Archive for the ‘Winter 2016 Issue’ Category

Psychological Flexibility in the Workplace: A Value-Driven Journey

The modern-day workplace is filled with discomfort and stress. This may take the form of fatigue, frustration, avoidance, and irritability, and arises when there are conflicts among our responsibilities in helping others (i.e., co-workers, family, and friends), completing our own obligations and...

The NYSPA Report: Conversion Therapy

Primum non nocere, “first do no harm,” is a maxim well known to physicians and might be one that should be taken to heart by state decision makers. It is with this dictum in mind that NYSPA urges the NYS Senate to finally pass during its 2016 session the bill defining the practice of “Sexual...

Workplace Success for Individuals with Autism and Sensory Issues: The Critical Role of Wellness and Strategies for Success

What factors are most important to an individual’s success in the workplace? If this question was posed to a group of people, one might expect a range of answers including experience, education, work ethic, people skills, and the ability to problem solve. However, in working with young adults...

Merging Missions: Building a Staff Wellness Program

Bringing wellness into the workplace is a natural development for Odyssey House where the mission of the organization is to promote a healthy recovery for individuals and families facing a range of life challenges from substance use disorders, mental illness, homelessness and chronic medical...

Tips for a Successful Employee Wellness Program

At Springbrook, over 1,200 employees work hard each day to deliver compassionate care and support to people of all ages with developmental disabilities from across the state of New York. Our work is centered on maintaining the healthiest, safest, most inclusive environments for the people we...

Improving the American Mental Health System: The Importance of the Workplace

Bill lived in an almost constant sense of dread. At work he was distracted by his worries about his children, who were having problems in school and about his deteriorating relationship with his wife. He worried about having enough money to pay the bills. At night he lay awake ruminating about...

Integrating Staff Wellness into Agency Culture: A Win, Win, Win

According to Officevibe.com, 78 percent of Americans describe their jobs as stressful. In discussing this with colleagues, the feeling was that this figure was a bit high. However, as we moved on to discuss an informal contest of who had the most webinars to watch for the week, it was quickly...

Health Education Class in the Workplace

As a native New Yorker, playing co-ed softball in Central Park is simply a rite of passage. A few years ago as I was preparing to bat, a small boy ran up to me very intrigued by what we were doing. But like any child, he was full of questions. His first question was, “Why are boys playing...

New, Work-focused Approach Helps Employees with Depression Do Better at Work and Feel Better, Too

When employees injure their spine, they often receive physical therapy for this common condition. They learn how to strengthen weak muscles, lift properly and sit ergonomically. Essentially, they are taught proven strategies to get them back on their feet and back on the job. But it’s been a...

Introducing Collaborative Care in the Workplace

Depression in the workplace affects 10 million people each year (Value Options, How Depression Affects the Workplace) with 6-8% of the population having a major depressive episode each year (Kessler RC et al., The Prevalence and Correlates of Workplace Depression in the National Comorbidity Survey...