Lauren Robbins, Licensed Professional Counselor, has been practicing in the field of mental wellness for over five years, but she was been drawn to working with and supporting others many years before that. Life has taken her down various paths, but they have always been connected by the thread of wellness and healing. Having worked in-home with serious and persistent mental illness, in addiction recovery treatment, in crime victim advocacy, and now, in mental health counseling, she has a unique worldview. She believes that we all experience losses, pain, seemingly insurmountable challenges, and fear, but we also all possess the power to overcome and to heal. Those traumatic experiences that forever change us, both for the good and the bad, are the commonalities that make us human and help us relate to one another.
Lauren often integrates Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) techniques into her work with those who continue to be negatively impacted by past experiences, interactions, fears, or current negative thoughts about self. She has seen the amazing insight, increase in confidence, release of anxiety, improvement in outlook for the future, and positive life changes that can happen rather quickly as a result of using this intervention. Many of us struggle with some negative internal dialogue about something in our lives we wish could change; the power to change lies within you. EMDR helps us access the things within us that allow us find increased life satisfaction.
Happiness is out there; have you found it?
As a mother of two young children, Lauren understands the stresses that accompany everyday life. It is hard, and may be a daily struggle, to find balance and maintain healthy relationships in a fast-paced world where money, power, and prestige are valued over physical and mental wellbeing. It can be difficult to find time to put oneself first. Her challenge to you is to find a space in your life each day, if only for five minutes, during which you choose YOU. Put down the phone or the computer, get out of your car or away from your desk, and BREATHE. In order to best care for others, a role demanded of many of us, we must first care for ourselves. This is a learned PRACTICE. It may not come easy, but that’s the point; it must be intentional. You deserve to be cared for, both by yourself and by others.
Lauren joined Healthwise Behavioral Health & Wellness in January 2014. She was drawn to this practice because of the holistic wellness approach emphasizing the mind-body connection. Our emotions play such an integral part in how we feel physically, and vice versa, that we cannot treat one and ignore the other and expect wellness to be sustained. And part of wellness is having fun, too! In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with her family, exploring new places, practicing yoga, singing loudly to the car radio and dancing in the kitchen while cooking.
While mindfulness, breathing exercises, yoga, guided imagery, or meditation, all of which Lauren integrates into her approach to working with clients, can be highly effective, they are not the only ways of engaging in self-care to find peace and healing. Wellness is holistic in nature; all parts impact one another. When your mind or body is struggling, you likely notice it in multiple aspects of your life and health.
Take time to choose to be well. And seek support when you need it.
Lauren Robbins, MS, LPC, LADC
Licensed Professional Counselor
Healthwise Behavioral Health & Wellness
Direct (763) 400-7838
Fax (763) 400-7444
www.BehavioralHealthMN.com