Dear Friends & Professionals:
Phew! We made it through another whirlwind month of May, the month of Mental Health Awareness! Mental Health Month was created more than 50 years ago to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of mental wellness for all. Mental well-being cannot be separated from physical well-being. As health care providers, we have wonderful programs, plans, and suggestions for our clients. This month, let's take some time to focus ourselves and our staff on ALL five areas of health and wellness:
- Physical health
- Emotional health
- Social health
- Spiritual health
- Intellectual health
May is always a very busy time for our industry with many workshops, conferences, and training sessions to attend. We had the opportunity to support and attend several industry events this past month: The Sierra Tucson Gratitude Breakfast, the Caron Foundation Greater New York Community Service Awards Breakfast, Vero Beach Treatment Consortium sponsored by Southworth Associates and The GRR Residence, Terence Gorski Relapse Prevention training and the annual NAATP Conference. Some of the highlights from these events are featured throughout this newsletter and on the Sober Transitions Blog. We are so excited about the new friends we made and all the information we gathered. Thank you to everyone who made Mental Health Month such a success toward improving awareness. We are looking forward to staying connected with all of our new friends.
Remeber to take some time for yourself today -- prepare yourself to meet the demands of the summer season! And for goodness sake... take some time-off to play!
All my best-
Your Ally in Good Health!
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| Physical Health: Bringing balance into our everyday living | |
Is Your Energy Level Down? Set Aside Those Energy Bars and Energy Drinks for the True Energizer!
By Joanne Eglash
It seems as if every day, an enterprising company comes out with yet another contender in the Energy Drinks and Energy Bars market.
"Energize yourself with our Super-Duper-All-in-One-Chocolate-Coated Energy Bar!" promise the ads. "Gulp down our Supreme-Naturally-Sweetened-High-Protein-Big-on-flavor Energy Drink and feel your energy level soar to the skies!"
What they don't tell you is that the typical energy bar or energy drink packs excess calories, sugar (and yes, whether it's in the form of honey or brown sugar makes little difference to your body - it still counts as excess sugar), and fat. You may get a temporary lift - but after that comes the energy sag. At which point you resort to a candy bar or an expensive, fattening coffee drink at your local coffee house, and repeat the cycle. Does it come as a surprise that obesity is regarded as a national epidemic?
Break that cycle with the real energizer: exercise! Before you complain, "Gyms are so boring" or "I can't afford to hire a personal fitness trainer," let's look at all the variety available in the wonderful world of exercise:
Dancing to the music: do you love to dance? Then put on your favorite CD and dance around the house. Got kids at home you have to entertain? Teach them the joy of exercise at an early age by encouraging them to boogie with you!
Take your exercise to the great outdoors! Go for a walk to a nearby park and see if they have any outdoor exercise equipment available. For example, many communities have fitness trails for use at no cost to all residents.
Got a family dog that could use a walk? Motivate yourself by taking your joyful companion with you! That happily wagging tail will keep you going longer than you think. Or invite a friend or family member to join you and turn it into a healthy habit.
Get a fitness DVD. From yoga to step dance to Pilates to weight-training, an amazing variety of fitness and exercise DVDs and videos are available. Exercise in the comfort of your own home.
Invest in a pedometer, which you can buy for as little as ten dollars. Set a goal of increasing the number of steps you walk each day. Everything counts - park at the far end of a parking lot, walk around the mall before your shop, take the stairs rather than the elevator at the work.
About the Author: Joanne Eglash is the Communications Director for TriActive America. www.wellness.com
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| Social Health: Updates from May Events |
NAATP CONFERENCE 2008: Celebrating 30 years!!
May 18-21, 2008 the Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services team spent time at the Addiction Treatment Leadership Conference in Indian Wells, CA to support and sponsor the continued education of addiction professionals. We had the opportunity to hear and speak with many wonderful presenters. We joined in honoring several of our peers in categories such as the Dan Anderson Research Award- Dr Fals-Stewart "Learning Sobriety Together" and the Michael Q. Ford Journalism Award- Kathy Ketcham author of "The Spirituality of Imperfection" A great book to get if you don't have it already!!
One of the key note speakers was a well known friend to transition services, William L. White, a research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems and the author of many books, documentaries and articles, such as "Sponsors, Recovery Coach, Addiction Counselor: The importance of Role Clarity and Role Integrity".
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What is hope? People often have the hope that things will get better, the tide will turn, and conditions will change. Almost always, sooner or later, one way or another, it is so. The tide turns, conditions change. Therefore hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is inner knowing. Hope is experience. Sooner or later the dawn comes, the tide turns, the cold winter ends, always. Hope is that deep intuitive sense of the rhythm, the cycle, of birth and death, arising and ceasing, coming and going. Hope arises in the human heart equally as despair arises.
