Options for Counseling
Work Place Stress
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
Work can be stressful and cause us to have negative life experiences that carry over into our personal lives. Dr. Fry has a doctoral specialization in Industrial Organizational Psychology and can help you navigate workplace interactions, management concerns, and leadership issues.
Sessions are highly confidential and therapy can be a s
Work can be stressful and cause us to have negative life experiences that carry over into our personal lives. Dr. Fry has a doctoral specialization in Industrial Organizational Psychology and can help you navigate workplace interactions, management concerns, and leadership issues.
Sessions are highly confidential and therapy can be a safe place to work through work place issues.
This would fall into the life issue style of therapy but Dr. Fry will help look at scheduling a 30 minute time before work or after work if you are looking at support going into or out of the work place.
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy) is an evidence based approach to help process trauma and reprocess memories and emotions into a neutral cognition. Dr. Fry is certified in EMDR Trauma Therapy for in-person and online. She understands the biological responses to how a short term or long term traumatic event can be stored in th
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy) is an evidence based approach to help process trauma and reprocess memories and emotions into a neutral cognition. Dr. Fry is certified in EMDR Trauma Therapy for in-person and online. She understands the biological responses to how a short term or long term traumatic event can be stored in the body and brain. Dr. Fry teaches Biopsychology at the college level and is skilled in helping reprocess negative experiences. Somatic work in therapy using images is effective in processing trauma. Each trauma is unique to each person. Dr. Fry offers a free 15 minute phone consultations to discuss your needs and goals for therapy.
Dr. Fry is also a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional (CIMHP).
Life Issues
EMDR Therapy for Trauma
Life Issues
Sometimes there are issues with the way we are feeling about life, ourselves, or about other people. Dr. Fry can help in many areas including foster and adoption concerns, co-dependency, anger, anxiety, and anything that is taking away from living your best life. Perspective changing (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) through understanding br
Sometimes there are issues with the way we are feeling about life, ourselves, or about other people. Dr. Fry can help in many areas including foster and adoption concerns, co-dependency, anger, anxiety, and anything that is taking away from living your best life. Perspective changing (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) through understanding brain science, body-emotion processing, and spirituality (the mind), Dr. Fry can help you step forward in new thought processes for better outcomes. This is a client led therapy style that may meet once a week, every other week, or even once a month. Clients will learn how to find patterns/emotional reactivity in their lives that are not helpful to the way they want to live or want to feel.
"Don't let your thoughts become an emotion you do not want to have" - Dr. Fry
You have learned how to respond to your thoughts through your experiences. The key will be to identify the perception to adjust the feeling, and ultimately, the action/response.
Looking at things differently
Getting off the Hamster Wheel into the Hamster Hole
We have gone from way too busy trying to get to work and then get home from work only to need to be somewhere else. This lifestyle keeps us in a high cortisol level where we do not even realize how our body will react when we stop. It is like when you were little and you spun around really fast with your arms out and then stopped - you felt dizzy. The same with being overly busy, when you stop, you are very tired and may even feel depressed for a few days. Add in the uncertainty of things and the transition to working at home (or loss of job) it is not surprise we are feeling very tired. Take a nap and don't be mad at it, this is a time to rest and reassess. This can be a time of renewal where we reemerge stronger, better, and healthier. Look at this time as a "reboot". Also....we are given a few weeks where we can organize and clean our hamster holes;) - Dr. Michele Fry
Welcome to the Thunderdome!
It is an interesting phenomena that people with constant anxiety during "normal times" tend to appear less stressed or calm during times of crisis. This is due to the environment meeting them emotionally/chaos/high anxiety where they live daily. They look around and function well (appeared calmness) with an expression of *Meh because this is where they always function. They look around and think,"Welcome to the Thuderdome of our daily feelings". If they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, they now know what that shoe is and that is a little bit relieving because the intangible worry has been met with a tangible answer. While doing better in crisis might appear to be a good thing, it is not good for long term health when the crisis is over. -Dr. Michele Fry
Don't be a Time Traveler!
Be present in your right now and what you are doing right now, that is all that is required of you. Take a deep breath and only think about what you need to do right now. Stress often times is a compilation of ALL the things we need to do or all the things we want. They all flood our mind at once causing panic. Ground yourself with thinking about what is happening right now and the only thing I need to do, in this moment, is what is before me. That's it. Practice taking a deep breath and not thinking about the "next thing".
Traveling to the future will cause anxiety.
Traveling to the past will "many times" cause anger.
Of course, we need to plan for the future and organize our time but through that organization we can breath and be present knowing everything has its place.
