Burnout among health care professionals has become a common and critical problem affecting staff, the agencies for which they work, and the clients they serve. As a therapist working in the health care system for over 30 years, I have seen a great many of my colleagues suffer from the various types of stress that can adversely affect workers in this field. I have watched some of them “burn out,” using up their paid sick time, taking stress leaves, resorting to unhealthy coping behaviours, and … [Read more...] about When Healers Burn Out: Causes and Prevention of Occupational Stress Among Health Care Professionals
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What Are You Thinking? How Your Thoughts Affect Your Recovery from Addiction
Have you ever wondered about the impact of your thoughts? By now, most people have either seen the movie The Secret or have heard about it. By showing a number of different situations and how people respond to them, The Secret teaches that we are creating our lives with every thought we have, every second of the day. What an amazing idea! What We Put Out Comes Back to Us The Secret addresses the idea of the Law of Attraction, which you may already be familiar with. This "Law" simply states … [Read more...] about What Are You Thinking? How Your Thoughts Affect Your Recovery from Addiction
Top 10 Survival Tips For Loving an Addicted Person
1. Come face-to-face with reality. Learning how to deal with reality is the most important first step in “surviving” when you love an addicted person. Although it may seem easier to stay in the “fantasy space” where you can continue to believe that things are going to magically get better, there is no such magic. Things will not get better just because you wish they would. Coming face-to-face with reality means accepting that parts of your life may be out of control as a result of loving … [Read more...] about Top 10 Survival Tips For Loving an Addicted Person
The Serenity Prayer: How it Can Help Your Recovery from Addiction
God, grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference. These days, a lot of people have heard of the Serenity Prayer. Anyone who has gone to 12-Step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or Al-Anon knows this prayer as the group recitation at the end of these meetings. But although you may have heard this prayer a number of times, and perhaps recited it yourself many times, have … [Read more...] about The Serenity Prayer: How it Can Help Your Recovery from Addiction
The Name of the Game: How to Revive Your Ailing Self-Respect
Most of us are aware that we want to be treated with respect by other people. You probably find yourself becoming upset, angry or hurt when someone acts in a disrespectful way toward you, because it feels as if that person does not value you enough to treat you well. Self-Respect: What Exactly Is It? Self-respect works in the same way as being respected by others. When you value yourself enough to treat yourself well, you are acting in a self-respecting way. If you take good care of yourself … [Read more...] about The Name of the Game: How to Revive Your Ailing Self-Respect