Cancer is a difficult disease to treat. It is the plague of the modern era. In treating it, many utilize conventional methods, but complimentary and alternative methods can also be useful in overall treatment plans. Complimentary treatments can help prevent future cancer and also help with current treatments. These type of extra treatments need to be used in concert with conventional treatments and arranged only through professional guidance.
Alternative and Conventional medicine can work together under professional guidance. Please also review our Holistic Integrative Specialist Program
The article, “Let’s Talk About Complementary & Alternative Care for Cancer” by Erin Boyle looks at complimentary medicine and treatments that can be used in concert with conventional treatments of cancer. She states,
“Complementary medicine is used in addition to conventional cancer care. It can include products, practices, and healthcare systems outside of mainstream medicine. These methods don’t “cure” cancer, but work in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments to help in a variety of ways, including pain management and emotional support. ”
Please also review our Holistic Integrative Specialist Program and see if it meets your academic and professional arguments. The program is online and independent study.
Grief flows into every aspect of life and the work place is no exception. It is important for employers to be able to identify grieving employees and help them. This sometimes involves time off but also an open ear to listen to any issues the employee may be experiencing. This is important for productivity and smoothness within the business but it also is the basics of a good human being. We need to see employees as people and respect their emotions. It is critical to good business but goes well beyond it.
How can employers help grieving employees? Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification
The article, “How To Support Employees Experiencing Grief And Loss” by Stephanie Sarkis looks at how employers can help employees grieve and have the time they need to fix issues of loss at home. She states,
“You may have employees that have lost loved ones. Compounding the grief, many were not able to attend a funeral or memorial service due to social distancing guidelines. Many people who died of Covid-19 died alone, or with medical staff holding up a phone or tablet so a patient could see their family and friends one last time.”
Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification. The certification is for qualified professionals who are looking for professional credentials to help in the area of loss and bereavement. Plese review the program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.
Anger builds. During COVID19 and lockdown, it has built up for many. Frustrations over quarantine, masks, political views, domestic family life, fear of the illness, and other issues have caused a rise in anger across the world. Individuals need to relax and not allow anger to overtake them. This may be difficult but is necessary if society wishes to defeat this virus and also remain sane.
Anger can rise in lockdown when families are forced to spend more time with each other. It is important to control anger and remain peaceful. Please also review our Anger Management Consulting Training Program
The article, “How To Deal With Anger If It’s Building Up During Lockdown” by Natasha Hinde looks at multiple ways we can decrease anger and increase peace. She states,
“Emotions are riding high as lockdown stretches on and our freedoms remain constrained. One emotion in particular has repeatedly reared its head in households up and down the UK this week. Anger. There’s anger at the virus, government, media and, most recently, anger at the injustice when most people have followed the rules – often at a huge personal cost – and a minority haven’t, including some of those in positions of power.”
Hopefully many people will be able to control anger, reduce stress and follow the needed guidelines to keep everyone safe. It is especially important in homes that domestic quarrels remain benign and love and unity emerge. Please also review AIHCP’s Anger Management Training Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.
Anger can build up over time. Individuals who do not express it in a healthy way find themselves in a count down to explosion. Many times, the anger that is vented is towards those who did not do anything to deserve the tirade. Misplaced anger is a big issue especially during the pandemic and social unrest within the United States. With so much anger, it is easy for misplaced anger to fall upon family and friends. It is important to not let other stressors and angers build up and overflow into other aspects of one’s life.
Do you misplace your anger towards others at home, on the road or at work? Please also review our Anger Management Consulting Program
The article, “Misplaced Anger: Why You Have It, What to Do About It” by Markheim Heid looks at the phenomenon of misplaced anger. He states,
“The phenomenon of ‘displaced aggression’ helps explain why your accumulated anger during the pandemic can spill out into real-world interactions”
Misplaced anger can have many reasons why its manifested. Anger towards the intended target not being around, such as a politician, or anger over something else that builds up and pushes one to yell or scream at someone who just wants our attention. It is important not to misdirect anger and when we do, to quickly apologize and fix the situation. Please also review our Anger Management Consulting Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.
