What 4% Unemployment and a Workforce Shortage Means for Community Behavioral Health and Social Service Agencies .

Mental Health, Topics in Leadership, Work
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash

Things are different in the world of recruitment and retention of employees these days. Ask anyone in human resource management. It is getting harder to find competent, effective staff members. Not only is it getting difficult to find good employees, it is also getting increasingly challenging to keep qualified and experienced personnel. In fact, the more technical or skilled the job is, the harder it is to recruit and retain someone.  With unemployment at or below 4% every industry is feeling the pinch. However, in the world of community behavioral health and social services the feeling is much more than a pinch. The reality is that there are not enough highly qualified and licensed staff in the market to satisfy the need. In today’s community behavioral health job market, 

  1. The qualified people currently interviewing at your agency are also interviewing at several other places and a race is on to offer good people a job. If you wait too long you miss out. 
  2. The salary of qualified staff is a constantly moving target.  What is a very competitive wage today is on the low end of average after six months. 
  3. Credentialed staff are being actively recruited by your competition and could go at anytime. 
  4. The competition community behavioral health centers is up against is not only other community behavioral health centers but it also includes large hospital systems, government agencies, and insurance companies. 
  5. Community behavioral health centers are nonprofit organizations with slim margins. It is difficult to compete with the wages and benefits of the much larger more deep pocketed entities that make up their competition for highly qualified employees. 

In order for community behavioral health centers to hire and keep highly qualified staff in this phenomenally competitive market they must embrace four truths.  

  1. The work culture has become an essential asset. A culture that is supportive, affirming, growth promoting, safe (physically and emotionally), flexible, and employee-centered is a necessity. These are all things that community behavioral health centers can provide. 
  2. Front-line managers often serve as mentors, coaches, and  even surrogate parents or grandparents to younger staff members. 
  3. Wages and benefits must be competitive. Community behavioral health systems must find ways to offer wages and benefits that are at least in the ballpark of what others can offer. 
  4. A skill set grounded in Transformational Leadership theory for people in supervisory roles is essential for the retention of good employees. 

So how do community behavioral health and social service centers respond to the current labor market? We cannot live in the past. If we do, our agencies will fall behind. The only choice is to adapt to the new world of recruitment and retention. This is not easy and requires painstaking self-reflection and adaptation at all levels. Leave no stone unturned. At the agency I work for recruitment and retention is a constant conversation amongst our leadership team. It is an ongoing process and we keep at it. Here is a list of actions we have used to guide us that may be helpful to your organization as well. 

  1. Realize that the environment which your agency or organization exists in has changed. Former  assumptions about hiring and retaining employees will not work in these new circumstances. We are experiencing a new generation of workers, a new economy, new technologies, and new priorities in the workplace. 
  2. Clearly identify what your agency’s true mission is and focus all resources on who or what supports that and let go of anything else. 
  3. Frequently reevaluate your human resource assumptions. This is not something that can be done by your organization’s upper echelon by simply thinking about it. It requires asking employees questions about what they like and don’t like about the work environment and the wages and benefits. 
  4. Research what your competition is doing and adjust and adapt to it. 
  5. Identify the policies, procedures, and practices that are holding you back. Is your hiring protocol too cumbersome? Does your process of interviewing, checking references, and making an offer take too long?
  6. Revise your budget. Revamp it so that it enhances getting and keeping the best employees because without them you won’t have a budget. 
  7. Be willing to change your management and supervisory structure to meet the needs of the current generation of employees. Do you need more individual supervision? More group supervision? Ask your team what they need or want and develop your supervisory structure  around their feedback. 
  8. Look at creative ways to offer benefits such as health insurance. Find an insurance  broker who understands the most cutting edge ways to offer incentives to your team. You may find you can cut costs while adding benefits for staff engaging in healthy living practices. 

Community behavioral health and social service agencies have a lot to offer the current generation of workers. We can be competitive in our pursuit of good team members. To do so requires a major overhaul of how we think about recruiting and retaining the best of the workforce.  Change is never easy but it is necessary; however as community behavioral health centers the work we do, often to serve the most vulnerable in our communities, is calling out to us to do what is required.

