https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog daily 0.75 2025-12-01 https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/dr-allie-ponderings-on-loneliness-and-the-crisis-of-connection monthly 0.5 2025-12-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/088c305d-e4e5-4fdb-947e-86e10a488ec9/unsplash-image-6SNbWyFwuhk.jpg Blog - Dr. Allie Ponderings on Loneliness and the “Crisis of Connection”: - The APA’s Stress in America Survey: Every year, the American Psychological Association (APA) conducts a “Stress in America” survey. This year’s survey notes that societal division is a significant stressor for folks in the U.S. and identifies that nearly half of Americans are feeling lonely and isolated from others. It cites data about the impact of loneliness on one’s overall health and wellbeing and about the specific stressors that contribute to concerns about the future of the country (including concerns about AI and the spread of misleading information). https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/whats-dr-allie-reading-now-emotional-lives-of-teens monthly 0.5 2025-10-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/f94f72d5-ad2a-4015-aab6-8956c89f2627/WhatsDrAllieReadingNowTheEmotionalLivesofTeenagersBookCover.jpeg Blog - What’s Dr. Allie Reading Now? - The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents by Dr. Lisa Damour Who is this book for? This is a great book for parents, caregivers, educators, extended family members, and anyone who wants to improve their relationships with the teens in their lives https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/self-care-in-terms-of-the-seven-types-of-rest monthly 0.5 2025-08-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/699dc903-dca0-45ed-a500-79442fb2f347/Seven-Types-of-Rest-Blog-Banner.png Blog - Self-Care In Terms of The Seven Types of Rest - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/your-guide-to-consistent-effective-self-care-blog-post monthly 0.5 2025-08-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/a4acd057-6b6b-4bf5-a72b-42b10cff6048/Guide-to-Self-Care-Blog-banner-by-Dr-Allison-Meins-California-Psychologist.png Blog - Your Guide to Consistent, Effective Self-Care - Make it stand out Images of self-love and self-care. Your Guide to Self-Care for preventing Burnout by Dr. Allison Meins https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/33711c30-75e7-4a29-83f9-9a16bd8207fd/Self-Care-Image-Guide-Dr-Allison-Meins-California-Psychologist.png Blog - Your Guide to Consistent, Effective Self-Care - “Luxury” self-care: (Or as Dr. Allie refers to it: “Frou-frou” self-care) Bubble baths Expensive spa treatments Taking an extensive vacation Buying things in hopes that they will bring you happiness Treating yourself to coffees or treats of some kind etc… https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/communication-styles monthly 0.5 2025-04-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/7aae21bc-2856-49a0-a335-ab4b5ac24853/Communication-Styles-Onward-and-Upward-Blog-Dr-Meins.png Blog - Communication Styles https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/447e90c8-afab-4754-b6e1-3f0f46557aef/Communication+Styles+Blog+Instagram+Post.png Blog - Communication Styles - Four Common Communication Styles & How They Impact Our Effectiveness in Relationships: https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/whats-dr-allie-reading-now monthly 0.5 2025-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/b5c27fd1-d2e5-4f34-afc4-66dc2cc2369d/The-Anxious-Generation-Book-Cover.jpeg Blog - What’s Dr. Allie Reading Now? - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt Book Description: I want to start by mentioning that I think this book should be required reading for all parents, no matter your child’s age, but especially for parents of teens. Parents with whom I have spoken, that have also read this book, have discussed how much it has changed their approach to parenting and their own use of technology. That being said, it is also excellent reading if you are not a parent and simply looking to understand how the world has changed with the rise of technology and the impact technology has had on our mental health and wellbeing as a whole. https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/5-strategies-for-managing-stress-during-final-exams monthly 0.5 2025-03-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/da06a959-660e-4751-9930-379d323b6456/5-Strategies-for-Managing-Stress-During-Final-Exams-Blog-Post-Banner-Image.jpg Blog - 5 Strategies for Managing Stress During Final Exams - Make it stand out Stock Images of an open book on a desk that someone is using to study and a notebook that says Final Exam