Holistic Mental Health: Balancing Traditional and Alternative Therapies

How Can You Balance Traditional and Alternative Therapies for Holistic Mental Health?
 
Unlock the secrets to a well-rounded mental wellness journey with our inspiring guest, Demetria Nickens, a certified mental health first aid instructor and trauma recovery coach. Demetria joins us to shed light on how combining traditional treatments like talk therapy and medication with holistic therapies can create a powerful approach to tackling anxiety and depression. We explore the crucial eight dimensions of wellness—emotional, physical, occupational, and financial health, to name a few—and how addressing these areas collectively leads to a balanced life. Demetria also shares practical advice for anyone ready to embark on a path of self-discovery to better understand their personal values and limiting beliefs.

In another compelling segment, we focus on emotional awareness and self-care for men. Too often overlooked, these practices are essential for fostering inner beauty and well-being. We discuss why it's important for more men to embrace emotional wellness and the ongoing efforts needed in this area. As we conclude, we express our heartfelt gratitude to our listeners and remind everyone of the resources available for further support. Tune in to gain valuable insights and actionable tips for enhancing your mental wellness through a holistic approach.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Dove's Inner Beauty Podcast, where we
foster emotional awareness, oneindividual at a time.
Leading the way is DemetriaNickens, a certified mental
health first aid instructor andtrauma recovery coach with over
two decades of experience infostering emotional awareness in
others by engaging their mentalhealth.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are you curious about combining traditional mental
health treatments with holistictherapies Can help tackle our
anxiety and depressions.
Tune in as we explore the bestof both worlds to find a
balanced approach to mentalwellness.
Welcome back everyone.
This is Garfield Bowen, co-host, slash producer, back in the

(00:54):
studio with mental health expertDemetria Nickens.
Demetria, how are you doingtoday?

Speaker 3 (00:59):
I am feeling good.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
I am well.
So, Demetria, can you explainhow integrating traditional
mental health treatments withholistic therapies can benefit
someone dealing with anxiety ordepression?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Absolutely so.
Traditional mental healthtreatments there's many, many
things, right?
This idea of talk therapymedicine.
And then, within talk therapy,there's many, many things right
this idea of talk therapymedicine.
And then, within talk therapy,there's a lot of different
modalities.
People use trauma-focusedapproaches, they use DBT
dialectical behavioral therapyor CBT cognitive behavioral

(01:39):
therapy.
So there are a lot of differentapproaches when you're thinking
about traditional therapy, andall very good, right, depending
on what you want to do and howyou want to do it.
However, those things don't workin a silo, right?
They don't work alone, and soit's important that we think
about holistically how we pairthe things we do outside of

(02:02):
those therapies Right, like,what does your day-to-day life
look like If you are not takingcare of yourself, if you're not
eating right, if you're notsleeping good, if you're not
maybe even practicingmindfulness, which technically
could be a therapy that you'regetting in traditional therapy
but if you're not doing thesethings in what we call this

(02:23):
eight dimensions of wellness andtaking care of those things as
well, then this therapy overhere is only going to do but so
much, and so it's important thatwe think about our wellness in
eight dimensions.
Samhsa came up with this ideaof this eight dimensions of
wellness.
Right, we have to consider,right, what is going on in our

(02:43):
finances, what is going onemotionally, what is going on
physically, what is going onoccupationally, what is going on
?
Sorry, trying to get them allout of my head, but there's
eight, right, when you thinkabout all eight of them.
And so, if you're on thedecline in your job, you know
that's your occupational health.
You know what are you doing tofix that right.