Simple Over and Under Principles I’ve Learned About Leading That Really Make a Difference

Life, Topics in Leadership, Work,
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash

I have worked as the Executive Director of a community mental health, substance misuse, housing, and abuse recovery agency for the past fourteen years. Presently the organization I work for has just under 100 employees, multiple local partners, and a very significant and daunting mission. It is a demanding job with an agency that is making a difference in our community.  For those of you in similar positions you know that being in charge comes with challenges. As the years have gone by I find myself filing away simple little principles for my behavior that help me do my job more effectively. They are things I tell myself when I feel like taking a shortcut. Some of them apply to how I represent our agency. Some apply to how I make decisions. Some apply to how I treat others. None of them are terribly earth shattering but if you tuck then away and use them as reminders they can help keep you on track. 

  1. It is better to be overdressed than underdressed.
  2. It is better to over-communicate important information than under-communicate important information.
  3. It is better to over-plan an intervention or change than under-plan an intervention or change.
  4. It is better to over-prepare for a presentation than under-prepare for a presentation.
  5. It is better to be early for an appointment or meeting than late to an appointment or meeting.
  6. It is better to leave more-than-enough time to get a project done than not enough time to get a project done. 
  7. It is better to go overboard with thank-yous and appreciation than under acknowledge or not acknowledge people’s contributions and generosity.
  8. It is better to listen for a long time without speaking  than to not listen long enough. 
  9. It is better to get advice and perspectives from many people  than fail to get enough advice. 
  10. It is better to err on the side of generosity than fail to extend grace, mercy, or resources to someone in need. 

Thanks for reading. Blessings to you.

Jerry

A Little Story about Geriatric Psychiatric Patients and What They Taught Me about Happiness .

Faith, Life, Mental Health

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.


I thought I would tell this simple story from my work at a psychiatric hospital in the mid-1990s and what it taught me about mental health.

Part of my job at the psychiatric hospital was to work in an intensive outpatient program for older adults. The people we worked with were sixty-five years old or older. They came into the program with a variety of issues. Some were depressed, some were wrought with anxiety, some were experiencing hallucinations and/or delusions, some were so discouraged they had become suicidal. Though their symptoms varied, the stories of why they were feeling the way they were was similar. Their aging years had brought about a series of losses. Often friends or family had passed away. The patient’s health was declining. They were no longer working. They may have had to move from their home into a more manageable  living environment. They were no longer able to drive themselves. They had lost many of the things in life that had always given them a sense of meaning and joy. The losses had created a crisis of identity.

What became fascinating to me is that though the individuals in the program all had arrived at the psychiatric hospital with a similar series of losses some of them recovered from their psychiatric symptoms and moved on and others continued to struggle. Over time I began to notice a pattern in the patients who recovered. Those who recovered had three factors in their lives that seemed to give them the ability to bounce back. I want to point out that none of the three factors had anything to do with medication. Actually all of the patients were prescribed similar medications. Antidepressants, antipsychotics, and/or antianxiety medications were common for all the people in the partial hospitalization program.  Psychiatry did not seem to be the cure.

The first factor was that those patients who bounced back had supportive and emotionally intimate relationships with very close friends or family. Often it was a long time coworker, a  neighbor, or their adult children or grandchildren. These relationships mattered for several reasons. These close friendships meant that someone was there everyday or at least called everyday to make sure the patient was doing okay. This allowed the person recovering to believe they mattered. These relationships also allowed the patient to be authentic and real with another human who cared for them. They could be honest about their feelings without being judged. Mostly these relationships were powerful  because when the patient got into a tough time, there was someone they could turn to for help. They did not feel alone.

The second factor was that those patients who recovered had a hobby, an interest or a part time job that gave them a sense of meaning. One guy made stools people could sit on while they gardened. One lady spent several weeks making special holiday candy and cookies. Another gentleman did a tremendous amount of volunteer work for his church. One guy made wooden toys. Another lady was a leader in a weight loss club. It really didn’t matter what it was. The important thing was that it gave a sense of meaning, purpose, and joy to the person.

