According to the Australian National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Report, December 2003, high stress levels lead to thousands of stress-related WorkCover claims every year.

Cases of mental stress had by far the highest median (8.5 weeks) and average (16 weeks) time lost, and accounted for 29% of all new cases of disease. This is way above the median of 3.4 weeks lost and average of 9.3 weeks for all new cases of injury or disease.

Stress in the workplace is common and caused by many different factors and issues. Many problems may never be fully resolved and the amount of stress a person experiences is often determined by whether or not they can accept that some things in life will simply never be sorted out to their satisfaction. For instance, a person may feel stressed by the way they are treated by their employer, or the behaviour of a work colleague.

Sometimes this stress can be resolved by dealing with the particular behaviour as in many organisations, there are processes that can be followed to deal with workplace problems like harassment, victimisation or unfair treatment. If your work life and personal life are out of balance, your stress may be running high. Here’s how to reclaim control.

Finding work-life balance in today’s frenetically-paced world is no simple task. Spend more time at work than at home and you miss out on a rewarding personal life. Then again, if you’re facing challenges in your personal life such as caring for an aging parent or coping with marital or financial problems, concentrating on your job can be difficult.

Whether the problem is too much focused on work or too little, when your work life and your personal life feel out of balance, stress - and its harmful effects - is the result. To take control, first consider how the world of work has changed, then re-evaluate your relationship to work and apply the strategies for striking a more healthy balance as described in this guide.

1. How work invades your personal life: There was a time when employees showed up for work Monday through Friday and worked eight to nine hours. The boundaries between work and home were fairly clear then. But the world has changed and, unfortunately, the boundaries have blurred for many workers. Here’s why:
2. Global economy. As more skilled workers enter the global labor market and companies outsource or move more jobs to reduce labour costs, people feel pressured to work longer and produce more to protect their jobs.
3. International business. Work continues around the world 24 hours a day for some people. If you work in an international organisation, you might be on call around the clock for troubleshooting or consulting.
4. Advanced communication technology. People now have the ability to work anywhere - from their home, from their car and even on vacation. And some managers expect that.
5. Longer hours. Employers commonly ask employees to work longer hours than they’re scheduled. Often, overtime is mandatory. If you hope to move up the career ladder, you may find yourself regularly working more than 40 hours a week to achieve and exceed expectations.
6. Changes in family roles. Today’s married worker is typically part of a dual-career couple, which makes it difficult to find time to meet commitments to family, friends and community.

If you’ve experienced any of these challenges, you understand how easy it is for work to invade your personal life.

Overtime obsession

It’s tempting to work overtime if you’re an hourly employee. By doing so, you can earn extra money for a child’s university education or a dream vacation. Some people need to work overtime to stay on top of family finances or pay for extra, unplanned expenses.

If you’re on salary, working more hours may not provide extra cash, but it can help you to keep up with your workload. Being willing to arrive early and stay late every day may also help earn that promotion or bonus.

Before you sign up for overtime, consider the pros and cons of working extra hours on your work-life balance:

1. Fatigue. Your ability to think and your eye-hand coordination decrease when you’re tired. This means you’re less productive and may make mistakes. These mistakes can lead to injury or rework and negatively impact your professional reputation.
2. Family. You may miss out on important events, such as your child’s first bike ride, your father’s 60th birthday or your high-school reunion. Missing out on important milestones may harm relationships with your loved ones.
3. Friends. Trusted friends are a key part of your support system. But if you’re spending time at the office instead of with them, you’ll find it difficult to nurture those friendships.
4. Expectations. If you work extra hours as a general rule, you may be given more responsibility. This could create a never-ending and increasing cycle, causing more concerns and challenges.

Sometimes working overtime is important. It’s a choice you can make to adjust to a new job or new boss or to pay your bills. If you work for a company that requires mandatory overtime, you won’t be able to avoid it, but you can learn to manage it.

If you work overtime by choice, do so in moderation. Most importantly, say no when you’re too tired, when it’s affecting your health or when you have crucial family obligations.

