Resources
These resources can help start or further guide you on your mental health journey.
Toronto Mental Health Resources
Suggested Readings
What Happy Women Know by Cathy L. Greenberg and Dan Baker
The director of Canyon Ranch's award-winning Life Enhancement Program draws on the latest discoveries in psychology and gender-specific medicine to help all women enjoy richer, healthier, more fulfilling lives. In this innovative book about what brings women happiness, Dr. Dan Baker focuses on the five traps that can compromise happiness and leave women yearning for a better life. Unlike clinical psychology, which focuses on trying to fix what's wrong with an individual, positive psychology builds on a person's natural strengths. The root of most unhappiness, fear, finds a special expression in women, who too often succumb to the happiness traps of perfectionism, wanton wanting, people pleasing, seeking revenge, thinking I'm nothing without X, and overinvesting in their careers. In What Happy Women Know, Dr. Baker synthesizes a wide range of current research on how women uniquely respond to life's slings and arrows and how they can best bounce back from them. The book offers women a compelling set of tools that will help them accept the past and actively move toward a happier future of their own design.
Calm: A Proven Four -Step Process Designed Specifically for Women Who Worry by Denise Marek.
If there were a simple process that would allow you to stop worrying, and truly move forward in your life . . . wouldn’t t you want to know about it? In "CALM, "Denise Marek reveals a proven four-step process designed specifically for women who worry. This simple yet powerful formula will help you stop worrying, eliminate self-limiting beliefs, and develop greater inner peace. You will discover strategies to "immediately "reduce worry and put an end to what if thinking. Find out how to transform fear into action and learn how to finally stop worrying about what others think of you. Discover how to let go of the need for perfectionism, regain excitement for life, and restore your peace of mind. Based on Denise Marek s "From Worrier to Warrior "seminar, the four-step process in this book has already been proven effective for thousands of women across North America. No matter who you are, where you have been, or what you re going through, apply the practical steps in this book and you too will stop worrying. "CALM" is the key to reconnecting with the inner peace you desire and deserve."
Stress Management by Edward Charlesworth
Are you among millions of people who suffer from stress during these trying times? Revised and comprehensive, this invaluable guide helps you identify the specific areas of stress in your life-familial, work-related, social, emotional-and offers proven techniques for dealing with every one of them. New material includes information on how men and women differ in response to stress, updated statistics on disorders and drugs, the ways terrorism and the information age impact stress, the key benefits of spirituality, alternative medicine, exercise, and nutrition. Stress Management will help you - test your personal responses to daily stress- and chart your progress in controlling it - learn specific techniques for relaxation- from "scanning" to "imagery training" - discover how to deal with life's critical moments without stress - embark on a program to improve your physical health as a major step toward stress management - discern which types of stress must be reduced and which kinds you can turn into positive motivation.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman
With more than a million copies sold worldwide, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work has revolutionized the way we understand, repair, and strengthen marriages. John Gottman's unprecedented study of couples over a period of years has allowed him to observe the habits that can make--and break--a marriage. Here is the culmination of that work: the seven principles that guide couples on a path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Straightforward yet profound, these principles teach partners new approaches for resolving conflicts, creating new common ground, and achieving greater levels of intimacy. Gottman offers strategies and resources to help couples collaborate more effectively to resolve any problem, whether dealing with issues related to sex, money, religion, work, family, or anything else. Packed with new exercises and the latest research out of the esteemed Gottman Institute, this revised edition of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationship to attain its highest potential.
Seeking Serenity: The 10 New Rules for Health and Happiness in the Age of Anxiety by Amanda Enayati
A provocative and practical look at modern stress that offers an empowering new message: Stress can serve as a guide to living our happiest and healthiest lives.
Here, stress columnist Amanda Enayati challenges our long-held assumptions about stress, painting a ground-breaking picture of what is commonly referred to as the plague of modern life. Weaving together stories, research from science, history, philosophy and ancient faiths, and everyday exercises, she presents ten revolutionary principles that help us differentiate between destructive and constructive stress, and to master stress in the everyday by learning how to:
Shift our perceptions to interpret inevitable challenges in a way that serves us better
Embrace a narrative that casts stress as a pathway to adaptation and growth
Commit to breaks, buffers, and protective practices that will minimize and neutralize the adverse impact of toxic stress.
Drawing on extensive research and remarkable stories, Seeking Serenity presents a clear and accessible action plan to achieving more joyful and productive lives, and stronger communities.
Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to Finding Contentment by Linda Dillow
Imagine what your life would be like without worry. Women worry a lot. We worry about our children, our friends, our careers, our families, our spouses - the list could go on and on. Yes, we want to be content and trust God with our worries, but it’s a struggle to let go and free ourselves from the burden of anxiety. If you’re tired of worrying about all the what-ifs in your life and want to experience the calm and contentment promised in Scripture, Calm My Anxious Heart is what you’ve been looking for.
Filled with encouragement and practical help for overcoming anxiety, this book includes a twelve-week Bible study to help you discover what the Bible says about contentment and ways to apply it to your daily life. With Calm My Anxious Heart you can let go of your anxiety and experience the contentment that comes from trusting God.
Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado
Anxiety is at an all time high, but there’s a prescription for dealing with it. Max Lucado invites readers into a study of Philippians 4:6-7 where the Apostle Paul admonishes the followers of Christ, “Do not be anxious about anything…”
Philippians 4:6 encourages the believer to “be anxious for nothing.” As Lucado states, the apostle Paul seems to leave little leeway here. “Be anxious for nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.”
What’s he suggesting? That we should literally be anxious for absolutely nothing. Lucado says, “The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. It’s the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul wants to address. Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually in angst.”
Americans especially know about living in perpetual anxiety. According to one research program, anxiety-related issues are the number one mental health problem among women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men. Stress-related ailments cost the nation $300 billion every year in medical bills and lost productivity. And use of sedative drugs like Xanax and Valium have skyrocketed in the last 15 years. Even students are feeling it. One psychologist reports that the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.
“The news about our anxiety is enough to make us anxious,” says Lucado. But there’s a prescription for dealing with it. Lucado invites readers into a study of Philippians 4:6-7, the most highlighted passage of any book on the planet, according to Amazon:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“With His help you will learn to face the calamities of life. You’ll learn how to talk yourself off the ledge. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will learn to view bad news through the lens of sovereignty; to discern the lies of Satan and tell yourself the truth. You will manifest a gentleness that is evident to others. Anxiety comes with life. But it doesn’t have to dominate your life.”
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