Category: Professional Self-Care

Advocacy Amid Anguish for the Frontline Workforce

The Surgeon General’s advisory is landmark action whose priority is only emphasized by the latest horrific mass shootings, now at 213 and counting. We are way beyond burnout with advocacy amid the anguish mandated, and through an interprofessional effort.

My initial intent was to dedicate this week’s blog post to the Surgeon General’s Advisory. The document highlights the industry mandate for stakeholders to be accountable for action that mitigates workforce burnout: 

  • healthcare organizations 
  • insurers 
  • health technology companies 
  • policymakers
  • academic institutions 
  • researchers
  • communities

However, we are way beyond burnout! The battle cry by industry advocates is fierce. Workforce retention, turnover, and patient quality are beyond their tipping points; “more must be done or there will be nobody left to render care”. The Surgeon General’s advisory is landmark action whose priority is only emphasized by the latest horrific mass shootings, now at 213 and counting for 2022 alone.

Intensifying Collective Occupational Trauma

Society witnessed the worst of humanity: the death of 19 innocent children and two teachers in Uvalde, TX, followed so closely to the intentional murder of 13 persons in Buffalo, NY. Both events serve as added evidence of the severe collective occupational trauma inflicted on every practitioner and provider of care. My colleagues and I face these issues as human beings, as well as professionals, which is a felt in the most intimate and unique ways. 

Front-line practitioners and first-responders face unparalleled pressures in caring for victims or being forced to announce their deaths. Conveying that intimate information to loved ones carries an overbearing responsibility. Underneath a provider’s, often stoic, presentation lives interminable grief, pain, and loss, as they struggle to accept their inability to save the victim. The honor of caring for these fatalities bring an intense level of responsibility. Behavioral health professionals face a similar burden in rendering emergency and continuing mental health intervention to providers, witnesses, family, and community members. Recurrent workforce retruamatization has an especially fierce impact. The anguish contributes to rapidly escalating incidence of PTSD, suicidal ideation, and action across the workforce. Rates were high enough pre-pandemic, and continue to rise. The fusion of mental and physical health engulfs the body yielding escalation and exacerbation of chronic illness, auto-immune disorders, and other ailments; the workforce is being decimated.

Debriefing and Activating Advocacy

I’ve spent the better part of these past few weeks debriefing with past and present students, clinical social workers whom I supervise and mentor, experienced colleagues. Everyone is hurting in a unique way. Some need solace, while others require cues to stop doomscrolling. All demand action; workforce resource support and gun safety reform legislation are at the top of the list. 

Our emotions empower advocacy to heed the ethical tenets of autonomy, beneficence, fidelity, justice, and nonmalfeasance. Prioritizing these tenets ensures quality intervention for every patient and population, but also all health and behavioral health professions. Activating these principles looks different for each discipline. Yet, while each one shares distinct priorities, there is shared recognition of how interprofessional collaboration and advocacy will yield change including:

The industry must do better; our entire interprofessional workforce deserves far more. We must advocate amid the anguish, yet be ensured appropriate mental health support. How will you advocate for change? Feel free to add your comments about this blog post below, as well as other valuable resources. 

15 Job Search Lessons for Social Work Grads

It’s that time of year! My Masters’ in Social Work students are ready to graduate and enter the workforce. Their efforts to secure employment pose new considerations courtesy of the pandemic. Here are 15 lessons to activate the job search for my students past and present.

Lesson 1: Organize 

Set up an electronic folder on your computer, with subfolders:

·       References

·       Cover letters

·       Interview questions

·       Submitted applications

·       Recruiter contacts

·       Key info about jobs applied for  

Develop an excel spreadsheet to track positions with information including application dates, if you heard back and when, job details (e.g., salary, key benefits, virtual or in-person, multiple sites), contact information. How to organize is up to you, but do something!

Lesson 2: Keep your resume focused, comprehensive, and competency-based.

A resume is your professional face. In your zest to post and send it to potential employers, you can easily include too much info, be too wordy, or use unprofessional language. Think:

·       Formatting: Use a resume template, plus career planning offices at your college or university, and: 

o  Indeed.com

o  The New Social Worker 

o  ResumeGenius  

·       Use competency-based language: Professions have competencies that viewed as pillars of practice. Use that language to describe roles for practicums, internships, or professional jobs; for example, ‘intervened with adolescent population’ instead of ‘worked with adolescents’. Another example is, ‘engaged in counseling’ instead of ‘provided, or did counseling’. Competency-based language also lives in course syllabi and licensure regulations for your state.

·       Attention to detail matters: A resume is your first impression to perspective employers. If there are errors, they will wonder, ‘if you can’t take the time to proof your own resume, why should they believe you’ll do better on the job?’. Do spelling AND grammar checks!