Striking the best work-life balance

It isn’t easy to juggle the demands of career and personal life. For most people, it’s an ongoing challenge to reduce stress and maintain harmony in key areas of their life. Here are some ideas to help you find the balance that’s best for you:

1. Keep a journal. Write down everything you do for one week. Include work-related and non-work-related activities. Decide what’s necessary and satisfies you the most. Cut or delegate activities you don’t enjoy, don’t have time for or do only out of guilt. If you don’t have the authority to make certain decisions, talk to your supervisor.
2. Take advantage of your options. Find out if your employer offers flex hours, a compressed work week, job-sharing or telecommuting for your role. The flexibility may alleviate some of your stress and free up some time.
3. Manage your time. Organise household tasks efficiently. Doing one or two loads of laundry every day rather than saving it all for your day off, and running errands in batches rather than going back and forth several times are good places to begin. A weekly family calendar of important dates and a daily list of to-dos will help you avoid deadline panic. If your employer offers a course in time management, sign up for it.
4. Rethink your cleaning standards. An unmade bed or sink of dirty dishes won’t impact the quality of your life. Do what needs to be done and let the rest go. If you can afford it, pay someone else to clean your house.
5. Communicate clearly. Limit time-consuming misunderstandings by communicating clearly and listening carefully. Take notes if it helps.
6. Let go of the guilt. Remember, having a family and a job is okay - for both men and women.
7. Nurture yourself. Set aside time each day for an activity that you enjoy, such as walking, working out or listening to music.
8. Unwind after a hectic workday by reading, practicing yoga or taking a bubble bath.  Sitting down and watching the news is NOT recommended for relaxation or unwinding as many studies advise the news creates an upward shift in anxiety and stress levels.
9. Set aside one night each week for recreation. Take the phone off the hook; turn off the computer and the TV. Discover activities you can do with your partner, family or friends, such as playing golf, fishing, bike riding or walking on the beach. Making time for activities you enjoy will refresh you.
10. Protect your day off. Try to schedule some of your routine chores on workdays so that your days off are more relaxing.
11. Get enough sleep. There’s nothing as stressful and potentially dangerous as working when you’re sleep-deprived. Not only is your productivity affected, but you can also make costly mistakes. You may then have to work even more hours to make up for these mistakes.
12. Bolster your support system. Give yourself the gift of a trusted friend or co-worker to talk with during times of stress or hardship. If you’re part of a religious community, take advantage of the support your religious leader can provide. Ensure you have trusted friends and relatives who can assist you when you need to work overtime or travel for your job.
13. Seek professional help. Everyone needs help from time to time. If your life feels too chaotic to manage and you are constantly worrying about it, talk with a professional such as your doctor, a psychologist, a counsellor or a life coach.

And if you’re experiencing high levels of stress because of marital, financial, chemical dependency or legal problems, a counsellor can link you to helpful services in your community.

Balance doesn’t mean doing everything. Examine your priorities and set boundaries. Be firm in what you can and cannot do. Only you can restore harmony to your lifestyle.

Source: www.aipc.net.au/eguides

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Category: Group Counselling
Author: Kathleen Casagrande

A Support Group had been advertised on the display board of the local Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centre in the City where the Counsellor had been seeing each of the members for private counselling prior to the start of the programme.

Ten clients enrolled in the group but by 7:15pm only 5 of the ten group members allocated for the 7pm time-slot, had arrived. Cancellations and rescheduling unfortunately are an issue with people who are challenged with substance misuse. The 5 members present, included:

1. Gemma, whose partner died from drowning in a pool next to her at a party where there were many drugs being used of all types; mainly ecstasy, fantasy and speed.
2. Wesley, who has been out of prison for six months now. He has been addicted to morphine and heroin and has since taken up alcohol (because it’s legal).
3. Cobi, previously a paramedic who was diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and used amphetamine/methamphetamine (speed) because it used to get him through the horrors of his nights.
4. Effie (Frangelica), who has deep-seated self-esteem issues. She used to smoke cannabis, just to take her away from reality and ultimately aiming to de-stress her.
5. Jasmine, who became an alcoholic when her husband died in her arms from an operation that went terribly wrong.

The goal of the group was to share ideas and strategies associated with the maintenance and well-being of each group member. Each week a member would be expected to deliver a positive idea or event that happened to them during the previous week. 

