Author: Dominick Flarey

Grief Counseling Can Help

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Grief Counseling Can Help

The death of a child is the greatest pain a parent, can experience in their life. This excruciating loss is amplified because it is unnatural. The natural process is to watch one’s children grow into adulthood and eventually pass away leaving them secure and prepared for the world. The death of a child or adult son or daughter goes against all that is natural.  Grief counseling hopes to help those who lose a child or children. Grief counseling hopes to guide the parents through these difficult times and prevent complicated forms of grief from developing. The American Academy of Grief Counseling (AAGC) offers courses in grief counseling that can prepare counselors to help parents who lose their children or anyone experiencing grief. If you are qualified, you could become a grief counselor. Simply by taking the required courses, you could become eligible to become certified in bereavement counseling. If you are interested, you should review the grief program at AAGC and see if it correlates with your professional aspirations.
For the more information about grief counseling certificates please visit our webpage

Health Care Coaches Suggest More Calcium.

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Health Care Coaches Suggest More Calcium.

A glass of milk being poured
Health Care Coaches also say that milk does a body good!

Calcium is the most plentiful mineral in the body. Ninety-nine percent of it can be found in our bones and teeth. Foods that are high in calcium include milk, yogurt, cheddar cheese, ice cream, salmon and oysters. Adequate levels of vitamin D are required for calcium to adequately absorbed in the body. If you have a vitamin D deficiency then you may well have a calcium deficiency too. Health Care Coaches believe that if you are on a high protein diet over long periods of time this can have a detrimental effect on your body’s ability to absorb calcium and also causes an increase in urine excretion. Adults need about 1000 milligrams of this important mineral a day. If you are not eating foods high in calcium, then you need to consider taking calcium supplements. They can easily be found at most health food stores and pharmacies. The most common disorder of a deficiency of this mineral is osteoporosis. This condition is a thinning of the bones due to the loss of calcium. When calcium levels in the blood decrease, the bones release it back into the blood system so calcium can be available for other body functions such as muscle contraction of the heart. To learn more about calcium seek out a qualified health care coach.
For more health coaching information please visit our site.

Christian Faith Overcomes Grief and Suffering

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Faith and Suffering

Sick faith demands during prayer, while a healthy faith understands that God’s will overcomes all our wants and desires.  Even at the price of ill health, one must submit one’s will to God.  While atheists or agnostics may mock this and question one’s faith in God over such ills, the Christian remains faithful as Job, or as accepting as Jesus and Mary as they sacrificed their family life for the sake of the world.  The story below emphasizes how Christian Faith faces suffering and grief.

From CNN Health, Elizabeth Cohen talks about the faith of a family enduring a grief sticken event of their daughter and her fight for surival in “Family Encounters Flesh-Eating Bacetia With Faith”

“In the four weeks since his daughter cut her leg in the Tallapoosa River, Andy Copeland has experienced several low points. But nothing was as desperate as a moment in the surgical waiting room on May 4.”

To read the whole article, click here

The beauty of one’s Christian faith over suffering and grief is inspiring to everyone and can become a beacon of light for those who are loss in the darkness of despair.
If you are interested in courses in Christian Grief Counseling, please review the program and click here.
If you would like to learn how to become a certified Christian Grief Counselor, then please review.

Mark Moran, MA, GC-C, SCC-C

Nursing Case Management and the Utilization Review Role

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The Many Duties Under Case Management

