I've done a lot of volunteer work over the years. And sometimes humorous things happen at volunteer jobs.
One time I was working as a volunteer dealing with the public. And every person that morning that I had dealt with were all men.
So when I finally had a female customer that day, I accidentally called her, "Sir."
How embarrassing!
She didn
Performing volunteer work can be beneficial for you for a variety of reasons.
One reason is that if you're looking for a paying job, potential employers love finding out that you've performed volunteer work.
Furthermore, if you do volunteer work and your supervisor(s) at the volunteer job(s) likes your attitude and likes your work, you can use them as a reference for when you're filling out an application or resume.
I've done a lot of volunteer work in my time. As a result, I hav
Years ago, I volunteered at a local elementary school for a school year. My job was to help some of the students who were falling behind with their grades with their classwork. It was a worthwhile volunteer job for me.
When I worked with the kids, who were in the third grade at the time, I decided not to require them to call me "Mr. Brown." Instead, I let them just call me, "Mike."
The reason was because I felt that the young students would respect me just as much if I let them call
An older man who I knew had successful heart surgery years ago.
After his surgery, he was asked if he wanted to join a support group for those who also had heart surgery.
However, he decided not to join the group. He just wanted to forget about the heart surgery.
Of course, he couldn't completely forget about it, because if he did, the chances of him getting sick again would increase. He had to take care of himself and take care of his heart. One way he did that was by going ou
If someone has been through one or more traumatic experiences in their life, such as sexual assault(s), physical assault(s), child abuse, extreme bullying, etc., many will call the person a trauma victim.
However, I've had psychotherapists tell me that if you've been through trauma in your past, you aren't a trauma victim. Instead, you are a trauma survivor. The thing is, the trauma didn't literally kill you because you are still here, which makes you a survivor, not a victim.
I thin
Life can be good. However, we all go through emotionally tough times in our lives.
During those hard times, some people can get suicidal, unfortunately. Some individuals can get suicidal when something major in their lives goes terribly wrong. Maybe they're going through a messy divorce, or perhaps their child passed away.
But some people can actually get suicidal over much smaller problems. I don't think all people realize that.
So if you get suicidal easily over smaller issu
Many teenagers are often victims of bullying on the schoolyard. And bullying can have a terrible price, especially since many teenagers are quite emotionally delicate at that age.
Those who are bullied on the schoolyard can face not only physical injuries. They can develop full blown mental illness because of it, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Getting picked on and beat up is rather traumatic to many students.
So if you are a bully, you must realize what great emotional t
A year or two ago, a storm gave us some hail where I live. And the hail was getting sort of big. Hence, I was getting afraid that it might cause some damage to my car.
Fortunately, the hail never got big enough to cause any damage. I lucked out.
Have you ever seen damaging hail before? If so, how bad was it?
If you're a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist, you deal with lots of patients who have a variety of issues every day. And some patients will be doing better than others.
One patient you'll see will be doing well and will be making lots of progress in overcoming his or her mental health issues. Then the next client you see a little bit later on in the day will be doing just awful and will be having a rather bad day. Or vice-versa.
Also, some patients get better with the help of psych
If you have mental illness, getting help for it is commendable. And it's worth it because, with the help of mental health providers such as therapists, psychiatrists, etc., you can overcome it and live a happy, productive life.
Also, doing what you can to help yourself while you're in treatment increases the chances that you'll be successfully treated.
However, if you get the help and do as much as you can to help yourself in the long term, you are not only helping yourself. You are
Once per week, I volunteer at a food pantry for a few hours. It's nice to try to help those with a low income get access to healthy food for their families and themselves.
However, when I think of doing volunteer work to help those with mental illness, I often think of volunteer jobs such as visiting patients in mental hospitals, or something of that nature.
But volunteering at food pantries also helps those with mental illness. After all, if food pantries didn't exist, those who don
Helping others, such as those trying to cope with serious mental health issues, can be rewarding. You really can help those who try to help themselves. Giving them good and helpful advice matters too.
However, you don't want to tell those who you are trying to help how they should run their lives, even if you have the best of intentions.
Years ago, I knew a guy who years before then was a mental health worker. And although he meant well, he was always telling others how they should
I've always been a proponent of telling myself that, when I'm having a bad day, it'll get better and that tomorrow is a new day. And when I'm having a good day or good time in my life, I tell myself to enjoy it and to live in the moment.
