At this time of year, psychology doctoral students all over the country are starting the internship application process. And many are pondering if becoming a military psychologist is the right choice for them. I was once faced with the same decision, and after years of working for the military on active-duty and as a civilian, I am sharing some general advice on what is needed to work within this system.
As the world has struggled the past three years to navigate a pandemic, it has brought to the forefront the critical importance of self-care, especially for those in the helping environment. Thinking about self-care and resilience, it is often easiest to focus on the individual and to make them solely responsible for their well-being. Historically, we have been told to rest more, eat healthy, exercise, and meditate as ways of taking better care of ourselves. While all of these can have a positive impact on our overall well-being, it does not factor in the important role that workplaces can have in impacting, either positively or negatively, our well-being.
Mobile applications to support resilience-building have been an option for providers for more than a decade. But it can be difficult to know which apps best fit your client population and their goals. This blog summarizes and links three recent review articles that provide information about the functionality and effectiveness of resiliency-building apps for military-connected populations.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been hearing about “NOvember” campaigns such as “putting the ‘no’ in ‘November’” and “The NOvember Challenge.” There are a few different versions of the campaign, but essentially it is a call to say “no” to unhealthy/unenjoyable/non-enriching requests and habits. Although this call to action has been around for years, it’s suddenly become relevant to me
Recently we hosted a webinar titled “CDP Presents: Debunking Common Misperceptions about Sleep Interventions” that addressed how as behavioral health professionals we can critically evaluate the regular barrage of claims we hear about sleep “tips” and products. I say critically not necessarily in a pejorative sense – that is, as a disapproval although that may end up being the case – but rather in the sense of approaching claims with a consistent evaluative framework. This kind of approach allows us to compare claims against scientific knowledge and evidence.