Holiday Gifts that Improve Mental Wellness
by Katie Englert, LPCC-S, BC-TMH, President, Compass Counseling
The Holiday Season is notoriously challenging for anyone coping with mental health issues. Holidays can be a trigger for past trauma, substance abuse, or isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. If someone you love is struggling this holiday season, you can be especially mindful with your gift giving. Brighten a day or ease the pressures of mental illness with this gift giving guide geared at improving mental wellness:
Self-Care Gifts
Self-Care has become a buzzword in the mental health community, and for good reason. The old adage of putting your own oxygen mask on first, then helping others, is the key to the first step in mental wellness. Self-Care can be easy and inexpensive. A gift card to a spa or massage can relax and reset the brain. A hot meal delivered can comfort the soul. A favorite movie or book can provide just enough indulgence to aid healing. Of course, a little chocolate always helps, too.
Offer Help
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when coping with mental illness. Add in the stress of the holidays, and that overwhelmed feeling can quickly become crippling. Gifts of service can help ease overwhelming anxiety, and in turn, can catalyze a snowball effect of improvement. Gifting a cleaning service lifts a huge burden during the season of guests of hosting. But any service is easily giftable, or for a more budget friendly gift, offer to do the work yourself. Cleaning, dog walking, gift wrapping, running errands – simply buy a gift card or create your own and give the gift of a completed to-do list.
Exercise
Moving the body is an easy and well known trick for releasing endorphins, and our brains love endorphins! Workout equipment or a gym membership make a great gift, and it could even help counteract some of that holiday snacking as well. Double the endorphins and volunteer to be a workout buddy! An accountability partner is simple gift that doesn’t stop giving.
Care Packages
The internet is full of mental health care packages. You can support small businesses through websites like Etsy that have a range of curated packages aimed at self-care, relaxation, and improved mental health.
Journals
Anyone who has been to therapy has heard the phrase “journal it.” Writing is an excellent tool for naming emotions and processing trauma. A monogrammed or personalized journal is a simple way to help others help themselves, and there’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh, blank pages waited to be filled. Throw in a set of fancy pens for the perfect gift combination.
Therapy
Lastly, there’s nothing quite like a meaningful and productive therapy session. But budgets during the holidays can be particularly tight, and not all health insurances are particularly helpful when it comes to mental health. If you have a loved one currently in therapy, offer to cover a session or two. If a friend would benefit from connecting with a therapist, guide them and offer support in finding the right match. Then pay for the first session as a gift, or set up a coffee date to debrief after the first session.
Our traditional holiday season can be a time bustling with schedules, events, and far too much stress. A little mindfulness and thoughtful gift giving can be the perfect way to initiate improved mental wellness just in time for a new year.
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