If you happened to have read part 1 of this blog, you may recall we covered some of the impacts of screens seen on kids and teens: good, the bad and the ugly. Part 1 covered, in my opinion as both a clinical child psychologist and a parent right...
More InfoThe “Frenemy” Relationship with Screens (Part 1) What’s the Mental Health Impact upon my kids? By: Anastasia S. Ristau, PhD, LP
Parenting in the age of screens is front and center for many families like never before. While I’m the first to recognize that technology has value, more often than not, as a parent and even moreso as a clinical psychologist working with kids and...
More InfoPsychiatric Assistance Line (PAL): A psychiatric support for primary care and patients By Sarah Baker, LICSW and Allison Litzenberg, LICSW
For decades, the shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs) and other specialized mental health practitioners has resulted in the challenge of meeting the overwhelming mental health needs in communities all over the country. These...
More InfoThe Benefits of Mask Making in Self Development by Nikki Witt, ATR-BC, LPCC
“I reveal myself one mask at a time.” -Stephan Dunn Masks have been created for centuries to act as protection, expression, containment, communication, transformation and memorialization. They can reveal, conceal, and evoke all at the same...
More InfoTreatment Education Coordinator answers the question “Why does PrairieCare utilize the educational component that they do?” by: Kayla Schroeder
Hello, my name is Kayla Schroeder. I am the new Treatment Education Coordinator here at the PrairieCare Inpatient Hospital in Brooklyn Park. My role PrairieCare is brand new to PrairieCare! The vision is to provide individualized support to...
More InfoDo You Do Neuropsych Testing? By Theresa Gunderson, PhD, LP in collaboration with Cindy Spicuzza, PhD, LP
This is a question we clinical psychologists are often asked, and the answer is perhaps more complex than one would expect. This is mostly due to the mystery and complexity of the field of psychology in general, and psychological testing in...
More InfoTricky Thoughts and How to Tackle Them By: Meredith Tumilty, PsyD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Have you ever been to a fun house with those strange mirrors that make you look super tall and thin or short and round? There really is an image of you on the mirror, but it is not very accurate. We have things like that in our brains! Not the...
More InfoWhy Psych Nursing? Nurses Week Blog by Julia Moseley, BSN, RN-BC
I remember the day I was hired at PrairieCare and telling my family that I was going to be working with children and adolescents in an inpatient unit for acute mental illness. There were many concerned looks as I’m sure scenes from “One...
More InfoWhat is a Recreation Therapist, and what are they doing in a Psychiatric Unit? by Beth Giesen
When someone asks you what you do for a living, they generally understand what your job entails. A doctor. A teacher. A secretary. But when you say “Recreation Therapist”, you get a blank stare. “What does that mean? You just play all day? What...
More InfoTreat yourself with Kindness, Compassion, and Forgiveness by: Leah Neff, LICSW
I challenge you to stop “shoulding” on yourself. I say this so much in so many of my therapy sessions that most of my patients have made it a running joke to see who can be the first to point out when someone is “shoulding” on themselves. Think...
More InfoAn Open Letter to Parents in my Office
by: Anna Bohlinger, MS, LAMFT Needs Assessment Counselor/Therapist Dear Parent, First of all, thank you for being here. Speaking on behalf of your future kiddo, thank you for taking the time, showing the concern, and doing the hard thing in being...
More Info“Use of Complementary and Integrative Therapies in Health Care” by: Tim Culbert, MD and Joel Oberstar, MD
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the NIH (National Institute of Health) recently released new data based on a 2012 National Health Survey about what “Integrative” medical therapies Americans are using. Findings...
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