Author: Dominick Flarey

Stress Management Counseling Techniques.

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Reduce Stress With These Stress Management Counseling Tips.

Being stressed out is something that everyone can identify with. Stress can be an unwelcome companion, but if you think of ways to handle it well, you won’t even notice it’s there. Being prepared helps, and that’s where this article comes in. Here are some smart stress management counseling tips to cope with stress so that it won’t paralyze you.
Massages are great in relieving stress. A massage can release the tension from your body, loosening the tight knots that have formed in your muscles due to stress. A massage improves your body’s circulation and makes it feel better naturally. Your mind can relax at the same time as your body unwinds.

Take out box
Don’t let stress take you out! Use these Stress Management Counseling Tips to fight back!

One way to manage your stress is to take an amount of money that you can do without and spend it on something completely unnecessary that you might have always wanted. This will help to clear your mind and give you a sense of power and self accomplishment.
Gastrointestinal distress is a common reaction to stress. Acid reflux, a persistent feeling of nausea, and even problems with elimination can be our body’s outward reaction to stress. Reduce the level of stress you are feeling and symptoms such as these will often be greatly minimized or even disappear entirely!
Getting plenty of quality sleep will counteract the stress of what ever your daily life brings. It sounds simple enough, but most people fail to get enough basic sleep let alone quality sleep and that is the way your body recovers from your hard day at work, keeping after the children or the million other ways you spend your waking time!
Personal finances can be one of the most stressful things a person can deal with. In this world, we are used to living above our means and this puts a constant strain on our minds and health. Our stress levels shoot through the roof as we imagine how we are going to pay the next bill everyday. Budget, and live within your means and try to take the stress of finances off of yourself.
Get a massage. Massage has long been known to decrease feelings of stress. A professional massage can relax your body as well as your mind. If you can’t get a professional massage, you can give yourself a mini-massage by massaging each palm with the thumb of the opposing hand. The pressure will relax you.
If you have tried all sorts of ways to try to control and reduce your own levels of stress, and have not been successful, it is time for you to seek medical attention. Talk to your doctor for their recommendations of stress management sessions you can attend to get you back on track and feeling in control again.
A good tip that can keep your stress in check is to make sure you’re staying busy. If you have nothing but idle time on your hands, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll become stressed out. Having something to look forward to can make you more relaxed.
Breathe deeply from your abdomen. This gets more oxygen to your brain, so that you feel relief from stress quickly. Many adults breathe from their chests, which causes shallow breathing that almost invites stress. Place your hand over your navel and visualize breathing from there and watch how much more relaxed you feel.
Learn positive thinking techniques to conquer stress. When you are feeling stressful, sit down and take some deep breaths. Close your eyes and think of yourself in your favorite relaxing place. Whether it is on a beach relaxing and sipping a drink or at a ball game with your kids, laughing and having a good time. Just thinking about positive and stress free situations will make the stress go away.
To handle stress in your life, start by minimizing stress in your life. Something as simple as laying out your work clothing for the next day can give you a better start in the morning; it may give you a few extra minutes to relax as well, instead of running around looking for a stray shoe or favorite blue sweater.
A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to pray. Praying can help you feel at ease. It’s also great because you can do it almost anywhere. Just a little bit of praying each day can go a long way in keeping your stress down.
Since work can be such a major source of day-to-day stress, develop your own techniques in order to leave that work stress at the office and out of your home. Whether it’s stopping on the way home to hit a few golf balls, cranking up your favorite music on the radio, or calling a trusted friend or family member, coming up with a method to tackle stress from work will keep your job obligations from invading your home.
Use these tips to start coping with stress in a better way. When you start handling stress smartly, you will see that unwelcome companion start to retreat. Take it slow and don’t let stress take over your life. Take control and cope well so you can move on in a happier way.
If you are interested in learning more stress management counseling techniques then you might want to go to our website for more information.

