Thoughts Archives

People standing by a window wearing party hats

Therapish

Not everyone needs therapy, but everyone benefits from healthy connection!

Using Insurance for Mental Health Services

BCC started accepting insurance in an effort to be both sustainable and accessible. Prior to accepting insurance, we used a sliding scale model, but we found the sliding scale model either didn’t go low enough to be truly accessible, or it didn’t allow us to pay our clinicians a living wage. Many folks struggle to understand their insurance benefits, so we have collected a few useful tips and definitions here. Medical Necessity: for insurance to […]

Fighting Time

Amy Banks, MD, was 17 when her father was murdered while visiting NOLA for a conference– Isaac Knapper was 16 when he was wrongfully arrested and quickly convicted of the murder. They’ve come together to share their journey.

The story Amy and Isaac bring is accessible to a wide range of people who are just beginning to explore systemic issues with our justice system. Maureen Walker will be offering cultural context to bring us more deeply into Amy and Isaac’s story, and Luci Englert McCean is emceeing the evening.

2022-2023 Cadre on Caring

The Relational Cadre is a diverse group of humans who are invited to explore aspects of a central theme through the lens of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT). Using an unconference format, participants will be provided a prompt encompassing this year’s theme—Caring—that will be discussed in small breakout groups, sharing those insights when returning to the larger group. Cadre members are encouraged to apply the theme to their own interests, expertise, and projects between sessions. As […]

A card reading Mutuality is the experience of affecting one another. This requires emotional availability, an openness to influence and change. Non-mutual relationships abstruct growth of all people, but particularly the development of subordinate or marginalized groups.

Mutual Meltdowns

We are tired. We need healing. It’s likely we’ve lost people, dreams, cherished ways of being, and not been held in our grief because we were all too busy surviving. Slow down. It’s impossible to rush wellness. Lean into each other. Allow ourselves to mourn together, to mutually hold each other. Trust that allowing mutuality leads to healing. We are in collective pain, and the antidote is messy, authentic, mutuality.

I see you

Standing just far enough away that your toddlers feels independent, just close enough to catch them should they tumble off the playset. Sitting quietly next to your weeping child. Researching pediatric mood disorders and scanning your family tree for clues about your teenager’s intense ups and downs. Packing a bag with pencils and a notepad for the inevitable waiting time. Trying to learn new math so you can help with homework. Plotting out the best […]

Bridging Middle School to High School

This group includes expressive arts, (supplies provided by the BCC) relational skills, and specific stress management skills. Participants will leave with ideas on how to push back against peer pressure, managing difficult behaviors such as procrastination, getting better sleep, and identifying thought distortions.

Group fun

An overview of the activities in our stress reduction group Want to know more about our upcoming six-week relational group for your stressed out fifth and sixth graders? Each week covers one aspect of healthy and mutual relationships, along with a type of coping skill to address a variety of stressors. Below is an overview of the topics covered. Most weeks will incorporate art-related activities, with supplies provided by BCC! Week One: Connecting with others […]

Stress Management for Fifth and Sixth Graders

Offering evidenced based coping tools nested in expressive arts (swing by to pick up your child’s weekly brown bag project, or ask us to deliver) and relational work, these fun meetings will be on Tuesday evenings from 4:30-5:15, on March 23, 30, and April 6, 13, 20, and 27th. Scholarships and sliding scale available!

Feeling Love From a Distance

One of the tools we’ve been trying to use, is Amy Banks’ idea of Positive Relational Moments. In her book, Wired To Connect, Banks defines PRMs as moments you felt “safe and happy in another person’s presence.” Returning to your PRMs can slow or even reverse a downward spiral of stress and isolation by activating healthy neural pathways. It’s not always easy to pull up a PRM on demand though, sometimes we could use a reminder– a picture, an email, a journal entry, or, now, an Appreciation Effect campaign.