Quick and Dirty Tips

The Future of Mental Healthcare: Meet the New Savvy Psychologist
The Best Stories from 15 Years of Grammar Girl
8 Awesome Google Chrome Shortcuts to Save You Time

The Future of Mental Healthcare: Meet the New Savvy Psychologist

Posted: 30 Jul 2021 12:10 AM PDT

Charles Darwin once said: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." Adaptability is what allows us to renew and grow. And I'm excited for today's special episode, because it's one that heralds renewal and growth for the Savvy Psychologist podcast.

As you may have heard from last week's episode, this will be my last time hosting the show. I've treasured my two years at the Savvy Psychologist, sharing my passion (and hopefully some wisdom) with you. I've learned so much in the process, not the least from your thoughtful questions and feedback. And for this, I am very grateful!

I'm also grateful for my special guest today, who will be your next Savvy Psychologist, because her incredible personal and professional experiences will make this show go deeper than it's ever gone before.

Dr. Monica Johnson is a clinical psychologist and owner of Kind Mind Psychology, a private practice in NYC that specializes in evidenced-based approaches to treating a wide range of mental health issues (e.g. depression, anxiety, trauma, and personality disorders). Additionally, she has a focus on working with marginalized groups of people including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and alternative lifestyles. She has co-authored a book for professionals on addressing race-based stress in therapy, and regularly speaks and teaches on this subject. She currently lives in Manhattan where she indulges in horror movies, sarcasm, and intentional introversion.

Dr. Johnson and I sat down to an interview about her path as a psychologist (and human), her favorite psychological concepts, and her conception of the future of mental health. Below is an abbreviated transcript of our conversation:

Savvy Psychologist: How did you decide to become a psychologist? What drew you to this work?

Dr. Monica Johnson: I decided to become a psychologist when I was 12 years old. It's well documented in my journals from that time period. I grew up in poverty in the South in a single parent household. I am the only person in my family to even think about going to college. I faced significant obstacles and adversity given my circumstances, but I was also aware that I was resilient. I wasn't aware of that term at the time, but if you read my journal entry, I spoke about recognizing that I was strong and wanting to impart that strength onto others almost through osmosis. It was important to me that people had the knowledge that they weren't alone and they had...

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The Best Stories from 15 Years of Grammar Girl

Posted: 29 Jul 2021 03:10 PM PDT

When I jotted some ideas down on a napkin in a coffee shop called The Kind Grind on the beach in Santa Cruz, California, I never thought I'd be doing it this long or even that Grammar Girl would become my full-time job. I am so grateful to all of you because the fact that you listen makes everything I do possible.

To celebrate, I'm going to take you on a quick tour of some of my favorite stories from over the years and some of the best tips—the ones I use myself in real-life when I'm writing.

Harbinger

One of my most favorite stories is the origin of the word "harbinger" —something that warns of a future event—because it led me to discover that there used to be a royal position called the Knight Harbinger who set up accommodations for the royal household when they traveled, and (even more fun) there was also a Keeper of the Barges and a Keeper of the Swans—the swans! Imagine that being your job. I still think about this all the time.

Ghost words

Another favorite story comes from the episode on ghost words: words that only made it into dictionaries by accident and therefore are said to have "no real existence," according to a lexicographer in 1886. The one that always makes me laugh is "dord" which was supposed to be "D or d," (capital D or lowercase d) the abbreviation for "density," but somebody misread it and ran all the letters together into a word. It sounds so funny: "dord." I love it!

'Historic' versus 'historical'

One of the more straightforward tips I use all the time in my own writing is remembering the difference between "historic" and "historical" by thinking of that "al" on the end of "historical" as standing for "all things" because all old things are historical. It's only important things that are historic.

How to spell 'bureaucracy'

Another of my favorites that I use all the time is how to remember to spell "bureaucracy"—a word many people tell me they struggle with. This is a weird tip, but it works for me. I think of a burrow, sitting behind a desk, tapping perfume behind its ears. The first three letters of "bureaucracy" are "bur" like in burrow. The next three letters are "eau," like perfume—eau de office carpet—and I can remember the "cracy...

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8 Awesome Google Chrome Shortcuts to Save You Time

Posted: 29 Jul 2021 11:30 AM PDT

Learning keyboard shortcuts is a great way to go from a computer user to a computer pro. These keyboard shortcuts will make you look like a wizard as you navigate the internet without hunting and pecking with a mouse. It may not seem like it, but just commit a few of these shortcuts to memory and I promise you'll see a change in you web browsing capabilities. Just like anything: practice practice practice!

As a quick note, I'll be mentioning control keys. On a windows keyboard, these will be on the bottom right and the bottom left and will be abbreviated as "ctrl." For a Mac keyboard, the key will be called "command." These two keys are interchangeable for the shortcuts we're going to cover.

Open Links in New Tab

Control+ or Command+ Click

If you click on a link while holding the control key, it will open up that link in a new tab. I use this shortcut while doing research. I'll read a page and control click every link that might be helpful and continue to read. This opens up everything I click on in a new tab. This is great because when I'm doing reading the page I'm on I simply close that tab and move on to the next.

It's a great way to queue up content for reading and researching.

Find text on page

Control+ or Command+ F

This one may seem like a no brainer but it's incredibly helpful. Pressing control and the "f" key will bring up a small search box that will allow you to search for text on a page. This prevents you from having to scan an entire webpage for the information that you're looking for.

The awesome thing about chrome though is that on the right hand side where the scroll bar is, you'll see a little tick mark noting where that text was found in the page. This can be useful when looking through long Wikipedia pages. If you see a lot of tick marks close together you can be pretty sure that that portion of the page probably has the information that you're looking for.

Enlarge/Shrink Page

Control+ or Command+ +/-

Sometimes when cruising the internet, there will be a website that has some really small text on it. This might be the comments on a blog, text in one of those agreements we all click through, or maybe the fine print of a document. If you use control and the "+" key, the page will be magnified. You can continue pressing it to magnify the page more. To get back to normal or zoom out, simply press control and the "-" key.

I use this a lot when browsing the internet with my parents or grandparents, or when I've...

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Food And Recipe Fusion

Friday, July 30, 2021