Christian Counselor Training: Joyous Giving and Joyous Receiving

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counselor Training and Joyous Receiving

Christian Counselors many times encounter the reluctant taker.  The person who denies any help or who feels guilty if they accept any gift.  These individuals enjoy giving and are sincere but they forget the joy that others may feel when giving.   As Christians we must be joyous givers, but we also must learn how to joyously receive as well.
Our faith is based upon the greatest gift.  That gift is Jesus Christ taking the form of a slave and dying for us.  If we cannot learn to joyously accept that gift, then how we can joyously give that message to others?
During the Advent season, we see two key figures who help us accept this gift.  First, Mary who unselfishly shares her son with the world, giving up her only son for the redemption of the world.  Second, we see St. John the Baptist.  While Mary offers us Christ, St. John directs us to Christ.  He was among the first to rejoice when, as a fetus, he lept with joy in St. Elizabeth’s womb.  From that day forward, he prepared the world for the coming of the Messiah.
From this, we must spiritually accept the great gifts of God with joy and thanksgiving.  Let us also this Christmas year, accept the gifts of others with joy and gratitude.  Ultimately may we all share the gift of Christ and then spread it to others.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review the program.  Christian Counselor Training is available for qualified professionals.

Mark Moran, MA

Online Stress Management Advice for the Holidays

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

A man giving a SHHHHH sign!

No need to keep these online stress management tips a secret!

Online Stress Management to Survive the Holidays

The article, “6 Tips to Reduce Your Stress This Holiday Season”, by John Grohol states

The holidays are upon us — and so is the time of the year when a lot of people get stressed out and overwhelmed, and feel like it’s a never-ending bother. Relatives want to get together, and inevitably, the old arguments and kidding will repeat themselves. Families repeat endless cycles of interaction, and almost everybody feels helpless to break out.

For the full article and the list please go here.

Once you have learned to take time for yourself, you can actually relax and enjoy your holiday time off.    Just remember the online stress management tips in the article and you will on your way to a stress free Christmas Season.
If you are interested in learning more about stress management then you should visit our website for more information on stress management certification.

Christian Counseling Certification and the Faith of the Centurian

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification : Not Worthy That You Should Come Under My Roof

The faith of the centurion was the greatest faith that Christ had witnessed in all of Israel.  Upon meeting our Lord and begging for a cure of his servant, his faith  was illuminated by the mere words, “merely say the word”.   He did not require that our Lord should come to his home, nor grace his unworthiness by entering his lowly home, but his faith only required Our Lord’s word of healing.   His humility and faith earned him the cure he so desperately sought for his servant.
Christian Counselors should try to cultivate such faith in their spiritual children.  Our faith in God’s love for us should be so strong that it does not require visions, heavenly visits or spiritual favors.  The words of Our Lord should be enough, as they were for the centurion.

Liturgical Application of the Centurian’s Faith

In Catholicism and maybe some denominations of Protestantism, the centurion’s faith is memorialized before communion, when the faithful recite, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed”.  This phrase reiterates one’s faith and humility before reception of the Eucharist.  It acknowledges one’s unworthiness but also one’s faith that Christ can spiritually and physically heal our weaknesses.
While all who are baptized are infused with the gift of faith, we still must cultivate it on this earth.  This supernatural virtue will cease to exist in the next life when our faith is realized, but in the meantime, we need to strengthen it with ferventacts of faith, as the centurion did.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review the program.  Our Christian Counseling Certification is granted to qualified professionals who complete the required course work.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Certification : Don’t Forget the Poor During Christmas

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification : Care of the Poor During Christmas

While care of the poor is vocation all Christians must undertake the whole year, it is especially important to remember the poor during Christmas.  Christian Counselors should lead and partake in various ministries that alleviate the suffering of the poor during Christmas.  There are a multitude of ways this can be accomplished.
First, donating various articles.  Clothes, coats, and other articles of use can be donated to various charities in your community.  One should take the time to go through old and unused materials that could be useful for a poor family.
Second, donation of food is critical.  Many shelters have Christmas dinners.  One can volunteer or donate various canned goods or even donate a Christmas Ham.
Third, toys give great joy to children.  Be sure to sponsor a child or give to an organization that finds toys for poor children.