Case management is the process of matching the resources available to the needs of the individual patient in such a manner to enhance the quality of patient management and patient satisfaction. Nursing Case Management  has held a relatively low-profile position in the field of health care till the latter half of the 20th century. The cost effectiveness and continuity of patient care is increased through utilization review and discharge planning. Case management nurses form an important part of the healthcare team.
Nursing Case Management ensures that a patient receives the most effective health services by being in touch and communicating with the patient, the doctor, the health care providers, and the other allied health care services such as insurance. The duties of a case management nurse include the following: They act as care coordinators between the doctors, therapists, dieticians, specialists, etc., and develop an effective working relationship. They record the symptoms, perform the diagnostic tests, and collect all details about the vital signs of the patient. Promote the efficient and effective utilization of clinical resources. They constantly communicate with the doctors and insurance companies. Ensures adequate care for the patient during the hospital stay and facilitates timely discharge. Conducts review for appropriate utilization of resources and services from the instance of admission of the patient through discharge. Makes sure that the patient does not get more than necessary care. Facilitates a relationship between the family and the patient to enable them to take informed decisions.
Case management nurses are RN’s who have undergone specialized training or have completed certificate programs in case management. On completion of the program the certificate is issued if the candidate has a current valid RN license, has an experience of two years as a full-time RN, and has worked for 2000 hours as a case management nurse in the last three years. Though the additional training is not always compulsory, jobs in specialized health care settings do require the specialty training.
Skills required to be a successful case management nurse include all skills required of a medical job, communication skills, the ability to respond quickly to medical emergencies. The case management nurse is expected to gain knowledge about diagnosis related group codes (DRGs), develop critical thinking, be observant and keen and improve the ability to analyze. Certified case managers are always paid a higher salary than other nursing professionals. A case management nurse earns an average salary between $55000 and $75000.

The job of a case management nurse is much in demand as hospital stays of patients are becoming much shorter. Role of a Utilization Review Nurse A utilization review nurse reviews individual medical cases to ensure that they are getting the most effective care. Such utilization review nurses work for the hospitals and sometimes for insurance companies in an advisory capacity and decide whether specific care for the patient is to be approved or not. They balance the needs of the patient to make the entire episode of care to be one that is cost effective, enforce policies and are instrumental in providing care that is suited to the needs of the individual patient. Working as a utilization nurse may involve situations when the cost issues have to be weighed against the obligation of providing care to the patient. They may have to approve or deny a specific method of treatment, a diagnostic test or a medication to the patient as per organizational guidelines. Utilization review nurses review requests pertaining to hospitalization of patients, medical imaging tests, recommended medical procedures and also whether the cases meet the standards for reimbursement of claims by the insurance companies. They ensure that patient care stays at specific levels and make adjustments in case of changes that may occur.
A utilization review nurse must be a qualified RN, at the baccalaureate level, and must have some minimum experience in the field of case management nursing. The skills associated with this job includes the ability to work under stress, be able to work independently without supervision, keen observation and attention to detail, be able to work with large amounts of data, ability to analyze and decisiveness. Utilization review nurses earn an average salary of $75000 per annum, a pay that is higher than what most RN’s earn.
If you are interested in Case Management Certification, please review the program.

Christian Counseling: Living for Christ Now, Not Later

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Counselors Need to Encourage Youthful Commitment to Christ

How many of us find the race of life to be like the tortoise and the hare where like the hare we run across the track doing what we want except running the race correctly?  There is always tomorrow, or later, to win the race.   Christian Counselors need to encourage youthful comittment to Christ!

 

This mentality exists today.  Instead of turning one’s life over to God at a young age, people wish to experience life first then love God.  They joke that one day, they will be the old lady in Church, praying for her past sins.  Why though?  Why not live one’s entire life for Christ and gain more spiritual merit?  Also, why be caught off guard? What if we death come

s sooner and we still have not lived the life we needed to?

In the artclie below from Crosswalk.com, Whitney Hopler writes about dying young for Christ in “Die Young to Live For Jesus Now”.  This editorial is actually a report on the book, “Die Young: Burying Yourself In Christ” by Hayley and Michael Dimarco.  Below is the article.

“When someone dies young, people often view it as a tragedy – a life cut short, with wasted potential. Premature physical death can indeed be tragic. But there’s another kind of death that’s a blessing, especially when people are young: death to self.”

