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...

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...

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...

Employee Wellness: Meeting the Challenge of the Workplace

Today’s behavioral health agencies are under more pressure than ever to measure and improve outcomes, reduce costs, adapt to changing market and regulatory conditions. As a result of these sometimes competing pressures, burnout and compassion fatigue are ever present concerns in today’s...

Getting Help: What Are Your Rights in the Workplace if You Are Battling Addiction

According to a 2012 survey by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (NYS OASAS), 10 percent of all-American adults, ages 18 and older, consider themselves to be in recovery from drug or alcohol problems. That means many of the...

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...

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...

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...