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Mental Health

How to Find and Increase Hope

✨ Why Hope Matters There's a reason we're called Fresh Hope Counselling. Hope is a necessity. Hope has been described as "an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of desirable outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large."…
Spence
August 6, 2026
when you're not enough
Mental Health

When You’re Not Enough

💭 When You’re Not Enough Ever felt like you weren’t enough? It’s a very common problem in our world — that, and the belief that we aren’t good enough. The flaw in this thinking is ‘according to who?’ Or ‘when are we good enough?’ The word ‘enough’ means that something…
Beth_Murray
April 17, 2026
Internal Locus
Mental Health

Internal Locus and Why You Need One

🧭 Internal Locus of Control — and Why You Need One Locus of control can be understood as the centre hub of a bicycle wheel. When you have an external locus of control, the people, forces, and situations around you flow inward and dictate who you are. You look outward…
Beth_Murray
January 17, 2026
we-need-hope
Mental Health

Why We All Need Hope

🌅 Why We All Need Hope Hope is an essential part of human life. It allows us to face uncertainty, endure hardship, and move forward when circumstances feel overwhelming or unclear. More than simple optimism, hope is a powerful inner resource that helps us imagine possibilities beyond present distress. At…
Beth_Murray
December 17, 2025
Mental Health

What’s Your Relationship Like With Yourself?

🌱 Learning Self-Compassion and Emotional Wellness Think about the most important relationships in your life — your partner, your family, your friends. When those relationships are going well, how do you show up for those people? You likely make time for them, speak with kindness, and treat them with care…
Beth_Murray
October 28, 2025
Why am I so Anxious?
Anxiety

Why am I so Anxious?

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, tenseness, or fear, particularly related to things which we think may happen in the future. It is something most people will experience during their lifetime, but it can become a problem mentally when it impacts a person’s ability to function and have a good…
Beth_Murray
June 2, 2025
broken dreams
GriefMental HealthRelationships

Broken Dreams

As we head into the holiday season, this Christmas time can be challenging for some. Life is filled with broken dreams. Things don't always turn out the way we pictured they would. If they have, that's wonderful! When it hasn't, we can really struggle. Whether it's grief, the breakdown of…
Beth_Murray
December 17, 2024
beating depression
Mental Health

You Are Valuable and Lovable. No more shame.

Each person is valuable here and now, just as they are. Period. We often struggle with feeling valuable or lovable based on things from the past. Mistakes and bad choices, harm done to us, and other aspects of life can leave us living in shame. Shame is not meant to…
Beth_Murray
October 1, 2024
anxiety services edmonton
Mental HealthRelationships

Why Relationships Matter

Life gotten too busy? No time or energy to connect with friends and family? This society makes it easy to become disconnected and isolated. The demands of work, family, finances, and more can drain our tanks pretty quickly. Social media doesn't help as it lulls us into scrolling through unrealistic…
Beth_Murray
August 18, 2024
couple services edmonton
Mental Health

Keeping Joy in Your Life

Feelings come and go like waves. They are emotional responses to what we are thinking about, believing and experiencing. Emotions are neither right or wrong. For example, there is no right way to feel in any given situation. Some emotions are painful and some are pleasant. When I worked inpatient…
Beth_Murray
May 26, 2024
marriage finances
Mental Health

Dealing With the Unknowns

As humans we don't like unknowns! In fact, some of us hate them and really struggle if things are unknown. Yet life has so many unknown components. When we get new information, our brains want to figure things out. If we have very black and white thinking, it's even worse…
Beth_Murray
February 6, 2024
hope
Mental Health

How to be Hopeful

First, let's differentiate between hope and optimism. “Hope focuses more directly on the personal attainment of specific goals, whereas optimism focuses more broadly on the expected quality of future outcomes in general.” In other words, optimism is the belief that things will turn out all right; hope makes no such…
Beth_Murray
July 11, 2023
treatment for depression
Mental Health

You Can Do Hard Things!