To read the entire article, click here

Christian Counselors need to emphasize an importance to their spiritual children, the importance of living now for Christ and not later.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses for Certification, please review the program and click here.
Also if you would like to learn how to become a Christian Counselor, this site will help guide you.

Adolescent and Child Grief Program

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Children Express Grief Over Fallen Family

Children from the Virginia area where able to meet in a large meeting and ceremony to consolidate their grief in one group in Washington D.C.  The program is for children who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan and allows the children to express grief together over their loss.

SFGATE writes about this in “Good Grief Camp 2012”

“At least 500 children who have lost loved ones in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars  attended the annual four-day “Good Grief Camp” in Arlington, VA and Washington,  DC.”

To read more, click here

The expression of grief by children is key to their recovery and being able to share this with other children was especially beneficial.
If you are interested in the Adolescent and Child Grief Program, please click here.

Hypnotherapy and OCD

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Can Hypnotherapy Help OCD

Many people suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. The rituals and compulsions to do something repetitively drive these people to near insanity. Some experience rituals regarding cleanliness, while others experience self doubt whether something was accomplished or not. Some worry about completing tasks to the point of having no choice but to complete them or be haunted for the remainder of the day. The loud noise and echo of compulsion and rechecking push these people to seek help, especially in times of stress when the symptoms increase. While there is no cure for OCD, medication, counseling and hypnotherapy can help alleviate some of the symptoms and help the person operate and survive the day. The American College of Hypnotherapy can train qualified candidates to help people with OCD via hypno-training. By taking the required five core courses, a qualified individual can become certified in Clinical Hypnotherapy. With this training, one can help silence the echoes and torments of OCD via hypnosis

Patient Teaching: the New Imperative

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Patient Teaching and Health Care Professionals

It is the primary role of health care workers to inform and teach all of their patients. Patient teaching runs the gamut from primary care issues such as diet therapy, medication instructions, wound care, prescribed exercise and other issues of physical activities. The teaching role also focuses on informing the patient about their disease condition and recognizing signs and symptoms of any deterioration in their health status. It is well known that the cause of many patient’s return to a hospital is that the patient did not receive adequate teaching and care instructions before being discharged from a hospital stay. Readmissions drive up health care costs and often could have been prevented. A good patient teaching program in which teaching occurs at the bedside, is very important and health care organizations must insure these programs are in place. Of all health care professionals the nurse has always assumed the role of the patient’s primary teaching. Today, other health care professionals such as pharmacists are also coming to the bedside and teaching patients directly. This team approach helps insure that patients are learning all that they can to be compliant with their treatment plans and prevent relapses in their condition from occurring.

Grief Counseling and Issues of Attachment

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Grief and Attachment

A lot of literature about grief is overwhelmingly death orientated. This is a good thing in that death is a universal experience but it is not an everyday thing. True, the loss of a loved one permeates one’s daily life long after the event, but the actual event is singular and for the more fortunate, not nearly as regular. The reality is most people go to counseling for relationship loss.  Grief counselors deal with many people who are devastated by divorce, a cheating spouse, a broken engagement, or the sudden change of not having that person to call, hold, or spend time with. These aspects are very common to the human experience. With proper guidance, the wounds become scars and help one grow emotionally and sometimes spiritually.

