Long Valley Community Services addressing Mental Health, by Margaret ("Peggy") DeLong, Licensed Psychologist

In addition to providing supportive psychotherapy services and forensic psychological services in my private practice for clients age preschool through adult, I enjoy providing services to the community. Here are a few things that are going on in my practice:

1. Fostering Gratitude Workshop on Monday, 10/24/16, 7:00-8:30PM. Practicing gratitude helps us attract more good things into our lives and provides a sense of balance and perspective, even in our darkest times. Practicing gratitude also helps us minimize depression and anxiety, and fosters greater life satisfaction. This workshop is designed to help you develop gratitude in meaningful and creative ways, and to discover ways to incorporate gratitude into everyday living. Pre-registration is required. Please register at http://drpeggydelong.com/workshop-signup/

2. Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, I facilitate The MotherDaughter Connection. This is for girls in grades 6-8 along WITH their mothers. The group meets from 7-8PM at the Long Valley Teen Center. This is a unique group that brings mothers AND daughters together to address issues facing tweens and teens today, including social media, body image, friendships, substance use, all within the context of the mother-daughter relationship. There is growing consensus that healthy adolescent development involves mothers and daughters becoming better at connecting. It is not surprising that teens and tweens fare better when their parents provide them with guidance, love, and connection. What better person than a girl to turn to than her mother - a person who has more wisdom, experience and factual knowledge than her peers, who keeps her secrets, does not have hidden motives, and loves her unconditionally. Pre-registration is required. Please register at http://drpeggydelong.com/motherdaughter-group-signup/

3. Also every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, I facilitate MotherCARE (Care, Assistance, Resources, and Education). This is a parallel group of the Mother-Daughter Connection. Groups are offered at 6:0PM-7:00PM. This group was added to meet the needs of mothers of boys, as well as mothers of girls in grades other than 6-8, and for mothers whose daughters were unavailable to attend The MotherDaughter Connection. The topics, material, and resources are the same as The MotherDaughter Connection, but this is a mothers only group. When mothers come together and support each other without judgment, incredible and beautiful things happen. Pre-registration is required. Please register at http://drpeggydelong.com/mothers-group-signup/

4. Mindfulness Workshop: Beyond Meditation – Creative Mindfulness Exercises for Adults and Children on Tuesday, November 15^th 7:00-8:30PM. Practicing mindfulness helps to decrease stress, decrease anxiety, decrease depression, improve overall life satisfaction, and foster a sense of peace and calmness. The workshop will help participants incorporate ideas into daily living, incorporate ideas into family life, find methods that suit your style and interests, find resources to facilitate easy application, find new ways of connecting with family members, find new ways of spending healing time alone. Please register at http://drpeggydelong.com/workshop-signup/

5. FREE workshop at the Chester Public Library, “Fostering the Mother-Daughter Relationship” on Tuesday October 18^th, 7:00-8:30. Participants will be provided with useful tools to strengthen the mother-daughter relationship and develop strategies for navigating the teen years with success. Teens have consistently been given the message that separating from parents is a developmental task, and this has been backed by psychological theory. In trying to meet this task, girls have pulled away from their mothers. Mothers in turn often pull back, believing that it is normal and healthy for their daughters to separate from them and reject them in order to achieve independence. However, impressionable girls have better outcomes when they are connected and linked to their mothers during the tween and teen years. Healthy adolescent development actually involves mothers and daughters becoming better at connecting. Many mothers are not sure how to pave the way. Teens fare better when their mothers provide them with guidance, unconditional love, and connection. What better person for a girl to turn to than her mother – a person who has more wisdom, experience, and factual knowledge than peers, who keeps her secrets, does not have hidden motives, and loves her unconditionally. Mothers and daughters are invited to learn how to empower their own relationship and become more connected. Participants will leave with material/supplies to get started right away! Register at http://chesterlib.org/

6. I facilitate the FREE Long Valley Women’s Walking Group. Research demonstrates that group walks in nature are associated with significantly lower depression, less perceived stress, and enhanced overall mental health and well-being. In this group, I combine my passions: helping people improve mental health, the outdoors, being with people, and fostering interpersonal relationships in others. We typically walk once a week at various parks and trails in and around Long Valley. We typically walk 3 miles at 3mph pace. The start time is 9:30AM, but the day of the week and location varies. To receive the weekly emails regarding the day and location, please go to http://drpeggydelong.com/services/community-services

7. I love to write, about psychology, parenting, and life in general! I post various essays and articles I have written to my website. If you would like to receive a weekly email of what I have written, please sign up at http://drpeggydelong.com/blog/ You may also wish to contact me to write a parenting or psychology article for you or your organization.

8. I facilitate Long Valley Helping Hands, an acts of kindness group. This is a facebook group page designed to meet the needs of our community. Members may post any need, big or small, for group members to fulfill. Members may also post donations of goods and services. This is a way of connecting needs in our community with resources that can meet those needs.