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resource articles
Resource Articles
Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness – How to Combat Symptoms This Winter
The winter months can be long, cold, and dark. Sometimes, so much so that the weather can cause individuals to develop a form of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). While many individuals may feel the “blah” of the winter blues or challenges related...
Reframing Mental Health as Brain Health
Our brains are astonishingly complex organs, orchestrating everything from the fleeting pulse of thought to our deepest of our emotions. Yet, when discussing mental well-being, mental health, or eating disorders, we often resort to language that feels distant and...
Recognizing and Overcoming Stress, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue
Imagine this: your to-do list stretches like a never-ending scroll, deadlines loom like thunderclouds, and the constant emotional demands of life feel like a weight pinning you down. You're tired, yes, but it's a different kind of tired. This isn't simply the fatigue...
School Refusal: Why It May Be More Than You Think
Imagine this: the alarm clock blares, sunlight streams through the window, and a new day stretches before you. But for some children and teenagers, this isn't a fresh start, it's a descent into anxiety. Every fiber of their being screams against the thought of...
The Gift of Selflessness and How It Can Impact Your Mental Well-Being
The holidays are a time of giving, serving, and appreciating what you have. These expressions of gratitude may be easier for some than they are for others for a variety of reasons, including where one may be “at” in a recovery journey or what’s going on with their...
Treatment Avoidance: Why It’s a Problem and How We Can Help
Seeking help for an eating disorder or other mental health condition can be incredibly difficult. Between societal stigma, financial barriers, and the challenging nature of vulnerability inherent in therapy, treatment avoidance is incredibly common across many...
5 Things to Know About Dialectical Behavior Therapy
The creator of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), Dr. Marsha M. Linehan, once wrote that "It is hard to be happy without a life worth living. This is a fundamental tenet of DBT." Now, while this statement may seem relatively straightforward on its face, it is, of...
School and Mental Health Treatment
It may be summer, but we all know school is right around the corner. That makes this the perfect time to reflect on school and what it can mean for mental health and eating disorder treatment. In our work with adolescents, we often see school attendance used as an...
More than Movement: Working Through Transference
In many ways, my role as a movement specialist makes me out to be something of a boogie man. When some clients are faced with doing movement, the facilitator often becomes the object of their transference. For example, if you have a client who struggles with doing...
Belonging: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by Design
June is Pride Month, and a time for us to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. It's also a time for us to ensure that we are doing enough to make our spaces as inclusive and affirming as possible. Galen Hope Co-Founder Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt explains that inclusivity is a...
The Benefits of Expressive Arts and Experiential Therapy
The 19th-century composer Felix Mendelssohn once said, “The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” Of course, this concept goes well beyond the world of classical music. Though it might not be the first place one might imagine, this concept is critical in the...
Why Your Transitional Recovery Program Makes All the Difference
At Galen Hope, we believe very strongly in a transitional recovery plan for our clients. It is important to understand the benefits of this type of treatment model. Transitional recovery may begin with a partial hospitalization program (PHP) and may move into a tiered...
Looking at World Schizophrenia Day
Like many mental health conditions, schizophrenia is not well understood. For many the diagnosis is rather frightening. Schizophrenia is a highly stigmatized condition, and many people with the disorder face discrimination and prejudice in various aspects of their...
Self-Compassion: What Exactly Is Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)?
Mental illness can rob us of so much. It can strain our relationships, upset our professional and academic lives and deplete our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. However, it can also rob us of something just as important and extremely intimate: our...
6 Things We Can All Do To Support Mental Health Awareness
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Every year during the month of May, NAMI joins the national movement to raise awareness about...
You Are Not Alone: Understanding the Prevalence of Mental Health Disorders
It is now widely believed that "[M]ore than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness." This is a pretty intense statistic, but pointing out this statistic is not meant to be discouraging. However, it could certainly come across that way. No, for those of us...
All About Autism: Traits and Tips
This Autism Acceptance Month, we wanted to take a closer look at what autism is, and discuss some of the characteristic traits that autistic people may display. Then, continuing our discussion about affirming care, we share some ways that autistic people and their...
Affirming Care and Autism Acceptance
April is Autism Awareness Month, and April 2nd is World Autism Acceptance Day. As awareness of neurodiversity grows, there is a growing need for healthcare providers like us to offer affirming care for autistic individuals. And, as we’ve described before, at Galen...
Exposure Therapy for Eating Disorder Treatment
The renowned 20th-century psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl once said, “When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.” At its core, this is what exposure therapy aims to do. It aims to help us face our fears and anxieties, not...
recognized for the highest quality of care

The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.
A renowned mental health care and eating disorders treatment center, Galen Hope is the recipient of The Joint Commission’s accreditation, a prestigious designation awarded to health care organizations recognized for exceeding the highest national standards for safety and quality of patient care.