The loneliness and the un-needed anxiety people experience in finding a mate can be stressful enough for some, but when one truly believes they found the one, only to be shocked that everything was an illusion can be a horrifying change. Changes in life style from the tiniest schedule can shake the foundation of that person’s life. Even the smallest scent or image can bring a tidal wave of emotional imagery. Unfortunately there are no short cuts in this adaptation period. As so many grief specialists emphasize, one must do their “grief work”. They must experience the change the emotional pain that accompanies it. Of course, as death, there is the acceptance stage, the emotional stage of anger and mourning, and the final adaptation to the new situation.
A good grief counselor will guide the broken person through these phases and encourage emotional release in the healing process. Only after these initial steps, can the person utilize new meaning concepts to a new reality and properly place the lost relationship in its proper perspective of his or her life story.  The question arises why does this adaptation take so long for some people? It all varies based upon the level of attachment.  Attachment theory is a theory that was used in great depth with widows or widowers in their loss of a spouse. The same can be applied to broken relationships that do not involve death, but separation. The attachment will determine the length of the adaptation to the person. So, if someone was in a relationship for many years and suddenly the relationship ceased, one should expect a greater withdrawal and more intense and lengthy adaptation period. The opposite can be said for a short two month affair where there is little attachment and hence less adaptation.
As a grief counselor, it is important not to only deal with death but also every day pains of the heart. Proper understanding of attachment can help one assess the situation and lay a ground work for eventually adaptation and assimilation of the past into the person’s present. One can never give a time frame for recovery, but with a special guidance, a grief counselor can help a person understand the phases and steps and help them take the necessary steps for a happy future with someone else.  You can learn more about grief counseling, including available grief counseling courses and online study and training programs by doing an internet search for the American Academy of Grief Counseling.
Mark Moran, MA, GC-C, SCC-C

Biblical Counseling Certification: How to Counsel Anger

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Biblical Counseling Certification: Counseling Anger

The emotion of anger is a double edged sword that encompasses righteousness but also evil. It can be a just reaction to evil, or serve evil in its retribution. With such a complex nature, it is important for the Christian Counselor to understand the nature of anger and also understand the basics of anger management in counseling. This is essential to Christian counseling skills.
 Since anger is such a broad and diverse emotion based upon numerous subjective and circumstantial elements, it is hard to classify when the emotion is just and when the emotion, while natural, should be curbed. Adding to the confusion is the simple fact that even when the anger is a just reaction, it nevertheless should be channeled elsewhere due to societal laws regarding retribution and revenge. With these elements, as well as the level of intensity and the individual’s mental state, it is very difficult to ascertain when an outburst can lead to violence. It is for this reason that human anger, although in some cases justified, should be channeled into good causes where no harm can be applied to the other agent.  
While the nature of anger is subjective and diverse, one can objectify a few elements of it. There are many ways anger is manifested or dealt with. In some anger is held back, in others anger it is denied, while others actively or passively direct and express their frustration. Still others face it directly instead of hiding it, while others channel their anger into other beneficial and positive endeavors. In addition to these manifestations, anger can also be classified into various categories. Terms such passive aggression, sudden anger, deliberate anger, habitual anger, depressive anger, moral anger and hatred are some examples of how anger is psychologically analyzed. In the end, as a counselor, one must realize anger can become a vice in the moral fabric of an individual and like all vices must be dealt with by prayer and good habits.

Anger as an unhealthy expression can prevented through a variety of biblical based teachings, prayers and meditations used in anger management. The virtues of patience, long suffering, forgiveness, and charity should be instilled to replace the vice of anger. In addition to religious reframing and virtue building, basic Christian counseling advice can be extremely beneficial. Teaching clients to avoid occasions of anger and to help re-evaluate their situations are helpful tools. In addition to this, teaching clients to channel their anger elsewhere, teaching self control techniques and helping them build a healthy self concept are also helpful tools when counseling someone. Perhaps the most important tool is to dig at the problem’s source. Helping a client to admit his or her anger and identify it is critical to overcoming the vice. Sometimes when a person is forced to face his or her anger and learn to express it in healthy and appropriate ways, it becomes less over bearing and less a dominant force in the person’s life.  n conclusion, anger while sometimes justified is still a negative emotion that can cause spiritual mental and physical distress. It needs to be faced, controlled and channeled properly. Through good Christian counseling, biblical principles, prayer, virtue, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, it can be controlled and give the person the peace he or she so desperately needs in his or her spiritual life.
If you would like to learn more about a biblical counseling certification, then please review the program.  A Biblical counseling certification deals with such issues as anger and how to help people find peace.

Mark Moran, MA, GC-C, SCC-C