*Heather Iris*: February 2017

Hello and Welcome to my Blog! I am so glad you are here, hope you can grab a treat and get comfy and stay a while! I figured I should start off with a post telling you a little bit more about me, and why I decided to create a blog, YouTube channel, and branching out on social media in general! If you have any questions or suggestions, be sure to email me (heatheririsanderson@gmail.com) I would love to hear from you!

Well, I am Heather Anderson (and for my business I go by Heather Iris Anderson). I live in Utah, I am married to a cute pilot and we have two little girls. I currently am a stay at home mom, who also likes to stay busy with side craft projects and teaching classes on mental illness.

I wanted to start a blog, youtube channel, and social media accounts, as a way to create a safe, happy, colorful, learning environment, where I could share things I was working on, post about what I’ve been learning, and stay in contact with my past students.

Basically I plan on talking about a WIDE variety of topics/ subjects…

I have A LOT of interests or “categories” I will be working on, basically all of what I do, believe, know, learn. I will try to keep things compartmentalized, as I understand that there will be some readers who don’t have the same religious beliefs as me or might not be interested in reading about mental health. And that’s OK! I will be talking about A LOT of different subjects, and the reason all my posts will be categorized so people can easily find what it is that will help them! I am a HUGE believer of respect, and understand that we may have different beliefs, perspectives, and lifestyles, but as long as we can be respectful of each others choices, we can still connect and learn from each other. I hope you stick around, I love to meet know people, and really enjoy learning more about their life and experiences. I would love to get to know you all better : )

Some examples of areas of interest (for the categories, content, and posts)

* Health & Wellness- This year I am realizing how important overall health and wellness in ALL AREAS of our life. I am working on creating my own “wellness wheel” and really finding ways to create a life and environment centered on health and wellness. This focuses on all areas of a perons life (each persons will be different based on their areas of focus, but some examples are, physical health, mental health, emotional health, social, spiritual, …

*Beauty & DIY Makeup- I am hoping to get some DIY tutorials on how to make mineral makeup, I will also post about my book and what it was like getting a book deal and the photoshoot in newyork.

* Mental Health – I personally have depression, Anxiety (GAD, and social) and PTSD, so mental health is a HUGE part of my life, and will always be close to my heart. I like to share about what I am learning in therapy, what I am reading, and what I do with NAMI. I am on the Board of Directors (or the “steering committee”) at NAMI Utah County, I do the social media, help with the peer mentoring, and teach the Peer-to-Peer educational classes on mental illness (for those with a mental illness) I LOVE my students, I love all the people I meet though NAMI, these are definitely “My People” I feel so at home with them.

* Family & Relationships- My family is very important to me, and I really believe people and relationships are important. I will be posting about things I’ve been reading, or what I have been working on, or have learned when it comes to family.

* Fashion & Altering and Embellishing clothes- I actually went to fashion school for a few semesters, and I continue to appreciate and admire beautiful clothing. I am BY NO MEANS an amazing seamstress, I say my style is a bit messy, but I just do it for fun. I love shopping at thrift stores, clothing swaps, and just finding something unwanted, and just adding a little bit here and there, and creating something completely different. I plan on sharing my tips, tricks, and ideas, and post some pictures of my projects.

* Learning & Reading- I plan on picking a few subjects and sharing what I learn, I also love to read self help books, or books on society & people, so I will be sure to update you on what I am reading, thinking, learning.

*Spirituality & God- God is a very important person in my life, I am also a Mormon, or member of the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I like to share thoughts I have on spirituality, share from the church lessons, and good conference talks or articles.

* Creating & Crafting- I used to do art, colorful fashion illustrations, with time I just stopped (mostly due to anxiety) but I have a daughter who is a very talented artist and she is teaching me to really enjoy art again. So I will be doing some small art projects, also I love to get creative and bedazzle shoes and belts, and make glittery rainbow bracelets. I collect magazines and love to make collages.

* Travel- My husband is a pilot, so I will be planning trips, daytrips to my first international flight (to visit my best friend in korea), and posting about the food, entertainment, culture

* Gluten Free & Celiac- I am not much of a cook, but I am trying to bring myself to eat better. I have been GF for 5 years now. I might do a few posts here and there on food, recipes, what not.

Personally I value growth and progression along with learning. So I try to constantly grow and challenge myself in whatever areas I am interested in. I one day would LOVE to go back to school, get my degree (in behavioral science emphasis in either social work OR sociology) and from there I know I want a career, just not sure which job path I will take. I would love to teach other adults about mental health (like I do now, but I volunteer for NAMI) I love sociology, my focus would definitely be on woman, how women interact with others, in families, work, friends, all of it, I think is fascinating. Women are pretty amazing creatures. Learning is very important to me, I think knowledge is powerful, and necessary, the more we can learn the better the world will be. I also LOVE color, LOVE diversity, love variation, love RAINBOWS, and anything sparkly (glitter, sequins, tinsel, if a magpie likes it, count me in) AND anything iridescent, love gasoline rainbows, peacocks, and crystals. I have celiac disease so I eat GF (gluten free) which is not always yummy or fun. This year I am trying to focus on overall health and wellness really taking care of myself and others.

Heather Iris

Pages

Sunday, February 26, 2017

About Peer-to-Peer

Therapy: Week 1

Saturday, February 18, 2017

What to expect...

Social Media