Leslie Garcia Leslie Garcia

Millennials: From Crisis to Community

Over the last two weeks, we have discussed 2 characteristics that make the millennial generation unlike any other before it: their impressive entrepreneurial spirit and the acute stress they suffer. Yet, there is another distinguishing trait that makes millennials stand out: millennials will utilize social media to promote and fund a charitable organization. In fact, an extraordinary 94% of millennials prefer to use their skills to benefit a cause.

Over the last two weeks, we have discussed 2 characteristics that make the millennial generation unlike any other before it: their impressive entrepreneurial spirit and the acute stress they suffer. Yet, there is another distinguishing trait that makes millennials stand out: millennials will utilize social media to promote and fund a charitable organization. In fact, an extraordinary 94% of millennials prefer to use their skills to benefit a cause.

As we face the 9/11 anniversary, many millennials will have memories of a previous school day marked by loss and horror. The current political climate, devastating hurricanes, and the uncertainty of the Dreamers (DACA) legislation could also have a negative impact on mental health with feelings of helplessness, nervousness, and hopelessness.  If these feelings are ignored, there is a risk of developing anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or depression.  

At Counseling Space, P.C., our focus is to empower millennials to turn to community so that crisis becomes the energy behind creation! In recognition of September as Suicide Prevention Month and the fact that there are very few mental health and wellness resources tailored to the millennial population, we created the MILLENNIAL MINDS! Support Group for Millennial Women.

Why millennial women? Because millennial women are the MOST stressed of the millennials; many quoting stress as the prime factor preventing them from making healthy lifestyle changes.

This group is designed to empower these millennial women to live with intention by enhancing their self-awareness, improving their mental well-being, exploring problem-solving techniques and so much MORE! Our supportive group sessions start on Tuesday, September 19th and space is LIMITED with only 8 slots available (see flyer for more details).

Lastly, here are some additional resources for those needing more immediate assistance with understanding the rights of Dreamers (DACA), the destruction of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the weight of this week’s 9/11 commemorations:

Please feel free to share the flyer and information in this post with those you believe it would benefit. 

Stay tuned for our final Millennial Monday blog post next week, and have a great week!

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Leslie Garcia Leslie Garcia

The Millennial Entrepreneurial Spirit

Today, Labor Day is an official federal holiday with most taking advantage of the long weekend to plan mini vacations. But there’s one group for whom this day off may just be a suggestion to get more accomplished: millennial entrepreneurs!

Today, Labor Day is an official federal holiday with most taking advantage of the long weekend to plan mini vacations. But there’s one group for whom this day off may just be a suggestion to get more accomplished: millennial entrepreneurs!

In an environment of intense competition, most millennials believe that career success requires independence, inventiveness, and adaptability. Millennials are also less interested in managing others and climbing the corporate ladder than in owning their own businesses. Profit and purpose are inextricably linked for this self-determining generation.

Every day, millennial entrepreneurs are adding to a growing number of companies in both the traditional and non-traditional sectors. Millennial entrepreneurs are starting businesses a decade earlier than Boomers, launching in their mid-twenties versus the late thirties. Worldwide, the average millennial entrepreneur would have already started 7 companies by the age of 35. Their investible wealth now exceeds 5.6 billion.

However, outside of an unforgiving economy and mountains of student loan debt, the top 3 challenges that women business owners face are a limited access to funding and few industry-specific mentoring and skills development programs. They also experience the absence of resources that address the need for relationship building, time and stress management and increased self-confidence.

It is clear that millennial women entrepreneurs need to be guided in protecting their mental health just as fiercely and courageously as their ambition! At Counseling Space, P.C., the MILLENNIAL MINDS! Support Group for Millennial Women was created to fulfill this need. This group is designed to enhance self-awareness, improve mental well-being, explore problem-solving techniques and MORE!

Our supportive group sessions start on Tuesday, September 19th and space is LIMITED with only 8 slots available (see flyer for more details). Over the next 2 Mondays, we will share valuable insights into the stress and future outlook for millennials in our MILLENNIAL MONDAYS blog post series!

In the meantime, please feel free to share the flyer and information in this post with those you believe it would benefit. 

Stay tuned for next Monday’s post, and enjoy your Labor Day festivities!

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Leslie Garcia Leslie Garcia

Millennial Women and Their Mental Health

Every generation has a defining word. The word for the Millennial Generation is: STRESSED. Numerous surveys conducted by the American Psychological Association found that millennials experience twice as much anxiety as the generations before and are much less equipped to manage it.

Every generation has a defining word. The word for the Millennial Generation is: STRESSED. Numerous surveys conducted by the American Psychological Association found that millennials experience twice as much anxiety as the generations before and are much less equipped to manage it.

Some other words to describe the Millennial Generation are: ambitious, highly educated, confident, and entitled. Millennials are addicted to ambition in an academic and professional climate of intense competition and debt. However, this generation also lives in an age with limitless options for material goods, media content, career possibilities, and lifestyles. They are paralyzed by choice, ambition addiction, career crises, debt and, most significantly, a lack of connection. These stressors all lead to poor sleep and eating habits and an inclination towards unhealthy coping strategies like substance and Internet abuse and involuntary isolation.

It is this isolation that truly hurts millennials! Much of their stress and psychological burden are lessened significantly by connecting to a supportive social network. This is the call we are answering at Counseling Space, P.C. with our Support Group: “MILLENNIAL MINDS!” for Millennial Women.

Why millennial women? Because millennial women are the MOST stressed: 51% losing sleep worrying at night compared to 32% of men. Millennial women based in just New York experience depression 15 more days per year than millennial men.