Introduction

Group Facilitator will be abbreviated to GF.

GF: Good evening. I am the facilitator of this group where we will be predominantly working with the effects of addictions. We have all decided to create a support group for sharing our experiences, our strengths and our weaknesses so that we begin to understand that we are not alone in our situations. Because some of us have journeyed along a path that has been amazingly eventful, we all want to know that our stories are all confidential and must not be shared with others outside of this room.

If you choose to elaborate on a story that belongs to somebody else, please be aware that it is expected you do not use that person’s name. 

Please remember that my duty of care, as it exists for us in counselling, also applies here. So if I consider that you, or another person, are at risk of harm, I am obliged to uphold your safety and the safety of others. This may mean that I will need to disclose information to people outside of this group. Of course, where possible I will seek your support on this before acting. Is that understood?

GF: (Addressing the group as a whole) I would like to find out what everyone in the group thinks about the issues of addictions in their own lives. Let’s move around the circle now starting with you, Wesley.

Wesley: While I was in jail I was medicated most of the time because of my aggressiveness, I just wanted to fight everybody because I hated myself. I’ve been hated all my life from when I was a little kid, my mother would tell me all the time how much she hated me ’cause I looked like my Dad. 

So after five years of being given morphine for pain from many beatings and then heroin when I got out I didn’t want to start stealing again to keep feeding my habit so I slowly went off heroin with anti-depressants I got from the doctor, then I became addicted to Valium and used that too much with rum to wash them down. I know I was just swapping the witch for the bitch to cover my own self-loathing.  I realise this but I have all this anger inside me.

“Prescribing a drug also gives doctors the illusion that they have solved the problem while, in fact, all they have done is to postpone it, and they may have created a new problem in the process.” (Parkes, et al., 1996)

GF (after some further sharing from group members, initiate a break): What we’ll do at this point is take a short break with some deep-breathing exercises to relax those who have shared so far and for those who have not yet had the opportunity and may be getting a bit apprehensive about sharing.  So to begin let’s just close our eyes for a while and focus on a very safe place we have visited or would like to visit, it can be anywhere you want as long as you are feeling peaceful and relaxed.

(The GF gently touches the CD player and calming music filters out, soft orchestral slow tones mixed with bushland sounds of birds chirping and the sound of water trickling along a stony path).  “Many groups, particularly those with members suffering from high levels of mental and/or physical stress, find it useful to include periods of time devoted to relaxation.” (Brown, 1994)

Break for Supper

Two members head outside to the street to have a cigarette and when they rejoin the group they have brought in the two other members who were late because they got “side-tracked”. Curtis and Stolli have stated that they would like to join in because they’ve heard this is a group to help them get off drugs. Stolli states he wants to bring his girlfriend Chloe in who is waiting outside.

The facilitator settles the group when the members become quite agitated at this turn of events. The two new people have the procedures and rules of the support group explained to them. They must make an appointment by phoning the office the next day during business hours and they will be quite welcome to join in with the next lot of participants in four weeks time.

The first Monday of every month is designed for new members joining. This way the previous participants can continue with the support group however they must make allowances for the new participants as they arrive.  Under no circumstances are there to be anyone joining the group who is presently using any type of illicit drug.

Curtis and Stolli appeared to be using some stimulant and this created chaos with the members in attendance. This only enhanced their craving which endangered their safety and sobriety. They had come this far and having people join in who could possibly sabotage their safety was beyond their expectations.

Curtis and Stolli are not permitted to join in halfway through the group. This is a serious exercise for the participants who have made quite an enormous decision to participate in a group that has the potential to change the shape and destiny of their lives as they know it. 

Effie has been quiet up to this point and just as the time came for her to disclose her story, Jasmine who was sitting beside her and beside the counsellor/facilitator, jumped up and screamed pointing to Effie’s shirt. With this loud interruption from Jasmine who had sat silently the entire time, created havoc in the group. The participants all jumped around not knowing why they were jumping around, some almost in a state of panic. 

