Wellness Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/category/wellness/ Interventions & Treatment Consulting Fri, 26 Jun 2026 09:30:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://heatherhayes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-HH_logo-32x32.png Wellness Archives - Heather Hayes & Associates https://heatherhayes.com/category/wellness/ 32 32 The Questions Families Ask AI in the Middle of the Night https://heatherhayes.com/the-questions-families-ask-ai-in-the-middle-of-the-night/ Fri, 26 Jun 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7725 There is a moment that many families never talk about publicly. It usually happens late at night. The house is quiet. Everyone else may be asleep. A parent or spouse sits alone with a phone or laptop and begins searching the internet. Today those searches increasingly go to AI assistants rather than traditional search engines. […]

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]]> The Power of Seeing the Whole Person https://heatherhayes.com/the-power-of-seeing-the-whole-person/ Fri, 22 May 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7560 Why the Work of Arnold Lazarus Matters More than Ever in Modern Clinical Care The most effective clinical care has never come from viewing human beings through a single lens. People are too complex, too layered, and too deeply shaped by biology, psychology, relationships, trauma, environment, culture, and lived experience to be understood through only […]

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]]> The Cost of Burnout in Leadership Roles Supporting Trauma and Addiction https://heatherhayes.com/the-cost-of-burnout-in-leadership-roles-supporting-trauma-and-addiction/ Wed, 29 Apr 2026 07:00:09 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7514 As leaders in the field of trauma and addiction recovery and support, we face considerable pressures and stresses that very often lead to burnout. Burnout is understood by the World Health Organization as an occupational phenomenon [1] – in other words, it is a condition which is explicitly linked to the work we do. And […]

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]]> Why Safety, Not Motivation, is the Missing Piece in Many Recovery Models https://heatherhayes.com/why-safety-not-motivation-is-the-missing-piece-in-many-recovery-models/ Fri, 10 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7519 There is no single route to recovery. Each of us has to negotiate a complex set of circumstances, and there is a wide range of both internal and external factors to be taken into account in every situation. Equally, we need a certain set of pieces to fall into place to progress in recovery. However, […]

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]]> The Difference Between Emotional Regulation and Emotional Suppression https://heatherhayes.com/the-difference-between-emotional-regulation-and-emotional-suppression/ Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:30:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7477 Emotional management is one of the key skills we all need to develop over the course of our lifetimes. Feelings are a crucial part of the human experience, yet no two emotional experiences will be exactly the same. You might feel hurt and sadness in a very different way than I do, and my best […]

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]]> Across Cultures, Women Are Carrying Pain Quietly, and the Future of Wellness Depends on Whether We Respond with Shame or Support https://heatherhayes.com/across-cultures-women-are-carrying-pain-quietly-and-the-future-of-wellness-depends-on-whether-we-respond-with-shame-or-support/ Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:24 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7470 Across cultures, languages, religions, and economies, women are carrying pain quietly. In boardrooms and refugee camps. In gated communities and rural villages. In faith communities and on university campuses. In families with privilege and families in poverty. While the external narratives differ, the internal experiences are often the same. Women are disproportionately carrying trauma, relational […]

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]]> The Ark of the Covenant: Psychological Containment, Ethical Power, and Why Uncontained Systems Collapse https://heatherhayes.com/the-ark-of-the-covenant-psychological-containment-ethical-power-and-why-uncontained-systems-collapse/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:56:39 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7279 Introduction: Why an Ancient Object Still Speaks Across millennia, cultures, and belief systems, few symbols have retained the psychological gravity of the Ark of the Covenant. Often reduced in popular imagination to a mystical relic or cinematic artifact, the Ark is far more enduring and far more relevant than myth alone would suggest. Psychologically, the […]

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]]> Mentorship is not a Shortcut: Why Learning Requires Effort, Presence, and Respect for the Craft https://heatherhayes.com/mentorship-is-not-a-shortcut-why-learning-requires-effort-presence-and-respect-for-the-craft/ Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:26:32 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7223 In the past few years, especially at conferences, trainings, and even in airport lounges, people have approached me with the same request: “Can I pick your brain about becoming an interventionist?” I understand the longing. This field is complicated, demanding, and deeply meaningful. People want guidance, direction, and a key to understanding the path. I […]

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]]> Gender-Responsive Interventions: From Disconnection to Open-Hearted Aliveness https://heatherhayes.com/gender-responsive-interventions-from-disconnection-to-open-hearted-aliveness/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:45:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7199 “In the face of intense yearnings for connection and in order to remain in the only relationships available, we develop strategies that keep more and more of ourselves out of connection.” Carol Gilligan (1991); Gilligan, Lyons & Hammer, 1990 At the core of gender and trauma-responsive practice lies what Carol Gilligan called the Central Relational […]

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]]> Your Mind, Your Health: Understanding the Connection Between Body and Brain in Healing https://heatherhayes.com/your-mind-your-health-understanding-the-connection-between-body-and-brain-in-healing/ Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:15:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7192 In 1637, French philosopher Renee Descartes famously wrote that “Je pense, donc je suis”, which translates to “I think, therefore I am.” This phrase, which was originally meant to highlight the importance of the thinking mind to human beings’ lives, has informed a widespread assumption, especially in Western cultures, that our minds and bodies are […]

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]]> Connection as Medicine: Reclaiming Relationships after Trauma and Substance Use Disorder https://heatherhayes.com/connection-as-medicine-reclaiming-relationships-after-trauma-and-substance-use-disorder/ Wed, 26 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7180 “Every person I’ve ever met in the throes of addiction has been searching for the same thing: connection.” – Johann Hari Addiction, at its core, is not about moral failure, weakness, or lack of willpower. It is about separation or disconnection from self, from others, and often from any sense of safety in the world. […]

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]]> ChatGPT Psychosis: What it is, how it develops, who’s at risk, and how to build a healthy relationship with AI https://heatherhayes.com/chatgpt-psychosis-what-it-is-how-it-develops-whos-at-risk-and-how-to-build-a-healthy-relationship-with-ai/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000 https://heatherhayes.com/?p=7175 First, a reality check. ChatGPT psychosis is not an official diagnosis. It’s a shorthand people use for psychotic-like episodes (or relapse/worsening of symptoms) that appear temporally associated with intense engagement with AI chatbots. The science is new, but several streams of evidence are relevant, including early case reports and newsworthy medical cases, cohort studies linking […]

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