Hello!

I hope you are enjoying the first few weeks of summer!

My wish for you this summer is that you get to spend time doing the things you enjoy, with the people that you love. Read on for tips on forgiveness, a recipe for healthy popsicles and so much more! 

All my best,
Dr. Pam McCaskill

734-416-9098
McCaskill Family Services Newsletter
Term: Summer | Issue 42| July 29th, 2023
Making Forgiveness Your Friend

You've probably heard many inspirational quotes about forgiveness:
  • "Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." -Paul Boose
  • "Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong." -Ghandi
  • "Forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace." -Jonathan Huie
  • "To forgive is not to excuse what the other person did. It's to prevent their behavior from destroying your heart."- Unknown

All of these are beautiful sentiments, truly frame worthy. However, putting forgiveness into motion can be challenging, and working through hurt isn't always pretty. Forgiveness takes time, patience with yourself, and mastering the skill of acceptance. Read Bismah's blog below for some helpful thoughts about this important skill and why it's so vital to your mental health!
At McCaskill Family Services, we specialize in working with adults, children, teenagers and families with various presenting issues. If you or someone you know could benefit from our services, please contact us. Our clinicians are trained in empirically-based techniques, and would be happy to promptly schedule an appointment in person or via tele-health. We can be reached by phone at 734-416-9098 or by email at office@mccaskillfamilyservices.com.
Eating Disorder Support
Summer Equine Groups
girl-horseback-riding.jpg

Reserve your spot now!
These amazing groups fill up quickly.
Our 8-week-equine groups are here for the summer!

Join a group tailored to your mental health needs, lead by a licensed psychologist with the help of your own Equine partner.

Emotion Regulation & Coping
Monday's 3-4:30pm, Ages 9-11
July 10th - August 28th

Healing your Relationship with your
Body & Food
Tuesday's 7-8:30pm, Ages 13-17
July 11th - August 29th
Get to Know Our Staff
Clinician Spotlight
Bismah earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Wayne State University and her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Wayne State University. Prior to joining McCaskill Family services, Bismah worked at Children's Hospital of Michigan where she provided confidential individual and group therapy to children and adolescents.

Bismah works with children, adolescents, and adults on a range of concerns including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma, eating disorders, family conflict, and self-esteem issues. She is passionate about working with couples and families to address interpersonal stressors that may be impacting their relationships.
 
Bismah uses numerous evidence-based treatments including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness-based interventions to create a treatment plan that suits each individual client's needs.

Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of affirmative and culturally-competent care and has an interest in working with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals.
Healthy Homemade Popsicles
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups fresh berries
  • 1 cup vanilla greek yogurt , or your favorite flavor
  • 3 Tablespoons honey, add more for desired sweetness
  • Popsicle mold

Instructions:
  • Purée the berries in a blender. You can add in 1 to 2 Tablespoons of sugar if you'd prefer the popsicles a little sweeter.
  • Combine the yogurt and honey in a small bowl.
  • Layer the popsicle mold by alternating pouring in the berries and yogurt until it reaches the top (I like to add the berries first).
  • Insert popsicle stick into the top and then place into the freezer.
  • Freeze for four hours, or until hard.
  • Run mold under warm water for a few seconds and then remove popsicles. Serve while cold.

Flavor Ideas:
  • Berry: Mixed berries (or choose your favorite berry) + vanilla Greek yogurt + honey.
  • Tropical: Pineapple (or mangoes or both) + coconut Greek yogurt + honey.
  • Peach: Peaches + vanilla Greek yogurt + honey.
  • Kiwi: Kiwi + vanilla Greek yogurt (or coconut yogurt) + honey.
  • Cherry: Cherries + vanilla Greek yogurt + honey.

Variations: Yogurt/dairy free. Add fresh sliced fruit (instead of puréed) to the molds. Then mix together coconut water and honey and pour into the molds over the fruit and freeze.Because the coconut water is clear, you’ll be able to see the different colors of sliced fruit through the popsicles. So pretty !