Lesson 3: Have references ready!

Reach out early to references and keep their names accessible! Maintain professional letters of recommendation in your online files. Keep references in the loop so they know to expect any calls or emails for information about you. With so many phishing emails, everyone is cautious about providing information. Your reference can easily miss a vital request to provide the recommendation that leads to a job offer!

Lesson 4: Stay in the know of current COVID 19 realities

Keep up on COVID19 facts and their impact for any populations you might work with. Brush up on Crisis theory, Trauma-informed care, and short-term counseling techniques. Also, review websites of potential employers for pandemic initiatives. This info will help you develop ideas on how to best serve the organization. Knowledge is power; this is a great way to tout your expertise in the interview!

Lesson 5: Know brief assessment tools and resources

With the uptick in mental health across populations and the workforce, have working knowledge of assessment tools to manage anxiety, stress, and depression. Quality resources live at Therapist Aid .

Lesson 6: Interviews are reciprocal opportunities

Interviews are not a guarantee of employment. Candidates can spend so much time during an interview discussing their expertise, they forget to ask key questions about the workplace. 

Research employers before the interview. View the employer’s website to learn their mission, vision, and goals. Learn how the organization conducts business. Ask questions about short and long term goals, and how they see you fitting into these plans. This tactic conveys your interest in the position. Interviews are for potential employers to interview you, but also you to interview them. This mindset puts you in control of the process, and decreases anxiety. Ask questions to learn if this job and setting are for you, such as those at Big Interview. 

Remember, decision-making timeframes vary, so ask about next steps. Organizations can take 2 days to make final decisions or months! Know what you are facing to help prioritize other offers!

Lesson 7: Ask about job stability

Amid such unpredictable times, it’s appropriate to ask about potential layoffs and furloughs. Some positions are funded by grants, so ask how long the position is funded and what happens next. Hiring freezes can be common and won’t necessarily be information shared. If you don’t ask, you won’t know.

Lesson 8: Be ready to name your unique strengths, and demonstrate them 

Job candidates will be asked how they will handle specific situations. Identify your strengths and how they would make a difference. Consider:

·       How do your strengths set you apart from other candidates?

·       Why should the organization hire you?

·       What examples can you provide so the employer understands your worth?

·       How can you demonstrate your ability to work with a team?

·       You will be asked about your weaknesses. Be prepared to respond in a professional manner, and have your answer ready. 

Lesson 9: The only constant in our industry is change 

Know this: the industry will change as will you; be open to what it means for you to change with it. 

Lesson 10: Be open to short-term or part-time roles

An exciting short-term or part-time role may turn into the best career option never anticipated. Don’t dismiss positions that are different from your expectations!

Lesson 11: Set up your professional social media profile. 

Set up a professional profile using established websites and job bank platforms. Facebook (or Meta) can help with networking, but use other websites that highlight recruitment:

Keep a profile professional! Use a polished photo versus a selfie with your BFF, pet, or family! Solid guidance is at What Recruiters Want to See on Your LinkedIn Profile

Lesson 12: Negotiation is expected

Negotiation is expected for any job. Negotiate for everything:

  • A higher hourly rate or salary
  • Remote options or flexible work hours
  • Coverage/reimbursement for professional fees (e.g. licensure exam application, exam prep courses, professional association dues)
  • Coverage/reimbursement for clinical supervision and if it is offered onsite. Organizations may pay a portion of the rate to the whole amount. They may only provide supervision internally or have waiting lists. If supervision is provided, you may need to promise to stay at the organization for set number of years post-completion, or pay pack a set amount.

You don’t know what you don’t know, so ask questions! The answers may surprise you! 

Lesson 13: Don’t be thrown by a title or position qualifications 

People apply for jobs based on titles; titles are deceptive! Learn about the scope of each role before dismissing a solid opportunity. 

Don’t dismiss a role based on qualifications alone. Application processes may ‘kick you out’ for not having hard competency qualifications (e.g., degree, licensure). Other knowledge or experiences can sway the decision; volunteer roles and practicums with a population speak volumes. Don’t assume you’re not qualified!

Lesson 14: Take the right job, not just any job

You want an income when you graduate, but strive for the right job. Listen to your clinical gut during the job search. Don’t jump on the first offer or settle if something feels off. Process the opportunity with peers, former professors, and mentors. We may be amid the Great Resignation, but, the grass isn’t always greener; there are brown spots everywhere. 

Lesson 15: Enjoy the job search

There is pressure to be employed, but explore opportunities. Get out there and enjoy the search!

I invite colleagues and followers to post other practical lessons below to empower our next generation of professionals!

