Winter wellness tips from Evergreen’s mental health experts

There’s a lot of pressure on us around this time of year: pressure to spend time with family, buy gifts, and stay cheerful during the dark, cold days. Winter and the holiday season can be an especially hard time for people with mental health and substance use conditions: 64 percent of people living with these conditions report that their symptoms worsen around this time of year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Reaching out for support can be hard, but if you’re experiencing mental health symptoms, Evergreen’s behavioral health team is here to help. Our caring and understanding providers meet you where you are, celebrate all your wins and work together toward your goals.

Our team cares for patients with a wide range of symptoms, including depression, anxiety, substance use, trauma and co-occurring disorders. They’re trained in providing care to members of the LGBTQ+ community, patients with chronic health conditions, people who engage in sex work, survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking, and patients who have experienced racial trauma.

Reaching out for professional support is just one way to care for your mental health this season – keep reading for some easy tips from Evergreen’s mental health team.

Sharon Yager, psychiatric nurse practitioner:

The holidays bring stress and many different obligations, especially family parties. To support your mental health during this holiday season, try to avoid spreading yourself too thin. Spend the most time with the people who bring you joy. Keep the more challenging gatherings short and sweet, and I mean that literally- just grab some dessert and skedaddle!

Tangela Watson-Bogan, substance use director:

1. Check in with yourself throughout the day (set your phone alarm for a check-in).
2. Manage your expectations – don’t overdo it.
3. Have an escape plan for when gatherings become too much. Pre-plan your excuse to leave — your mental health is more important than visiting.
4. All holidays don’t have to be with family, they can be shared with community if that is better for your mental health.
5. Making gifts can be easier and more heartfelt than purchasing gifts.
6. Small, intimate gatherings are just as nice.
7. Anxiety, depression, and OCD can look different for BIPOC – overly praying & fasting, feeling like you’re failing, comparing yourself to others, cleaning up everywhere you go, having bad nerves: these and other behaviors are symptoms of mental health that our community have labeled as other things. Reach out to our team for help.

Melissa Laux, director of mental health:

My #1 piece of advice is to find connection and utilize your support system. This looks different for each person, whether it’s through family or friends or pets. Connecting with others in meaningful ways can ease the difficulties many face through the holiday season.

Amanda Honan, AVP of clinical services:

Managing expectations (of yourself and others) will help keep things in a more manageable work/home/holiday balance. We can’t commit to everything, and neither can the people in our lives. It can be helpful to take care in choosing which events we attend. Remember that this applies to our friends and family too, so it’s important to manage our reactions when those in our lives are unable to attend an event. Lastly, establishing time limits for the events we choose to attend, attending for only an hour, is helpful. Perhaps, the time you save can be your time to take in a movie, exercise, see one of our amazing therapists (shameless plug, I know,) or reflect on your day!

Another thing to consider during the holiday time is safe use. Family members from out of town who use drugs may not be used to the drug supplies in our area. Having drug test strips and Narcan on hand can help save lives. For other safe use practices and supplies, visit Evergreen’s Harm Reduction Center.

Christina Monroy, mental health counselor:

Winter and the holiday season can be very difficult for many people, for many reasons. One thing that people can do every day is to add up all the good things (as little as they may seem) that happen during the day, and work on being grateful for those things. Work on making a habit of it — as hard as it may seem, if we work on it every day, it will become easier.

Another thing that we can do is to do the things that once made us happy during this season. Making new memories and new traditions, and doing them on purpose, can help. Something that I don’t get tired of telling my patients is to continuously be looking for new things to do, to be busy with, hobbies, and new experiences (with the resources you have at the moment).

Khris Decker, VP of behavioral health:

Set your own expectations for the season and don’t be afraid to break with tradition.  If spending the holidays with your family, or any specific person, negatively impacts your mental health—don’t do it.  If participating in a particular holiday tradition makes you need lonely or sad—don’t do it.  If spending more money than you have on gifts for other people will damage your financial well-being—don’t do it.  Decide for yourself how you want to celebrate whatever part of the spirit of the season you admire and find new ways to affirm that spirit with people who affirm you.

We can all enjoy seeing the dazzling holiday content on social media, but remember it isn’t reality.  Comparing your holiday meal, family celebration, or seasonal decorations to idealized portrayals on social media invites negative self-judgement. Feel free to borrow some cool ideas from what you see on the internet if they suit you, but do not set yourself up to feel badly if you are not living in an unattainable holiday movie set through the start of the new year.

To learn more about Evergreen’s mental health services in Buffalo, visit our mental health services page or call us at 716.847.2441.