "the  person'  of the therapist is at least eight times more influential than his or her theoretical orientation and/or use of specific therapeutic techniques”.  What does Mahoney’s conclusion mean to you?  What implications might it have for your development as a professional counselor?  I think the debate of art vs. science in any field is really a debate about  the convergence of  creativity and fundamentals. When beginning to take on the task of learning any subject whether it be psychotherapy, cooking, or the guitar we usually start with the basics. Answer:  An aspiring chef’s first year in culinary school is spent making stocks and bases.   When a child starts guitar lessons, they spend the majority of their time learning finger placement, scales, and rudimentary songs such as “Row, R...