Children grieve differently. Depending on their age, children have different mental ideals on death. As they grow certain ideas change due to experiencing others die, from a simple goldfish or rabbit to a grandparent. Children struggle with ideas such as universality, irreversibility, non functionality, and causality. Eventually, some understand everything dies, that once someone or something has died it does not return, that bodily functions such as breathing end at death, and that only certain things cause death, not unrelated issues.
Children grieve differently than adults. Many children depending on maturity react to death differently. Please review our Child and Adolescent Grief Counseling Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals
Children hence need to be guided through a death event differently pending on their age and maturity in regards to their understanding of basic death concepts.
The article, “Helping children with grief” from WGU Ohio, presents an indepth look at death and how to present death to a children. The article states,
“Particularly when it comes to coping with death, children have a unique way of processing and dealing with their grief. Oftentimes the first step to helping children grieve is ensuring that they understand the concept of death, and that there aren’t lingering misconceptions”
Please also review AIHCP’s Child and Adolescent Grief Counseling Certification. The program is open qualified professionals who have already become certified in Grief Counseling and are looking for an additional specialty certification.
ADHD is difficult in any setting but for adults working at home due to the pandemic it can even be more distracting. The change of scenery and new distractions can lead a person with ADHD into a pitfall of uncompleted tasks. Knowing how to manage oneself while working at home can take time and can be difficult at first. It is important to be organized and find ways to stay on track.
The article, “If you have ADHD, here’s how to manage working from home” by Kristen Rogers looks at ways one can stay on track and learn to complete what needs done. She states,
“As some companies shifted to working from home, some adults with ADHD hit a wall. The transition has been challenging for many. But for some adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, commonly called ADHD, the switch means they’re struggling to stay on top of things as well as they may have in the office.”
Working from home with ADHD can be a difficult task. Please also review our ADHD Consulting Training Program
Learning new methods and coping strategies to minimize distractions and narrow focus on tasks is key and the suggestions listed in the above article can definitely help a person deal with the stress of working at home while dealing with ADHD. Please also review AIHCP’s ADHD Consulting Training Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.
Many individuals new to loss do not understand its very nature. They think grief is a pathology or grief is short term and individuals get over it. These ideals are quickly dismissed as the person realizes grief is a life long journey that helps us deal with loss. It is a reaction to loss. Loss is part of life and hence unfortunately so is grief. As a person accepts this, then their healthy reaction to grief and loss changes. The ability to understand that grief is a life long journey and that grief is not something to dismiss but to embrace is a reality that helps the person recover and adjust to the new reality.
Grief is critical to healing and adjustment. It is life long but heals. Please also review our Grief Counseling Certification and see if it meets your professional goals
The article, “Grief For Beginners: 5 Things To Know About Processing Loss” by Stephanie O’Neil looks at five key points that beginners in grief need to discover. She states,
“Psychologist William Worden developed the concept, which involves four main tasks: acceptance of the loss, processing that loss, adjusting to life without the deceased person and finding ways to maintain an enduring connection with your loved one as you continue your life.”
Grief is a long process but it brings healing if one accepts it and works through it with the correct mindset. Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.
Business men and women deal with a high level of stress. Anyone in the work force deals with some type of stress. Individuals need to be able to deal and cope with stress in a positive way to continue operating at a high and effective level. This involves stress management techniques to help the person stay at the top of his or her game.
Stress is counter productive to business and the ability for business people to perform at high levels. Please also review our Stress Management Consulting Program
The article, “How To Develop Effective Stress Management Techniques” by Brian Tate looks at how stress management can help individuals cope with stress and be successful. He states,
“There are various roots of stress, known commonly as stressors, which act as trigger points to activate it in the body. For instance, a person can find him or herself stuck in a stressful situation during decision-making, a presentation, the death of someone or any health problem. The effect of stress on the body results in a lack of sleep, irritation, constant agitation and other health problem”
Stress needs to be controlled and properly coped with for success. It is important to implement good stress management strategies. If your looking to learn more about stress or would like to help others manage their stress, then please review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program
Excellent article from Chris Haws on the disenfranchised grief pet owners experience. Pets are family and loss itself is not dependent upon one has two legs or four. Pet loss is something that can be as traumatic as family loss. Pets for some are as close as family. Chris Haws below discusses how this loss needs to be acknowledged.
