Hi! I’m Carrie Halladay, a licensed professional counselor. Like most of us, I have experienced painful grief, dealt with family conflict, and had to learn to juggle the stresses of marriage, a career, and parenting. Through therapy, I learned to manage life and relationships, and I wanted to share that knowledge with others.
I opened my practice, Halladay Counseling, in 2003. My hope is to normalize mental health and make it simple, practical and something we can talk about without judgment. I’m writing this column in hopes of raising awareness about mental health. Mental health challenges are something every single one of us has, whether we talk about them or not. Some days, we feel good. Other days, we’re all over the place. Most of the time, it’s somewhere in between. That’s normal.
Growing up, most of us were raised to believe that if you struggled with “mental health” it meant you were weak, or that something was wrong with you. But the truth is, stress, anxiety and sadness are part of being human.
Emotions are biological messages from our bodies letting us know something is not right in our world. When you’re irritable, exhausted, anxious or just not feeling like yourself, it’s not a personal failure, it’s information. It’s your mind and body trying to get your attention.
We don’t question taking care of our physical health. If we’re sick, we rest. When we sneeze excessively in the Spring, we take allergy medication. If you break a bone, you go to the Doctor. Our mental health deserves that same kind of care.
Normalizing mental health means we stop acting like we’re supposed to have it all together all the time. It means we can say, “I’m struggling right now,” without feeling embarrassed or weak. It means asking for help — whether that’s talking to someone you trust, making changes in your routine or going to therapy. You don’t have to be in crisis to deserve support. You don’t need to wait until everything falls apart to start caring for your mental health. Life can be tough at times. Relationships can be complicated. Loss happens. Change is unavoidable. Of course, it impacts us. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being honest and learning how to take care of yourself along the way.
Carrie Halladay is a Licensed Professional Counselor and the owner of Halladay Counseling in Gadsden. She earned her Master of Science in Counseling from Jacksonville State University in 2002. She has extensive experience working in the areas of violence against women, sexual assault crisis response, and trauma related care. Carrie specializes in helping individuals navigate adversity and emotional challenges using evidence based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