However, years ago I was watching a movie in which one of the main characters had issues with clinical depression.
Her philosophy was that, when she was feeling good emotionally, she'd tell herself that she was doing fine...until it gets worse for her
To all mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!
If you give your mother a nice Mother's Day card today, hopefully it won't make her cry, ha, ha.
If you celebrate Mother's Day each year, what do you usually do to celebrate on Mother's Day?
In your opinion, what's worse: a summer day in which the weather is too hot for you, or a cold, frigid day during the middle of the winter that is too cold for you? Why?
For me, a cold winter day is worse. I tend to like hot weather anyway, even though I've lived most of my life in Maine, United States.
A ways back, I was reading a self help book written by an experienced psychotherapist.
Near the end of the book, he wrote that if you elect to go into therapy, you should work with a counselor who mostly listens. He stated that working with a therapist who mostly listens is better and is the most effective way to be treated for mental health issues, such as depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, bipolar disorder, etc.
However, I think he was wrong. I feel that was an irrational
Years ago, I was reading a self help book about anger management.
The author of the book, a psychotherapist, wrote that when someone is being what you perceive as being rude to you, the person doesn't make you angry. Instead, the author stated that you make yourself angry when the individual is perceived by you as being rude to you.
I'm not so sure about that.
What's your opinion about this? Do you think the author is right or wrong?
Many people are easy to get along with. Then their are others who struggle in this area.
Some individuals who I know are basically good, nice people. But at the same time, they don't get along with so many others and have a problem with just about everyone. And they like to complain about others a lot too.
So with that said, here's my question: if they have a problem with so many people and don't get along with most others, don't they realize that maybe they are the ones with the pr
How are you coping during the coronavirus pandemic?
I'm coping pretty well with it.
One reason that I'm coping well with the virus is because I'm not watching the news about it on the TV a great deal. I'm watching the news some so I can be informed about the virus. And I think that's smart.
However, I'm not watching the news a great deal, as I don't want to get all worried and panicked about the virus because of it. For me, their's a happy medium.
Teenagers aren't adults yet. They have a lot to learn about life. And many of them think that they already know everything (although I don't believe all of them think that).
As probably any therapist will tell you, teenagers are the hardest to get through to, in general.
But despite that, lots of them can be helped. Many teens will listen to helpful advice given by adults, including teens who are battling mental illness. Lots of them can be reasoned with. Not all of them are super
Back in the early 2000's, I attended a community college as a Human Services major.
One of the first classes I attended was taught by a Social Worker/Therapist (a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or LCSW). And one of the first things she told the class is that she takes teaching her profession as well as working in her profession very seriously.
Although she expected a lot from her students such as myself, I didn't think what was required in order to do well in her class was unusually
Lots of people in our world need help from others. Fortunately, their are many folks who want to help those who need it. Their are lots of individuals who want to assist others and make a positive impact on their lives.
If you try to help others, that's commendable on your part.
However, if you try to make a difference in the lives of others, be humble about it.
If you go out and start bragging to everyone that you help individuals, the people that you're bragging to are going t
I'm no family therapist. I know far less about family counseling than highly trained, full-fledged family therapists do.
But one thing I do know is that parents should never fight in front of their young children.
A husband and wife fighting in front of their kids can be frightening for young ones. Hence, it's unfair to children to have to see their parents fight each other in a heated verbal battle.
If parents feel the need to fight each other at home, they need to do so when t
Back in July of 2011, I was a patient in a mental hospital. It was the second to last time that I've been in one of those places.
While I was there, I got talking to one of the psychiatric technicians (psychiatric techs job are to keep patients in mental hospitals and psych wards safe). And to my surprise, he told me that he was seeing a therapist at the time.
I don't think a psych tech who is still requiring psychotherapy should be doing that for a living. Those who work in mental
I've worked with lots of psychotherapists over the years. Some I thought were better than others.
One therapist I saw was a counselor whom I didn't work with for long, as I didn't think she was very good at it.
However, one helpful bit of advice she gave me was for me to surround myself with positive things and good people. I thought that was excellent advice.
If you surround yourself with good things and good people, your life still won't be perfect and rosy. Yo