Depression is a mood disorder characterized by certain symptoms, like low mood, change in appetite, change in sleep, motivation issues, and certain time frame requirements, like symptoms that must last at least 2 weeks. Many individuals can have depression from a life change, like a move, break up, or season changes. Some have depression for longer timeframes and oftentimes have genetic components. Not everyone is the same so it is important to look for protective factors to help someone feel better and most like themselves.

Taking medication to manage mental health symptoms is a personal and empowering choice, one that can significantly improve your overall well-being. Now that you’re feeling better, it’s time to fully enjoy all that summer has to offer! As you embrace the season, keep these three essential tips in mind for safely managing psychiatric medications during the warmer months.

In 1965, Julie Andrews graced the silver screen, announcing that the hills were alive with the sound of music. In 1975, the Doobie Brothers encouraged us to listen to music all the time. And in 2007, Rihanna made one simple request: please, don't stop the music. No matter the period of time, music remains a universal panacea for many of us. But what makes music so powerful, and how can we utilize music to improve our mental health?

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a therapeutic approach that utilizes the legal, controlled use of ketamine in a safe, supportive setting to support emotional healing. While this is a powerful healing modality, it may not be a fit for everyone!

If you’re thinking of starting therapy for the first time, you might know how to get started or what to expect.  At LifeSpring Counseling Services, we understand these concerns and have created the Starting Therapy podcast series to provide clarity and support. While we have lots of content on our website, we also wanted to make our content available in audio form.  Here’s a summary of this private, mini podcast series and the content you can expect to find.

Looking for a therapist in Baltimore or anywhere in Maryland? If you’ve never searched for a therapist before, you might not be sure where to begin. In fact, the process can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially if this is your first time seeking therapy services. Whether you’re searching for someone who “gets it,” hoping to work with a therapist who shares your background, or just trying to figure out where to start, there are more resources than ever to help you find the right fit.

For many adults in Maryland, the idea of starting therapy sounds great in theory, but the reality of carving out time for sessions feels overwhelming. Between work responsibilities, parenting, caregiving, and simply keeping up with life, therapy often lands at the bottom of the to-do list.

At LifeSpring Counseling Services, we work with a lot of busy professionals, parents, college students, and caregivers. Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I know I need support, but I don’t know when I’d even fit therapy in.” If this sounds familiar, you’re in good company. Here’s the good news! People are making therapy work, often in creative, flexible ways that fit into their real lives.

If you're living in Maryland, whether you're in Columbia, Silver Spring, Baltimore, or a quieter town in Harford County and feeling stuck in sadness or low energy, this blog is for you! Depression affects people from all walks of life, and it's more than just “a rough patch.”

You might be holding it all together at work, at home, with friends, but still feel like something’s off. For many adult men in Maryland, stress, burnout, and emotional struggle go unspoken. Whether you’re in Towson, Silver Spring, or Baltimore, therapy offers a confidential space to release some of the pressure and reconnect with yourself.

If you’ve ever thought, “I’m just stressed. It’ll pass,” you’re not the only one! But sometimes, what we call “stress” is actually chronic overwhelm, and left unaddressed, it can take a serious toll on your mental and physical health. For many adults in Maryland, juggling work, family, and life’s curveballs, therapy offers a space to decompress, gain clarity, and reconnect with yourself.

Grief can often be described as a natural experience associated with the feelings and behaviors that exist after a death. This experience can extend to other hard, tough life events too, however. Events like the end of relationships, change of jobs, relocations, retirement, kids moving out of the home, end of an event, a health diagnosis, medical procedure, a natural disaster, a global pandemic, or an oppressive system can shake up someone’s life.

As therapists, we try to encourage clients that our spaces are places where we can be vulnerable, share stories with one another, and develop a sense of trust between the two of us. But, what happens when you meet a client who has learned that speaking about their problems isn't the right answer? What if a client walks in that has been told to be tough all of their lives? What if this client views themselves as someone independent from others, who can control any emotional state that they are in? What do therapists do with clients whose values conflict with the therapeutic principles at its core?

News headlines can be stressful in general. Having said that, the non-stop alerts about lay offs, fiscal cuts, human rights violations, and the next group of people being targeted with harmful legislative changes that we’ve been seeing lately are sure to create feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and overwhelm.

Deconstruction has recently become a buzzword for ex-evangelicals who have decided the church as it stands today goes against the basic principles taught by Jesus, to love your neighbor as yourself and to love God. Deconstruction is simply the act of getting rid of the harmful practices and beliefs we hold as truth and intentionally selecting practices that promote growth and healing. Believe me, it’s a lot easier said than done.

If you’ve been looking into therapy intensives, you’ve probably noticed that they come with a higher price tag than traditional therapy. Understandably, that might leave you wondering—why do they cost so much? And more importantly, are they worth the investment?

Therapy intensives are becoming increasingly popular, and for good reason. They offer a deep, focused approach to therapeutic growth that allows people to work through big emotions, life transitions, and unresolved trauma in a shorter period of time. But with so many different therapy intensives available, how do you know which one is the right fit for you?

If you’ve been searching for therapy options in Maryland, you may have noticed something new.  More and more practices are offering therapy intensives. Whether it’s EMDR intensives, trauma-focused intensives, or Brainspotting intensives, these deep-dive therapy sessions are gaining traction fast. But why? What makes therapy intensives so popular, and more importantly, is a therapy intensive right for you?

When it comes to therapy, many people conclude that using insurance is the way to go or that all mental health providers accept health insurance. But did you know that many individuals–right here in Baltimore and across Maryland—choose to invest in private pay therapy instead? While insurance can be a helpful tool for accessing mental health care, it also comes with limitations that don’t work for everyone.

With the current anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation from our current administration, LGBTQ+ people are being faced with a slew of issues, such as barriers to obtaining gender-affirming IDs, free speech bans, healthcare restrictions, and the dismantling of Civil Rights Laws. This is why we build resilience: so we can bounce back from these challenges and stand stronger than before. Here are some ways to build up resilience and seek out hope in the face of despair.

The concept of “double consciousness” was first introduced by W.E.B Dubois in the early 1900s. It proposes the idea that Black men were (and still are) at war with the idea of being American while also being Black. This question arises of how can you stay true to who you are as a Black individual while doing what is necessary to conform to white culture for the sake of survival?