Blog posts with the tag "Staff Perspective"

Staff Perspective: June is PTSD Awareness Month

By Christopher Adams  on 08.06.2016 10:40 am

In 2010, Congress designated the 27th of June as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day. This has now expanded to the month of June as a whole. Even though more of the public has become aware of PTSD in recent years, there is still much work to be done. Many people still have only a vague understanding of what PTSD is, its causes, symptoms and potential treatments.

Staff Perspective: Downrange Comedy – Humor in Deployed Settings

By Matthew Sacks  on 01.06.2016 12:23 pm
Matthew Sacks, Ph.D.

I’ve always loved comedy and gravitated towards individuals with humor and quick wit, whether in a friend, colleague, or comedian.  I find that comedy and humor can be base, but in other moments incredibly stimulating intellectually and even emotionally powerful.  Comedy can make connections between ideas and subjects that are seemingly unconnectable, it can short-circuit the brain into confusion and epiphany in a singular moment of time, dousing our brains with dopamine and contorting our bodies with intense laughter. 

Staff Perspective: May is Mental Health Awareness Month

By Christopher Adams  on 25.05.2016 1:51 pm

We’re heading to the end of May, but before we get there, we wanted to take the time to spotlight that this is Mental Health Awareness Month. With the increased societal awareness, the stigma around Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other behavioral health concerns has decreased, but it is certainly very much still in existence. Due to this, events like Mental Health Awareness Month are still very necessary to increase the knowledge of both the issues faced and the resources available to those in need.

Staff Perspective: Patients Recording Sessions – Anxiety All Around

By Debra Nofziger  on 18.05.2016 12:13 pm

Recent events where patients covertly recorded behavioral health sessions has brought these chronic concerns to the forefront for many providers. Providers seem conflicted about where they stand on patients secretly recording sessions. But advancements in technology have enhanced the anxiety as people can now splice recordings in ways that misrepresent what actually happened. For some, these  advancements lead to the belief that secret recording should be illegal. For others, it is yet another factor in their conflicted feelings and the struggle between patient and provider rights.

Staff Perspective: Should I be Teaching Veterans to Meditate? (Part Two)

By Andrew Santanello  on 11.05.2016 12:07 pm
Andrew Santanello, Psy.D.

Welcome back to part two of our discussion about mindfulness-based interventions. Last time, I shared some of my experiences of leading mindfulness groups for Veterans. I also introduced the concept of a Zen koan as a way of approaching the question, “should I be teaching Veterans to meditate?” In the second part of this blog, I will discuss some additional considerations you might want to make when deciding if you should offer mindfulness to your clients. Before we launch into that, did you do your homework? Have you spent some time sitting with your koan since the last blog? If so, feel free to write any questions or considerations that came up during your practice in the comments section.

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