Summer is just around the corner. What does summer mean for you and your family?

If you’re in school, you’re likely pushing through the last tests, finals, papers and presentations to close this academic chapter. For some, summer may be welcomed and be punctuated with upcoming trips, camps, and leisure. For some, summer may present as lonely- distance from friends and peers can be challenging. Summer might mean more time spent with your family. What does that look like for you? What do your relationships with parents, grandparents, caregivers, and siblings look like? If you’re a parent, what is it like to now have children home from elementary, middle, high school or college? Are responsibilities for care balanced?

This might be a great time to check in with yourself, your partner, your child and reflect on this seasonal transition. Can you benefit from talking to someone? A disruption to our daily rhythm often causes things that were ignored, avoided, or buried, to surface. This might be noticeable through sudden irritation, withdrawal from friends, isolation, anger. A therapist can help you identify and process how stressors are affecting your life. What if part of that “summer break” was also time spent reflecting on your emotional health and coping patterns?