Recipe from Jamielyn Nye, i heart naptime blog.
Time for a Re-Eval?
If you know us, you know that the staff at McCaskill is passionate about neuropsychological evaluations as an important part of treatment and comprehensive care.

We like to think of evaluations as a mental "X-ray". Evals give us the full picture of what's happening underneath/causing many of the other symptoms a child may be experiencing. Once we know the root cause (or causes), we can more accurately intervene. With how difficult diagnoses such as learning disabilities and ADHD (especially in young females) are to spot, a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is the best way to truly assess what's going on. Unsure if you or your child could benefit from an evaluation? See our tips below.

We recommend that our clients participate in an updated evaluation:
  • Every 3 years! This allows us to properly track data patterns (improvemements, stengths/weaknesses) given ongoing cognitive and academice development.
  • Upon a big school transition (going into high school, middle school, new school etc.)
  • If you are seeing new symptoms/issues that were not previously noticeable.
  • If symptoms are getting worse, despite implementing recommendations from the original evaluation.

Please visit our website to learn more about our comprehensive evaluations.
Newsletter Editor's Notes
Earlier in the newsletter we talked about forgiveness of others. So now let's talk a little bit about forgivness of the self.

When we make a mistake, it can be hard to offer ourselves forgiveness in the same way that we may offer it to others. Many of us believe the misconception that if we forgive ourselves we haven't truly "learned our lesson" and we will be more likely to repeat this mistake in the future. Consequently, we hold on to feelings of guilt and anger as a protective measure. Repeated psychology studies have shown us that this line of thinking is simply not true. Tough love does not create lasting change, in fact, it makes things worse in the long-run by lowering our self-esteem and causing us to make unhealthy choices.

Let's take an example: You are in gym class about to do some push-ups. You do 15 and are feeling pretty winded. The gym teacher starts yelling at you to do more, threatening that if you don't make it to 50, you will fail the class. Maybe this type of motivation (based in fear) helps you make it to 30 or even gets you to an exhaustive 50. But....come the next three classes when you have to repeat such a streneous activity (while someone yells at you)...my guess is that you aren't going to care if you fail the class or not.

Instead of your teacher threatening you, let's say two of your closest friends see that you are struggling and come over to cheer you on. They tell you how strong you are, offer words of encouragement, and even do a few push-ups along side of you. Not only will you likely make it to 50, but you're going to leave feeling accomplished and willing/more-opend minded to try again next class. This type of motivation creates lasting change that boosts our self-esteem.

Anger and guilt are not emotions that help to motivate us long-term. Holding onto these feelings only make use feel worse about ourselves, lowering our self-esteem over time and causing us to believe that we don't deserve good things. The higher our self-esteem the more we believe in our abilitites to make better decisions and act in accordance with our fundmanetal value systems. Regardless of the mistake you made, you are deserving of forgiveness. Take accountability for what happened through acceptance based practices, attempt to make amends if you have hurt someone, and then work on forgiving yourself. Ask yourself, "How would I treat my partner or best friend if they made this mistake?" Offer yourself the same grace and embrace your human-ness.
Sweet Summer Time! I'm a masters level clinician at McCaskill Family Services who specializes in the treatment of OCD, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders for all ages. I co-run the McCaskill Family Services DBT groups for teens and adults, and specialize in psychological assessment. I am also our monthly newsletter editor and social media manager!

I'd like to personally thank you for staying in touch with our practice, and hope you find this newsletter inspirational and informative. If you or someone you know would like to schedule an appointment with me, please contact our office at 734-416-9098 or email us at office@mccaskillfamilyservices.com. I look forward to working with you!


Follow Us On Instagram and Facebook for Ongoing Inspiration and Helpful Mental Health Tips!
Visit Our Blog to Stay Up-To-Date on Important Mental Health Info From Our Clinical Team!