Posts by Kathy Mordini
Is Your Pet a Tick Magnet? Here’s What to Do if You Find One!
While cicada coverage has dominated the news this year, another insect has been causing a lot more issues for our dogs and cats. We’ve seen a surge in tick cases lately, with many pets needing tick removal. Don’t worry, this is not an emergency and most pet owners can handle tick removal at home –…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Calmness Through Breath
By John Mysz, LCSW VSW, CCFP 5 patients coding, 4 dogs barking, 3 impossible veins, 2 owners yelling, and one angry cat. The hardest shift in your career? Not likely. Stressful? Absolutely. You can feel the stress building, maybe get a headache or feel your body tense up. Maybe you notice you’re holding your breath randomly…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Traumatic Grief
By John Mysz, LCSW – We’ve all heard about the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But what happens when we never quite get to true acceptance? What if we don’t integrate the loss and continue moving forward? In my clinical experience, I’ve seen many people who experience a difficult or traumatic…
Read MoreDealing with Community Trauma
By John Mysz, LCSW – Every week or more in this country, we hear about a new, terribly traumatic mass shooting that shakes a community and onlookers to their core. Uvalde, Buffalo, and now Highland Park. It can feel as if these events are slowly, or very quickly, getting closer to home if they haven’t hit…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Perfectionism
By John Mysz, LCSW – “I’m a horrible veterinarian/tech” – “There’s no reason I should have missed that” “How could I have forgotten to do that?” Do any of those phrases sound familiar to you? They likely do considering you’re in veterinary medicine and numerous studies indicate that those in this field tend to score high…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Comforting Grieving Owners
By John Mysz, LCSW – While this may not be the primary job description for everyone in veterinary medicine, it is absolutely an essential part of the job that many of you will run into at some point. I understand it’s a very uncomfortable experience for many and wanted to share some suggestions/guidelines for you…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Self Care through Acts of Kindness
John Mysz, LCSW – When we think of self-care, we often think of the nice extra things people on TV often tell us to do like take days off, take bubble baths, go on a nice vacation, or get a massage. While these are great, they are more than often not feasible to do with…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Mindfulness
By John Mysz, LCSW – Being overwhelmed at work as a healthcare professional almost seems like it should be in the job description at this point. The common sentiment of “overworked and underpaid” often rings true for many of us throughout our careers. Unfortunately, COVID 19 has only made this more salient. We find ourselves…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: You Are What You Eat
By John Mysz, LCSW – Well not really. But the food you consume has an incredible relationship to your health. We all know the importance of a good diet for physical health. All of our doctors have talked to us about food choices and blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat percentage, and even life expectancy. What…
Read MoreCounselor’s Corner: Exercise and Your Mental Health
By John Mysz, LCSW – Hey everyone! I’ve decided to keep up the old “Counselor’s Corner” blog that Becky Murray, CVT, M.A., LCPC, started a year or so ago. If you’re wondering, though, I am not a clinical counselor like Becky, but a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I will be doing my best to write…
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