It took some time to settle the group and it was revealed that Effie had brought her pet rat along inside her shirt for comfort. She was so attached to this pet that she did not want to leave it at home for fear of its safety. Jasmine hated crawly things she stated and said it was ridiculous that this girl should have this rat in the group. Trying to calm the group once again, the GF asked what the rat’s name was.

There was quite a bit of discussion around Effie’s pet rat with a suggestion being offered that members bring along photos of their pets for the following week. Unfortunately Effie’s pet rat would have to stay at home through the following support group evenings and enjoy his time out. 

Time for Jasmine (the group’s quietest member). She disclosed that ever since her husband had died five years previously she had used alcohol as a sedative to help her sleep. The alcohol had allowed her to block memories of him dying in her arms and all other previous memories that led up to that time and since that time, so that each day merged into the other.

Last month she made a promise to one of her sons that she would stop drinking before his wife had their first child. She stated she did not wish to elaborate at this time, for fear of losing control of herself and ending up a blubbering mess.

According to Parkes, et al. (1996), “Some group leaders adopt a structured approach, moving from the discussion of facts, to thoughts and then feelings about what happened.  We prefer a more spontaneous approach, allowing group members to decide upon the group’s priorities and intervening only if the group becomes bogged down or dominated by one particular individual or faction. It is important that everybody has the opportunity to be heard, even though some may prefer to remain silent.”

Conclusion

GF: Thank you all for sharing; this has been a tremendous first night. We will meet again next week as planned, please be on time because the two hours fly by so fast.

And now to end this session of group work let’s conclude with the Serenity Prayer.

You may wish to join in as you remember the words:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and (the) wisdom to know the difference.” (Niebuhr)

Reference List

1. Brown, A. (1994). Groupwork (3rd ed.), London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
2. Parkes, C.M., Relf, M., & Couldrick, A. (1996). Counselling in terminal care and bereavement. UK: British Psychological Society.
3. Posthuma, B. (1996). Small groups in counselling and therapy: Process and leadership, (2nd ed.), USA: Allyn and Bacon.

Related Case Studies: Case Management of Anxiety and Stress, A Case of Social Anxiety, A Case of Low Self Esteem

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Counsellors are often directly involved in the intervention phase of case planning. A counsellor may in fact be a service provider that a case manager utilises as part of their case plan.

This post, however, is not focused on direct, personal interventions (although that is generally the core work of the counsellor), it is focused instead on the intervention processes counsellors can utilise when positioned in the role of service coordinator or case manager.

In this role, counsellors must have knowledge in the following key areas:

1. Service delivery systems in their local community
2. Appropriate process for referral
3. Appropriate use of broker and advocate roles
4. Mechanisms for empowering and enabling clients

Let’s consider each of these areas separately.

1. Knowledge of service delivery systems in the local area

To provide the most effective and relevant service network for a client, comprehensive knowledge of what’s available in the client’s local community is a must. Selecting resources for clients that will meet their needs is both a science and an art.

Selection of resources will be made increasingly proficient, as counsellor knowledge in relation to available resources increases. Additionally, counsellors must develop a solid understanding of client preferences, strengths and values in order to ascertain which services may best fit client need.

Armed with extensive knowledge of community resources and an understanding of client needs and preferences, a counsellor can maximise the likelihood of effective referral selection and thus optimise client outcomes.

2. Knowledge of the appropriate process for referral  

Referral is the process of linking clients with selected services in the community. Referrals are made only with the permission of the client (or client guardian) and may involve the counsellor making the initial contact with the identified service on behalf of the client and/or accompanying the client for the first meeting. Additionally, effective referral procedures ensure that the client has adequate resources to attend the service (i.e. they have transport, financial resources and/or childcare etc.).

Follow-up is an additional part of a well-executed referral. Follow-up allows the counsellor to determine if there was an appropriate ‘fit’ between client and service. Additionally, follow-up enables counsellors to gain a greater understanding of the service on offer, thus increasing the likelihood of making appropriate referrals to that service in the future. 

3. Knowledge of the appropriate use of broker and advocate roles

In the same way a mortgage broker acts as an intermediary between client and lender, the broker in case management acts as the intermediary between client and community service. The broker role provides clients with information, awareness and knowledge of the services available to them. Additionally, the broker acts to assist clients in accessing those services, as required. 