Christ Had A Special Ministry For the Poor

Christ’s love for the poor was a large part of his ministry.  Many of his parables and deeds correlate with a message to care for the poor.  Christ’s first and foremost purpose was our spiritual salvation, but he also understood the need of our physical well being.
When he fed the thousands, he was concerned for the people’s hunger.  He had already satisfied their spiritual hunger with his words, but through an act of charity, he also satisfied their physical hunger by multiplying the bread and fish.  This miracle would later foreshadow the Last Supper where Christ gave us His Body and Blood to feed our spiritual hunger.
This Christmas, let us try to spread the message of the Incarnation to spiritually feed others but let us also physically feed the hungry and care for the poor via acts of charity.  Remember, when you do a charitable act for a least of your brethren, you do it for Christ.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Certification, please review the program

Mark Moran, MA

Legal Nurse Consulting and Radiology Malpractice Statistics

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Legal Nurse Consultants and Radiology Malpractice

The chance of a health care provider being sued is always high and realistic.  Legal nurse consultants can help in cases where there is legitimate case or even defend the health care provider if they feel the patient is in the wrong.  One such area is radiology.  Below is research on malpractice within radiology.

The article, “The demography of medical malpractice suits against radiologists.”, by Department of Radiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School states

“PURPOSE: To delimit demographic characteristics of malpractice claims against radiologists in the United States by sex and location and to note the varying percentages of favorable outcomes and award amounts to plaintiffs by state.”

To read the article click here

If you are interested in taking Legal Nurse Consulting Courses, please click here

AIHCP

Holistic Nurses Recommend Vitamin D Supplementation For Many Reasons

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Holistic Nursing and the Use of Vitamin D

In the cloudy days of winter, many people are denied the warm rays of the sun.  The clouds do not only rob people of warmth but also Vitamin D.  This vitamin is essential for better immune systems and energy.
Holistic nursing has always encouraged the importance of vitamin supplements.  This is because many diets lack certain vitamins that are critical to good health.  Vitamin D is no exception. John Phillip below writes about the benefits of Vitamin D and the even greater benefit of its anti-cancer attribtues.

John Phillip in NaturalNews.com, writes about the benefits of Vitamin D in his article, “Researchers Uncover Vital Details to Explain How Vitamin D Prevents Cancer”

“It is an undisputed, scientifically validated fact that vitamin D helps to  prevent many chronic conditions ranging from heart disease to diabetes, stroke  and dementia. Some of the most compelling work has shown that the prohormone can  cut the risk associated with certain forms of cancer by as much as 78 percent. “

To read the whole article, click here

If you are interested in holistic nurse training, please click here

AIHCP

The Wrong and Right Words During Grief

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Helping the Grieving Person

A grieving person needs emotional support.  The wrong words can be detrimental and counter productive to the person.  Below is a story about what to say and not say.

Gloria Horsley of the Huffington Post  lists many things to say and not say to a grieving person in her article, “What to Say (and Not to Say) to a Grieving Person”

“I was scheduled to be a guest on an early morning radio broadcast from Bakersfield, California. I am a family therapist, bereaved parent and president of Open To Hope, the world’s largest internet site with a mission of helping people find hope after loss.”

To read the entire article, please click here

If you are interested in learning more about helping grieving people, please click here 
A Grief counseling certification can help qualified professionals help others.  Please review our program.

AIHCP

Using Your Certification From AIHCP Properly

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

AIHCP Offers A Variety of Certifications

The American Institute of Health Care Professionals offers a variety of certifications for Health Care Professionals, Counselors, and people involved in ministry.  Our primary certification programs involve Grief Counseling, Case Management, Legal Nurse Consulting and a variety of other certifications involving counseling and the health field.   A certification is an excellent way to compliment an existing career, degree or licensure.

What Is A Certification

This is a common question and the basis for much confusion.  A certification is not a licensure issued by the state.  A licensure is a state regulated field, while a certification is open to any professional who fulfills the basic requirements of a particular organization.  Unlike licensures, certifications are not issued or regulated by the state but are issued by a professional and private organization.  The organization is usually comprised of a board of peer professionals who evaluate the courses and content of the program.  If the professional fulfills all prerequisites and passes the courses, then that person is entitled to the certification.  The certification merely states the person has completed the necessary requirements to be recognized by his or her peers as knowledgeable and worthy in the subject content.

As a Certified Professional, What Can I Do?