Have you been dealt some unfair blows lately? Has your life been impacted by grief and loss? Has trauma blown your life apart? If you answered 'yes' to one or more of these questions you have been through hard things. This also verifies that you CAN do hard things. It's…
Beth_Murray
April 4, 2023
Depression Treatment
Anxiety

Still Experiencing Anxiety?

We all felt a certain amount of anxiety when the COVID 19 pandemic started. So many unknowns were infiltrating our lives. What was going to happen next? What if... Now that we are in a less restricted phase of pandemic response, many people are still finding they continue to have…
Beth_Murray
August 22, 2022
What Makes Something Traumatic?
Mental HealthModeration

Importance of Mind Management

It's interesting how many people have a workout program for their bodies but no focus on managing their mind. Why is it that we can prioritize physical fitness and not mental fitness? In her book, "Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess" Dr. Caroline Leaf presents five steps to change and improve…
Beth_Murray
February 18, 2022
Christmas Blues
DepressionMental Health

Not So Happy Holidays

Although this is known to be a joyous season it doesn't mean that it is. The Holidays can cause a sore spot to fester even more. Perhaps you are experiencing grief or loss, or enduring a time of illness/chronic pain. You might be walking through a time of broken dreams…
Beth_Murray
December 21, 2021
being yourself
Mental Health

Do You Have Impostor Syndrome?

I keep hearing about people having 'impostor syndrome.' I guess it's become a thing. Actually it was first referenced in 1978 followed by research done in 1985 by Dr. Pauline Rose Clance and the first measurement scale: the Clance impostor phenomenon scale (CIP). The scale measured impostor syndrome across six…
Beth_Murray
December 1, 2021
Five Horsemen of the Marital Apocalypse!
Mental Health

Are You Living a Distracted Life?

Our world has become a place of distraction. The internet has shortened our attention spans and trained us to distract and detach. All these 'time saving' inventions have left us feeling more busy and hurried than ever before. The problem is we are not meant to live a life of…
Beth_Murray
October 20, 2021
Am I a Narcissist?
Mental Health

Am I a Narcissist?

If you are wondering if you are a narcissist, here's a simple test put forward by Scott Barry Kaufman, Writer and Psychologist: Step 1: Take a moment to think about yourself. Step 2: If you made it to Step 2, you are not a narcissist. Narcissism is a personality disorder…
Beth_Murray
July 27, 2021
Anxiety Therapy
Depression

Finding Yourself Depressed?

The pandemic has caused a tsunami of mental health impacts, including a huge increase in depression. Whether or not it is clinical depression, it doesn't feel good. Depression is a multi-faceted condition which impacts the body, mind, soul and spirit. Which requires a holistic approach to feel better. Here are…
Beth_Murray
June 24, 2021
EMDR and ART
Mental Health

I Can Do This!

Restrictions, lockdowns, frustrations galore...but you know what? I can do this because I am! This is a statement I learned many years ago during my Graduate Studies. I hit points of utter exhaustion and discouragement where I thought 'I can't keep doing this!' As I spilled this out to my…
Beth_Murray
May 11, 2021
a woman with eating disorder eating chips and cookies
Eating Disorders

How to Break the Restrict – Binge Cycle

In most eating disorders there is a pendulum that swings from restriction (not eating enough) to binging (eating a large quantity of food in a short period of time). Although there is no simple quick fix to breaking this cycle, there are some practical tips that can help you eradicate…
Beth_Murray
March 26, 2021
Annika
News

Fresh Hope Welcomes Annika Schaefer

We are very pleased to welcome Annika Schaefer to our Fresh Hope Counselling team. With all the stress, uncertainty and struggles intensified by the pandemic, requests for counselling help have increased significantly. We want to be able to help meet the needs of those who are struggling. In order to…
Beth_Murray
February 22, 2021
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