4 Ways Parents Can Maintain Productivity During Lockdown

Available for Interviews:  Dr. Colleen Cira

Dr. Colleen Cira, Psy.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

 

Talking Points on What Dr. Cira Can Say in an Interview
On How Parents Can Maintain Productivity During Lockdown:

Dr. Colleen Cira is the Founder and Executive Director of The Cira Center for Behavioral Health in Illinois—a practice that  serves close to 1,000 clients a month during the pandemic.  Dr. Cira is also a parent to a 7 and 5 year old, so she is well-equipped to offer some advice about productivity while parenting and working from home. Here’s some suggestions to make lockdown more productive:

    1. Batch the things that you need to do. A rigid schedule might be too much to expect of yourself or your kids right now, but chunking the day into different activities helps to a) create structure and routine that also allows for a bit more chaos than an hour-by-hour break-down of the day; b) helps your kids adjust to life at home because they know what they can expect; c) keeps you on task when you’re too overwhelmed to figure out how to best use a chunk of available time.

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Coping With Cancelled Summertime Events

Available for Interviews:  Dr. Colleen Cira

Dr. Colleen Cira, Psy.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

 

Talking Points on What Dr. Cira Can Say in an Interview
On the Emotional Impact of Cancelled Summertime Events:

  • How do we deal with disappointment?
  • Do we need to put this in perspective as more than 100,000 have died?
  • What are some strategies that can help us manage our emotions

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Delicate Topics: How to Explain Protests to Kids

Available for Interviews:  Dr. Colleen Cira

Dr. Colleen Cira, Psy.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

 

Talking Points on What Dr. Cira Can Say in an Interview
About Explaining Protests to kids:

  1. Parents, especially White Parents, should be having conversations with children about race anyway, protests or not. Institutionalized racism is as old as America, so parents need to be talking to their children about power and privilege early on. Reading books that discuss racism and have different characters with different races, ethnicities, and cultures is recommended. Only by starting this conversation early can we ever expect to have a more loving, less hateful world.

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How to Raise Children With Healthy Self-Esteem

Interview with Dr. Colleen Cira:

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist a trauma and anxiety expert, clinical supervisor, writer, speaker, consultant, and activist. She has been published numerously offering practical advice and tips to those seeking self-help.

Talking Points from Dr. Cira on
Raising Kids With Healthy Self-Esteem:

I’ve worked with hundreds of people struggling with childhoods that they need to recover from and therefore, low self-esteem.  I am one of these folks as well so I have a unique perspective, and a lot to say, about this particular issue. Break the cycle of low self-esteem with these constructive strategies.

How do we raise kids with healthy self-esteem? 

Quarantined: 4 Tips on How to Cope When “Sheltering In”

Interview with Dr. Colleen Cira:

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

 

Talking Points from Dr. Cira
On How to Cope When “Sheltering In”:

Here are a four practical suggestions for anyone struggling with the experience of being quarantined, aka “sheltering in”:

 

  1. Create structure and/or a schedule.  Most of us function much more efficiently (and happier!) when we know what’s coming next.  So create a loose schedule for yourself. Go to bed and get up at around the same times every day.  Have meals at the same times. Creating predictability and consistency will help your nervous system re-regulate to this new normal. Continue reading “Quarantined: 4 Tips on How to Cope When “Sheltering In””

When You Are Mourning a Job Loss

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Cira Center for Behavioral Health, PC. She is an anxiety and trauma expert as well as a consultant, supervisor, speaker, writer, and advocate. Continue reading “When You Are Mourning a Job Loss”

Social Distancing: How to Avoid Judgement and Hostility Toward Others

Interview with Dr. Colleen Cira:

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

 

Talking Points from Dr. Cira on the Judgement and Hostility
Surrounding Social Distancing:

What we’re seeing right now is SO MUCH JUDGEMENT and hostility about people who make different choices than us. If you’re taking a run with your baby in a stroller, should you be on the street or the sidewalk? If you’re taking a walk, should you be wearing a mask or is it Ok to abstain if you’re social distancing? You-should-be-taking-social-distancing-more-seriously vs. you-can’t-control-me. Sigh. Craziness.  

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Hate Your Life? How to Cope When You’re Feeling Discouraged

Interview with Dr. Colleen Cira:

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who specializes in Women and Trauma, and has worked with hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues.

Talking Points from Dr. Cira
On How to Cope When You’re Feeling Discouraged:

 

Why People Hate (Or Believe They Hate) Their Lives 

There are so many reasons for this. A history of childhood adversity, toxic stress and/or trauma, a difficult season in their life, a genetic predisposition to experience mood disturbance, experiencing microaggressions, marginalization or oppression due to racism, patriarchy, sexism, or homophobia. The list goes on and on and on.  

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Self-Care Is Critical During the Hectic Holidays


Interview with Dr. Colleen Cira:

Dr. Colleen Cira is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist a trauma and anxiety expert, clinical supervisor, writer, speaker, consultant, and activist. She has been published numerously offering practical advice and tips to those seeking self-help.

Talking Points from Dr. Cira
On Self-Care:

Alone time is beneficial and crucial for everyone! If you’re an introvert (defined as someone who gets their energy from solitude), then alone time is a non-negotiable. Introverts will quickly get drained, depleted, overwhelmed and cranky if they aren’t getting enough alone time.

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4 Constructive Steps When Confronting a Friend

Interview: Dr. Colleen Cira, Psy.D.

Dr. Cira has worked with hundreds of people struggling with suicidal thoughts. Unfortunately, she also had a family member commit suicide, so she understands the tragedy of this both personally and professionally.

From Dr. Colleen Cira
How to Confront a Friend:

Sometimes with our friendships, we tend to sweep things under the rug, or we complain about them to other people, but never address it with the person. Many of us struggle with conflict in our friendships because we’re just not used to it! We see our partners ALL THE TIME, we may even live

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