If you are not already licensed, you may find yourself as a unlicensed practitioner.  Sometimes, for instance, a grief counselor–certified–may also already be an LPC, but in some cases they are not.  This would be an example of a unlicensed practitioner in grief counseling.  Dr. Lawrence Wilson writes about certain legal guidelines that certified but unlicensed practitioners should adopt in their practices.
First, he lists a few words to avoid.  Avoid words such as cure, but instead use restore, help, alleviate, improve, balance or normalize.  Instead of treat, utilize the words handle, work with, relieve, or remedy.  Instead of diagnose, apply such words as assess, measure, check, or evaluate.  Instead of the word disease, say such words as problem or condition.  The key in this is to avoid words utilized by licensed practitioners.
Dr. Wilson also emphasizes never to misrepresent yourself.  It is very common, especially with grief counseling certifications, for people to assume they are being treated by an LPC.  Grief Counseling

as long as it remains non-pathological, can be reserved for certified professionals.  Be extremely cautious how you market yourself on your cards, stationaries, handouts, speech or website.  Be very clear you are certified and not licensed.  Also, avoid misleading people with your Masters or PhD.  Leave an asterisk that emphasizes you are not licensed.  Remember, if not licensed, advertising yourself with such words as law, medicine or psychology can incur possible issues with the state or your clients.
Dr. Wilson also emphasizes to behave professionally.  As certified professionals, one would conclude that this is inherent, but it is not always the case.  As licensed practitioners, certified practitioners are also called to high standards of professionalism.  Never speak unkindly or unprofessionally of other doctors and if your opinion differs, do not use words such as “wrong” but instead, use phrases such as “in my opinion, I disagree”.  It is also very dangerous to tell a patient to stop taking a particular medication that has been prescribed.  This can lead to liability if negative consequences follow.  Also, if insurance, local authorities, or other medical professionals seek information on particular individual, you need to react professionally and not feel you are being “tested”.  It is best to show respect and professionalism.
In regards to dealing with patients, it is important to remember you are never treating them.  You are offering them advice, but treatment is reserved for LPC or doctors.  Also, remember that somethings are out of your legal reach.  In this regard, building a good reputation with licensed practitioners is critical to work with them in the care of the person you are helping.
If you present yourself professionally, stay within your limits, and represent and advertise yourself honestly, then your service will flourish without much trouble, but the moment you attempt to treat diseases without the proper license, then trouble will find you.
I hope this little bit helps!  Please refer to Dr. Wilson’s short manual, ‘Legal Guidelines for Unlicensed Practitioners”.
If you are interested in any of AIHCP’s certifications, please review them.

AIHCP

Christian Counselor Education Training : Christmas Giving: St. Nicholas or the Richman?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counselor Education Training: Those to Give

Who will you emulate, not just during Christmas, but your entire life–the richman as found in the Gospel of Luke or St. Nicholas?  With the feast of St. Nicholas approaching and the happen chance reading of the passage in Luke about the richman, I found many interesting correlations for Christian Counseling.
Luke 18:18-27 tells the story of the richman who hoped to impress Christ with his adherence to the Law of Moses.  The richman had kept all the commandments and continued to press Christ on what made someone “good” or worthy to attain eternal salvation.  Christ quickly offered him the rhetorical question of what makes someone good?- And then very quickly reminded him that no one is good but God himself.  This did not pertain to Christ denying his divinity, but asserting that all goodness flows from God and any finite creation cannot attain salvation without that source of God.  Hence, in keeping the commandments, we are not earning heaven, as Pelagius would contend, but instead by the grace of our cooperation, being given the gift of salvation.
Christ, however, pushes the question further to the richman because he knew the man’s heart.  He told him to become closer to God, one must give up their possessions and give to the poor.  These corporal works of mercy greatly distressed the richman for he had much to lose.  His attachment to material things exposed his sin of greed.
Does this mean that Christ is against private ownership or personal possessions?  No, but it does emphasize the dangers of greed and materialism in our spiritual life.  If material things are more important than sharing, giving and eternal life then we have a serious obsession with finite things.  An obsession that could cost us our spiritual life.  This is why Christ firmly states, that it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than a richman to enter into heaven.  This was not a marxist class warfare statement, but an observation of those who hold to material things before their spiritual welfare.
In contrast to the richman, we see the kindness and giving of St. Nicholas.  The true and historical St. Nicholas was an Eastern Bishop of the early church.  His love and compassion for his fellow man was unequaled in his time.  He gave everything he had to his city and people.  His giving became so well known that history to this day associates him with the greatest gift, the Incarnation of Our Lord.
St. Nicholas understood the meaning of spiritual treasure.  He also followed the command of Christ to give to the poor and share one’s gifts.  Do we behave more like the richman or St. Nicholas?

If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review our Christian Counselor Education Training.

Mark Moran, MA