Throughout a woman's life there are biological, interpersonal, and societal stressors that can affect her mental health. Each phase of life brings its own set of complexities and rewards. Common stressors that impact women’s mental health include:

Work-Life Balance: Managing the demands of career and home life without personal sacrifice.

Women in Leadership: Tackling challenges faced by women in leadership roles, including navigating male-dominated environments and overcoming gender biases.

Dating & Relationships: Navigating modern dating, understanding healthy relationship dynamics, and building meaningful connections.

Motherhood & Parenting : Navigating the emotional and logistical complexities of becoming and being a mother.

Hormonal Changes: Dealing with the mental health impacts of menstrual cycles, pregnancy, peri-menopause, and menopause.

Chronic Health Conditions: Addressing the psychological and emotional impact of chronic illnesses, which disproportionately affect women.

Aging & Life Transitions: Providing support for transitions, such as empty nesting, retirement, or caring for aging parents.

At Colorway Wellness you’ll find a safe space where your feelings are validated, your challenges are met with compassion, and your victories are celebrated. Contact Colorway Wellness to begin your journey towards feeling like your best self, living your best life, and believing the best is yet to come!

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is a distressing event that impacts one’s sense of control, disrupts one’s emotional wellbeing, and exceeds one’s capacity to cope. Traumatic events can be life-threatening, such as physical violence or natural disasters. Traumatic events can also be emotionally-threatening causing one to feel helpless and hopeless such as:

• Betrayal, separation, or divorce

• Conflict with family or friends

• Death of a loved one or pet

• Work stress or loss of job

• Serious illness or injury

What Are PTSD Symptoms?

Experiencing one traumatic event, or multiple traumatic events, can lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A PTSD survivor may feel stuck in the past, battling emotional and psychological symptoms that make it challenging to live a quality life. The following are some common PTSD symptoms:

Feeling Unsafe: After a traumatic event, assumptions about the world being a safe place are understandably shattered. PTSD survivors may feel as though every day situations are potentially dangerous. People, places, or things they once felt secure in may now feel threatening.

Intrusive Thoughts & Memories: It is common to experience some intrusive thoughts and memories of the traumatic event. This is especially likely to occur when a PTSD survivor encounters a triggering person, place, or thing that reminds them of the traumatic event.

Hypervigilance: A PTSD survivor may feel on-guard and overly aware of their surroundings after a traumatic event. The body is attempting to keep the PTSD survivor safe by making them aware of potential sources of danger. This safety mechanism is often more sensitive following a traumatic event.

How Is PTSD Treated?

Treatment for PTSD depends on the unique PTSD symptoms the PTSD survivor is experiencing as a result of the trauma. It may involve trauma-focused therapy, medication, or a combination of both treatment approaches.

Trauma-Focused Therapy begins with creating a safe space where the PTSD survivor feels comfortable processing the trauma at their own pace. The therapist carefully explores the trauma, allowing the PTSD survivor to become aware of their experiences. The therapist works with the PTSD survivor to integrate their emotional response to the trauma.

If you have endured trauma and are aware of its impact on your life, there is good news - you don’t have to suffer in silence. Colorway Wellness provides trauma-focused therapy that is backed by science so that you can feel like your best self, live your best life, and believe the best is yet to come!

What Are Coping Skills?

Coping skills help you deal with stressful situations in life. Two of the main types of coping skills are problem-based coping and emotion-based coping. Understanding how they differ can help you determine the best coping strategy for you.

Problem-Based Coping is helpful when you need to change your situation, perhaps by removing a stressful thing from your life.

Emotion-Based Coping is helpful when you need to take care of your feelings when you either don’t want to change your situation or when circumstances are out of your control.

Problem-based coping skills focus on changing the situation, while emotion-based coping skills are centered on changing how you feel. Knowing which approach is right for a specific situation can help you deal with stress more effectively.

What Is Proactive Coping?

Proactive Coping helps people deal with predictable changes (like a decline in income during retirement) and unpredictable changes (like managing a chronic health condition). When you have a “coping toolbox” you’ll be equipped to face the challenges ahead.

Whether problem-based, emotion-based, or proactive - healthy coping skills help calm stress without avoiding the issue. At Colorway Wellness we’ll work together to develop your unique “coping toolbox” to help you feel like your best self, live your best life, and believe the best is yet to come!