Our supportive group sessions start on Tuesday, September 19th (see flyer for more details). Over the next 3 Mondays, we will share valuable insights into the stress and future outlook for millennials in our MILLENNIAL MONDAYS blog post series! In light of next week’s Labor Day celebrations, our upcoming post will touch on the bold entrepreneurial spirit of millennials.

If you want to learn about our group, or are interested in seeking individual services, click here to schedule a free consultation.

In the meantime, please feel free to share the flyer and information in this post with those you believe it would benefit.

Stay tuned for next Monday’s post, and have a great week!

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Leslie Garcia Leslie Garcia

Politically Stressed

It isn’t so easy when the bizarre place you find yourself in is home and the only one you have ever known!

It is even more difficult when you realize that what you are seeing on the news, reading in the headlines, and overhearing while on your commute is not fictitious.

In fact, it is real. So very real.

It isn’t so easy when the bizarre place you find yourself in is home and the only one you have ever known!

It is even more difficult when you realize that what you are seeing on the news, reading in the headlines, and overhearing while on your commute is not fictitious.

In fact, it is real. So very real.

Many of us anticipated some level of post-election turmoil, but not to this degree.  As a woman of color living within the covert and institutionalized systems that have oppressed many, I am no longer surprised by the horrific activities that populate our news feeds with alarming regularity.

Yes, even as a native New Yorker, I am keenly aware of the indirect racism cues that thrive even in my own backyard. I also believe that building and maintaining self-awareness is extremely essential more so now.  I can understand the level of shock one can experience, but if you study and observe the events as a sequence with identifiable causes and effects (although unthinkable in some cases), it will help you to be mentally prepared.

Instead of fueling anger, I chose to empower you with an Anti-Stress Movement Checklist for challenging times. If you can do, at least, half these activities, and be consistent, you will be better equipped to cope and not lose yourself to despair which, I believe, is the goal of the haters. ADD your e-mail below to download the checklist now!

If you find your political stress is too overwhelming, book a free consultation. I have opened more slots, and I am here to listen. Trust me, I get it.


ANTI-STRESS MOVEMENT CHECKLIST REQUEST FORM

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Leslie Garcia Leslie Garcia

The Power of Seeking Help Through Therapy

Too many of us die too soon because we did not speak.

Last month's news of the suicide of Linkin Park’s lead singer, Chester Bennington, left fans
and followers reeling in surprise and shock. But should we still be surprised when it has
become so common that those whose lives seem so perfect — take their lives?

Too many of us die too soon because we did not speak.

Last month's news of the suicide of Linkin Park’s lead singer, Chester Bennington, left fans
and followers reeling in surprise and shock. But should we still be surprised when it has
become so common that those whose lives seem so perfect — take their lives?

5 years. 5 years is, statistically, the average time those who recognize that they need
help wait to actually see a therapist.
Note that I said 5 years from when they recognize
they need help, not 5 years from when they began struggling with whatever personal
demons, anxiety, or addictions. That timeframe could be years, if not decades longer!

As a licensed Social Worker and Wellness Advisor, I often sit in silence after seeing
clients with particularly troubling cases and wonder who they would be if they had
started therapy sooner. Who they would be, even, if they waited longer? Last month, I
wondered about Chester Bennington who, although public about his pain, may not have
ever acquired — or been offered — the tools to manage and overcome it.

Repeat after me: there is value in seeking help through therapy.

Therapy is self-care; therapy displays a sense of self-worth; therapy is an investment just
like opening a savings account or furthering your education; therapy is a way for you to
help yourself and others!

I am keenly aware that, for many of us, stigma is one of the greatest hindrances to
seeking therapy.
Men are trained to maintain impenetrable force fields of detachment.
Women groomed to be silent and long-suffering. And those truly troubled — wary of
seeking help — as they were raised in a culture that considers mental health a non-issue
or some temporary lapse or laziness that can be buried, beaten or prayed away.

I am here to tell you that the POWER lies in seeking the help that you need! We feel no
shame in spending thousands on taking care of the rest of our bodies: making more
than the required visits to the dentist, physician, gym, nutritionist, and beautician. So
why not take just as much care of the organ that keeps all the other organs alive? This
could easily be an acceptable and essential part of your self-care regimen!

So, there is no shame in seeking help from a therapist or mental wellness coach.

As a therapist AND wellness advisor, I share some of the benefits of therapy:

  • Life-Long Management and Problem-Solving Skills: Licensed psychologists,
    psychotherapists and social workers are trained to offer “talk therapy.” Through
    comfortable sessions of conversation, you will work to comprehend your thoughts, moods, triggers, motivations, and behaviors in an effort to balance and
    manage them in a healthy manner — in the present and long term.

  • Peace of Mind: Even before you grasp or learn these tools, you will benefit from
    the significant therapeutic effect that simply verbalizing your feelings has on the
    brain!

  • Motivation and Support: Life coaches and therapists work to motivate you and
    build your confidence, so that you may achieve the goals that you are often
    fearful of pursuing.

DO NOT wait. DO NOT struggle in silence. We are here to assist you in creating step-by-
step plans to generate significant positive transformation in your life or in developing
approaches to overcome a current or previously life-long difficulty.

Everyone can use a little extra support in dealing with life’s frequent challenges.
Partnering with a professional strengthens you for the journey ahead and makes you
an equipped advocate for another needing the same help.

Are you working through something? Are you willing to take the leap into getting the
help you need? Share this post or interact with us in the comments below!

At Counseling Space, P.C. and CEO Motions, we work tirelessly to empower and give our
clients the support, guidance, and tools needed to take - and keep - control of their
lives. Follow this link to book a FREE Mental Wellness Consultation today to shape your
better tomorrow!

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