“He was only a dog …”
“He was only a dog – it’s not as if a real person died”; “You knew this day would come – cats don’t live forever”; “You can always get another pet – move on”.
Unfortunately, too many of the attendees at the pet loss support groups that I conduct report that they have encountered sentiments like these while grieving over the loss of a beloved animal companion. Generally, such insensitive and unhelpful statements are made by people who have not known the unique, enriching and profound nature of the relationship we have with our pets.
“They just don’t get it”, said one grieving Miniature Schnauzer owner.
“… And that’s their misfortune”, added her neighbor at the table – a cat owner.
They were both right – and in more ways than you might at first imagine. Numerous studies have shown that not only do people enjoy a wide range of positive emotional benefits from their pets, (the Comfort from Companion Animals Scale – the CCAS – lists over a dozen, including companionship , pleasure , play, laughter , constancy , something to love, comfort , feeling loved , responsibility , feeling needed , trust , safety , and exercise), but pet owners also tend to live longer than non-pet owners and report fewer visits to physicians, psychiatrists and therapists.
Pets are integral parts of people’s lives. Losing a pet is not a trivial thing for many people and needs to be acknowledged.
So why the disconnect when a person is grieving over the loss of their pet? Part of the answer lies in the fact that society at large doesn’t always cope very well with certain types of grief. People aren’t sure what to say or how to behave. Death is never a comfortable topic, but when that death involves “socially delicate” circumstances such as suicide, drug overdose, abortion, AIDS, or any other loss that cannot be easily acknowledged, or publicly mourned, it can provoke what is described as “Disenfranchised Grief”.
And that’s what can occur when someone loses a pet – (“only an animal”, and “not a real person”, remember?)
The owner of a recently euthanized 13 year old Boxer/Bloodhound mix is a busy wife and mother, who also holds down a full-time job. Of her family, and her grief, she remarked: “They don’t want me to cry in front of them, and no one will talk about my pain”.
It’s a sentiment that is frequently expressed: “I can’t stop crying. My husband gets angry with me. I know he’s sad too, but he just won’t show it” noted an elderly lady, grieving the loss of the couple’s treasured cat.
And, of course, that additional, unwelcome, experience of “disenfranchisement” only makes an already sad situation worse, as the grieving Miniature Schnauzer owner ruefully observed: “Everybody has moved on like it was just yesterday’s news. I’m not expecting everybody to feel as I do, but to be so utterly deserted has been tough. I was literally told that I would just have to get over it. Right….Just take twelve and a half years and move on….Sure, I’ll get right on that.”
Chris Haws points out that counselors need to recognize the loss of a pet. Pithy sayings of “he was just a dog” or “at least it was not a person” are bad statements. The loss needs to be acknowledged.
The point is that pet loss generates a degree of grief that can be every bit as acute as human loss. Some go even further… “These have been the worst days of my life. For me, this is worse than losing people”, wrote one grieving Pomeranian owner. She is not alone. Many of the attendees at the pet loss support group sessions have expressed the same view. Grief from pet loss hurts. A lot.
And, of course, grief from pet loss is also an equal opportunity emotion. Our session attendees have included high ranking military officers, diplomats, corporate executives, and professional artists, as well as normal mortals like you and me. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. There are a lot of us pet owners around. Sixty-eight percent of all U.S. households, or about 85 million families, own a pet. 73% of those families own one or more dogs (89.7 million) and 49% own one or more cats (94.2 million). And the sad – and significant – fact is that no pet lives forever. The mean age of death for dogs of all breeds is just over eleven years, (curiously, the larger breeds die much younger than the small breeds – scientists aren’t quite sure why that should be), and for house cats the mean age at death is just over fifteen years. So pet ownership is almost certain to lead to loss, at some point in time. Most of us understand that reality, although we don’t like to dwell too much on it. And the benefits (remember that Comfort from Companion Animals Scale, the CCAS?) of pet ownership are so compelling.
