Self Care Deliveries? This Sacramento-Area Business Brings ‘Me Time’ To Your Door.

You can get your outfits, grooming products and favorite snacks delivered to your doorstep, so why not your peace of mind?

Cameron Park resident Tresa Brown Edmunds and her business partner Meredith Hutchison Hartley ship out care packages full of crafts, journals, blankets, tea and other goodies meant to encourage downtime and reflection. Their subscription service, HavenTree, delivers these boxes every three months.

It’s all about self care — a term therapists use to describe slicing out part of the day just for yourself. That could mean taking a walk, doing a casual craft or simply having a quiet moment.

Edmunds said she realized the importance of self care while raising her 10-year-old son, Atticus, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy. Simple things like eating and sleeping would fall by the wayside.

Now, she’s encouraging others to think hard about their mental health.

“It’s not just pedicures and bath bombs,” she said. “As wonderful as those can be, that can’t be the foundation.”

Along with the crafts, the HavenTree boxes include a newsletter full of mental health factoids and personal stories about depression and anxiety.

Sacramento-area art therapist Lisa Mitchell said she’s never heard of a self-care subscription before but supports the idea. She has a hard time convincing her patients to take time for themselves. They say they’re too busy, or worry they’ll be perceived as lazy.

“We have been taught that selfish is a negative word and it has negative connotations,” Mitchell said.

She said good self-care practices don’t involve an end goal. Rather, they allow the mind to wander.

“If people are drawing or knitting, they don’t have to think about one problem. They can just allow their brain to mull a variety of things and rest. That’s a reboot,” she said.

Millennials seem to have started the self care trend. One Pew Research study found that they spend twice as much as baby boomers on exercise, life coaching and apps to improve well-being.

Edmunds said her care packages are meant to be a “workout for the brain.” She said even if people don’t get hooked on crafting, they’ll pick up at least a few healthy habits.

“Self care is making the good experiences in your life outweigh the bad ones. So by choosing these little tasks at a time, you can assemble a life that gets you through the hard stuff,” she said.