Managing the Doomscrolling Dichotomy

Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a recent addition to Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries: addictive surfing or scrolling through bad news, even though negative in scope. The dynamic is impacting rising numbers of persons across the globe, along with their physical and behavioral health; this includes the professional workforce. Here are 5 ways to manage the doom scrolling dilemma.

A versions of this article was initially published by the CGI Newsletter, and appears with permission.

You have a break in the day and decide to catch up on your favorite social media feeds;  suddenly it’s 30 minutes later. What began as a look at your BFFs Facebook feed spiraled to viewing headlines, graphics, and disturbing images of recent events. You are sucked into a vortex of posts across platforms and apps, distracted from everything on your calendar: social, occupational, or education activities. Emotions bubble up: anger, bewilderment, frustration, rage, sadness. You become unable to focus, sleep, and feel crispy around the edges. Welcome to the world of doomscrolling: a dynamic impacting rising numbers of persons across the globe.

What it Means

Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a recent addition to Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries: addictive surfing or scrolling through bad news, even though negative in scope.  Society has been exposed to a pervasive cycle of negative news these past two years including the pandemic, cultural, racial, and ethnic disparities, and the recent Ukraine crisis. It becomes easy to get caught up consuming mass quantities of online news in a single sitting.

The impact of these events on our wholistic health is telling. Growing studies speak to rising incidence of severe anxiety, depression, and psychological distress from over-consumption of pandemic-related media (Bendau et al., 2021). Daily social and traditional (e.g., new portals, magazines) media use exacerbates onset and exacerbation of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (Price et al., 2022). Poor mental health negatively impacts sleep, putting further stress on the immune system; the interconnection between psychopathology and chronic illness is well-documented in the literature (Isvoranu et al., 2021).

The professional workforce walks a slippery slope with the doomscrolling dilemma, particularly those in behavioral health, integrated care, and related roles. Practitioners are faced with increasing numbers of patients seeking treatment for anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other symptoms related to the negative news cycle. Yet, each practitioner, is also a human being, striving to set limits on their own over-exposure to the media. Balancing professional self-care with respect for patient autonomy and rendering of effective treatment becomes the sharpest of double-edged swords. Professionals must limit their (over) exposure and potential collective occupational trauma, while intervening effectively with patients: an ethical dilemma of its own!

Why We Do It

            One quick answer is, misery loves company. Reading about negative events validates negative feelings felt by individuals. The more one seeks to satisfy this need, the more doomscrolling advances to addictive habit. Striving to stay informed about current events devolves into a vicious cycle where stress increases and cortisol levels rise. A myriad of health issues can result: increased blood pressure and glucose levels, migraine headaches, insomnia, or autoimmune disorders (e.g., lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome).  


What to Do About It

Here are 5 strategies to inform your efforts:

  1. Limit Social Media Bandwidth: Read one article in the morning, listen to a podcast from that favorite platform (or news outlet) you trust. 
  2. Take Social Media Breaks: Don’t get sucked in or your energy will be sucked out. You may stay off social media certain times of the day, or for longer periods of time (e.g., during the workday, weekends, or for several months).
  3. Use Body Scanning, Breathing, and Other Trauma-informed Tactics: Doomscrolling can trigger prior traumas. A colleague recently shared how use of trauma-informed interventions made the difference, for both clinician and patient. Regular body scans are an asset: take that nice deep breath, then start at the top of your head and move down your body. Note any sensations that appear: ringing in your ears, pressure around or behind your eyes, a tight neck or back, tingling in your chest or gut. 4-7-8 breathing is an asset as well. 
  4. Sleep Hygiene Strategies: Doomscrolling and insomnia are a dyad. Sound strategies that address both disruptors include:
    • Declare a screen-free sleep space.
    • Keep traditional items nearby, such as a notepad or book. Jot down thoughts that wake you up or read to tire your eyes without using a digital screen.
    • Detox devices by turning off notifications and removing apps; block apps and distracting websites using Freedom or other like-platforms. 
    • Avoid heated or emotional posts within an hour of bedtime
    • Keep screen-free hours one hour prior to bedtime and over the sleep cycle.
  5. Stay Proactive and Consistent: It is easy to fall off the Doomscrolling wagon. Stay vigilant; like any addiction, it won’t take much to fall down the rabbit hole and re-engage. Take control of doomscrolling before it takes control of you!

Have other thoughts? Feel free to add them below!

12 Ways to Bust Brain Fog

Brain fog has become a common occurrence across age groups. Clear strategies can ease the stress and bust those brain fog symptoms.

