August is a month that contains a very important holiday here at the Center for Behavioral Health (CBH)! Sunday, August 5th is known as the International Day of Friendship. Social support is a key protective factor for mental health. With this holiday fast approaching, it allows for us at CBH to reflect on the importance of making and maintaining friendships. CBH provides a warm and welcoming environment that provides individualized therapy to help you work on making and maintaining healthy friendships as well as improving social skills in a safe environment.
Social life is an integral aspect of mental health that many overlook. Carlin Flora (2013, as cited in Whitbourne, 2013) created the word “friendfluence” to explain the impact that friends have on our everyday lives. Flora continued to explain “friendfluence is the powerful and often unappreciated role that friends – past and present – play in determining our sense of self and direction of our lives” (Whitbourne, 2013). Friends play a major role in shaping who a person is and will be. It is critical to make and maintain friendships throughout one’s life, as friendships provide a person with vital life skills and make life feel more enjoyable. Friends are there for you in your time of need but also provide you with a sense of grounding when you need a reality check.
Here at CBH, our clinicians can work directly with you on ways to improve your social skills while maintaining a safe and confidential environment. Whether you are having issues making or keeping friends, we will work to create and improve social awareness needed to nurture lasting, healthy friendships. Friendships are often hard to navigate and it is important to be able to set boundaries with your friends, especially if you feel that your friendship is not a two way street. Additionally, CBH can help with coping skills that you can then help pass along to your friends in their time of need.
If you are wanting to improve your social life and/or social skills, contact CBH at 502.792.7011 to inquire how we can help.
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