Doctor Prescribes Career Help

Posted by: Mark Franklin on June 18, 2014 8:00 am
Career Buzz guest, a family doctor, talks about meeting a career professional to get help to manage his career in medicine and beyond

“The first step of getting help,” said Dr. Aubie Diamond, (Career Buzz, May 21, 2014) “is admitting it to yourself. If you’re in a [career] situation that’s not tenable, at a certain point in time, a person will begin to ask, ‘If I don’t do something now, five years from now I may not have that opportunity.'”

 

“You need to seize the moment right now while the opportunity is presenting itself,” Aubie said. “Being able to speak to family and friends is a great start. But there are professionals out there who can help make transitions.” Aubie disclosed that he came to see me, as a career client. Here’s where his career journey led.

What are the clues that apply to you? When you or someone you care about is in an “untenable” career situation, or at a crossroads, Aubie advised to speak to a Career Professional. When I asked what was helpful in our work together, Aubie said it helped to identify “things that were creating stress in my life; what were those things that I did not like to do, or did not want to do. And at the same time figuring out what are those things that give enjoyment and fulfillment. Once we can separate those likes and dislikes it’s much easier to approach them and identify  possibilities,” Aubie said. “You and I did that!”

Try this:  Think of three things that you don’t like to do. Now name three things that you enjoy and fulfill you. Very practically now, list two things you can change, in work and life, that will give you more of your wants and less of your don’t wants.

Need help separating your stressors from what’s fulfilling? Check our flagship career change program.

Listen to the whole interview also featuring a fascinating interview with Cubed author, Nikil Saval, on the history of the cubicle.




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Using Intuition Within Sessions

Posted by: Jaclyn Trecartin on June 17, 2014 4:35 pm

Intuition is the knowledge within us.  Look at the word:  INtuition ->INside.  To use intuition, we have to trust ourselves and follow our feelings.  In general, as a society, we spend so much time focusing on logic and what “makes sense in our heads,” that we neglect our gut feelings.  Research is showing the body has neural fibers associated with communication and memories located OUTSIDE of the brain.  This makes sense!  We are not just heads hovering around, but whole people with whole bodies!  Research has also shown vertical integration, listening to feedback from our bodies, is vital for brain development and is a function of secure attachment.  With all this, there is no way I am able to ignore my intuition, least of all during sessions. Continue reading




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

The Beauty of Children

Posted by: Asa Don Brown on June 17, 2014 12:00 pm

“The soul is healed by being with children.”
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I was completely unaware of the absolute beauty of life until I became a father.  Fatherhood has opened my eyes beyond my own imagination.  As a father, I have learned more about myself, life, and the meaning of life; simply by viewing the physical beings gifted unto me.  Children are the window to our futures and a beacon of light in a sometimes dark world.

As a father, I have learned to appreciate each moment that I am granted to spend with my children.  Whether they are happy or sad, full of energy or laying down for a nap; I am amazed by the life that radiates out of their little bodies.

THE GIFT

“With children the clock is reset.  We forget what came before”
~ Jhumpa Lahiri

As a father, we need to actively listen to our children.  Fathers who actively listen will be the recipients of an unbelievable education, going well beyond one’s wildest of dreams.  The gift of a child goes well beyond that most descriptive of words.  Children are the essence of life.  They are capable of proving resilient in the most troubling of times, and rebounding from the greatest of falls.  They have an ability of bringing a smile on the gloomiest of faces.   It is awesome how the very life of a child is capable of resetting our thought patterns, our mindsets, and our very outlook upon the world.  The gift of a child is capable of completely changing our worldview and perceptions of life. Continue reading




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

SLCHG Project: SIMPLY HOLDING HEALING SPACES

Posted by: Linda AK Thompson on June 17, 2014 8:48 am

SLCHG may be a small study, however, it provides a glimpse into the experiences of health care consumers regarding the ‘status quo’ of our health care system and use of collaborative teams in both the private and public health care systems.   In my practice, I have been privy to work in both.  One old controversial example that persists and noticeable at Intake is that candidates expressed reluctance to disclose historic and current use of CAM to their family physicians for fear of judgment, rejection and/or refusal to participate in their care plan, plus minimization of CAM beneficial effects including no discussions on the ‘placebo’ effect or mystical healings.  I searched the net and found a great study on trends in use and attitudes from 1997 to 2006 concerning CAM written by Nadeem Eismail of the Fraser Institute

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/complementary-alternative-medicine-in-canada-2007.pdf.

I witnessed professionals within the ‘traditional, publically funded medical health care system’ resistance to serve informed consenting patients [clients], who are self-directing their healing-to-cure programs utilizing choice, collaborators and blended treatment options.  Some reasons for refusal to collaborate were:

1) Receiving reports via email is a violation of ‘physicians/surgeons’ code of ethics (?),

2) The physician in ‘independent practice’ can refuse to provide publically funded health care to a person, if he does not want to collaborate (?), and

3) The physician does not have to read reports submitted from professionals who operate outside of the publically funded system (?).  This project has a fee schedule and the client pays for this collaborative service.