Advocacy, on the other hand, sees the counsellor speak and/or act on direct behalf of the client. The following paragraph offers an apt warning about the frequency at which advocacy should be undertaken.

“It is often unclear how much and to what degree case managers should be involved in client advocacy. Whenever case managers act on behalf of their clients, even just to make a referral, they are acting as client substitutes. Every time this happens, and often it must, clients are losing the opportunity to practice advocating for themselves. By definition, practicing any new behaviour, including assertive skills, community assessment, and self-advocacy, is a learning process that includes making mistakes (Wehmeyer and Metzler, 1995).

At times the wisdom of Solomon may be required in order to decide when to back off and support clients in their attempts to act for themselves, when to advocate for them, and when to find some kind of middle ground. We must constantly remember that the more clients learn to act for themselves and their families, the more independent and self-sufficient they will become. An additional value of self-advocacy is that people become more involved in their community and with people who share their life problems. Thus case managers should not take on the advocacy role as a habit without careful consideration.” (Frankel & Gelman, 2004)

Broker and advocacy roles are crucial to the success of case management processes. Linking clients to resources that will serve as a strong community support system is the ultimate aim of case management. Counsellors must, however, be mindful and cautious of the fine line that distinguishes effective client advocacy from the unintentional fostering of client dependency.

4. Knowledge of the mechanisms for empowering and enabling clients

Simply stated, empowered individuals are aware of, and act on, the right to make their own choices and decisions. To empower a client is to raise their awareness about personal rights and entitlement. Strategies to empower aim to transform client feelings of helplessness and powerlessness into greater self-assuredness and confidence. Minor shifts in the way a counsellor conducts casework can serve as a great starting point for empowering clients.

This can be achieved by consistently and directly involving clients in the process of case planning; keeping clients clearly informed throughout the process; advocating only when necessary and maintaining a focus on client strengths and resources.

Enabling is the process of assisting a client (or client system) to carry out an activity that would otherwise not be possible.  An important part of enabling involves encouraging the client to develop positive thinking in relation to the achievement of goals. To do this, the counsellor must listen for indications of how a client is thinking about and perceiving their established objectives and goals. By doing this, the counsellor is able to identify potential barriers to achievement and highlight areas requiring attention or intervention.

Monitoring

Refinement and adjustment over time are important and valuable parts of case planning. Case plans are developed on the basis of assessment information and inevitably require modification as new information is introduced. For this reason, it is essential that both counsellor and client maintain flexibility in relation to goals, objectives and timeframes. Monitoring needs to occur over the full course of intervention.

When progress is monitored, both counsellor and client are afforded the opportunity to share what they feel is working or not working in the case plan; what needs refinement or modification; what goals or objectives need to be removed, added or altered and/or what time-frames need adjustment. Collaboratively discussing potential changes in a case plan not only contributes to a client’s sense of accountability but also serves to empower and enable.

Source: www.counsellingacademy.com.au

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There are two fundamental evaluation dilemmas for the clinical supervisor. Firstly, as a therapist, the clinical supervisor has highly developed skills in providing a non-judgemental, non-directive, and supportive environment for their clients.

The supervisory relationship, however, is based on evaluation and direction - something that can feel uncomfortable for the skilled therapist. Additionally, as an exact criterion does not exist by which the competencies of a counsellor can be objectively measured, ambiguity can cause confusion.

Supervisors therefore need to apply the favourable conditions and the process of evaluation that will be described below, to both formative and summative types of evaluation.

Favourable Conditions for Evaluation: To ensure an evaluation that is as accurate, objective and as useful to the supervisee as possible, supervisors need to create an environment that is appropriate for evaluation.

Bernard and Goodyear (1998) have suggested the following summary of twelve favourable conditions:

1. Be sensitive to the unequal position of the supervisee.
2. Clarify with the supervisee the administrative and clinical roles of the supervisor.
3. Address the supervisee’s defensiveness openly.
4. Address the supervisee’s individual differences openly.
5. Explain all evaluation procedures in advance.
6. Ensure the supervisee is actively involved in what is to be learned, as evaluation should be a mutual and continual process.
7. Be flexible in accommodating life situations in supervision and evaluation.
8. The supervisor must have a supportive administrative structure and the system/process must have integrity.
9. Avoid premature evaluations of supervisees.
10. Invite feedback from supervisees, and use it.
11. Monitor the supervisory relationship.  It should remain professional, positive, supportive, and trusting.
12. If you don’t enjoy being a supervisor, don’t do it.

