I recently went on a girls’ trip to Walt Disney World with my mother, who I absolutely adore as a traveling partner. It was a wonderful week that we both thoroughly enjoyed, filled with good food, magical moments, and hot sunny weather. Unfortunately, my ADHD and chronic illnesses came, too. This was probably the first time that I truly struggled or was more aware of my symptoms while on vacation, and so I’d like to share some of my experience, strategies, and reflections on traveling as a neurodivergent, chronically ill human.

There’s a lot of different types of mental health support out there. It can be overwhelming to try and figure out which one is right for you. That’s why in today’s blog, I’m sharing a quick breakdown of the most common types of mental health support you can receive.

There is a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation out there about what a capacity assessment is, what it entails, and what it can do. This is not an exhaustive list, but provides a brief overview of the different types of assessments and answers frequently asked questions.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, I posted a practical tips or words of encouragement to support your mental health every day. In today’s blog, I’m sharing each of those practical tips with you, as well as some examples on how to do them.

Advocacy can often be intimidating and overwhelming (especially when first starting out!), but luckily it’s a skill that can be learned, practiced, and improved like any other. In today’s blog, I share with you some important skills that can help you become a stronger, more effective advocate.

The end of the year can be a great time to reflect and take stock. What went well for you this year, and what helped make that happen? What worked? What didn’t? What was hard for you this year? Why did that happen, how did it happen, and what did you learn from it? These are all important and natural questions to be considering, and the next step that many take is also logical: setting goals for this New Year in order to improve and grow.

Holidays can be particularly difficult if you are disabled or living with a chronic illness. For many, it is a time of grief, anxiety, or the longing to be more involved than you know you can be. Today’s blog is all about some strategies and ideas to help you navigate the holiday season in a way that supports your physical and mental health.

While there are many things I enjoy about the summer months, I am not afraid to admit that fall is my favourite season. There’s something about the cooler weather and the beautiful colours of the changing leaves that makes me feel comfortable and content. With the changes in temperature and sunlight, it’s also a time where we naturally start to spend more time indoors. Fall seemed like a natural time to really regroup and explore what rejuvenates me and how to obtain contentment after so much chaos. Much to my surprise, I found that living a cozy lifestyle actually made me feel less burnt out, more satisfied with my life, and supported other healthy habits I was struggling to implement.

Simply Social Work has had a lot of changes over the past year, and so today’s blog is going to give a quick overview of what we’ve been working on, introduce you to a new face you may have noticed, and share what the future holds for us!

When I say the word grief, many of you will think of death. Of someone you know or care about dying or that has died. Grief is absolutely connected to death and dying, but it is not only connection to the death of a person. Grief is the embodied reaction of loss. There are many different ways someone can experience loss, such as loss of income, home, job, pet, relationship, community, safety or security, identity, purpose. Grief can be about you or about someone or something else, or a mix of both.