We need to remember the past and process the past but it is not our now or our future unless we let it.Taking this time to better understand our mindset and how our emotions work is an opportunity to emerge stronger and better. - Dr. Michele Fry
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. - Corrie Ten Boom
Steps to a Better Mindset
First, fear disengages our brains from thinking and does not have purpose in perceived danger. We need to think. I always tell my students and clients, "Don't let your thoughts become an emotion you don't want to have". Our emotions are 100% rooted in out thoughts. The good news is that if we cannot control our circumstances, we can control our thoughts. However, it does go through perception and our personal perceptions are created by what we have experienced and learned in our lives. Your perceptions might be stuck on "negative" and your perceptions need to be adjusted. To change your emotions you need to change your mindset, you need to adjust your perspective and change your thoughts. Try it...and be intentional about what you want to think about. It may feel weird at first but make yourself change your thoughts and perspective and see if your emotions do not change. If it is hard to do, make a list of the things you want to think about (positive) and start there. We do not ignore what is happening in our lives and if we cannot change the circumstances we can change how we feel about them. Our emotions are contagious and in these close quarters of confinement, spread the good stuff! - Dr. Michele Fry
The Chocolate Brownie Effect: Change the picture- Change your thoughts
Stress can be productive and stress can be destructive. Your choice. Our bodies respond to stress and perceived stress the same way. This means if you think something is dangerous then your body creates the chemicals, such as cortisol, in response to that fear (real or perceived).
Our perceptions and time spent thinking on a situation trains our brain (cortical thickening) to automatically have an emotion over the circumstance. If we are escalated (angry, afraid, worried), our brains do not think as well and they have a hard time with reason.
You have created a default in your brain to a positive or negative that you have created through thickening that area of your brain's response. You can change this, but like working out from out of shape to in shape, it takes time, commitment, and hard work. Here is the first simple step.....
The Chocolate brownie effect: If I tell you not to think about chocolate brownies, you automatically have a picture of what chocolate brownies look like to you and an emotion is attached of "Yum" or "Yuck" based upon your experience with chocolate brownies.
The Challenge: Since your brain works in pictures and is constantly thinking....choose what you want to think on. If you need to change your perception, then change the picture. Worry can go from fearful thoughts (pictures) to peaceful thoughts (pictures). Try it. Choose a few pictures that make you feel at peace and make yourself see that picture in your mind when you are afraid. Did your thought change? Did your emotion change? You brain is constantly thinking, be in charge of what it is deciding to think about.
I chose the picture to the right for when my kiddos are acting "high energy". I could be frustrated or I could think "Party time!". One will form connection and one will drive disconnection. I choose connection....even if it means my work needs to wait...it will be there later and it doesn't care when I give it attention. My kiddos do.
How we think makes us who we are.
-Dr. Michele Fry
5 Second Rule - Does it really matter?
As we are all in close quarters the next few days, weeks, and possible months, we could get annoyed and have regrets on how we respond. If a room is messy or a dish is in the sink, let it go. You have the power to help people feel good or feel badly. That sets the tone for the next series of interactions. Here is the idea to help adjust our mindset:
If it will not matter in 5 seconds - let it go.
If it will not matter in 5 minutes - let it go.
If it will not matter in 5 days - let it go.
If it will not matter in 5 months - possibly let it go.
If it will not matter in five years - consider if you need to invest in a solution.
Anything that does not matter in less than 5 months - let it go.
We will not remember the mess but we will remember how we felt during our time together. Those are the memory stamps, the feelings. Create the feelings you want people to remember.
Lectures Available
Mental Health in the Workplace
Mental Health in the Workplace
Mental Health in the Workplace
Dr. Fry offers many options in addressing mental health in the workplace. Stress, anxiety, depression, work/life balance, communication, accountability, team building, and change management are areas that an be explored. Talk to Dr. Fry about the needs of your organization.
Bookings are being scheduled for the summer of 2024
Mindfulness
Mental Health in the Workplace
Mental Health in the Workplace
Being present in your life and not time traveling is key to being at peace regardless of circumstances. Dr. Fry can help you have power over your moments through understanding that our brains work in predictions to keep us safe. If we have learned through experience that the world is an unsafe place, it is hard to rest and be in the mom
Being present in your life and not time traveling is key to being at peace regardless of circumstances. Dr. Fry can help you have power over your moments through understanding that our brains work in predictions to keep us safe. If we have learned through experience that the world is an unsafe place, it is hard to rest and be in the moment. You cannot enjoy the forest and relax if there is the possibility of a bear jumping out. Life's "bears" need to be identified and understood.
College Life
Mental Health in the Workplace
College Life
Dr. Fry is a college and university professor. She understands the unique stressors of preparing for college life and living college life. "Adulting" can be a challenging transition and the stressors of college demands, work demands, and social demands can really pile up. Dr. Fry can give helpful solutions to the chaotic world of a colle
Dr. Fry is a college and university professor. She understands the unique stressors of preparing for college life and living college life. "Adulting" can be a challenging transition and the stressors of college demands, work demands, and social demands can really pile up. Dr. Fry can give helpful solutions to the chaotic world of a college student. One of the main pieces will be learning to find and use positive support systems. Addressing an understanding of "self" is another area that will be addressed along with the paradox of choice.