So now take a moment and become conscious of hope. Allow it to arise within your heart: the hope that what has been blocked may open, what has been difficult may flow more easily, the hope that human beings will learn to live in greater peace and harmony, the hope that humanity's choices and actions can be motivated by love and wisdom. There is much cause for despair and there is much cause for hope. Many people now see, many hear. Many are paying attention, understanding the need to do things differently. Let all who see and hear, who have that understanding, join their hope together, in their own hearts. Let the visions of love and awareness join in many hearts, now, today.
One morning this month arise before dawn while the stars are still in the sky and imagine a star in your heart. The same light that shines in the darkness before the dawn shines in your heart. That light guides you, as it guides all who turn to it. People call this light by many names. People fight over who really has this light. This light belongs to all. This light guides from within, gently, all those who turn to it in desire for peace and harmony and the greater good of the world community. It gives courage, strength, vision and wisdom. This month, may the gifts of that light be yours. May the light in your heart find the light in others, and connect with it, and may that light grow ever stronger. May all beings be happy, peaceful and free of suffering. www.youareyourpath.com
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Intellectual Health: Relapse Prevention: "New Thinking About an Old Problem"
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 On May 8, 2008 we attended the Terence Gorski Relapse Prevention training at Pacific Coast Recovery Center in Laguna Beach. As many of you know, Terence Gorski is a pioneer in the area of transition and relapse prevention. The focus of the training was The Principles of Relapse Prevention, describing the warning signs that lead from recovery to relapse and understanding how to develop effective relapse prevention plans. We thought we would share just some of the information in Mr. Gorski's article Understanding Relapse and the identifying steps:
"Relapse is more than just using alcohol or drugs. It is the progressive process of becoming so dysfunctional in recovery that self-medication with alcohol or drugs seems like a reasonable choice.
The relapse process is a lot like knocking over a line of dominoes. The first domino hits the second, which hits the third, and soon a progressive chain reaction has started. The sequence of problems that lead from stable sobriety to relapse are similar to those dominoes. There are two differences. First, each domino in the line (i.e. each problem that brings us closer to substance use) gets a little bit bigger and heavier until the last domino in the sequence is ten feet tall, four feet wide, and a foot thick. As this 10,000 pound domino begins to fall on us, it is too heavy for us to handle alone. The second difference is that the dominoes circle around behind us. So when the last domino falls, it hits us from behind when we're not looking.
So here we are, moving along in recovery. We tip over one small domino. No big deal! That domino hits the next, and then the next. A chain reactions gets started. The first dominoes are so small that we can easily convince ourselves that it's no big deal. We look the other way and start doing other things. All of a sudden a huge domino falls on us from behind, crushing us to floor, causing serious pain and injury in the process. We need to make the pain go away and we reach for old reliable - the magically substances that always helped us with out pain in the past. We've now started drinking and drugging.
The answer to avoiding relapse is not to take up weight training so you will be strong enough to lift that last domino off of your now crippled body. Part of the answer is to learn how not to tip over the first domino. Another part of the answer is to develop an emergency plan for stopping the chain reaction quickly, before the dominoes start getting so big and heavy that they become unmanageable.
The Relapse Process
The progression of problems that lead to relapse is called the relapse process. Each individual problem in the sequence is called a relapse warning sign. The entire sequence of problems is called a relapse warning sign list. The situations that we put ourselves in that cause or complicate the problems are caused high risk situations.
It's important to remember that we don't start drinking and drugging because of the last problem in the sequence. We start drinking and drugging because the entire sequence of problems got out of control. Let's look at the steps of this process in more detail.
Step 1: Getting Stuck In Recovery
Step 2: Denying That We're Stuck
Step 3: Using Other Compulsions
Step 4: Experiencing A Trigger Event
Step 5: Becoming Dysfunctional On The Inside
Step 6: Becoming Dysfunctional On The Outside
Step 7: Loosing Control
Step 8: Using Addictive Thinking
Step 9: Going Back To Addictive People, Places, And Things
Step 10: Using Addictive Substances
Step 11: Loosing Control Over Use
Other Outcomes Of The Relapse Process"
for the complete article visit:
http://www.tgorski.com/gorski_articles/understanding_relapse.html
More about Terence Gorski at http://www.tgorski.com
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| Emotional Health: The Emotional Energy Factor |
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Call it a personal energy crisis. On the surface, your life seems full enough-maybe even too full-yet you're running on empty. You feel stretched thin, stressed-out, drained.