https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/boundaries-what-they-are-and-what-they-look-like-blog-post monthly 0.5 2025-08-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/6d273541-64fe-4974-9fe4-9645fddfb0f6/Boundaries-Image-Banner-for-Boundaries-Blog-Post.jpg Blog - Boundaries: What They Are & What They Look Like in Practice Stock image of a person’s shoes standing on a line on the ground. Symbolic of Setting and Maintaining Boundaries. https://www.drallisonmeins.com/onward-upward-blog/five-coping-tools-for-anxiety-blog-post monthly 0.5 2025-11-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/1740614314374-EPL0WRSIJHNIZVT1YJT6/unsplash-image-buymYm3RQ3U.jpg Blog - 5 Coping Tools for Anxiety - 1) Take a Deep Breath & Sigh (Audibly!) Pause whatever you are in the middle of worrying about, interrupt those racing thoughts in your head, stop doing whatever action you are doing (i.e. shaking your leg, playing with your pen, picking at something, or even writing that assignment). The first step is always to pause. Then roll your shoulders back. (You probably didn’t even notice how hunched over you were.) Now, take a deep, steady breath - in through your nose, filling your lungs, before letting it out with an audible sigh on the exhale. I know it sounds silly, but that’s half the fun of it! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/1740614438988-2XHMOQC4YPHTOBJDM3AH/unsplash-image-Yyk4OmVJAyE.jpg Blog - 5 Coping Tools for Anxiety - 2) Shake it out! Perhaps you’ve noticed feeling tense, hunched over, crunched up, shoulders too close to your ears, head tilted far too far forward, and your body feeling achy or tight. When we spend our time hunched over computers and looking down at mobile phones, we don’t even notice how twisted and contorted our body has been for the past hour that we’ve been checking emails or scrolling through social media. Now add some seriously stressful situations into our lives and that tension has probably only grown. While we tend to think of anxiety as only an “emotional” experience, it is also a physical one. Our bodies physically experience stress when cortisol, the hormone which activates our body into “fight” or “flight” modes and prepares us for action, courses through our system. Experiencing chronic stress means that cortisol is rushing through our system more frequently. This can have serious impacts on our health, so learning to reduce our stress response is important. Dance Party, Anyone? A helpful way to reset our physical body is to shake it out! I mean, full body shaking it out. Not just a little wiggle, but standing up and shaking your whole body while imagining releasing that tension and stress from your being. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/1740614589023-2POK3K1Y9MQ4AVV3ELDP/unsplash-image-_ZZNuZxgv9o.jpg Blog - 5 Coping Tools for Anxiety - 3) Brief Progressive Muscle Relaxation As I mentioned above, maybe you haven’t even noticed how your body is feeling lately. Let me tell you, if you haven’t noticed your physical body in a while, it’s time to check in. In our highly digital world, we often forget to notice how our body is feeling or just how hunched over our screens we have been. Our mind has been so preoccupied with the information we are consuming or the to-do list running in our head that we go from one task to the next without pausing to ask ourselves how we are feeling, physically or emotionally. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is an activity in which you actually increase the tension in your muscles in order to more effectively notice the reduction of that tension upon releasing it. For example, if you are feeling tense in your shoulders and I asked you to just “let go” of the tension or un-scrunch your shoulders, would you notice that much of a difference? Maybe a little, but not much. Now, if I asked you to exaggerate the tension by scrunching your shoulders up to your ears, as high as they will go while taking a deep breath in through your nose, and then pairing the exhale with letting your shoulders drop back down, would you notice a difference between the tense state and relaxed state then? Hopefully yes! This is how PMR works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6786a33ff65e775742d61b6f/1740614779239-2VCVGPBPPZMQZ2QOYZZK/unsplash-image-Z-HGOnKvlBY.jpg Blog - 5 Coping Tools for Anxiety - 4) Opposite Action Take a break when you are pushing yourself to do more, more, more Opposite Action is a great tool in various circumstances. Essentially, it’s just as it sounds: Do the opposite action of what you are currently telling yourself, or feeling the urge, to do. For today, I’m talking about Opposite Action as a tool for reminding yourself to slow down. 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