(03:04):
If, financially, you're on thedecline in your job, you know
that's your occupational health.
You know what are you doing tofix that Right.
If, financially, you're havinga trouble, you're having
troubles financially.
There are something you know,there are steps that you can
take to try to fix your financesRight.
But you know, maybe you're overhere in therapy trying to kind
of get it together and you'retrying to do the therapies to
get your mind together, butyou're still struggling,

(03:24):
overhearing something.
Right, physical health, right,are you eating?
Right, are you sleeping, areyou exercising?
And not saying that you have todo two, three, five hours a day
of exercise and you have toonly eat vegetables.
Not saying that at all.
But I'm saying balance, right,balance matters.
This idea of balance makes adifference, and you know where

(03:45):
can you find more balance inyour life when it comes to your
physical health?
Because it matters, it's allconnected and so it's important
that that you pair these thingstogether, that you're not just
thinking of, oh, my mentalhealth is so bad, yeah.
But you know, yes, you know youcan get therapy and that is so,

(04:05):
so important.
Please do that Right, but alsopair it with this idea of what
else is going on in your life,because your therapist is
thinking about all those things.
They just may not be saying itright.
Maybe they're focused on thisone thing for you, in a
treatment plan type of way foryour mental health, and hoping
that fixing that is going to fixthe other things.
But why not holistically thinkabout your life as a whole?

(04:30):
While you're working on one,you can be working on another.
Who says you can't, they can'tbe both and instead of, or other
who says you can't, they can'tbe both and instead of, or you
know, and so if we work togetheron these, it's going to bring
you a much better outcome thanjust focusing on one right, and
it depends on the person.
Let me say that right somepeople have to process.

(04:50):
The way they process isprocessing one at a time.
I get that and I think you haveto know you and but that's part
of it.
That's part of holistic healthas well.
How well do you know yourself?
How well do you know how youprocess information?
How well do you know what youvalue?
You know, is health, physicalhealth, a part of your value, or

(05:11):
maybe it's not right?
How well do you know yourself?
And all of that is a part ofholistic health too.
So, just keeping those thingsin mind and working together not
necessarily making this overhere and this over here but how
can we put them together to helpyou as a whole?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
You may have answered this with the questions that
you just mentioned, but ifsomebody wanted to dip their toe
into holistic therapies, what'sa simple starting point that
will pair well with theircurrent treatment?

Speaker 3 (05:50):
I would really say finding you know, discovering
you Enough.
People don't really know whothey are.
Right, what is my life story?
Right, Getting into this ideaof life design, work, so the
idea of, like, you know what areyour values, you know what are
your core emotional challenges,what are the things that are
limiting beliefs and fears inyour life.

(06:12):
Really get to know you, Becausewhen you get to know who you
are, you know how do you noticeyour body.
Do you know what's going onwith your mental health, what
are the traumas that you'veexperienced in your life and how
may they be impacting you.
Now, Really start to get toknow you.
A relationship with you, first,and that is major in the land of

(06:34):
physical and mental health,right, Because you know, we know
if we have diabetes, we know ifwe suffer from migraines, we,
you know we.
Those are things we knowbecause we go to the doctor and
we pay attention.
However, when's the last timeyou thought about your values,
right?
When's the last time youthought about the things that
you really do in this world?
Do you do you serve profoundly?
You know what is your mission,what are the things that you

(06:55):
really feel like you want to doin this world and are you doing
them?
Why?
What's stopping you?
And so really figuring out youright, this idea of
understanding who you are as aperson.
People think they know, butwhen they start doing the work,
they really don't know.
And that's part of what I do,right?
I help people guide them tothis idea of understanding who

(07:16):
they are.
I help people guide them to thisidea of understanding who they
are and I'm going off scripthere a little bit but is it a
male-female thing, Because Idon't think most guys do all
this thinking I'm not Maybe Ithink traditionally right, like

(07:40):
when you think about socialnorms, right, this idea that
guys don't sit around and thinkabout this stuff, right, just
they go and live their life,right.
But I think they should.
I think it's important to toalso think about themselves and
who they are and what they wantin this life and what they want
out of this life.
Not enough men, I think, do it.

(08:00):
I think it's important to dothem.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
So we got a lot of work to do.
Then, huh yeah, Listen,Demetria love it.
You have a wonderful rest ofthe day.
We'll see you on the nextepisode.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Thank you thank you for tuning in to the doves inner
beauty podcast, where we fosteremotional awareness, one
individual at a time.
For a complimentaryconsultation, visit
dovesinnerbeautycom or call336-298-6599.

(08:36):
That's 336-298-6599.