Continue reading




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Finding a Supervisor to Help Guide you in your Private Practice

Posted by: Andrea Cashman on June 16, 2014 4:17 pm

We have all experienced supervision in counselling program practicums. It usually involves either one on one supervision or peer supervision with more than one trainee present. Supervision involves reviewing and discussing ongoing counselling cases in order to form case conceptualization. It involves tracking progress of your clinical skills and client progress. It involves discussion around interventions used and formulation of goals. It’s a requirement for counselling programs to determine competency in graduates. It is also a requirement for all counsellors in private practice and in most institutions as we are unregulated as of now. Once we are regulated with the CRPO and pass regulatory and training requirements, will we be able to continue practising without supervision, although, I would strongly advise it for continued education and competency. Counselling in private practice is enmeshed with isolation, so supervision and even peer supervision assists in networking further. Supervision is usually provided by regulated psychologists. Some psychologists may also provide you with third party billing to ensure your clients can access insurance coverage. Unfortunately, for counsellors now, we cannot provide this as we are unregulated.

Continue reading




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Beginning Small

Posted by: Bhavna Verma on June 16, 2014 4:14 pm

In a previous post titled “Epiphany” I briefly discussed setting limits on the amount of time I spent working from home in order to find a balance between my home and work life. In today’s day and age, there is no such thing as “leaving work at work”. Most people work from home after their scheduled work hours in order to meet their work demands. Some catch up on replying to emails, others catch up on notes. However, if the working from home component does not incorporate emails and notes, rather, the emotional work that is entailed from a difficult day, how does one separate the two? In order to maintain self-care and avoid accelerated burnout, limits HAVE to be put in place. We teach our clients how to create and maintain limits, so why not for ourselves? I think it’s because we’re putting limits ON ourselves rather than on the behaviour of others. It’s directed towards ourselves. With that being said, what’s one of the first things we suggest to clients when setting boundaries? We tell them to “begin small”, thus, we too need to begin small. For me, beginning small means setting a specific amount of time allotted to venting about my day, maintaining confidentiality, of course. This way, once that timer has gone off, I have to change topics and move on. I find that if I don’t give myself enough time though, that it remains with me. A good rule of thumb would be to set aside a reasonable amount of time that works for you- perhaps 15 minutes? Again, this is subjective. You don’t want to spend an hour ruminating about your day or a difficult client as it will just perpetuate resentment and/or other negative feelings. Similarly, five minutes may not be enough time either. It should be just enough to get whatever is weighing you down out of your system and then move forward with your day. Another suggestion to beginning small is by writing in a journal. Because of the sensitivity of our work and confidentiality concerns, it is important to note that anything that is written in the journal should not include any identifiable information. I recommend just writing down short sentences or one to two words that describe how you felt that day. I also feel that a good idea is to refrain from writing the specific date down. I say withhold the date because there is no real purpose to this. Why look back at the journal only to remember a difficult day if the date is present? It would not be constructive. Remember, the purpose is to set limits for ourselves in order to maintain self-care. I hope these tips work for you. If you have any others that you would like to share, please do comment.




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Sleepy Time Apps

Posted by: Dawn Schell on June 16, 2014 4:09 pm

Maybe it’s the longer days at this time of year.  Or maybe it’s getting close to the end of the school year.  Or expectations at work have increased.  Or maybe it’s just the norm for our society these days.  Everyone I talk to – colleagues and clients alike keep saying how tired they are.   If they aren’t talking about it they are showing it!

For some it seems to be an issue of having difficulty falling asleep.  Too wired up or tense from the day’s stressors.   For others it is an issue of interrupted sleep or being awoken too early.   We all know how important sleep is for our physical and mental well-being.  What to do?

There’s an app for everything it seems and sleep is no exception.  I found over 2,000 apps related to improving sleep.  That number may be indicative of just how many people are struggling with getting a decent night’s rest.

There are apps to help you determine your optimal sleeping patterns and that then help you set an alarm that is a “natural” awakening.  There are apps that are aimed at creating a relaxed state for you to drift into sleep naturally.   You have to pick those ones carefully.  Some of my clients have commented they find certain voices to be “creepy” or just plain annoying.  Not exactly conducive to relaxing and falling asleep. Continue reading




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Summer!

Posted by: Priya Senroy on June 6, 2014 4:09 pm

Hello fellow readers…..yes summer is here and so is the season of evaluations for my programs.

One of the current programs I am coordinating in the community is a multi arts projects for youth with disabilities and evaluation has been challenging as the traditional survey, questionnaire and hasn’t really worked so I had had to think of creative approaches of evaluating them and that’s makes sense right-I have also started using them for my counselling session and have found them useful.  ABE or Art-based evaluation (ABE) uses creative activities such as visual arts, sound, photography, media arts, cartoons, movement, creative writing, to explore the impact of a project or program. Creative activities when combined with more traditional evaluation approaches, such as interviews and questionnaire, are an innovative and effective way to evaluate a program.