Sound familiar? It's an epidemic, as described in Boston-based psychotherapist Mira Kirshenbaum's book, The Emotional Energy Factor. The most common complaints Americans bring to our doctors, she says, are: "I feel tired all the time," and "Why do I feel so blah?" Once possible physical causes of fatigue have been ruled out (a crucial first step), many doctors diagnose mild depression and reach for the prescription pad. But is this really depression-or just depletion?
Energy drain: Other People's Expectations
Are you living someone else's dream for you? You're putting out energy but starving emotionally. The other person gets all the satisfaction.
Energy move: Declare Independence
You bought in; you can set yourself free. No confrontation needed, just "I don't have to expect that of myself." Worst-case scenario: Someone who's not you will be disappointed. You will feel wonderful.
Energy drain: Loss of Self
As kids, we had to play by the rules; our unique energy got caged.
Energy move: Personalize Your Life
Ask yourself, If it were up to me, what would I hang on my wall? Wear to work? Do for fun? Find the pockets of freedom where you can be more yourself.
Energy drain: Deprivation
Duties and responsibilities fill your days. You gain weight trying to get emotional energy from food.
Energy move: Add Pleasure, Beauty, Fun
Satisfying experiences, large and small, are the real nourishment you crave. Plan a big treat to look forward to-and a little one every day.
Energy drain: Envy
We often don't feel envy directly-but we might find someone else's good fortune depressing.
Energy move: Count Your Blessings
Comparison is a loser's game. Look at what you have, and actively feel grateful. (P.S. That person you envy-you don't know how messy her life really is. Chances are you wouldn't want it if you had it.)
Energy drain: Unfinished Business
Unmade decisions and postponed projects drain you.
Energy move: Do It or Dump It
Forget the perfect decision-just trust yourself and make a choice. Put projects in an appointment book. If you can't find any good time, that's a signal you don't want to do it. So don't.
Energy drain: Overcommitment
You're always saying "Yes"-to your boss, mother, kids, friends; to requests, favors, meetings.
Energy move: Say "Yes" to Yourself
Tell someone else "No" every once in a while, just to feel your own power. You'll gain a whole new sense of your ability to take care of yourself.
Energy drain: Holding On to Loss
Fresh loss is an emergency. But old losses you can't let go of are dead weight.
Energy move: Cry All Your Tears
Indulge in big-time mourning. Take off from work, stay in bed, and do nothing but cry till you're dry and bored. Then go out and embrace life.
Adapted from The Emotional Energy Factor, copyright 2003 by Mira Kirshenbaum. Published by Delacorte Press.
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Contact Us:
(800) 910-9299
West Coast Connections:
nzumwalt@hiredpower.com
monique@hiredpower.com
East Coast Connections:
Amy@hiredpower.com
ONLINE
Sober Transitions BLOG
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HP CPRA
SPOTLIGHT
(we keep our faces to ourselves)
Meet Dustin K.
27 Year Old Male
Dustin joined Hired Power's Certified Personal Recovery Assistant team this past January. He has successfully mentored several young men in their journey of early recovery as they transition home using his strong qualities of commitment to recovery and integrity. Dustin is a certified alcohol and drug counselor with ten years of personal recovery. Entering his own recovery at such an early age gives him great insight and experience for the young adult male in early recovery. He is very active in his own twelve step fellowship attending several meetings a week. His professional career began in 2004 working in the NA World Services office and has continued in the industry working in treatment centers. Dustin is an active, high- energy person who loves sports, music, hiking, reading and meditation.
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What IS a CPRA?
A Certified Personal
Recovery Assistant
is a professional individual who is qualified to provide guidance, support and mentoring to people struggling with addiction and mental health issues, in the home or on the road. This certification was created to address the growing concern around the need to distinguish between a professional service and individuals offering similar services. Click here for more information on CPRA services or how to become a Hired Power CPRA.
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Women Association of Addiction Treatment (WAAT)
moving to new location
First Tuesday of every month 8AM
Panini Garden Bistro
4647 MacArthur Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Orange County Mental Health Providers Network Luncheon
June 5, 2008
12-2pm
The Clubhouse Costa Mesa, CA
Integrating Modern Psychotherapy and 12 Step Recovery Programs
June 6, 2008
Annenberg Center for Health Science at Eisenhower
39000 Bob Hope Drive
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
Addiction Treatment Centers & Professional Consortium of California
July 16-18, 2008
Doubletree Resort
Santa barbara, CA 93103
jrodriguez@newdirectionsforwomen.com
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Spread The Word
Hired Power believes in partnering with one another to support the programs and events within the addiction and mental health profession. If you have community events you would like us to announce for you, we would be glad to put it up on our blog. Send us all your event details and any digital artwork in an email to info@hiredpower.com and we will put your event up on our blog on a first come first served basis. | |