So the relatively short lifespan of a pet also brings its own unique challenge. The relationship that we have with our animal companions is beyond special – a two way dependency that is based on an unspoken agreement that we will look after each other, with no questions asked. But at the end of a pet’s life, that understanding can be tested in a way that has yet to present itself in the realm of human mortality (although it may one day). I’m talking, of course, about euthanasia. A large animal hospital such as VCA South Paws “puts down” over 20 animals a week, (but only after extensive veterinary medical review and never without the full agreement and participation of the owner). Nevertheless, many of the attendees at the pet loss support sessions are still wracked with guilt about the decision they made to end their companion’s life. Might he have recovered? What else could have been done for her? Had they been too hasty?
If it’s any consolation, in every case I’ve encountered, not only had the time truly come to end the animal’s pain or suffering, but in many cases the creature seemed ready and willing to stop battling on, as well.
“He was ready to go”, observed the owners of their cancer ridden, Irish Setter. “She was suffering and I needed to help my best friend”, remembers the Boxer/Bloodhound owner. “There was nothing more anyone could do” agreed the heartbroken owner of his fourteen year old Yorkie.
That unfamiliar blend of resignation, relief and heartache is a difficult one to process and it takes a while for people to reconcile all those internal conflicts. And that’s where the grief support groups can play an important role. It really helps someone who is bursting with questions and doubts, on top of their inevitable grief, to hear others express similar feelings and emotions.
As one newcomer to the group remarked: “I was astonished to hear her talk about the same feelings I have, and the same behaviors I’m doing. Someone I’ve never met, not in my age group, probably with a completely different life than mine, doing the same things and feeling the exact same way as myself.”
Another “fellow-griever” agreed: “I was surprised that my reaction is NORMAL! It’s nice to speak to others that recognize those dark moments”.
As you might imagine, there’s a lot of sympathetic nodding and wry smiles of recognition at these meetings. We also get through a lot of Kleenex tissues. And that’s perfectly OK too. Like any grief counseling session, the participants are encouraged to talk openly about their feelings and express whatever emotion overwhelms them. Pet loss support groups are resolutely safe places … places where nobody is allowed to feel “disenfranchised”.
Counseling must accept all grief loss and recognize the loss as unique and important to the griever.
And there’s also a lot of laughter, as we hear about how Stan the cat defended his place on the family couch, or how Pippa the dog had a habit of herding the young children towards the meal table at supper time. These are precious memories, shared with people who understand.
People who “get it”.
Chris Haws is a British born Psychologist and Counselor based in Northwest DC who specializes in grief, loss, recovery, and personal development. For over three decades, his writing has appeared in print, radio and TV around the world.
Mindfulness interventions for patients who deal with mental issues or trauma can help individuals and their overall outcome and mental healing. Mindfulness Crisis Intervention help individuals find healing but also reduce the risks and costs associated with re admissions for healthcare facilities. It is important to continue to improve on mental health for everyone. Mindfulness, meditation and various professional interventions can help mental crisis.
The article, “Mindfulness Interventions May Improve Psychosis Outcomes” by Jessica Janze looks closer at how interventions can help individuals overcome mental crisis and reduce re admissions. She states,
“A new study, published in BMC Psychiatry, examines the feasibility and acceptability of a Mindfulness-Based Crisis Intervention (MBCI) for patients experiencing psychosis in the inpatient setting. Results of the parallel-group, randomized control trial (RCT), led by Pamela Jacobson from King’s College London, suggest that mindfulness-based interventions delivered during inpatient hospitalizations may reduce short-term readmissions, a key indicator of quality in mental health care.”
These studies show the usefulness of Mindful-Based Crisis Intervention. To read the entire article, please click here
Mindfulness Crisis Intervention can help individuals overcome mental crisis. Please also review our Crisis Intervention Specialist Program