The Process of Evaluation: With favourable conditions in place, there are two other important issues to consider before undertaking steps in the process of evaluation. The first issue is the subjective nature of evaluation. Supervisors must keep in mind the influence of their similarity or dissimilarity with the supervisee, their familiarity with the supervisee, and their own priorities and idiosyncrasies in skill judgement and rating.

The second issue is the consequences of evaluation. These are the effects on the supervisee, the supervisor, the clients, and the program/agency, if the evaluation is negative, positive, or inaccurate. These two issues are fundamental in the process of evaluation and must always be considered.

Bernard and Goodyear (1998 p.159-171), explain the six elements comprising of the evaluation process as:

The Supervision-Evaluation Contract

Creating an effective contract in the initial stages of supervision which will involve the supervisee identifying and incorporating their own learning goals and which will assist in the development of a collaborative partnership for supervision.

The contract should also include criteria for evaluation, supervision methods, length and frequency of supervision contacts, plan of action for goal attainment, timeframe for completion of the plan, and how a summative evaluation will be achieved. This contract needs to be reviewed regularly, and possibly adjusted, with formative evaluations. It may be helpful to have this contract form a part of the supervision plan.

Choosing Supervision Methods for Evaluation

To enable provision of an accurate and comprehensive evaluation, supervisors should choose a variety of supervision methods. These might include the use of process notes, audio taping sessions, and/or group supervision. The more varied the methods of supervision, the more detailed the supervisor’s picture of the supervisee’s strengths and weaknesses.

Choosing Evaluative Instruments

As evaluation instruments have not yet been developed to measure supervisee performance, supervisors need to be creative in their assessment tools. This might mean adapting other measures or writing your own evaluation tools. Developing some type of tool will assist in supporting and giving credibility to your evaluations.

It is also important to incorporate the supervisee rating themselves on some measures. The use of evaluation instruments must be accompanied by discussion with the supervisee to ensure that they understand the tool and its results.

Communicating Formative Feedback

This is the central task of the evaluation process and of supervision overall. Providing formative feedback during supervision assists the supervisee’s learning. It informs them of what will be assessed in the summative evaluation, and gives them the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in the areas required. 

Encouraging Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is a skill that is essential to all counselling practitioners and is therefore appropriately encouraged during supervision. There are several possible strategies for incorporating supervisee self-assessment, these include: evaluating themselves and their progress prior to each supervision contact; periodically evaluating a segment of a taped session; or being involved in the summative evaluation process.

A measure of success in this area would be if a supervisee can provide a relatively accurate assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses for the summative evaluation.

Communicating Summative Evaluations

It is essential that the summative evaluation is a culmination of evaluation, not the beginning of the evaluation process. Critical issues for providing an effective summative evaluation are the quality of the supervision relationship, the clarity of the roles of people within supervision (including those not in the immediate relationship), and the communication skills of the supervisor.

Source: www.counsellingacademy.com.au

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Source: PsychCentral

Author: By Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.

Parents are more alike than different. Most of us want to do a good job. Most of us love our children to death. Whether married, divorced, or single, most of our kids have at least one other parent or parent-figure in their lives who is also, in their own way, trying hard and who also cares. Why is it that it seems so hard sometimes for us to give our kids the attention they need to grow into emotionally secure and happy adults?

When family educator and psychologist Rudolf Dreikurs said, “You have to look at the total situation,” he was not only talking about the child. Total means just that: Total. Parents are in the situation too. Sometimes it’s the parents’ situation that is the problem. Internal issues and external pressures on us also get in the way.

When that is the case, coming up with new and different ways to discipline the child are beside the point. We need to get our own act together first. It’s our situation, not the child’s, that needs to be understood, changed, or managed.

Look at the total situation from the adults’ perspective…

Click here to access the full version of this article.

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