I have also combined things like Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) taking pictures at the end of the day and then stringing them with a simple like dislike symbol to accommodate and navigate clients with various communication, language and cognition barriers. There is not much out there in terms of resources on using creative approaches to evaluation and some approaches that I have been using can be found in this website:

http://www.artreachtoronto.ca/toolkits/the-goal-toolkits/creative-approaches-to-evaluation/

The process is tedious and requires time since it has to be group and needs specific but it is able to capture the evaluation process well and I would encourage practitioners out there to embrace the non traditional forms while evaluating their programs or sessions.




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Do You Need Two Halves to Make a Whole?

Posted by: Farah Lodi on June 6, 2014 8:00 am

Single women who are over 35 and who have come to me for counseling, regardless of race, religion, nationality, education and status,  all have the same core issue: a “feeling unloved” schema. Each one of these ladies (and I’m talking about more than 10 this year alone), wants to find a guy who will love them. My efforts in helping them re-evaluate their self-worth, or try to re-frame the situation by looking at what’s good in life, or look for meaning in life that’s not dependent upon a partner – are usually futile. I’ve tried helping them identify unhealthy beliefs, socratically questioning them, behavior experiments, problem-solving, self-esteem building, but most of the time they still walk away unable to look inwards for the source of happiness.

The more traditional Eastern female mindset places value on a woman’s role as wife and mother. This value is culturally rooted, and even career-minded, financially independent and successful Eastern ladies do not find fulfillment in their professional lives if they are older. Something crucial  is missing for them – their other half. So they seek help in trying to come to terms with the reality of being unloved. I have listened to how they try to find a mate through community social events, online dating sites, even going to match-makers who do this for a living. But they are disheartened by repeated failed attempts – activating a “failure schema” in addition to the “unlovable schema”. Of course I’m talking only about the women who seek counseling; there are tons of psychologically resilient single older women out there too.

Ditto with my Western female clients who, in contrast,  have been raised valuing independence and self-sufficiency. It seems a bit of a contradiction when Western culture encourages individualism – and yet I see the same issues: low self-esteem, and a lack of fulfillment because of a missing “other half”. They express similar core beliefs and negative automatic thoughts as their Eastern- raised sisters: something crucial is missing in their lives.  Dating or living together haven’t worked, and they are still alone and unhappy, ruminating about their body clocks that are ticking away.

Is it true: are we women psychologically wired to seek a mate and do we feel unworthy, unloved and unfulfilled if we’re alone? Do we really need our other half, to feel whole?




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Real-Time Adventures in Counselling in Private Practice – Chapter Three

Posted by: Rhea Plosker on June 4, 2014 3:56 pm

Technology as an Enabler

if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” (George Bernard Shaw)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” (Sir Arthur C. Clarke)

Chapters One and Two described my mid-life career transition from engineering to private practice counselling and the ways in which my supervisor and I collaborate with each other and our mutual clients :

http://www.ccpa-p.caacc/blog/?p=3361
http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/blog/?p=3420

This chapter discusses the technology enablers my supervisor and I are using with our collaborative work.

First, some semi-technical details. We both use Windows PCs, Office 2013, and Microsoft’s Onedrive cloud solution. Our primary tool is Onenote, Microsoft’s collaborative note-taking software that works just like a paper  notebook. Evernote is another similar tool that you may have heard of, and can be used with both Apple and Microsoft solutions.

We share a Onenote notebook, a “binder” with a section for each client. Content is entered on pages, including typed words, handwriting (via a stylus which both our tablets support, so it looks just like we are making notes in a paper notebook), pictures, emails, attached documents, and even audio and video. At any time either of us can open our shared notebook and see what’s new. Updates appear in real time.

We are experimenting with how to best use Onenote in client sessions. As post-modern therapists, we are careful not to “talk behind the client’s back”. However, each of us will write down specific client quotes that seem important. Sometimes it’s difficult to ask questions, listen attentively, and simultaneously take quality notes. If my supervisor is in conversation with a client, I can take notes which he can immediately see, and vice versa. This listening through two sets of ears inspires new ideas within a session, opening up the opportunity to consult the client and engage in richer discussion.

In my corporate life, I work with systems managing confidential information, and I recognize the privacy and security risks in using cloud-based technologies. It’s important to consciously manage these privacy and security risks. Access to notes should be shared only with those who need to see them. Notes should be carefully backed up. Notes can be printed and stored in file cabinets or saved on a local drive and deleted from the cloud. Of course, there are also privacy and security risks with storing paper and backing up to local drives. There’s no perfect answer, only an increasing number of choices to help us better support our clients and develop as counsellors.

Rhea Plosker is an Engineer and Counsellor. She is starting her adventures in private practice with www.williamcooke.ca and also works as a project consultant in health care and not-for-profit organizations. Rhea can be reached at [email protected] or at www.inspirationsolutions.com .




*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA