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Asking For Help: Myths & Facts

harnessg — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 21:01:53 +0000

Asking For Help: Myths & Facts

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 12/10/2021 - 15:01 RSS:

Work/LIfe Connections

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Ted Rice, Clinical Counselor at the Vanderbilt work/Life Connections-EAP, highlights the fears and the positive reasons about engaging in a psychotherapy relationship.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections.

My guest today is my colleague, Ted Rice, who is a clinical counselor at the Vanderbilt Work/Life Connections Employee Assistance Program. Ted completed his master’s in education and human development counseling right here at Vanderbilt.

You know, the decision to seek out therapy can be wrought with fear, ambivalence, and shame. You may be struggling with some issue, or you might want to improve your own mental state and while popular culture affirms the merits of wellness too often mental health is still stigmatized making the decision to enter therapy even more difficult. If you are considering therapy or if you are about to have your own first therapy session, you might be nervous, skeptical, or downright frightened about starting. Many of these fears may have led you to have some unrealistic ideas about the therapy relationship. So, Ted, would you talk about some of the myths surrounding therapy?

Ted Rice: Rosemary, thanks for having me on today. You know, as you stated, seeking help, clinical assistance, can be exceedingly difficult. I think one of the key myths when we consider counseling is this idea of, I must have failed taking care of my own issues myself, and I always explained to clients that asking for help, it really is not a sign of failure, but it truly is a tangible expression of one's courage. The truth and the fact is that we all have what I call blind spots about ourselves and the world in which we live. The therapy that we enter provides us the opportunity to examine not only our interior lives, our relationship with ourselves, but the world in which we live, so again, therapy provides, really, the opportunity to gain insight into these blind spots, education and skills to make the adjustments we need to get unstuck and move forward in life with improved confidence, empowerment and the opportunity to meet our clinical goals that will be formulated as we continue in the counseling process.

Rosemary Cope: The therapy relationships, what we have been talking about to some degree, it is unlike any other that we are going to have. You, as the client, will spend time with someone who is initially a stranger talking about some of your more hurtful or distressing situations. You will know little or nothing about your therapist's private life, and they will know everything about yours. Ted, can you also share with our listeners some of the facts about the effectiveness of therapy?

Ted Rice: Definitely. Therapy real simply said, I think it is one of the kindest, most gentleness gifts we can give ourselves. I say that with every client that comes in. People are so concerned, will this work, will it help, and it always does. Having the opportunity, a safe place, to look at our pattern of our issues and to sit with another professional to begin to share what is hurting, to begin to share what we have considered, to begin to examine and share that which we do not have a knowledge of when we enter into care. Frankly, therapy, it is effective. It gives our clients opportunity to, what I call, uncover the source of our problems, then to discover the connection between the past and our current lives, and gives us really opportunity to self-correct and, frankly, feel better Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Ted, one of the things you said I loved, and that was about therapy being gift, a kind gift to ourselves. That is wonderful. Because I know, it is not always an easy process for somebody to go through and someone might feel worse before they feel better. How would someone know if it is working and if their therapist is a good fit for them?

Ted Rice: Great questions. Is it working, right? The first question that you asked, is it working? It is hard initially. What I have noticed over the years in a counseling process and our clients notice that often times other people see the changes happening to ourselves before we see them. So, I encourage folks to ask for feedback. I know here at Work/Life Connections EAP we use some pretty sophisticated rating scales when folks come in, we use a Burn's Depression and anxiety inventories so we can actually see objectively the severity of the hurt and pain a person has, and then in the counseling process, we can go back in a month, two months and we can retest, and then there becomes a tangible difference. It is evident that the therapy is working. Besides scales, really Rosemary feedback from others is critical to know if our counseling is working. We can seek feedback from our medical providers, from our families, our friends, our colleagues, and we can get that feedback from our counselors as well. I think some simple questions to ask is counseling working, ask yourself these questions: Am I experiencing hope? Do I feel optimism? Do I feel unstuck? I kind of just feel like myself again. Are the skills that I am working on and learning from my counselor, are they helping to address my specific issues or problems? The other part of your question, goodness of fit, is real tricky because I think often times clients will stay stuck in therapy, sometimes because of their own stuff that is going on and their inability to connect with the therapist. Yet, other times, it really is an ineffective relationship between the counselor and the client and if that is the fact then it is really important to bring it up into therapy and talk with your provider about this so that things can be resolved so that if it is my stuff that is blocking the relationship let's talk about it. If it actually is exterior and has to do with a lack of connection, then simply ask your counselor or therapist for a referral. We really will not take it personal, so I encourage you to use your voice and ask for what you need.

Rosemary Cope: Ted, thank you for sharing your insights about this. I think, based on your own personal experiences of being a counselor for all these years, these are great insights and good advice for somebody who is considering or is about to start therapy and for our listeners, if you would like to get a taste of that or you have something that you would like to initially start with, please contact us at the Work/Life Connections Employee Assistance Program and we would be happy to talk to you about any and all of your concerns.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, use the Contact Us page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness. 

Tags

Counseling, Mental Health, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

New Kid In Town

harnessg — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 19:49:59 +0000

New Kid In Town

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 06/18/2021 - 14:49 RSS:

Work/LIfe Connections

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Rosemary Cope, an WLC/EAP counselor, talks about adjusting to a new job and a new city for the many employees who move to Nashville.

VU Employee Affinity Groups

VUMC Employee Resource Groups

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections.

Nashville remains a very popular city to visit and to relocate to. Many Vanderbilt employees are new to the university or medical center as well as to the city. My colleagues and I hear all the time about difficulties making the transition, especially if you are single, and it is in the middle of a pandemic. In the best of times, moving is stressful and exhausting. Under pandemic conditions, the transition to a new home can be deeply disorienting and isolating.

Research has linked social isolation and loneliness to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental conditions; high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression just to name a few. On the other end, people who engage in meaningful productive interactions and activities with others, they tend to live longer than their counterparts. They show elevated mood levels and feel a sense of purpose. As hard as it may be to meet new people during this pandemic, Miriam Kirmayer, a clinical psychologist, and friendship expert, points out there is an upside to looking for friends right now. Lots of people are feeling lonely. People are more open about the experience of loneliness and more aware and open about their desire to make new connections, she said. This could be a time to put ourselves out there and be transparent about our desire to make new connections. It is even harder to explore a new city.

In Nashville with music themes, music venues, shops, restaurants closed or offering limited hours, you may have not found any of those favorite spots that make a place feel like home. Nashville is a beautiful city. You can go by the river. You can walk the greenways, enjoy the lakes or the parks, but aside from the grocery store, one employee related that she has yet to create any rituals. Where are the cool places? If I ever have a friend visit, where would I take them? I don't know she mused. Here are some suggestions to find connections as you make the transition to Nashville and Vanderbilt life.

Say yes to everything. You will probably want a few of the following life essentials in your new city; some friends, a BFF, maybe a romantic partner and a job of course. You will not find these by sitting at home, ordering take out and watching Netflix. Get out there. Go to everything people invite you to. Joint local Facebook groups in your new community and engage in the forums. Be a tourist in your new hometown. Remind yourself, you are on a mission to find these life essentials.

Ask to be setup on friend dates or date dates. Welcome to the way grownups make friends. Ask your friends in your old city if they know anybody in the new city. Ask your family if they know anybody who might be a nice pal for you. Scour Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever other social media you are on to find out who from your network lives in town. You might be surprised at what you find. Look for friends on apps like Bumble BFF but watch screen time as it can also be isolating.

Join organized groups from nonprofit volunteering to kickball leagues. Even if you do not consider yourself a joiner, joining something is a way to meet new people. Look for hiking, cycling, or jogging meetups or start with a hobby or a faith-based community and find a group to sign up for. There are also employee resource and affinity groups on campus to join the like-minded people. Even better find something find something you have never done before, but have been interested in. Being a beginner is a great way to connect with other people who are also beginning. You feel awkward. They feel awkward. Bingo. Maybe a new friend.

For your first six months, think about staying somewhere comfortable. You are in a new city. So, it is all strange and unfamiliar. You do not know where CVS or the grocery store is or who your best pal will be. You do not know the good neighborhoods from the okay neighborhoods. You do not know the secret side streets to cut around traffic, which we all need these days. You do not know the cool bars, the cool restaurants, or where the best farmer's market is. So, instead of adding to the stress, I encourage you to consider staying somewhere comfortable for your first chunk of time while you get used to your surroundings. Wherever you land, make sure you make it feel like home. Unpack those boxes. Put the things up on the wall. Surround yourself with things that are comforting to you.

Give yourself a year to acclimate. Any time you start thinking, OMG this was a huge mistake. I was so stupid for thinking this was a good idea or I am never going to like living here and I am going to die alone and trust me, it will happen. Remind yourself that things are still in transition, moving is hard and you’re giving yourself until you have a year under your belt before making any overarching judgements on the move. Don't forget about your friends and your network from your former city. You have it easier. You left. I have always believed that the mover has it easier than the person left behind. You are out exploring a new city. You are having new adventures. You are learning new things. Your old pals are in their same routine and probably missing you. Don't forget about them. Try to keep in touch. Go back if you can and visit from time to time. Yes, it will be hard. You are not sharing all their day-to-day adventures and even a small-time difference can be awkward, but soon enough things may be able to fall into place.

Finally, do not be hard on yourself. But if you continue to feel overwhelmed, consider calling the Work/Life Connections EAP to talk confidentially with a counselor about your concerns.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.  

Tags

Change, Counseling, Mental Health, Resilience, Social Connections, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

#MeToo in the Workplace

harnessg — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:18:19 +0000

#MeToo in the Workplace

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 04/16/2021 - 14:18 RSS:

Work/LIfe Connections

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Heather Kamper from the VUMC SHARE Center talks about workplace misconduct and the reactions people have about it.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with WorkLife Connections. Our guest today is Heather Kamper. A graduate of the University of Pittsburg, Heather is the new coordinator for the SHARE Center and is also a clinical counselor with our Employee Assistance Program. April is sexual assault awareness month. So, we thought we would look at concerns about sexual harassment in the workplace. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission an estimated 75% of individuals who get harassed at work do not file a complaint. The reasons are varied and complicated. According to research firm Gartner about 60% of all misconduct observed in the workplace is never reported. In the age of Me Too, it is helpful to look at the bigger picture. Heather, would you give a brief definition of workplace misconduct so that we all know what the issue is?

Heather Kamper: Sure, Rosemary. First, I want to say thanks so much for having me here and more importantly for bringing light to the shadow by dedicating your Wellcast to sexual harassment today. According to the Human Resources Department here at VUMC, sexual harassment is defined very specifically as unwelcomed conduct of a sexual nature, unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and any other verbal or nonverbal conduct that is of a sexual nature. You can think of it in broader categories such as physical sexual harassment, verbal sexual harassment, and nonverbal sexual harassment. VUMC also has a clearly stated zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment. I feel particularly empowered as a VUMC staff by this policy summary statement from human resources that says, our sexual harassment policy is to have a culture at VUMC where employees clearly define, prevent, and stop sexual harassment. We will not tolerate sexual harassment in our workplace. Our culture is based on mutual respect. That is a powerful statement from our leaders and employer, Rosemary. We are living and working in exciting times.

Rosemary Cope: I agree, Heather. I can think of all kinds of reasons people might not want to talk about this topic. Would you enlighten us on why people stay silent?

Heather Kamper: Many people fear retaliation by the abuser or other witnesses in the workplace. Of course, the fear of not being believed is an experience shared by many. Many survivors talk about the role that shame and even self-blame play in staying silent. Lack of access to supports such as friends or family that could encourage the survivor to speak out often worsens the isolation present in sexual harassment. Another factor that can sometimes create additional barriers to disclosure is the power hierarchy that exists in society and within our own VUMC which is closely linked to fear of retaliation and not being believed.

Rosemary Cope: I also know there are people who do tell about their experiences. How is that beneficial to the person who does that?

Heather Kamper: Powerful things can happen when we start to tell the story, Rosemary. Many survivors have reported that they began the healing process when they first spoke up whether to a friend or supervisor or a confidential support like a therapist. People who live through sexual harassment also indicate that it was at the moment they spoke out that they began to take their power back, if you will, from the person intimidating or causing them harm. They began to own their rightful place in the workplace and the world again. Survivors may report that they speak out so that they can benefit from resources and access support systems, which we know exists here at VUMC and at VU. Some survivors report that they disclose to get feedback and ideas and the opportunity to know more about options for next steps. I have always been particularly moved when a client tells me they reported, and they are speaking out to help protect others from experiencing the same form of harassment and abuse that they have experienced. Finally, one significant reason why people speak out is to reduce the emotional, psychological, and often physical toll that holding the experience has had.

Rosemary Cope: So, if someone wants to take back that power that you talked about, Heather, and they would like to speak confidentially about this, how do they reach out to you?

Heather Kamper: For any staff person at VUMC, our newest program in Health and Wellness is available for those who have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment and needs support. It is called the SHARE Center and we have only recently celebrated our first birthday. SHARE stands for sexual harassment, awareness, response, and education. SHARE has been regularly participating in ongoing efforts at VUMC to ensure equity, safety, and respect across the enterprise through individual counseling and departmental consultations and even educational presentations. We serve a unique role in the VUMC system and as a result we are able to ensure that information about sexual harassment shared with me or any other staff person in a counseling session within SHARE will be held as confidential. We are here to be patient, knowledgeable, empowering and understanding listeners. If you would like to contact the SHARE Center, VUMC staff, faculty or Allied Health professionals can give us a call at the Work/Life Connections-EAP phone line at 615-936-1327 and let our staff know that you would like to make an appointment with a SHARE provider. The SHARE Center is located in the basement of the Medical Arts Building in Suite 010. We are open from Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you need more information, you can look at the SHARE Center's website at VUMC.org/health-wellness/SHARE-Center. Thanks, Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you, Heather, for enlightening us about this important center and giving out great information to all of our employees here at Vanderbilt.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the Contact Us page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Counseling, Mental Health, Personal Safety, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

Finding Joy in Hard Times

harnessg — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 12:57:40 +0000

Finding Joy in Hard Times

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 10/16/2020 - 07:57 RSS:

Work/Life Connections

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An exploration of practicing joy in our lives, even when circumstances are difficult.

The Happiness Trap - Free Resources

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Mary Clare Champion. Mary Clare is a Clinical Psychologist at the Vanderbilt University Counseling Center. Thanks for joining us today, Mary Clare.
Dr. Mary Clare Champion: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Rosemary Cope: Absolutely. You know, listeners, I don't know about you, but I sure could use some more joy these days. In these trying times, one can easily lose sight of joy, hope and happiness, and when the world feels like it is spiraling out of control, and all semblance of normalcy seems to be lost, holding on to positive feelings can feel like an overwhelming task. But things don't have to be ultimately, insanely terrible for you to feel this way. Any kind of challenging time can make you feel down and blue, resulting in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mood-related issues. You can become unproductive, feel demotivated or just lose your spark. Why does this happen and what can you do to fix it? Do you ever notice that some folks always seem to have their chins up, even on the worst of days? It's a valuable trait and it's also one that most people learn with time as a skill. And if you are interested in learning how to do this, it's all about changing your mindset and keeping healthy habits. Mary Clare, what is your definition of joy and is it different than happiness?

Dr. Mary Clare Champion: So, joy, I think, is absolutely different than happiness. We have, unfortunately, come to expect happiness as a chronic, set place that we feel happy in a general way all the time, kind of crowding out the possibility to feel other things, and that's just really not realistic in a long-term way. And so, happiness ... I think about happiness as being almost a place to be and a place where we expect ourselves to be, or a way to be, versus joy, being something that we can find a way to experience or be able to identify in some way. And so, while we might not be particularly happy, we can still find ways to experience and notice and identify joy.

Rosemary Cope: Would I be correct in saying that sometimes happiness is dependent upon things that are going on around us, but joy is something that we can carry with us regardless?

Dr. Mary Clare Champion: Yes, absolutely. And so, we might have external factors that we're looking for to support a sense of happiness, and some of those external factors might be totally beyond our control. And so, in an unfortunate and potentially unintentional way, we limit our ability to have that sense of feeling happy, noticing that happiness really isn't our baseline state. To expect ourselves to be happy all the time or to have happiness as an expected baseline way of being really isn't all that realistic, versus joy is something that we do have more ability to control or name or locate or produce for ourselves in some way.

Rosemary Cope: Makes perfect sense. And there is research done by psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson, among others, that suggests that feeling joy during a stressful time actually challenges the negative cardiovascular effects of stress on the body, and that people who experience positive emotions amid adversity, they cope better and they are more resilient in the face of future problems, but we know we can't be happy all the time. Sometimes, joy just goes missing. We're human, after all, but we're wise enough to understand that we rarely have a perfect balance of well-being in all aspects of our life, and sometimes, the scales tip in a way that just makes reclaiming our joy difficult. So, Mary Clare, can you tell us what you would suggest for people to consider doing to offset the stress of our daily lives, and how do we reclaim that joy? And are there resiliency practices that we could use when things seem to be difficult?

Dr. Mary Clare Champion: Sure! I think it's, in some ways, it's a very personalized process. So, what I might encourage someone to do is really think about for themselves - where have they noticed joy before? What are the things that bring them joy, the people that bring them comfort, the activities that bring them joy, because if I necessarily listed the things that were pertinent or relevant to me, they might not be relevant to everybody else. And so, one of the things that I also, which this might sound a little bit counterintuitive, but to be able to notice joy, to actually allow yourself space to identify the range of emotion. I always call upon one of the last scenes of the Pixar masterpiece, Inside Out, where all of, you know, so much of the movie is based around joy, Amy Poehler, trying to avoid and crowd out these other emotions that are potentially difficult or not as pleasant, and, at the end of the movie, when they actually roll back one of the memories that had been kind of colored yellow for joy, when they roll back the memory, they notice that it started blue. They notice that it started with sadness. And when that character, when Riley allowed herself to experience the sadness, there were people that came to her and comforted her, and that comfort brought joy, and all of the sudden, the memories swirled. And so, to think about these emotions as being really isolated, siloed kind of experiences, I think, would be a misunderstanding. But in terms of finding joy, I think it has to be, or it can work to be a practice that you actually do practice, that you are conscious about trying to identify something in your day that brought you joy, whatever it might be. It can be very simple things. I could be keeping a gratitude journal. And so, these could be from large events or bigger events or small things that we make, just make the effort to notice. Does it mean that we are going to ignore the things that are going on that are difficult or challenging? Absolutely not.

Rosemary Cope: I love the Inside Out. That's such a great movie and it tells us a lot about our own emotions, and I don't care how old you are, it is relevant.

Dr. Mary Clare Champion: It is absolutely a movie for adults masquerading in a cartoon.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely. So, thanks for bringing that up. I think that's a great resource for our listeners also. And, you know, the good news is that joy isn't an all-or-nothing gift, and we don't just have to wait for it to return when it goes into hiding, and even when life is bleak, we can reclaim our joy in small pieces and get back to a sense of contentment. So, if you'd like more information about increasing your well-being or to speak confidentially with an EAP counselor, please contact us at (615) 936-1327, and Mary Clare, thank you for sharing some of your own insights about joy.

Dr. Mary Clare Champion: My pleasure. Thank you.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness

Tags

Change, Mental Health, Resilience, Stress, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

Coping with COVID for Healthcare Workers

harnessg — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Coping with COVID for Healthcare Workers

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 09/18/2020 - 01:00 RSS:

Work/Life Connections

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Healthcare workers have the task of being with COVID patients in their last minutes of life. Chaplain, Sherry Perry, talks about the challenges and encourages our staff as they offer their expertise and care.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Sherry Perry. Sherry is the staff Chaplain at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who will be helping us to explore how our hospital staff are emotionally impacted by the pandemic. There was a patient, a 75-year-old man, who was dying in his local hospital. No family members were allowed in the room with him, only one female nurse. He was not even Ryan's patient, but everyone else was slammed. So, Ryan wore full protective gear, dimmed the lights, turned on soothing music, freshened his pillows, held his hand, spoke softly to him and held an iPad close to him so that he could hear the voice of a grief-stricken family relative over Skype. After he died, Ryan wept in a hallway. A few days later, he privately messaged Dr. Heather Farley, who directs a comprehensive staff support program at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. "I'm not the kind of nurse that can act like I'm fine, and that something sad didn't just happen," he wrote. Another nurse reported that she has nightmares that, "I won't have my PPE. I worry about my patients, my co-workers, my family, myself. I can't turn my brain off." The COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented anxiety and stress for all of us and its unique circumstances make coping difficult. For healthcare workers immersed in the fight against coronavirus, the burdens are incredible, fearing for their personal safety, stress and increased demands, and the pain of witnessing lives taken too soon. Sherry, in your role as a Chaplain, what have you observed about how Vanderbilt members are dealing with the emotional strain of their jobs? What sort of things would you encourage them to do?

Chaplain Sherry Perry: Well, Rosemary, what powerful stories you highlighted here. All of these stories resonate with Vanderbilt staff members here as well because we have experienced very similar ones and there have been moments just like these here over the past months of this pandemic. There have been moments of tears, of tenderness, moments of intense feelings. You know, this pandemic has upended our sense of normalcy and we have been stretched in ways physically, emotionally, and yes, we have been stretched spiritually in ways that we could never have imagined just a few months ago. Things we once had in our toolkits that have worked with other experiences of illnesses just don't seem to fit now. I think one nurse on the COVID unit expressed it very well when he said, "We've been stretched thin, bridging ourselves over an ever-widening gap," and then went on to explain families not being present at bedside to fill in gaps about the patient's story and help staff to navigate decisions on care, because they are seeing the challenges, be they good or bad, real-time with their own eyes when they are present, or they are able to interpret cultural values and needs, and we just need them there to do that sometimes. Another one is not being able to be as responsive to patients as often due to requirements for PPE donning and doffing. You know, you can't just run in, I’ve heard them talk about not being able to just run into a room for a glass of water when they hit the button and go, "I need this - can you help fluff my pillow," and they want to because that is such a part of care, and they can't do it because they've got to a) conserve PPE or really be conscientious of putting it on and off. Another one is filling in for others who are unable to come onto the unit or into the patient rooms for whatever reason. It puts staff in a position to be sort of like a stand-in for them, per se. This is a huge ... this can feel like a really big weight of responsibility to bear. You know, they are being asked to ... you know, you are in the room, can you hit that machine button? Since you are already donned up and you are in the room, can you adjust that for me? So, it adds a little pressure on them. Also, it has brought to light some injustices and inequities, and I've heard this. Patients and their families in certain demographics seem to be affected more than others. Things like income, immigration status and even our own unconscious biases due to race and ethnicity has come to light. Those of certain social economic backgrounds are unable to be present, sometimes because, look, they still have to work. They can't take off. They can't come in and risk an exposure and have to take off two weeks. And it pains them. It's a palpable, almost a grief, that they can't be there, even with our new visitation where you can sit outside the glass or come onto the unit in certain situations. There's language barriers. That was huge for a while. We had a cluster of non-English-speaking patients on the unit, and it strained the staff just being able to communicate. Not only did we not have the family members at the bedside, when we called them, we didn't always have someone that could interpret. And the family ... one of the stories I got involved with earlier was a woman, her husband was in our ICU, and he was bilingual. She was not. He was her connection to the outside world. He was her translator, and suddenly, she found herself calling the hospital to find out what was going on, but not getting a person to speak her language initially on the phone, and she would just hang up. And so, she was fearful. So, we unpacked a lot of that in the beginning through, God bless, interpreter services that Vanderbilt provides, because it really helped us put some things in place, like having an interpreter button on iPads. We got more iPads on the unit to take into the rooms and they were wonderful! They would zoom right in there with us. You could push a button and you could see the face of your interpreter, which I always turn toward the patient so they could see their family member. So, that was really nice. We adapted to some things. Also, this virus ... I think one of the biggest things I hear is it does not seem to have a predictable trajectory, and as much as we want to think so, it doesn't always have a predictable demographic. We can see a wide range of experiences from members of the same family, whom I talk to a lot. You can have five or six people in the same family all contract this virus, and those experiences can range from hardly having any symptoms at all to dying in our hospital. We've seen that. And these heavy emotions, they are big for anybody to bear. And when you have our staff trying to update family members, and they call them and they say, "I just want to update you on your family member," and if you ask the question, "How are you doing," you may hear their experience and their family's experience and these feelings of guilt, these feelings of shame. These are big emotions for our staff to carry right now when you consider that we are all experiencing it together. This is all part of our collective story. How would I encourage them? I would say, first of all, be very intentional in scheduling those break times. Take your lunch. Take your scheduled break. Those are small things, so important. You know, our tendency is to, "I'm in the middle of this, I've got to do this," and it's tempting not to take that lunch. I've been guilty of it myself when I'm up there. Oh, my gosh, It's already 3 o'clock. I came on the floor at 8 o'clock and I just breezed right through my lunch. It's easy to do, but it's real important to carve out that time, very important. I would also recommend utilizing PTO. One of the things they tell us early on in orientation is, "We give you PTO every year. You can lose it at the end of the year, so take it!" Take it, take it. And go do something that feeds your soul. I know it's hard to get out and maybe do some of the things that we once did, but there's opportunities out there observing social distancing and masking ... you know, all of those things that keep us and our community safe. Of course. Another thing I might recommend is ritualizing. These are powerful. Establishing a ritual. We know this in our religious communities. Ritual has power. Something as simple as turning off your pager when you leave for the day. One of the things I see as a daily ritual with the nursing staff and staff members is those unit phones. They put them in the little container before they walk off the unit. That's a great ritual to just, in your mind, put a little mindful practice in there to disengage and shift gears. Take your nurse hat off, your doctor hat off. In my case, I literally have a Chaplain hat that I take off. Take that off and be a daughter, be a wife, be a mother, be a friend, be a loved one. You have an identity outside of the care that you provide here. And all of those people in your orbit are also impacted by this. So, take care of yourself. Sometimes that ritual might just be changing out of your work clothes, taking a shower. Taking a shower is just ... you know, we do that because we have been in the hospital, we've been exposed to all these things. It makes sense to do that, but it can also be a ritual, a cleansing ritual. You are cleansing that day off, the stresses off. That can be another little mindful practice. Sometimes people color and draw. We have a nurse on the unit that got very attached to a family member whose mother passed on the unit, and she took that time to color, to use her gift of coloring and made her a hand-colored sympathy card. It was lovely. It was healing for both, for her and the family member. Journaling is great. And by all means, talk about it. Sometimes, when we walk out of the room, we need to ... you know, we can't wait until an appointment. We need to debrief. And if you have a friend nearby, a co-worker that just, in the moment, can resonate with you, that can say, "I feel ya," do that! And of course, our Employee Assistance Program is wonderful and it's a great resource. We have counselors. We have therapists. I think we all can benefit from seeking a listening ear, especially a very well trained one. And here at Vanderbilt, we have some exceptional resources for that. We have so many you can get lost in looking them up, but they're here. So, use them, use them, use them.

Rosemary Cope: Excellent observations and suggestions, Sherry. You know, I'm also thinking, it's those lonely deaths, and you mentioned one of those ... it's those lonely deaths that have hit the hardest for some. And there was an ICU-registered nurse at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton in New Jersey, and she said, "It's been agonizing to have to turn away people who want to visit their loved ones one last time," and she's trying to find ways to be compassionate where she can. Last week, she passed on a message from a patient's wife just before he died, and the message said that they loved him and that it was okay to go. But even simply carrying a message of such emotional weight can take a toll on our healthcare workers. So, Sherry, I also think about the difficulty our staff must have dealing with patients who don't recover from COVID. What are some helpful things that you might tell someone struggling with this?

Chaplain Sherry Perry: Thank you, Rosemary, for naming that. I think that the patients who do not recover, it's particularly hard. It can feel deflating and it can make the things you do as a human feel futile. You know, we always hope that those in our care will recover (that's our goal), yet, sometimes healing looks very different than our expectations for healing. Sometimes, healing looks like providing the best quality of life possible with well-managed pain and well-managed symptoms. Sometimes healing looks like providing spiritual and emotional care, not only to the patient, but to their family members and those loved ones that surround them. And also, it looks like psychological support. That's important, too. For many, their faith tradition would hold that ultimate healing is beyond our physical existence on this earth, and in those moments of the ones that don't recover, I think that sense of something greater than what is here, this can bring a sense of comfort and reassurance because it taps into a hope beyond this world, and that's powerful. It's very powerful and healing. I think another thing that we can do is to honor those lives. In this world of confidentiality and HIPAA, sometimes it can make us skittish just to even mention the names, but I think we need to mention the names. We've gotten to know that person. We know the names that their loved ones call them, that isn’t in their medical charts. I get that all the time. They'll go, your first name and last name, and I walk in there and they don't call me ... my name might be Robert Allen, but people call me Russ. Okay, Russ! That's your endearment. So, we need to honor those lives, and sometimes just even among us, just speaking your name. I'm not saying publish it on a website, but speaking the names. There was an editorial columnist from The New York Times. I love this quote. Her name is Anna Quindlen, and she says, "Grief remains one of the few things that has the power to silence us. It is a whisper in the world and a clamor within." When our experience of caring for someone with COVID does not end in full recovery, there is certainly grief to be had. We all feel it to some degree. There's some facilities that practice the pause. Take a moment to pause and just acknowledge the life of the person. That's something you can do in the moment. This was a wife or a mother, a father, a son, a daughter. Acknowledge that person's life, that it meant something, because it meant something to us who were caring for them, most certainly. Speak their name. Take a moment and speak their name.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely. Your last statement is so very powerful. To be truly seen and acknowledged speaks volumes. So, a personal thanks to everyone at Vanderbilt who is involved in the care of a patient, and thank you, Sherry, for your own work at the hospital. If you would like to speak confidentially with an EAP counselor, please contact us at (615) 936-1327.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Grief, Resilience, Stress, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

Dating In The Age of Corona

harnessg — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 06:00:06 +0000

Dating In The Age of Corona

Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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VUMC staff member, Allie Bell, shares her experiences of relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. This wellcast includes suggestions for healthy dating.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Allie Bell. A graduate of Austin Peay University, Allie is the Research Coordinator for the PRO Employee Health Protections Program. Today, we are exploring dating in the age of corona. Dateable podcast host, Julie Krafchick says, "We can't have amnesia that dating was perfect before. Before all the dating apps, well-intentioned friends and chance meetings, dating has always presented itself with challenges. "I think this time has given people a lot of clarity into what they want in life," Krafchick says. It has shown life is short, and at the end of the day, relationships are what matters most. A lot of people have used this time to do self-work, especially in the dark middle period of quarantine where it didn't feel like there was any way to meet someone. Allie, as a single woman, generally, what has been your experience in trying to meet suitable dates in the last six months?

Allie Bell: It wasn't until this past two months that I really felt ready to start dating. When corona started, you think about isolation and safety and things, and I was about three or four months out of a long-term relationship at that time, so in no way was I ready. I think being isolated with coronavirus helped me to process that a little faster, all that time alone. It was good use of it. So, my experience started when I took a leap and opened up a Match.com profile.

Rosemary Cope: Well, listeners, before you freak out about dating during these times, or freak out about thinking about opening up that Match app, keep in mind that thinking about risk and dating isn't a new thing, given that there has always been a risk of contracting an STD, the cold, the flu and a slew of other infectious diseases from the people you date. It's just that the stakes are a bit higher with COVID-19. So, Allie, what kind of guidelines do you think are important to consider when starting to date?

Allie Bell: I think it's very important now, and probably always, to spend a lot of time with that person voice-to-voice. People like texting so much and I think it loses a lot of intention and tone. So, if I have a match that is not willing to speak on the phone, that is not going to be right for me, because I need that time to get to know them, because you're not only deciding to expose your heart a little bit there, but if you choose to get together, opening up your social circle poses risks to yourself, your family, your co-workers, and so, these are things you have to really be mindful of.

Rosemary Cope: Makes good sense to me. It also makes good sense to Dr. William Schaffner, who is an Infectious Disease specialist and Professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, because he tells us, no matter what your dating situation or relationship status, it's important to make sure the person you are seeing is on the same page as you. "You ought to have a conversation about this," Dr. Shaffner says, and he doesn't say "text." He says "conversation." [laughter] . So, if you have been really careful, you probably are interested in dating someone who has also been careful. Even in a relationship, you want to make sure you and your partner are on the same wavelength about safety and risk tolerance. So, here are some questions that you should consider, listeners, that you should ask before making an in-person date, and Allie, some of what's on this list is exactly what you already had mentioned. So, number one, what's your COVID-19 status? Have you been tested? Although this feels like it goes without saying, it's important to ask people what their exposure level has been. Have you been tested for COVID-19, or have they been exposed? Have they exhibited any symptoms? Number two, what have you been doing the past 14 days? You should also ask both - what they have been doing and who they have been spending time with. They may live with a family member who has been an essential worker, or perhaps they have been flouting some of the guidelines that you strictly adhere to. You should also be honest with them about your own activity and interactions. Number three, do you wear a mask? The answer to this question will tell you a lot. Wearing masks has nearly become a political statement at this point, and if you are someone who wears masks, but your date doesn't do the same, that will give you insight on some of their views on health and safety. Number four, have you dated? When was your last date? Are you still dating? This borders on that dreaded "what are we" question, but if we have been talking to this person over the course of a few days or even a few weeks, their dating or hookup history is a relevant subject to address. If you have been going on several in-person dates over the past 14 days, this will subsequently increase your exposure rate as well. It may feel a bit less romantic to hit a prospective date with these questions before you have even gone out to dinner, but if you've been cautious during the pandemic, it's important to know if someone you are talking to shares the same values before you consider exposing yourself. So, when you share that bottle of wine, consider sharing that bottle of hand sanitizer. Allie, thank you for joining us today.

Allie Bell: You're welcome. It's very helpful advice and some things that I have been considering, and if I might add, I find that in dating now, more than ever, with COVID, it's so important to be honest and frank and brave to ask people, do you have COVID, and what they are, and while it may be uncomfortable, it's paramount to your own safety and your family's safety. So, it must be done.

Rosemary Cope: Exactly. Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness. 

Tags

Counseling, Personal Safety, Prevention, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

Relationships and COVID-19

harnessg — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 17:16:27 +0000

Relationships and COVID-19

Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts

harnessg Fri, 07/17/2020 - 12:16 RSS:

Work/Life Connections

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Brad Oxnam talks with Janet McCutchen, LPC, of Work/Life Connections-EAP about advice for maintaining or improving relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Begin Transcript

Brad Oxnam: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. This is Brad Oxnam with Vanderbilt Work/Life Connections filling in for our regular host, Rosemary Cope. This month, I'm joined by Janet McCutchen, one of our Licensed Professional Counselors with Work/Life Connections EAP. Today, we will be discussing maintaining your relationships during the stressful time of our current pandemic.

COVID-19 has caused a multitude of stressful issues, not only for individuals, but for families, couples and cohabitators as well. We can all feel on edge at times. Many couples and families are working from home where work stress is coupled with relationship stress, not to mention feeling the fatigue caused by virtual online sessions, social media and so on. Janet, what are some ways we can improve or maintain our relationships during COVID-19?

Janet McCutchen: Thanks so much, Brad. You know, there are many people that have said how much they've enjoyed the extra time with their partners and family, so, when we talk about this, certainly, we don't want to infer that it's all been a bad thing, but we know that it's been incredibly stressful, and one of the ways that we know that we tend to cope with stress is by "checking out." What I mean by that is that we often binge T.V., are on our phones, we are surfing the internet, and so, my first suggestion would be - put down your phone. When we are in close quarters, it's important to remember that, with the stress we are experiencing, we often long to have somebody to turn to for comfort, and ideally, for most of us, it's our partners. When we do this, we need to keep in mind that our partners may not always be in a good place to be fully present for us, I mean, even when we turn to them and ask something like, "Is this a good time; I really need to connect with you and talk about what's going on with me for five or 10 minutes?" The other piece of that is that we need to be able to give them a right to say that it's not a good time. People are working from home, so we are sort of bringing the stress and the pressures, the issues, of work into our homes. So, when our partner maybe says that, they could also maybe give us some options, like, "This isn't a good time right now, but I want to be able to meet with you and talk later." So, we have the responsibility to ask for what we want, and then, we also have to allow our partners room to postpone. But if we put down our phones and reconnect, we can really look at each other, we can practice active listening without judgment, and really offer each other just kind of these mini compassion breaks when we are not looking at our phones or checking out.

One of the other ways I recommend people improve their relationship is to think about taking a break before you need it. This is good advice in general. You know, at Work/Life Connections, we often encourage our clients not to wait until they are overwhelmed, but to really tune in to what is going on with respect to maybe the exhaustion they feel, or the sadness they feel. So, the best time to reach out is before you hit a wall and perhaps become too overwhelmed to have the energy to reach out or motivation to take care of ourselves. Many times, you know, Vanderbilt employees are caretakers in some form or another, you know, whether you work on the medical side or on the university as an instructor or coordinator. We all, regardless of our work responsibilities, have a tendency to minimize our need for support. So, talking with someone objective, if you don't want to burden your partner, other family member or friend, can really make all the difference. So, take a break before you really need it, before you become overwhelmed.

The third suggestion I have is practicing gratitude and giving during this time, and I really don't want to paint too rosy a picture. You know, I don't want to infer that this isn't a difficult time and create a "silver lining," if you will, that isn't there, but at the same time, many of us are enjoying more time with our families. I mean, the other piece of this is - we have time to connect during the day with our partners and family, we have less time in traffic, we have the opportunity to try something new, read that book that we've postponed reading or finally clean out the garage, but not every rewarding activity involves some exciting event or accomplishment. Sometimes, it's a good idea to pause and think about what we are grateful for, and it can be the simple things. So, we have that opportunity to gather around the dinner table or, you know, let our partners and family know what they mean to us. We have to also embrace some other ways of connecting in our communities with respect to giving. You know, maybe we can give of our time or money. I mean, there's ample research out there around the positive impact of gratitude on our brain just neurologically. A study at UC Berkeley found that people who actively practice gratitude by giving time or contributing to a charitable cause demonstrate more activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is the decision-making and learning portion of the brain. So, there's that altruism that really can have an impact on just our day-to-day function, which can be really very important and can reduce those feelings of anxiety and distress. Relationships really make a difference and learning how to build those skills and look at things from a different perspective can really help.

Brad Oxnam: Thanks for the advice, Janet! I would mention, if you are feeling excessively stressed during this time, if you are a Vanderbilt employee or spouse, you are welcome to call and make an appointment with Work/Life Connections EAP and talk to a counselor.

Thank you for listening to today's Wellcast. If you have story suggestions, please use the "Contact" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

VUMC, VU, Social Connections, Resilience, Mental Health, Family

Lockdown Auth

Emotional Wellness and Advocacy

harnessg — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 05:01:48 +0000

Emotional Wellness and Advocacy

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

harnessg Fri, 06/19/2020 - 00:01 RSS:

Work/Life Connections

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Brad Oxnam interviews Quianda Harris, EdD, LPC-MHSP, of Vanderbilt Work/Life Connections-EAP on both maintaining emotional wellness and supporting the African American community.

Begin Transcript

Brad Oxnam: Hello. Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. This is Brad Oxnam with Vanderbilt Work/Life Connections, once again filling in for our regular host, Rosemary Cope. I am joined by Dr. Quianda Harris, one of our Work/Life Connections counselors. Dr. Harris is a Licensed Professional Counselor with Work/Life Connections EAP as well as a Master Addictions Counselor. As I am sure many can attest, this year has been a challenging one to say the least. Our community has faced tornadoes, followed closely by the U.S. onset of the COVID pandemic, subsequent economic downtown and struggles with keeping or finding work, and most recently, the national rise in tensions caused by continual racial injustices to our black and brown citizens by police forces. With all of this going on, many people are feeling a wide range of emotions from anxiety to outrage to depression and everything in between. It can feel a little overwhelming and some may wonder whether or not to seek help with these feelings. Dr. Harris, in terms of mental health, what is considered a normal level of emotional stress, and when should someone consider seeking the services of a licensed professional?

Dr. Quianda Harris: I think what you just stated is normal: a wide range of emotions, depression, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed and feeling stressed. The difference is everyone goes through periods of feeling these emotions; however, if you find that it's more difficult to snap out of it and the symptoms are causing problems in your daily life and ability to function, then it may not be a bad idea to talk to someone just to be able to process your thoughts, and even if those symptoms aren't as severe, it's always a good idea just to reach out and speak to someone, because oftentimes, you know, these things will continue to run through our heads and cause us sleepless nights and increased feelings of anxiety. I find that it's helpful when I say those things out loud sometimes and just have someone to listen and provide objective feedback.

Brad Oxnam: Many are feeling called to respond to current events, namely the Black Lives Matter movement, but some may feel hesitant due to the coronavirus situation. If people want to do something, what options are there during a pandemic?

Dr. Quianda Harris: I am hearing of a lot of people doing things online, for example, supporting black businesses. That has been one way in which people are showing their support. You know, a lot of small business are struggling anyway, so, black businesses have definitely been promoted recently. Another way people can participate or feel as though they are making some type of change and impact is to learn more about everything that's going on. We've had many discussions in the last couple of weeks and one recurring theme is education and finding resources to just learn about the history of black people in America and the struggles and challenges that community has faced. Another way is to listen. One thing that a lot of individuals are finding themselves doing right now is moving outside of their comfort zones and having the difficult conversations about race relations and what they can do to be better allies. Things like that are ways in which people can start making changes in their own personal lives and the professional lives and ways that are not going to be harmful as it relates to the current pandemic.

Brad Oxnam: Does Vanderbilt have any resources for employees who wish to support the cause in some way?

Dr. Quianda Harris: The VUMC House Staff compiled a list of resources for allies at the VUMC Day of Silence for Black Lives and that list includes things people can do, watch, read, listen, as well as other ways to take action. Also, the Office of Health Equity has a list of resources. There are ways and means by which to educate yourselves and just learn more about history, essentially, and why things are so tense at this point, and just for more insight into the struggles that our neighbors, our friends, our families, our co-workers have faced, and to feel as though you are making some kind of impact. So, yes, there are resources available, and if you cannot find them, it's never a bad thing to just ask someone.

Brad Oxnam: Thank you very much, Dr. Harris. We appreciate your thoughts and hope those who wish to will take advantage of these resources.

Thanks for listening to today's Wellcast. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

VUMC, Mental Health, Crisis, Social Connections

Lockdown Auth

Resilience during the Pandemic

harnessg — Fri, 01 May 2020 05:12:00 +0000

Resilience during the Pandemic

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Jim Kendall offers recommendations for resilience practices for all employees who are facing stressful situations during COVID-19.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. I'm here today with Jim Kendall, who is the Manager of the Work/Life Connections-EAP. You know, Jim, I've been thinking about the needs of our Vanderbilt employees in this highly-stressful time. Our medical center employees have a strong sense of duty for performing their jobs and may feel guilty if they think they aren't doing enough, they may also be feeling the strain of being isolated from family and friends because of the roles in the hospitals and not wanting to possibly infect someone else, and all of our Vanderbilt faculty may be challenged by things such as remote teaching. Our university, our medical center staff, have to manage facilities to ensure they have been disinfected. Some of our employees on the medical center side and the university side have future worries about will there be a reduction in force. So, self-care for all of our employees is key to balance and resilience. Jim, what kind of behaviors should we practice for good self-care and what behaviors should we avoid?

Jim Kendall: Thanks Rosemary, I think that good self-care during this time means being appropriately informed but not obsessed with the media, and I appreciate that Vanderbilt has an excellent web resource that provides all the evidence-based information that you need, and I use that as my one resource for information. Self-care also means being safe and following the guidelines that we all hear about - hand washing and appropriate protective equipment so that when I'm out in public, I wear a mask, and I try to stay the proper distance from people, and of course, if we notice any symptoms like fever, coughing or sore throat, we get appropriate help. But, you know, practicing our resilient skills and paying attention to healthy lifestyle is within our new reality. We have to do things that allow us to take a little breather from thinking about COVID all the time, so, I think things like mindfulness, and by that, I mean just focusing on the moment, not what might happen, but here and now, and that might be going outside and taking in a little fresh air and appreciating the scenery, appreciating some of the beauty that's out there, and it may be setting boundaries. A lot of times, people ask you questions because you work in a university or hospital, and they are saying, "Well, you know, let's talk about this," and you might be ready to take a breather from that, and so we may need to just say, "You know, let's talk about something else; I need to have a boundary there." Our bodies and minds need a break from that. I guess, the other thing I would say is, that one of the beauties is that we breathe, and tactical breathing can be very powerful when we start to get keyed up. It's just taking that deep breath, thinking, inhaling one, two, three, four, hold for four, and then exhale, and then wait four ... all those things that we have heard about when we talked about building resilience, but this becomes so key now. We need sleep, exercise, and we need to connect with our support people, yet keep the physical distance. I also think it's important to share your feelings and vulnerabilities and pay attention to the good moments.

Rosemary Cope: That's excellent advice and it keeps us centered, it keeps us grounded, and it keeps us in the moment without all that anticipatory anxiety that a lot of us are experiencing at this point.

Jim Kendall: I think worrying is normal under conditions of the unknown.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely.

Jim Kendall: But it's so key to focus on what is really in your sphere of control, what influence do you have, and I just say - do what you can do and don't focus on what you can't. I think many of us are used to helping others, and think about the ways that you can actually help each other. That can be a wellness champion. It can also mean being a buddy to a co-worker, help them with some technology, reach out and teach others. One of the things that I've started doing is going through my phone and looking for people that I haven't talked to in a long time and just try to make one connection with somebody each day. So, basically, we've all got to put on our emotional raincoat, because this is a storm, and we need to be intentional about the breaks that we take and take a walk or pay attention if you have pets or kids, find a new interest, play with them, and it's vital to do a daily self-check on your own wellness pulse.

Rosemary Cope: Great suggestions, Jim. If I'm feeling overwhelmed, even if I add these resilient skills in, who do I need to call?

Jim Kendall: Well, we always suggest that you give us a call at Work/Life Connections-EAP. Give us a call at (615) 936-1327 and we can set up a time to talk. And right now, we are using our Connect Care remote services where we can connect virtually through Zoom or through the phone and we have that way of reaching out and you have somebody that you can talk with.

Rosemary Cope: Great, thank you so much, Jim. Appreciate it.

Jim Kendall: Thank you, Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Mental Health, Resilience, VU, VUMC

Lockdown Auth

Coping and Emotional Health during COVID-19

harnessg — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 19:09:59 +0000

Coping and Emotional Health during COVID-19

Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections

harnessg Tue, 03/17/2020 - 14:09 RSS:

Work/Life Connections

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Rosemary Cope, a clinician with the Employee Assistance Program shares suggestions for emotional wellbeing for employees and their children during the coronavirus outbreak.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I’m Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections – Employee Assistance Program.

We are all aware that the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people and communities. Fear and anxiety about the personal implications can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children.

We all have different responses to stress, and I’d like to talk about how to safeguard yourself, your family or your loved ones during this time. People can become more distressed if they see repeated images or hear repeated stories about the outbreak in the media. Those who may respond more strongly are people who have preexisting mental health issues, children and people who are helping such as physicians, nurses, clinic personnel and first responders.

The Centers for Disease Control outlines these reactions that you might experience during this time:

Fear and worry about your own health and that of your loved one who may have been exposed.
Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
Worsening of chronic health problems
Increased use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs

Coping with these feelings and getting help when needed will help you, your loved ones and our communities to recover from any disaster. Connect and don’t isolate yourself. Take care of yourself and each other and know when and how to seek help.

The World Health Organization encourages health care workers to be aware and manage their emotional stress levels. Caring for yourself could mean avoiding excessive exposure to media coverage of COVID-19. Taking care of your body. Making time to unwind and reminding yourself that strong feelings will fade. Try to do other safe activities you enjoy to give yourself balance. Connect with others by sharing your feelings and maintaining healthy relationships. Recognize that you might have friends who will avoid you as you are a healthcare worker. Turn to your colleagues, your manager or other trusted persons for social support – your colleagues may be having similar experiences to you. Finally, maintain a sense of hope and positive thinking.

If you parent a child, take time to ask them if they have fears or questions and share age appropriate facts in a way that your child can understand. Help children find positive ways to express their feelings. Sometimes engaging in a creative activity can facilitate the process. Reassure the child that they are safe and give them coping skills. Be sure to also limit their screen time as they may be frightened by something they don’t understand. Help your child to have a sense of structure and be a role model for healthy behaviors.

Here on our campuses, My VUMC offers valuable and up to date information for hospital employees and for the university, please go to Vanderbilt.edu/coronavirus for information.

If you need a place to express your own concerns, please remember that the Work/Life Connections-EAP is available to you on weekdays.

Thanks for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please use the contact us page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Change, Counseling, Crisis, Family, Mental Health, Resilience, VU, VUMC

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Highlighting the SHARE Center

harnessg — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 06:01:20 +0000

Highlighting the SHARE Center

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center has instituted a new program for employees to confidentially receive support around workplace sexual harassment. The direcctor, Dr. Lauren Datillo, informs the listener about the program and how to access the services.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. I'm here today with Dr. Lauren Dattilo, who coordinates the new SHARE Center at VUMC. Lauren is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina, and prior to joining the staff of the Work/Life Connections Employee Assistance Program, Lauren was a postdoctoral fellow at the University Counseling Center at Vanderbilt. Workplace sexual harassment takes many different forms. It can come from a co-worker, a supervisor, a customer or a client, and it ranges from unwanted touching, inappropriate comments or jokes or someone promising you a promotion in exchange for sexual favors. Lauren, could you tell our listeners about how sexual harassment actually manifests in the workplace?

Dr. Lauren Dattilo: Often, when we think about sexual harassment, we have this idea that it's about gaining some sort of sexual gratification, when actually what we know about many forms of sexual harassment is that they are related to unequal power balances. So, it may start out that somebody's behavior toward someone is based in a desire for some sort of romantic or sexual relationship, and often when the other person doesn't show reciprocated interest, the continued behavior is then a way to assert power over the other individual or attempts to show some kind of dominance. So, there are many different types of situations in which this kind of behavior can manifest when there is a power imbalance. It may be a situation where a supervisor is making inappropriate comments toward someone that they supervise. This can also arise in instances where an individual is a member of a marginalized group, for example, if you are an LGBTQ individual, if you are a racial or ethnic minority, if you are the only woman in a leadership position in the place where you work. So, when we think about power, we want to think about it across lots of different domains, not just a supervisor and a supervisee. Sexual harassment can also take many different forms. So, Rosemary, you pointed out some of the ones that we tend to think about first and the ones that are most common, but when we think about sexual harassment within the work that we are doing at SHARE, it also includes things like gender exclusion and harassment based on gender identity or sexual orientation. So, for example, this can be things like inviting all of the male employees that you supervise out for an event after work but failing to include other individuals that you work with, who may be women or non-binary individuals. This is something that is actually fairly common, and what can happen is, there are things that can be advantageous to people's careers that happen outside the workplace, but if those advantages aren't extended to everybody, that creates a situation where you have gender exclusion. Situations can also arise, for example, where people feel entitled to ask really invasive, personal questions to LGBTQ people, in particular transgender people. These are typically questions that they would never ask straight or cisgender individuals that they work with. So, sexual harassment can take a lot of different forms, and when we think about it at SHARE, it's a pretty broad, encompassing term.

Rosemary Cope: We have mentioned this word before, "SHARE," SHARE Center. So, Vanderbilt has instituted something new called the SHARE Center. Lauren, can you tell us what that is, what is "SHARE," and how can employees make use of the services?

Dr. Lauren Dattilo: "SHARE" stands for sexual harassment, awareness, response and education, and the creation of the SHARE Center was really a response by leadership to folks talking about, and them understanding that sexual harassment is a problem in all workplaces and that VUMC is not excluded. So, we feel very lucky to be supported by a lot of folks at the top and that's really something that is important for creating the cultural change that needs to happen. So, the SHARE Center is located in the basement of the Medical Arts building and we offer a range of services including confidential, individual therapy and counseling for people who have been impacted by workplace sexual harassment. So, that means that you don't necessarily have to be the one that was harassed, because we know that witnessing workplace sexual harassment or working in a place where harassment exists often impacts lots of different individuals. So, we offer individual services like therapy and counseling. Those are confidential, which means that we don't make any sort of official report to HR and that accessing SHARE services is not contingent on making a report. We are also working on developing programming and education that will be available to folks in all positions at VUMC and for individual departments or areas who are interested in some sort of presentation or education around workplace sexual harassment. So, we are available Monday through Friday, from 8:00 to 5:00, and you can learn more information about SHARE at our website, which is vumc.org/health-wellness/share-center. You can also give us a call if you'd like to schedule an appointment or talk to somebody about SHARE at (615) 936-1327.

Rosemary Cope: This is such an important new development for the Medical Center, Lauren. Thank you for sharing with us today.

Dr. Lauren Dattilo: Thanks for having me.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Legal, Counseling, VUMC

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A New Resolution: Emotional Health

harnessg — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 14:13:32 +0000

A New Resolution: Emotional Health

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Work/Life Connections

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Many people start the new year with a resolution, but it is rarely about their emotional health. Kyle MacDonald from the University Counseling Center outlines some of the things we can do to be emotionally healthy.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Kyle McDonald. Kyle is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Millsaps College and he is currently a mental health clinician at the University Counseling Center. This month, we will be focusing on what it means to be "behaviorally healthy." Many people approach the new year thinking they are going to work on their physical health, but they rarely consider their mental health. Kyle, how would you define what it means to be mentally or emotionally healthy?

Kyle McDonald: I think the first thing is realizing that oftentimes our mental and emotional health is the things that prompts better feelings physically. So, if there are goals around physical health, maybe focusing on the mental and emotional health will make those goals happen. I think, overall, being mentally and emotionally healthy means being honest with yourself around things you are struggling with and taking actions on those things, whether it be seeing a therapist, learning some coping skills, support groups, talking to friends. I think we often see this world as black and white in terms of either being emotionally/ mentally healthy or not and I think it is more realistic to see it as a spectrum and understand that there is going to be good and bad throughout the process.

Rosemary Cope: Just as we all know that improving our physical health might include things like a healthy diet or exercise, what do you think we need to do to work on our mental and emotional health?

Kyle McDonald: I think a lot of things come to mind here, but I think two important things ring the most true, and first is boundaries ... so, thinking about where do you need some boundaries for yourself to support your own mental and emotional health, really focusing on when do you need to take care of yourself. I think this comes up in a lot of conversations around self-care and work-life balance but isn't practiced nearly as well as it is talked about, and I think oftentimes when we think boundaries, we think setting up rules or confronting other people in our lives, but I think boundaries can be very much spoken and unspoken. Maybe you need to set a boundary with yourself around going to bed at a certain time no matter what happens during the day, or maybe there is a boundary you need to set with a friend who keeps calling you every single day to complain about how bad their day was, and I think most importantly, realizing that we don't have to pick up every single phone call that we get and the whole purpose of voicemail is so that we don't have to pick up every phone call we get, so, really letting go of that obligation to pick up the phone or do the next thing when we really need to make a choice to take care of ourselves. And then secondly, being active, and being active in finding the things to help yourself feel more stable, and it is easy to tell ourselves that something won't work or won't help us, but in reality, that is just an assumption we are making about that. Make a list of things that you think might help deal with something or deal with some sort of instability and start testing them out and figure out what works for you. And I think with these two things, it is about creating safety in your life and creating that environment that is going to promote your wellness as a whole instead of expecting yourself just to "do better."

Rosemary Cope: I like that, that I need to be real intentional about what makes me feel better instead of just expecting, "It's going to happen," or it is not going to happen ... that we have these preconceived ideas about our own emotional health also. And so, if there are certain skills that it takes for me to be emotionally healthy, and I start to look at those, how do I maintain those over time, because life comes in and messes with our heads?

Kyle McDonald: Yeah, absolutely. I think it comes back to ... again, I could say a lot about this, but I think it comes back to managing those expectations and understanding, again going back to that mental health and emotional health is absolutely a spectrum, and that we know, accept that good and bad days are going to happen. And I think the biggest mistake we can make in kind of trying to cope is only using skills to help us on the bad days. Alright? And, so, some more intention about taking yourself on the bad days to prepare for those bad days. So, maybe on bad days, you go to those coping skills that you know are going to help. You call that one really good, supportive friend, you do that one act of yoga or mindfulness or whatever helps you that you just know is going to work. And then on the good days, how can you start to prepare for the bad? Maybe there are some new things you want to try out. Maybe you want to dig into a new book or something that might start to become a preventative measure, and I think that's a big way to start to make longer-term progress, is using those good days to grow prevention against the bad.

Rosemary Cope: So, what I am also hearing is that good emotional care is not a selfish act.

Kyle McDonald: Absolutely.

Rosemary Cope: And that if I can focus, at least a bit, on what makes me better, then I am going to have, hopefully, more of those good days than the bad days.

Kyle McDonald: Absolutely, and just on that, like, I think, again, being rational with our expectations. There are so many different things that can make us have a bad day and it's not always in our control, and when we kind of learn to accept that ... like, I know for me, if it is cold, rainy, traffic, am I going toI didn’t eat enough for breakfast…? Llike, all four of those things are things that are going to make my day a little bit worse, and so, how can we start to see those and take action on them?

Rosemary Cope: So, if one of our listeners has concerns, or they want more information about this, can you suggest some online or campus resources?

Kyle McDonald: Absolutely. I think it comes back about intention and honesty with yourself, right? So, first, trying to figure out - what is the thing you are trying to change? What is the thing you are really struggling with and kind of land on that topic, and then try and do some research to educate yourself about it? So, what are you dealing with? Search for support groups, self-help books. There are blogs online, podcasts. And then, maybe, ultimately, you land on coming to therapy or going to see someone and talking through it. I mean, that can be in the community or even with the EAP here and I think it is important to understand that therapy is not for "sick" people. It is not for "mentally ill" people. Therapy is for people that there is this aspect of safety that comes in that relationship with the therapist where I can say anything. I can say whatever I need to say to feel better and it is not going to leave that room.

Rosemary Cope: Excellent insight. Thank you so much, Kyle.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Mental Health, Resilience, VUMC

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Coping with Current Affairs

harnessg — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 05:00:01 +0000

Coping with Current Affairs

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Dr. Vanessa Beasley talks about how the current political climate can be stressful to us all, and how one might deal with all the information we receive on a daily basis.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. My guest today is Dr. Vanessa Beasley. Dr. Beasley is Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, and Dean of the Residential Faculty at Vanderbilt University. Her interests include U.S. political communication and Presidential rhetoric. The American Psychological Association's 2016 Stress in America Survey conducted online among some 3,400 American adults, and published in February of 2017, found that 63% of respondents regard the future of the country as a "significant source of stress" and some 56% say that their stressed by the current political climate. The 2018 edition of the survey showed that the number of Americans who viewed the future of the country as a significant stressor had jumped to 69%, and those who saw the political climate as a source of stress, well, that had jumped to 62%. So, Dr. Beasley, thank you for meeting with me today, and what have you noticed about how the current political climate has affected people in their everyday lives?

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: Hi, Rosemary. I am happy to be with you here today. It is interesting to think about how people express the ways the political climate is stressful for them. Many times, people will say, "Oh, it's the media; I am tired of hearing this kind of news." Other times people will talk about how it has impacted their family relationships and perhaps having the family member that they might have known before they didn't have the same political beliefs before, but now, having that Thanksgiving table perhaps feel a little bit more different, a little bit more resentment maybe and some anger.

Rosemary Cope: You know, political winds blow in many different directions from year to year. Do you see us, as a country, in a unique time, or have we been here before?

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: I think that's such a great question. I'm going to give you two different answers to it.

Rosemary Cope: Okay.

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: One is from the historian's view. Have we lived, as a nation, through challenges before? Absolutely. So, absolutely, and it's really interesting to go through those challenges and think about the ways in which there are parallels. I think that's a fascinating way to think about history, right? Why do these cycles occur? One of the things that's interesting about that approach, though, is that, even if it's happened before, WE weren't there before, right? So, it depends on how reassuring the idea that history may or may not repeat itself is to you, or it might be frightening to you to think about it that way as well. And a second way I'll answer that question is - even if we can find really profound and moving analogs for challenges the country has been through in the past, it's also true that we haven't had the kind of media environment that we have today. So, it's really important to think about the experience of history and how we think about the past but also how we are experiencing the present and the degree to which individuals might think, "Oh, it's helping me to have more information about the present," or, "It might be hurting me to have as much information as I do about the present," and to make some choices about their media diet.

Rosemary Cope: That's a great point that we are bombarded almost everywhere we go by media influences and making healthy choices makes a difference, doesn't it?

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: It does. It does.

Rosemary Cope: So, in your position, you already know that students are greatly shaped by all types of media, and actually, we are all affected. So, any thoughts on how to be healthy while we try to negotiate our way through the current news and rhetoric?

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: Yeah. I think there are some parallels in the first place between how we approach a healthy media diet and how we might approach the rest of the things in our lives that we think have a dietary model. So, one of the most obvious might just be moderation, right? If you find that you are really addicted to that ping of breaking news on your phone all the time, if you find that you are struggling to unplug, if you find that you are struggling to find something to be hopeful about, that may be a sign that you've gone down the rabbit hole one too many times. And some people really do benefit from taking a break. I also tell people, though, that if you take a break entirely and just say, "I've had it; I can't do that anymore," then you might also want to think about whether that's a good idea either in the same way you would think that refraining from eating for a long time, right? You need nourishment. So, if we want to stay engaged as citizens, we need information. That's just how it is. The tricky party is - we all have to decide what we consume, again, much like food, and actually, we are in a better situation with food than we are with media, because with food, at least we have an FDA, and with media, we don't. We have a consumer model of media in this country and that's because the value of freedom of the press, right, which is a very important value ... I would be the first in line to defend the freedom of the press ... and it also means that it's a marketplace of ideas when it comes to what's out there. So, as consumers, we have to be really, really careful about the news that we read, what we assume is true, the evidence we look for, and I think it's more important now, perhaps than it's been in a while, for us to realize that, that there are so many different stories out there. Some of them, yes, are fake, but it depends on, you know, your ability to say, "Well, how am I being as a reader; what am I doing as a listener," or even as a viewer of certain visual representations of news, to think about, you know, whether or not there is bias. I tell students the bias is going to be there, so it is impossible to find bias-free information. What it is possible to do is get better as a critical thinker yourself and think about how those arguments are being supported with evidence or not.

Rosemary Cope: I like that last thought, especially, to be a critical thinker, because if I am going to be balanced in my life, I have to think about the things I subject myself to, what I hear, what I see on the screen, who I am around, and if I can filter through that to monitor my own responses, then I am in a better place.

Dr. Vanessa Beasley: That's right. And some of it does really come down to thinking about your media consumption as a form of self-care, right? Are there times when you do need to take that break and read a book or do whatever it is that is relaxing for you? And are there other times when you think, "Wow, I don't know anything at all about this issue; it is up to me to research it and start to read a little bit more about it."

Rosemary Cope: Great. Well, thank you for sharing those brief insights with us, and you know, readers and listeners, if you begin to feel overwhelmed and need a place to talk, the Employee Assistance Program has open and friendly counselors who are always available to help.

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Change, Mental Health, VU, VUMC

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Rewire My Brain - ADD for Adults

harnessg — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 05:00:01 +0000

Rewire My Brain - ADD for Adults

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Dr. Christopher Quarto highlights the signs of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in adults with thoughts on treatment and symptom management.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. I am here today with Dr. Christopher Quarto, who is on the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University and has a private practice in Murfreesboro. Dr. Quarto is a graduate of Central Michigan University and University of Illinois. Many people incorrectly assume that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, often referred to as ADD or ADHD, is a childhood condition only. The symptoms also continue into adulthood for many people. Left untreated, these symptoms can impact daily activities and wreak havoc on relationships and work situations. Chris, thank you for being with us today.

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Thank you. Thank you.

Rosemary Cope: You know, some people assume that adults can't have ADD or they just grow out of it as children. Would you give our listeners a brief overview of what ADD looks like in adults?

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. Yeah, it's interesting, because when most people think of attention deficit disorder, they think of kids and they think of the "wild child," and you see that a lot in boys, and that is just not really the case with adults. Adults do not have that overt restlessness. It's more of an internal restlessness that they feel. I'll give you an example. I have a lot of people who come into my practice for psychological evaluations. I had a guy come in the other day for this and he was telling me that he will be at work, and of course, with him, there's a lot of distractibility and all that kind of stuff, but he just can't seem to sit still. So, every 10, 15 minutes, he has to get up and just kind of walk around the office or walk around the building, and once he does that, he kind of feels a little settled down, like he can get back to work, but it's still, it's kind of a constant thing for him, that internal restlessness. So, although it's not kind of running around and all that kind of stuff, for adults, you see it more that way. Other adults will kind of describe it as more of an internal restlessness as well. But we also see a distractibility and for some people, the impulsivity, not thinking before they act, and of course, that can present itself a little bit differently in adults as well. But those are the ... Barkley refers to this as the "holy trinity" of ADHD symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, but more so, restlessness for adults.

Rosemary Cope: Okay. How would that present in an adult besides, "I need to get up and move sometimes," or, "I make impulsive choices?" Anything else that people would look for?

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Uh-huh, yeah. I think that when they come in for these evaluations, when they describe these, they have done a lot of searching on Google, and so they kind of look at this and say, "Yeah, that's me, yeah, that's me." I think the other things that you'll oftentimes see are problems with what we call executive functions, so things such as, not only with attention span, focusing issues ... oftentimes, they will say, "I just can't stay focused on my work, and I try everything I can, but my mind is just wandering and I'm always distracted by things," but also even things like prioritizing - what do I do first? Like, if it's on the job, "I know that I should be doing this, but yet, my body or my brain is telling me - no, this would be more interesting to do." Some people describe this, people with ADHD, as having an interest-based nervous system, that they do things that are of interest to them. That's the thing that they are really focusing on or looking to do because that's what stimulates them. But the things that aren't as interesting, or that are boring, those are the thing that's really tough for them. So, that's the internal struggle that they experience.

Rosemary Cope: So, they wind up saying, "I know what I'm supposed to do, but I just can't seem to do it."

Dr. Christopher Quarto: That's right.

Rosemary Cope: "And I would like to, but I don't know how."

Dr. Christopher Quarto: That's right. And so, there's a motivation issue here at play with adults with attention deficit.

Rosemary Cope: So, Chris, is there like a cure for ADD and what can be done to treat this?

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Well, there are a lot of different things that can be done and it's interesting. If you look at the research now, researchers are looking at a lot of different things. Of course, we have had medication as the primary way of treating this for many years. Your listeners may know the medication Ritalin. That's been around for about 80 years now. It is a stimulant. And of course, the primary way of treating this is with stimulant medication. So, in addition to Ritalin, we have things like Vyvanse, Focalin, Concerta, and the list goes on. There are tons of them. But they all do the same thing. They help people focus, concentrate. This issue that I was just talking about with the motivation and distractibility, those aren't as big of an issue when treated with medication. So, that's the primary way, but there are other things that they can do as well. There are some techniques, little tricks that they can use. Oftentimes, it's getting people who they know to kind of help them, to remind them of things, whether it is a spouse, partner, people that they work with ... can do that kind of stuff. And it's also ... it's interesting nowadays, too, is that there are a lot of apps that can be used on phones to help them with organization, prioritizing, remembering things, just all this kind of stuff, so lots of different things that can be done.

Rosemary Cope: If I was going to look for an app, because we are all walking around with a phone in our hand, are there any that you are familiar with?

Dr. Christopher Quarto: I don't use those apps myself, but the ones that I would recommend are ones that, if they go searching for these types of apps, searching for ones that have good ratings, good reviews, and preferably ones that have good research behind it, because there are lots of apps that are out there but haven't proven to be effective. So, if they are going to do a search for apps, make sure and look for the research-based apps.

Rosemary Cope: Makes sense.

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Yeah.

Rosemary Cope: And Chris, if I think that I might be affected by ADD as an adult, where can I go for help?

Dr. Christopher Quarto: There are lots of different ways of doing that. A lot of the referrals I get for testing come from the primary care physician. So, that's usually the first stop, and that's a good thing to do, because oftentimes, when people have symptoms of attention deficit disorder or what they think is attention deficit disorder, it could actually be a physical problem. It might be a problem with the thyroid. It could be a lot of different things. It could be a substance issue that they are having, and that doesn't have anything to do with attention deficit, but that's kind of how it presents. So, I think ruling those out by going to the physician first is a really good idea. If the physician rules those out, then I think the next stop would be to get evaluated for this. Do they really have attention deficit disorder, or is it something that is masking as this? Anxiety and depression can be very similar in symptom presentation. So, it's good to get an evaluation to make sure that it's not one of those and it really is attention deficit, and then once they get that proper diagnosis, then they can look at treatment. There are a lot of people who do treatment for this, looking at things that they can do to alter a lifestyle, helping them at work. So, a lot of the therapeutic procedures that we have heard of in the past, like cognitive behavioral therapy and different types of therapies, can certainly help these folks.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you so much for giving us a little overview on this and giving us places to go for help and some better understanding about something that affects more people than we are aware of.

Dr. Christopher Quarto: Not a problem at all. It's been nice talking to you, Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.eduvumc.org or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Coaching, Counseling, Mental Health, VU, VUMC

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Minority Women and Depression

harnessg — Fri, 17 May 2019 05:01:15 +0000

Minority Women and Depression

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Musenge Lachembe Hayslett, a Nashville psychotherapist, shares her knowledge about how depression affects black women, along with some of the barriers for treatment.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt University Health and Wellness Wellcast . I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Musenge Luchembe Hayslett. She is originally from Los Angeles but lived in the African country of Botswana until she was 16. She has studied at the University of California Berkeley and at John F. Kennedy University. She is currently in private practice in Nashville. Anyone can experience mental illness, but women are at least twice as likely to experience an episode of major depression as men, and compared to their Caucasian counterparts, African-American women are only half as likely to seek help. Musenge, thank you for being with us today, and what are your thoughts on how mental health conditions affect African-American women?

Musenge Hayslett: Thank you for having me on your podcast. I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss a very important topic. I'm a multicultural individual and I've always practiced with very diverse populations in my private practice and the agencies in Oakland and San Francisco. So, I feel comfortable stating that African-American women are affected by mental health conditions in the same way as other racial groups. The isolation, hopelessness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, strained relationships, weight changes are all present. I think what differentiates our experience and makes us less likely to seek and receive the appropriate treatment is how our symptoms are perceived by health providers, our access to treatment, and stigma.

Rosemary Cope: What are some of the barriers that you eluded to that women might have in asking for and receiving quality mental health? And you mentioned there's a bias or there might be a stigma attached to receiving mental health. Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Musenge Hayslett: Access to treatment is probably one of the biggest barriers. Very few of us therapists take insurance because managed care tends to put a lot of restrictions on our ability to provide care, and there is a wage gap for African-American and women of color, and that is much lower than our white counterparts. So, many African-American women cannot afford to pay $80-$120 a week for therapy out of pocket. And then, as far as stigma, faith and religion can be a double-edged sword in our community. The black church has been, and still is for many, the most powerful resources in the African-American community and probably one of the most welcoming and least oppressive institutions that African-Americans have access to in this country; however, some of the leaders spread a message that all you need is God when it comes to mental health conditions, and this is not true, because I have several deeply spiritual clients that are really suffering in silence, and as a wholistic therapist, I feel it is possible and necessary to incorporate spirituality into treatment. And regarding provider bias, our country has a history of racial inequality, and that has had a big impact on how we perceive African-American women. Stereotypes such as the "strong black women," "angry black women," "Jezebel," and "Mammy," and often being characterized as overly dramatic and antagonizing can result in misdiagnosis, and a lack of attunement between the client and the therapist. And because of the media portrayal of African-Americans in the news and reality T.V., it is very easy to incorporate these depictions into our work. And doctors and therapists are not exempt from taking these stereotypes into the exam room and the therapy room.

Rosemary Cope: How would a woman recognize those signs of depression (you mentioned some of them at the beginning of our talk) and understand how she needs help and actually going about the process of getting there?

Musenge Hayslett: So, with the symptoms, there's hopelessness, lack of energy, lack of interest in doing the things that you once enjoyed, weight loss or weight gain, sleeping too much, or little, or just poor quality of sleep, and irritability and anger. This also looks like very strained relationships, not really wanting to go into work, not performing as well.

Rosemary Cope: Are there places that you might recommend for somebody who is listening who says, "Boy, this sounds like me, but where do I go? If I can gather my courage, where do I go to get help?"

Musenge Hayslett: There is actually a directory called "Therapy for Black Girls," and it links African-American black clients with African-American therapists in the different locations. So, that's a really good place to start. There's also organizations like "Open Paths Psychotherapy Network," which provides care for relatively lower ... about the price of a co-pay, so between $30-$50, and they are guaranteed to charge you no more than that. Those are two organizations that I am fairly aware of that are helpful and a good place to start.

Rosemary Cope: Can you also give us some information about how to deal with the barriers that women might face?

Musenge Hayslett: Provider bias can be remedied by increasing access to culturally-competent care, so more African-American providers being available and also better training ... not necessarily just educating about specific ethnic groups but really teaching providers how to consistently examine and question their own biases and privileges. There's also a Facebook group called "Therapy for Black Girls Thrive Tribe" and this is a place where black women can ask questions about mental health and receive responses (some of them are from therapists and the general community) without worrying about judgment.

Rosemary Cope: I really appreciate, Musenge, you giving us at least some places to start to look that, if I am listening to this and I am a black woman and I am wondering where can I go to get help, along with going through your Vanderbilt EAP, there are places in the community who are open and welcome to you.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story or a suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" link on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Counseling, Mental Health, VU, VUMC

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This Pain Is Killing Me

harnessg — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 06:00:00 +0000

This Pain Is Killing Me

Wellcasts, Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Dr. James McFerrin talks about the effects of the opioid crisis on chronic pain clients and outlines treatment options and considerations.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Dr. James McFerrin, who is a consulting psychiatrist with Work/Life Connections and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and The American Society of Addiction Medicine. Chronic pain changes lives and it is estimated that about 100 million people deal with it. It impacts self-image. It affects others. It interrupts plans. It is a disease that sometimes the person living with doesn't even understand and others don't accept. Being bedridden one day but unimpaired the next can be difficult to explain. Dr. McFerrin, we hear so much about the opioid crisis these days. How is it affecting those with chronic pain?

Dr. James McFerrin: Thank you, Rosemary, and it's always a pleasure to work with you. I have been in private practice and worked with university and academic and other settings for over 30 years as a psychiatrist. First, I would like to say I am not a pain management specialist; however, as an M.D., I see all sorts of disorders, emotional, psychological, and certainly physical, and chronic pain in, I would say the last 12-15 years has emerged as a huge problem in our society, and now with opiates and dealing with the opioid crisis, which I think most everyone has heard of that, has become really a top-drawer issue for all of us who are practicing. So, let me start with chronic pain. Then, I'm going to put you on the spot.

Rosemary Cope: Okay.

Dr. James McFerrin: First, there are multiple overlapping causes of pain in the same physical location. So, when a person has a symptom, first, we have to identify to understand the combination of pain states and what are the mechanisms that cause pain. So, as a physician, I always want to pursue the cause before I start the treatment, not just throw things on the wall and see if something works and something doesn't. We do like to be scientific or quasi-scientific about it. Fortunately, we have a lot of research now and we have some government guidelines that help us. In other words, I want to reference the TMA website. TMA stands for Tennessee Medical Association, and whenever we go online, be sure the website is reputable or credible, and that, number one, they are not trying to sell you something, and number two, they are not trying to treat you. So, why is this a problem in Tennessee? What has changed from your standpoint from what you understand?

Rosemary Cope: I think that sometimes there is an ease of getting these medications that wasn't there before, there are more choices now, and people are also a little more savvy about options that are available to them to treat pain, whether it is through print media, something they have heard on the radio or T.V., or even a friend.

Dr. James McFerrin: And we are a global society. We are a national influence of media, of resources. You can get most any drug you want online from China. These are daunting issues. But what about Tennessee? Let me give you a few statistics and then I won't bore you too long with this, but in 2017, Tennessee ranked in the top 10% per capita prescription rate for opioids in the U.S. What does that mean? That means 90% of the states had fewer prescriptions written per-person than in Tennessee. Hey, we are at the top, and we don't want to be at the top of a survey like this. The unintentional overdose deaths increased to 1,776. Just a year earlier, in 2016, there were 1,631. So, although fewer prescriptions or amounts were written, we had an increase in deaths. Now, how does this compare to other sorts of deaths? Talk about motor vehicle accidents, homicide, or suicide. Add all of those together and there were more unintentional overdose deaths from opiates. Oh, my gosh! That really gets my attention.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely.

Dr. James McFerrin: One hundred sixteen million U.S. adults, more than the numbers affected by heart disease, diabetes, cancer, adding all those together, have some form of chronic pain. Now, I am not saying everybody is addicted, but pain is a huge, huge issue. That's about one in four. So, I am getting a little older. You know, my knee hurts after I play tennis or, you know, back or neck pain. So, I can take a pill and immediately it goes away, or I feel better, or it gives me more energy, but is that really the best plan, and it's an insidious thing. Substance abuse, I always consider when I am teaching residents at Vanderbilt, it's not about bad people, but it's about a bad disease, and sometimes we make choices that are not the best for us. So, Rosemary, here you are. You came into me, I'm your doctor, and you have a pain problem. Well, tell me about your knee. What did you do to your knee?

Rosemary Cope: You know, I've had problems with it over and over and over again. I used to play tennis like you and there was a lot of wear and tear and now I think I've torn the meniscus and I just have a lot of pain, almost all the time.

Dr. James McFerrin: Oh, okay. So, you hurt it, and did it get better for a while?

Rosemary Cope: A little bit.

Dr. James McFerrin: Oh, okay, and then what did you do?

Rosemary Cope: I started using it more because it felt better.

Dr. James McFerrin: Oh, okay. But it got better for a while? But now it's chronic. It's kind of there all the time.

Rosemary Cope: Right.

Dr. James McFerrin: Okay. So, what kind of pain do you have? So, I'm a doctor and I'm supposed to be scientific. Let's break the pain state down into four different areas. So, I'll use some terminology, but then I'll explain it, too, because I don't always understand this terminology. We say "nociceptive." In other words, there's a noxious insult, a mechanical/thermochemical ... you burned it, you fell on it, you stretched it. You said you tore the meniscus. So, you did something acute. So, we know that you hurt that part of your body. The next one is "inflammatory." Well, what did you do? You got better or you took a little aspirin or you took naproxen or something?

Rosemary Cope: I took some naproxen.

Dr. James McFerrin: Naproxen. I like that one. It doesn't hurt my stomach.

Rosemary Cope: Right.

Dr. James McFerrin: And it got better and then it flared up again.

Rosemary Cope: Yes.

Dr. James McFerrin: So, that's inflammatory. So, that's a different type. What about me when I lifted and cleaned out the garage and carried those boxes and then I hurt my back? Well, that's called "neuropathic." That has to do with the nerves. So, I pulled something or collapsed a disk or did something, so it's nerve damage. That's the third type. And the last would be, oh, you walked in kind of funny - what's wrong, Rosemary? What did you do? Well, nothing that you know of?

Rosemary Cope: No. I'm just walking and all of the sudden, I have this horrible pain now and it won't stop.

Dr. James McFerrin: Okay. Well, we took an x-ray and there's nothing wrong with the bones. Let's do an MRI. No, it's totally normal. Oh, you're just making that up.

Rosemary Cope: No, but it hurts.

Dr. James McFerrin: Well, I can't find anything wrong with it. We've got all of these really sophisticated tests. Sometimes there's dysfunction and it happens and we can't find the cause. We call it "dysfunctional" or we call it "centralized." Sometimes it's in the brain. It's a pain sensation in the brain. So, I've been really scientific. I've showed you all my knowledge and all that schooling. I've got four pain states. What am I going to do with that? Okay. Well, here's some opiates and you're fine. That'll get you out of my hair and I won't have to worry about you until you call in three days later and want a prescription. Well, I say that because you ought to take my license away if I do that. I need to find out what kind of pain it is of these four types and I need to follow guidelines. As of 2017/2018, the state of Tennessee has led the nation in the guidelines in helping us understand and know how to prescribe effectively. Not always the opiates, sometimes the NSAIDs ... I might send you for physical therapy. You might do acupuncture. Do you believe in acupuncture?

Rosemary Cope: I haven't tried it yet.

Dr. James McFerrin: Well, you know, the insurance companies do. About 15 years ago, they said this really works. Acupuncture sometimes is very good. There's even ... I know you work as a psychologist. Even therapy sometimes help diminish or manage pain symptoms, pain perceptions. So, there are a number of treatments and we will talk about that. So, what about the guidelines from the State? I'll just say that I don't need the government to step in and tell me how to manage pain. That makes me angry. I'm a doctor. I went to school.

Rosemary Cope: You ought to know what you're doing, right?

Dr. James McFerrin: I should. And you know what? The government has stepped in and it has helped tremendously. It is starting to help. We have guidelines that are proven. There are many studies and research projects that show this helps us manage the pain effectively and appropriately, sometimes better than just prescribing opiates. So, we have ... I encourage you, since our time may be running short, you know, look on the websites and see that there are many ways to manage pain. There are many ways to document and discover what type of pain responds best to whatever type of treatment.

Rosemary Cope: And so, what I'm really hearing you say, Dr. McFerrin, is that it isn't all about, "I have a feeling, I'm in pain, and there's a pill for it, and that's all there is," but we have lots of choices, and people with chronic pain aren't just locked into a certain way of treatment.

Dr. James McFerrin: In fact, I would ask that you look at the website, if you are really interested in this, to find the non-opiate treatments for chronic pain and it tells you there are a lot of medications and some other therapies that work. There's also a checklist for using opiates and how to use them. I won't go into what doctors need to do, but we have to go on a website and we have to look up what is being prescribed, what has been prescribed, and make sure it's safe, that's it's the right amount, and we are held to task for that. That is a good thing, that physicians, providers, nurse practitioners, we have to do our job not to make this worse, to turn this around in a reasonable period of time and make sure the best treatment for the best relief of pain.

Rosemary Cope: Well, thank you so much for your insight into this and that's really appreciated because people need to know that there are options available to them.

Tags

Mental Health, VU, VUMC

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Women and Addiction

harnessg — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:55:46 +0000

Women and Addiction

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Mary Coleman, a psychotherapist who specializes in addiction and recovery, talks about the unique challenges women face with addiction and treatment.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Mary Coleman, who is a marriage and family therapist in private practice in Nashville. Mary is a graduate of Antioch University in Los Angeles and has a specialty in addiction and recovery. She is also an adjunct professor at Tennessee State University and is completing a book about first year in recovery. Addiction is an equal-opportunity disease that doesn't single out race, religion, or gender, yet, for some women, the female substance abuse stigma can be so strong that it keeps them from seeking help. In a world where much of the research on addiction is focused on men, it is more important than ever for women to have the courage to receive the treatment they need without shame and judgment. Mary, men and women often take different routes to substance abuse and addiction. What are some of the unique risk factors that women face?

Mary Coleman: Well, thank you for having me, Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely.

Mary Coleman: And I wanted to just touch on something you said, that it wasn't until the '90s that people even began to study the effects of alcoholism and addiction on women, and there was a lot of information missing that could have been very helpful and directed toward treatment. So, women have a higher sort of "at risk." There is a larger percentage of sexual abuse in alcoholics and addicts. They have now done research that hormones play a significant part, particularly estrogen, in a proclivity toward addiction, and women have different pain receptors. They have a lower tolerance to pain, which has fueled the opioid addiction. But once in addiction, some of the differences are really important. It takes much less for women than men for whatever substance they are abusing, and so, the impact is greater. They are higher faster. They are drunker quicker, which has led to more overdoses, more trips to the hospital. They ... We also metabolize alcohol and drugs differently than men do and it takes less for us to get to that point, as I just said. Women also do what's known as "telescoping," which is they go from use to abuse to addiction much more quickly than men do, and so, while there are more men addicts, women go much quicker into addiction, which is significant.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely, because I'm thinking, for women who are just ... I'm just having a glass of wine. Then, I'm having another glass. And now I've killed half the bottle and I don't realize that I am fast-tracking myself to a place that I might never have intended to go. So, yeah, I'm thinking that one stereotype of an intoxicated man is that, well, he's the life of the party, and that, for a woman, she's seen as a hot mess, which seems very unfair to me. And how has this double standard affected a woman's ability to seek treatment?

Mary Coleman: I think women begin to internalize some of the messages. Unfortunately, in society, we still have that "good girl/bad girl" mentality. You would think we had made a lot more progression. There are ... Women still receive such mixed messages of how they are supposed to be, accomplish it all, look nice and smell nice at the same time. So, there are a great deal of pressures on women. So, you have this notion ... And first of all, let me say no one likes to be around someone who is completely out of control. It is uncomfortable. But when women are in that position, there is a certain sense of danger or endangerment that makes people even more uncomfortable, and by the time women are bottoming out, they are stigmatized, they are traumatized, and they are demoralized, and a lot of times, they don't have even the inkling, the beginnings of self-esteem to think they are worth getting help or that treatment could actually work for them. So ... And there are some physical, logistical things. Women are caretakers. They are taking care of children, families, and maternal.

Rosemary Cope: How will I get treatment when I have so many other things to do?

Mary Coleman: Exactly, when I have these demands, when I have financial limitations. So, it's just hard for women.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely. And I'm thinking about removing that female substance abuse stigma requires removing shame and removing guilt about that ... from the addiction equation, and that I have to do all these other things first and I don't come first ever.

Mary Coleman: Ever.

Rosemary Cope: So, how does a woman come to feeling empowered enough to do all of that? How does she move to that? Huge question, though.

Mary Coleman: Huge question. Huge question. And I wish we could remove the shame and guilt. I think society needs to do a better job at education and empowering younger girls and giving them this notion that they don't have to take care of everything and accomplish everything. So, education is a huge piece, changing our attitudes, recognizing that this is a disease. When my clients come to me in the beginning of their bottoming-out period, recognizing that they have a problem, which is a whole journey unto itself, I try to help them understand that they have a disease. They are not the disease. They are not broken. They are not broken for life. And, you know, I think you mentioned shame and this toxic shame. Brené Brown says that shame is the swampland of the soul, but she also says that one of the most successful combatants is the simple phrase "Me Too," and I think women need to know that there are other women like them, and that no matter what has happened to them, what they have had to do, there are other women in treatment that are there who have gone before them and who understand.

Rosemary Cope: Yes. So, with that in mind and seeking treatment, can you tell our listeners briefly where are some places that they might reach out here in the Middle Tennessee area? What are some local resources?

Mary Coleman: Cumberland Heights, I hear amazing things about. I am still getting familiar with some of the local treatment centers. I've heard good things about Addiction Centers of America. Local AA meetings.

Rosemary Cope: Right or Smart Recovery.

Mary Coleman: Smart Recovery, absolutely. Smart Recovery is really developing a lot of groundwork and has had a great deal of success because the 12 steps and the spiritual aspect of it don't work for everybody.

Rosemary Cope: Sure.

Mary Coleman: But there are meetings all over Nashville and Middle Tennessee. It is a hub of recovery.

Rosemary Cope: Excellent. Thank you so much. That was a great place for us to begin to start thinking about if I know somebody or I am somebody who has questions about this, I am not alone and there are places for me to actually receive the help that I need.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story or a suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Addiction, Counseling, Mental Health, VU, VUMC

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One Is The Loneliest Number

harnessg — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:00:01 +0000

One Is The Loneliest Number

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Reverend Shantell Hinton from the Vanderbilt Office of Religious Life looks at the role of friendship in our lives: why we need them, how we maintain them, and how they can enable us to live more satisfying lives.

Begin Transcript

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt University Health and Wellness wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. Our guest today is Reverend Shantell Hinton. Shantell is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, Colorado State University, and Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is currently the Assistant University Chaplain and the Assistant Director of Religious Life. One of the most important, and yet, least understood areas of psychology concerns the role of friends in our lives. Studies show friends can boost your happiness and reduce your stress. They can improve your self-confidence and self-worth. They can help you cope with trauma, such as divorce, serious illness, job loss, or the death of a loved one, and encourage you to change or avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits. Shantell, it seems we are naturally made to be in relationship or in community with others. What are your thoughts on why friends are important in our lives?

Rev. Shantell Hinton: I think I read somewhere once that friends are the family that we can choose, and I think that friends are really the difference between us living a life of full happiness and joy and being ... versus having a life of emptiness and sadness. I think that friends are people who are our mirrors, because they help us see ourselves, but they are also people who show us mercy when we need it. So, when we are very hard on ourselves, even though they might know the worst things about us, they still love us regardless. So, I think that friends are extremely important. There is an African proverb that says, "Ubuntu," which means, "I am because we are," and I think we are a product of the village that's around us. And in so many ways, we become better versions of ourselves by the friends and the company that we keep. So, I think friendships are completely vital to who we are as people and to our growth.

Rosemary Cope: So, just as we all know that improving our physical health might include a healthy diet and exercise, what do we need to do to work on the health of these very vital friendships and relationships that we have?

Rev. Shantell Hinton: That's a great question. I think we take our friendships for granted sometimes, particularly people in the millennial generation, such as myself. We are so on the go, so social media driven, and we feel like, well, our friends can see what we are doing on social media, so it is easy to not be accountable to our friends. So, I think some of the things that we can do to improve the health of our relationships would be being intentional about getting together in person, not via social media. That would be number one. Number two, asking what the other person needs in the friendship as well as being clear on what you need in the friendship, because I think friendships evolve over time, right, and the nature of the way that you are able to give to the relationship and what you can expect from the relationship will change. So, I think being clear about those expectations, but then also self-assessing if it is time for the nature of your relationship to shift, because it may be that that friendship has run its course in your life and it is taking up space in your life that is not healthy. So, I think being accountable to meeting up, thinking through your expectations of the relationship, and also knowing what you need from relationships in general are really good to assessing the health of your overall friendships.

Rosemary Cope: I know that people seek you out for guidance, so as a religious leader, what has been your experience of the role of friendship and how it plays in helping people to live more satisfying lives?

Rev. Shantell Hinton: Wow, that is a really great question. I think, in college, particularly working with college students, this is the time of your life where you are meeting many of your lifetime friends, and they don't know it yet, but I can see a lot of times, as someone who is a professional, that these friendships that they are making can either be extremely healthy, in that they are going to be beneficial for them in the long run, or the contrary. So, I feel like helping young people to assess the roles that their friends are playing in their lives is extremely important because friends can be the difference in life and death sometimes. Friends can be the people who pick up the phone, that you call when no one else answers. I absolutely believe, as a person of faith, that friends are like the arms of God that give you a hug when you need it the most, and so, I think that understanding that friends are a lot of times God's instruments on earth, helps us to get to a place of living more fully into who God wants us to become.

Rosemary Cope: And you are right, and everything that we touched on just says we truly do need each other no matter what.

Rev. Shantell Hinton: Yes.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you for listening. Please feel free to leave us any comments on this wellcast by clicking the "Add New Comment" link at the bottom of this page. If you have a story or a suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" link on our website atwww.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

VU, VUMC

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Vanderbilt LGBTQ Health

harnessg — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Vanderbilt LGBTQ Health

Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections, Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Del Ray Zimmerman, Program Manager of the Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health, highlights affirming and informed health care services for sexual minorities.

Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ Health

Begin Transcript

H&W.184745085.334836.LGBTHealth

Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I'm Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. My guest today is Del Ray Zimmerman, who is the Program Manager of the LGBTQ Health Program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Communication from University of Tennessee and has over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management. Although social acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States has been improving, LGBT individuals continue to face stigma and discrimination. These negative experiences, combined with a lack of access to culturally-affirming and informed healthcare, result in multiple health disparities for this population. Del Ray, would you tell our listeners the purpose of the Vanderbilt Center?

Del Ray Zimmerman: Sure, absolutely, and, and, first of all, thank you so much for having me here today, Rosemary.

Rosemary Cope: Absolutely.

Del Ray Zimmerman: Our program was actually started from a call from a medical student, who said that they weren't getting the kind of education that they needed to be able to take care of LGBT individuals. So, we were founded, actually, in 2012, and my boss, Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, spent a, a number of years building curricular pieces, so now that we, now we are graduating providers who are much more competent in the area. Since then, we have actually moved into patient care and I actually maintain a pretty robust referral program so that LGBT patients can call me, let me know what is going on with them, and I can refer them to a culturally-competent provider. Additionally, we have actually expanded our clinical services. We actually opened the Vanderbilt Clinic for Transgender Health, which has been really incredible, and of course, I can provide connectivity and referrals into that clinic as well.

Rosemary Cope: As you all expand, there is something that hopefully meets the needs of anybody who comes here instead of people feeling disenfranchised when they go to see a healthcare provider.

Del Ray Zimmerman: Exactly, and that, that, unfortunately, has been the case for far too long. LGBT people are more likely to delay care because they have received bad care in the past and have been discriminated against in different healthcare settings. So, we want to eliminate that for LGBT folks who seek our services and to provide a welcoming atmosphere.

Rosemary Cope: Well, then, that leads me to my next question. So, if I am a Vanderbilt employee who would like to address some personal gender and orientation issues related to my healthcare, what could I expect to learn from your program? What kind of services might I receive from this program?

Del Ray Zimmerman: I maintain our referral program and I actually do a lot of education. Throughout the enterprise, I probably do a couple of trainings a week and helping our clinical, um, our clinical staff to be more welcoming and affirming, and to educate our providers more on what unique health disparities actually exist. And in terms of clinical services, I can provide those referrals for HIV care to get patients connected with PREP services, and PREP is pre-exposure prophylaxis, and can help prevent the spread of HIV. In addition, I mentioned our Clinic for Transgender Health, and certainly anyone who is transgender, I think, faces additional burden in finding competent resources, and so, we have a full-scale operation for transgender patients. I think, no matter what someone needs, the kind of specialty care that you can find at Vanderbilt, we have connectivity in every single department to be able to assist patients.

Rosemary Cope: You're like the agency that connects folks when they really don't know where to go.

Del Ray Zimmerman: Exactly. Exactly. I really, I really do provide concierge-type services for patients who are looking for help.

Rosemary Cope: And are you able to tell us about any other local resources that might be available for folks who come, um, here in Nashville?

Del Ray Zimmerman: Absolutely. You know, there are, are, several community organizations that can provide support. Of course, you know, when, when, when we encounter families who are looking for medical intervention, you know, we also, we oftentimes refer back out to the community. I think PFLAG is one of our community's greatest resources. PFLAG has historically stood for parents and friends of lesbians and gays. That name is not exactly inclusive, so they just, they actually just use the acronym now, but it, it, it essentially functions as a support group for folks who are supporting loved ones who are LGBT. Particularly for young transgender members of our community, it's great so that parents actually have a place to go to receive support, and, you know, parents oftentimes feel very isolated.

Rosemary Cope: And of course, if I am a Vanderbilt staff member, ah, Medical Center or the University, then there's also support and places for me to interact with others through the KC Potter Center?

Del Ray Zimmerman: Absolutely, yes. Our friends at the KC Potter Center are certainly wonderful. They have a, just a wonderful, welcoming space and fantastic staff. So, that's a, that certainly is a great center, and I did mention our brand new employee resource group, and we are looking forward to an exciting 2019.

Rosemary Cope: Well, thank you so much, Del Ray. We really appreciate all of the information that you've been able to give to us.

Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu, or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

Medical Care, Primary Care, VU, VUMC

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Holiday Resilience

mcgownpw — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Holiday Resilience

Work/Life Connections, Wellcasts, Wellcasts - Work/Life Connections

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Work/Life Connections

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Jim Kendall, director of Vanderbilt's Work/Life Connections-EAP, suggests strategies for maintaining resilience during the holiday season.

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Rosemary Cope: Welcome to this edition of the Vanderbilt Health and Wellness Wellcast. I am Rosemary Cope with Work/Life Connections. My guest today is Jim Kendall, who is the manager for Work/Life Connections Employee Assistance Program. Jim is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 35 years of clinical experience, with 18 of those years at Vanderbilt. The holidays are thought of by some as the happiest time of the year, while for others, it is much more challenging. Maybe it is the challenges of family, or lack of family, financial pressures, or the pressures of society and advertisers telling us how we ought to feel. For all of those reasons, it might be good to plan ahead, to become more "holiday resilient." Jim, can you tell our listeners - what does it mean to be resilient in general?

Jim Kendall: Being resilient is having the ability or capacity to bounce back after there has been some challenge in life. I think many people believe that the holidays pose a challenge. I kind of think of the first and strongest part of resilience is having the ability to be optimistic, and I think every year we are optimistic that this year it might be different, this year is going to be a wonderful holiday season, but usually that means that we have to be realistic, because optimism isn't always that you get what you want, but rather, you are able to figure out how can I get something that is good enough, that works for me? I think holidays always pose a challenge, but one of the key aspects to resilience, as well as holidays, is often about nurturing social connections, and I think when you are thinking about your holidays, you want to intentionally make some choices about who will actually nurture your life and who might take some away from it. And we may not always have the choice. I love my family, and sometimes I can be around family and it feels fantastic, and sometimes it can feel like I am back as a child again. So, depending on what your circumstance is, and you usually know it, you want to figure out - how in the world can I plan for that and take small dosages? And I guess the last thing I want to say about some of our attitude about this is - we need to think ... in November, it is a great time to think about gratitude, that as many things as we might struggle with, there are some things in our lives that we can be grateful for. Many of us have the opportunity to do jobs that make a difference in people's lives or that we really can find meaning in, and we need to leave each day thinking about - what are the good things that I was able to do for people, or how did I make a difference? And I think if you just think of three, studies have shown that you end up being happier, if every day you just write down three things that you are grateful for. And I'd probably add - don't forget that, as you are going through your holiday season, you've got to have a lifestyle that allows you to have the energy to be able to deal with things. So, the things that are important are making sure you are getting some movement around and making sure that you are getting good nutrition, because it is easy to just snack on things at holidays that you may love, but you may not need, and then finally, get enough sleep, because that is really the basis and foundation for how we are going to be able to handle some challenging times and bounce back from those that we are struggling with, and that is the way you have a resilient holiday.

Rosemary Cope: With that in mind, I am going to take good care of myself while I see these holidays approaching. I am going to take a check on my attitude and see what I can do with that and I am going to practice gratitude, also, in the midst of all of that and recognize the things and the gifts that I already have and give to other people, and this is going to help in my resilience as we go forward.

Jim Kendall: Hopefully that means that your holiday will be one that isn't necessarily the Hallmark holiday, but it is one that you can enjoy and you can say, "Yeah, this was good."

Rosemary Cope: If someone is feeling overwhelmed, Jim, are there resources available to help them?

Jim Kendall: Absolutely. We, at Work/Life Connections, are always happy to talk to folks and meet with them when you are struggling, and holidays can be a real time of struggling. So, please give us a call. We have a confidential service. It's at no charge to you as an employee. So, just give us a call at 936-1327 and that's in the 615 area code.

Rosemary Cope: Thank you all for listening. If you have a story suggestion, please email it to us at health.wellness@vanderbilt.edu or you can use the "Contact Us" page on our website at www.vumc.org/health-wellness.

Tags

VUMC, Counseling, Resilience

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