When is it time for therapy?

Plus how to regulate the vagus nerve.

On episode 184 of The Well Podcast, Kari sits down to chat with mom, pastor’s wife, and mental health therapist, Gianna Reese. Gianna specializes in work with teenagers and adults but provides services across the lifespan. Here is a teaser of the conversation.

Our world today is not without life’s stressors. While we may not be foraging to find our food or worried about a bear attack out in the wilderness, we still have scenarios that put us into fight, flight, or flee responses. Many people assume we are born with the skills needed to deal with life’s stressors, but we are not born with healthy emotional expression, boundary setting, or emotional intelligence tools. We need to be taught these skills just like we are taught to ride a bike! And when there is a gap in these skills, it is time to go to therapy to learn these skills.

As the mental health field starts to take more of a bottom up approach to therapy (compared to a top to bottom approach), Gianna shares how we can take care of our bodies first to help support our mental health. She teaches about the polyvagal exercises you can do to activate the vagus nerve and calm your nervous system.

Find Gianna's TIKTOK account @the.millennial.therapist where she gives mental health truths via short educational videos that are accessible, educational, and help you navigate through mental health misinformation.

Q: When is it time to go see someone for therapy? What are some things to lookout for?

A: Giana says, “I tend to look at emotional expression, boundary setting, and emotional intelligence which a lot of people falsely believe are tools we’re just born with, but we’re not - they’re skills we have to learn. Most people come to me when it’s obvious that they have a gap in their emotional intelligence skills.”

We tend to teach and pass down what we know,
but that’s not always what's most helpful.

Q: What are you seeing in the world right now and your take on what will help the most people navigate where we are.

A: Gianna said, “I see a shift in our culture at large where people are paying attention to wellness more. People are focusing on our health and habits but also on what we experience and how we operate in the world. There is a LOT of information out there that people can be capitalizing on, but also providing misinformation. So my hope is to provide information in an accessible way to teach the tools to help people learn and cope.

Q: Can you tell us a little about the polyvagal exercises and vagus nerve videos you share?

A: The vagus nerve is the biggest nerve in your body and connects all your organs to your central nervous system. This is where we all know about the fight, flight, or freeze responses and while the majority of us aren’t typically preparing to flee from a bear in today’s modern society, we do have perceived threats from the email from a boss, our teenagers attitude, our house being chaotic, and a plethora of other daily stressors. Our vagal nerve is being activated all the time which can cause vagal nerve dysregulation which we feel in our body through chronic migraines, IBS, and other chronic diseases and illnesses.