Craft Night with Dr. Kayla Marmaros
Monday, June 21st, 2021
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We had Dr. Kayla Marmaros as our guest on DGFG Live for this Monday’s Craft Night. Dr. Kayla is the founder of Pillar Mind & Behavior, and she joins us to discuss some of the common mental health dilemmas that a lot of children and adults are facing today.
Dr. Kayla studied Psychology at the University of Miami, and then went on to get her Masters at Nova Southeastern University. She eventually went on to get her Ph.D. in mental health counseling. She is also a certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (CBT) and utilizes this in helping her patients address various emotional difficulties. Pillar Mind & Behavior is her self-owned private practice and she works individually to fit her client’s needs.
Dr. Kayla spoke to us about some of the issues she is seeing amongst her patients as life resumes a sense of normalcy following the COVID-19 pandemic. While she works primarily with kids, teens, and young adults, Dr. Kayla said that these problems she is seeing and treating are common in adults as well. She discussed the influx of anxiety she has been seeing, and how a lot of this anxiety is anticipatory anxiety as people adjust to being in social situations again.
She went on to explain how there is a lot of pressure on today’s youth, and a lot of anxiety comes from the high standards that youth hold themselves to. This is seen primarily in the form of perfectionism and feelings that one is not good enough. She has also seen a lot of depression and withdrawal in kids. Her main goal in addressing these issues is to help kids find a way to feel connected to family, friends, and their community.
In her private practice, Dr. Kayla strives to encourage kids to foster connections with people and things that aren’t toxic. While a lot of these emotional difficulties have been exacerbated by the pandemic and recent events, they are not all necessarily a result of them. She spoke about how bullying is still a prominent issue, and learning to adapt has been really difficult for many kids. To hear more about Dr. Kayla’s work and her insight on mental health, check out our full segment with her on IGTV.
Tune in Monday and Wednesday at 3pm EST for our DGFG Live segments!
Mindful Hour Presented by LaCroix Sparkling Water with Kristin DeCesare
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021
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This Wednesday for Mindful Hour Presented by LaCroix Sparkling Water, we were joined again by Kristin DeCesare (@confidance_by_kristin), a professional dancer, instructor, choreographer, and certified breathwork instructor.
Kristin started her career as a school teacher but realized that her true passion was for dance. Since starting her professional dance career, Kristin has worked in New York City performing on Saturday Night Live and the New York Knicks dance team. In 2011, Kristin auditioned to be a dancer with Pitbull and ended up going on tour with him for 3 years.
After touring, Kristin switched over to the business side of Pitbull’s team and served as his creative director. She then decided to retire from touring and start her own company called Confidance by Kristin, where she and a team of instructors teach private and semi-private dance lessons for kids all over the country.
Today, aside from teaching dance, Kristin is a consultant for NBA and MLB dance teams. She has worked with the Chicago Bulls basketball team and the Miami Marlins baseball team. In addition to her work in the dance industry, she is also a trained breathwork facilitator and has found that she has a strong passion for breathwork.
For Kristin’s segment on DGFG Live this week, she switched gears from dance to breathwork. She guided us through a beginner’s breathwork exercise where she explained the different types of inhaling and exhaling and showed us how to take part in some basic breathing exercises. She believes that breathwork is an important tool that kids and adults alike should be aware of so that everyone can help regulate their emotions and the way we react to things.
Make sure to tune in for more segments, Monday and Wednesday @LLFoundation at 3pm EST!