A mental health expert explains what your anxiety pack should have and why it works
Holley Brandchaft-White has spent over a decade inside emergency rooms watching families fall through the cracks of a mental health system not built for urgency. A licensed clinical social worker with a master’s degree from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, she has worked with young people, adults, and families across outpatient, hospital, and integrated care settings.
Now, as a mental health expert at SHFT Behavioral Health, Chicago’s first urgent care dedicated solely to mental health for ages 10 to 30, she is meeting people in their most overwhelming moments without a referral and without a waitlist.
What is your reaction when you see Gen Z building these emotional support kits for themselves?
I honestly think that this is great. They are little packs of tools that people can use in real time, incorporate when they’re out and about during their day and they feel some anxious sensations coming up and need a real time resource. I think it just speaks to people’s ability to support themselves. For a long time, therapy has taken place in a formal session, and I think it just demonstrates young people’s willingness to take care of themselves, be creative with that.
What happens in the brain and body during an anxiety episode, and why do these tools interrupt that process?
There’s stuff going on in the brain and sensations that happen in the body. The brain gets triggered, the amygdala sends a threat response. If you’re feeling stressed or agitated in the middle of a work situation or a falling out with a partner, your brain signals “we are in danger! Alert! Alert!” The body also moves into more of a fight or flight sensation. You feel heart palpitations, maybe you start to get a little sweaty, a little uncomfortable, your breathing can pick up.
The tools in these anxiety packs can be used to ground yourself, slow things down, come back to real life. They’re put together when you’re not in that state, so they act as a way to pause and reassess what you need in that moment.
Can you explain the science behind why sour candy works?
That’s a therapist hack. I love sour candy more than a mint because it is so shocking. It disrupts this cycle. If anybody thinks about times when they’re spiraling and they can’t get unstuck, they can’t breathe, a sour candy, especially something like a WARHEAD that is so strong in that flavor, it literally halts things so that you can remember where you are, remember your environment, come back down to real life.
We use that quite a bit in our treatment because it’s so accessible. You don’t need a fancy notebook, you don’t need instructions, it literally does the work for you, and it serves to interrupt the pattern that’s happening in your brain while you’re spiraling.
Why does writing down racing thoughts actually help?
I personally enjoy writing because it’s something accessible. It’s just a matter of figuring out a thing that works for you. I tend to do a brain dump at the end of the night before I go to bed because it’s a way to clear out the chaos that happens in your brain. It offers a little bit of structure for you to deposit your thoughts into a space, close that journal. Being able to move some of what’s happening in your mind into a fixed space really does quite a bit to unload some of the emotional weight of what you’re managing.
How do hydration and blood sugar connect to how severe an anxiety episode feels?
We’re so used to moving through the day, but all of those body cues are feeding off of your brain, and vice versa. Being dehydrated or having low blood sugar is essentially depriving your body and your mind from the resources to feel like you have the energy and the space in your brain to think through whatever tasks.
If you are dehydrated, it can escalate any feelings of stress because your body is trying to get through managing the stress on less than efficient resources. It’s an actual physiological imbalance that happens in those moments. Make sure you’re drinking water with electrolytes, or at least water, at a minimum. Have snacks, take a deep breath when you step outside to ground yourself. All those little bits and pieces really count.
How does a pre-curated playlist help regulate the nervous system?
Music can do things similar to journaling or using a WARHEAD, where it can influence in a positive way, slowing down your heart rate, slowing down your breathing, especially if you’re pulling in music that you know you enjoy. If you have an artist you love ahead of time that you know is a go to to switch channels in your brain to get yourself in a different headspace, that can be helpful.
There’s also something about being planful in that. When you’re not elevated, it offers a little bit of relief in being able to make decisions easily. When you’re stressed out, you don’t want to be scrolling through. If you can rely on that system you set up, it makes it more likely that your nervous system is going to be able to regulate and process.
What gap in the mental health system was SHFT trying to fill?
Our goal was to fill the gap that exists between a regular outpatient therapist and the emergency department. Sometimes you need to be seen more urgently, and the only go to is an emergency department. I spent the last 10 years working in ERs and saw so many times where families needed support in that moment and maybe couldn’t get into a therapist.
Our goal was to meet people where they are in those moments where they’re having panic attacks or feeling unsafe, or don’t know where to turn. We built this walk-in space modeled like a medical urgent care. People can walk in and get therapy right then in that moment, talk to a prescriber about medication right there in that moment.
What do you want loved ones to understand about supporting someone through an anxiety episode?
Just being present with somebody can be helpful, not necessarily jumping into action to try to solve. There’s a lot of power in just being able to listen and be present, and even offering up some of the tools in their anxiety pack. Just being there, helping slow things down, and being a sounding board can go a long way if you know that you have somebody who’s in your corner to then find resources if additional resources are needed.
What services does SHFT offer, and where can people find you?
We offer a few different services. The couple of things that make us different are the crisis assessment, which is a safe alternative to the emergency department. If it’s a crisis for you, then it’s a crisis. We walk through a full evaluation of what we’re seeing and make some treatment recommendations, helping individuals navigate the environments they’re in.
Another service we call a chat. It’s in-person or virtual, but we love in-person. It’s like a one off therapy session with no commitment. You can drop in same day, kind of like a blow dry bar for therapy, or like your high school guidance counselor.
We also offer regular therapy and medication management on an ongoing basis. Our brick and mortar space is in River North in Chicago, in a beautiful lofted building. We also offer virtual care and more information can be found at shftbh.com.