Nicole E. Mccarthy, LCSW

https://www.seakexperts.com/members/13460-nicole-e-mccarthy

Nicole E McCarthy, MSW, LCSW, PMH-C Expert Witness - SEAK, Inc. Nicole E McCarthy, MSW, LCSW, PMH-C, provides expert witness opinions on Social Work and Mental Health matters.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Happy Pride Month! School Social Workers play a vital role in creating brave and safe spaces for our students! We see you!

Feeling lonely around the holidays can make us feel as if something is wrong with us. Everybody else seems to know how to be happy, how to be together, how to be festive, merry, and bright. But feeling lonely around the winter holidays is extremely common. In fact, the media-perpetuated wrapped-in-a-bow fantasy is rarely the reality for most people. More often than not, the holidays are a time of increased stress and loneliness—even for self-proclaimed holiday fanatics.

Many of us experience conflicting emotions of love and loss, joy and sadness, exuberance and melancholy—it can be quite disorienting. Even memories made in adulthood can serve as shattered windows to the past. It’s the memories of a former lover with whom we created new traditions, who helped heal childhood wounds, only to eventually create newer traditions with someone else. It’s driving past the apartment where we celebrated with an old friend who’s no longer in our lives. It’s buying gifts our children will get bored of in two weeks. It’s pouring eggnog for one.

Relationships are often the strongest protective factors to keep us tethered to ourselves. And whether you're spending the holidays with family, friends, or on your own, it's important to keep the lines of communication open.

Who in your life lifts you up?
Who can you turn to in times of stress?

Whether they're a FaceTime away or in the next room, I encourage you to reach out this season. What you might find is that seeking help or just a listening ear also gives the person you're reaching out to the sense of purpose and closeness they were craving as well.

Medscape Physician Burnout and Depression Report 2022 Physicians had a rough year in 2021, with many feeling more burned out and stressed than they ever have before. Here's what more than 13,000 doctors had to say.