As colleagues and peers know, I’m in a Doctorate of Behavioral Health program. My quest for learning is insatiable, especially in a curriculum focused on integrated care, medical literacy, leadership, healthcare quality, and entrepreneurship. Amid my zest to gain knowledge, my brain and I can be at odds. This precious organ periodically reminds me it will only absorb so much information. My critical-thinking is challenged by episodes of brain fog: a collection of symptoms impacting the ability to think, such as distraction, memory lapses, word-finding, and utter frustration.

Activities that would previously take me 30 minutes, took hours. Anxiety kicked in, then rapidly escalated. I worried my brain fog was caused by a medical condition. At times, I thought it was due to being a post-menopausal women on a rigorous academic journey. Instead, I learned there was another explanation. I was among a new generation of persons dealing with the condition. Brain fog has become a common occurrence across age groups, impacting hundreds of millions of persons around the globe.

Brain Fog More Norm Than Exception

A variety of medical conditions are associated with brain fog (e.g., anemia, autoimmune disorders, COVID, diabetes, migraines, pregnancy), as well as stress. In fact, brain fog and stress are in a synergistic dance. We become easily overwhelmed by daily tasks. We struggle to remember the name of the last movie we watched, our beloved actor, favorite restaurant, or just the last thing we ate. Studies have addressed the traumatic impact of the recent waves of chronic, pandemic-related stress on populations: fear of virus transmission and personal/family safety, grief and loss, job and economic security, increased isolation, profound fatigue. Simultaneously occurring societal tensions have meant an added psychological hit for the population. 

Stress and the Brain

Prolonged stress and associated allostatic overload amplify cortisol production. This can lead to behavioral health manifestations, such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. It can also exacerbate co-occurring chronic illnesses (e.g., asthma, cardiac issues, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis). Our pre-frontal cortex is in peril, as continuous stress impacts the ability to engage in mental calisthenics necessary for normal cognition. Carry-over of new learning, concentration, focus, and memory are all at risk. We become stressed about being stressed, which sends us spiraling further. Neural plasticity falters as the brain loses its ability to rewire itself. Fear reigns as we worry brain cells are leaking out faster than they can ever regenerate! 

Take Control to Bust the Block

Managing our stress is key to busting brain fog! Here are 12 ways to bust those brain blocks:

  1. Breathe: 4,7,8 breathing is a must: breath in for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 7 seconds, then exhale for 8 seconds. It can be done anywhere, anytime, and any frequency. 4 cycles work, 3 times a day works wonders.
  2. Take a break: We can become too committed to finishing tasks at any expense, even if our brains don’t wish to cooperate. This floods our system with stress and cortisol. Even a brief break will enhance your efforts to regroup and refocus.
  3. Exercise: Physical activity increases blood flow, brain activity, and motivation.
  4. Get rest: Good sleep hygiene, promotes restful sleep, which is a priority. The Sleep Foundation has a lengthy list of easy ways to achieve this goal. 
  5. Monitor your diet: Hydrate, nourish, rinse, repeat. Also, watch caffeine and spicy-food intake, particularly late at night or close to bedtime.
  6. Engage in at least one peer interaction daily: Don’t let too much time go by without a quick text or meet-up with friends. They enhance your spirit!
  7. Monitor internet and social media use: ‘Doom-scrolling’ is an energy-drainer, so set limits on social media use!
  8. Engage in one positive activity daily: What one thing do you engage in daily that is energy replenishing versus depleting?  Cooking, gardening, meditation, journaling, taking a drive with the music blaring, or solo dance parties are all considerations.
  9. Set limits and SAY NO: Toss those tasks that stress you out. Ask for extensions of deliverables. These actions ease those pressures on you!
  10. Give yourself grace: Accept that you may not get a task done when you want: Ease the stress by taking 10, whether seconds, minutes, or hours. Give your brain permission to stop. This allows you time to regenerate, restore brain activity, and ready yourself for other cognitive conquests to come. 
  11. Be the master of one versus none: We all multi-task and simultaneously juggle activities, yet there are limits. Even the highest functioning brains hit a wall! Instead, take charge by approaching activities one by one. This relieves those internal and external pressures, while reducing your cortisol levels.
  12. Seek support: It is easy to isolate, but don’t give in! Reach out to friends and family, but also behavioral health professionals, as needed. Use employee assistance programs (EAP), organizational and community therapy resources, whether in-person or virtual. 

***This blog post is not meant to replace a medical evaluation. Scheduling an evaluation with a trusted primary care provider may be your first step!

RELAX, REPLENISH, RECHARGE, RENEW, then REFOCUS to RESTORE YOUR RESILIENCE! 

Get going! What are you waiting for?

I’ll look forward to seeing what other suggestions you have to bust brain fog; add them in the comments space below!

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