The final factor that I identified in the patients who recovered was that they had  an active, personal, and strong spiritual faith. Some were Catholic, some were Protestant, some were Pentecostal, and some were much more eclectic. What did a strong personal faith do for the patients who were resilient?  How did it contribute to their recovery? I observed this. It gave them a place to go with their questions that did not have answers. Questions such as why did my husband die before me? Why am I experiencing the difficulties that I am? Why am I sick? Through their their faith they were able to live with the things in life that did not make sense.

When I think about my own mental health I often reflect back on those simple lessons I learned from the many patients I saw at the psychiatric hospital. The importance of emotionally intimate relationships with family and friends. The importance of having meaningful work and leisure activities. And finally the ability to rest in a Creator who loves me and cares about the details of my life.  It is these simple and unsophisticated things that provided stability and hope. These are the buoys that held up the people in the psychiatric hospital when their lives seemed to be caving in. These are anchors we can all develop. We can kindle old friendships and make new ones (“if you want a friend be a friend”). We can pursue our hobbies and interests. We can find ways to enrich others. We can pray and pursue the Creator. Not only can we do this for ourselves but we can reach out and bring others along with us.

Leaders, You Need to Take REST Very Seriously

Faith, Life, Mental Health, Topics in Leadership, Work, ,
Photo by Angelina Kichukova on Unsplash
Photo by Angelina Kichukova on Unsplash

Recently on a Saturday I wrote this in my journal, “Today I started out with a long workout at the YMCA, moved on to reading  several chapters in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, and concluded by making and baking three pecan pies. I feel relaxed and reenergized.”

Now, what does this have to do with being a leader? Well, this…being in a leadership role, as wonderful as that may may sound, is often mentally, emotionally, and physically depleting. If you are a manager, administrator or in any way a leader of an organization you need to make sure you are taking rest very seriously.

Why am I writing this now? For the past three weeks I had been grinding out my job with little reprieve. The weeks included several late night meetings, various big projects with imposing  back to back deadlines, orienting new staff, strategic planning sessions, all on top of the normal day to day work that is typical in my role. By the end of completing the  last large project I felt like I had been running on fumes and the fumes were gone. My mind and body had collapsed before arriving at the gas tank and I was crawling. One of my personal warning signs that I am stretched out way too thin is  acid reflux. It was raging. I am usually able to manage it through a combination of keeping my carbohydrate intake really low, frequent aerobic exercise, and getting eight hours of sleep. During these past three weeks I had developed a bout of reflux that was unrelenting despite my diligent use of diet, exercise and sleep. I could sense deep inside what I needed was a total break from my work and responsibilities. I needed a Sabbath rest.

Providentially, Jane and I had planned a long weekend out to visit our daughter and son-in-law in Indiana. We were going to stay at our favorite bed-and-breakfast, enjoy time with family, and just chill. I wouldn’t  have time to think about work, or teaching, or  planning, or administrating. I intended to visit, read, and hike, all of which equal rest for me. What surprised me is that after day one my reflux was back under control. It was like magic. Just a couple days before, despite my typical stress management routine, the reflux would not go away, But just like that, one day with total mental, physical, and emotional  space away from work, and it was better.

Day to day stress management is essential but what this experience reinforced is that periodically we also need a lengthier, more intentional rest. The concept that keeps coming to my mind is Sabbath rest. This is an idea out of the Jewish tradition. Yahweh [in Jewish tradition this is the personal name for the true God]  directs people to take a weekly rest from work. Yahweh also directs that there are routine lengthier times of rest from labor. Not only for people but also for livestock and even the land they farm.

Rest is a built-in hard wired necessity. Resting our mind, our bodies, and our spirit from the work we do is essential to the human soul. If we do not rest, both weekly routine rest and periodic lengthier times of rest (possibly our concept of a vacation) then we burn out, become irritable, less productive, and are less able to accomplish our personal mission. In our society, where technology makes work  accessible 24/7 this kind of rest must be intentional.

So my friends, those of you who are in any type of leadership role, find your rest. Plan a Sabbath rest. Disconnect completely from your work. Connect or reconnect with the people in your life, immerse yourself  in your favorite hobby, get outside, go hiking, go camping, read a book [not work related], or do a home project you’ve been wanting to do. You  know what gives you rest and fills you up emotionally and a spiritually. Whatever it is, engage it. Chances are you’ll come back better ready to do the work that the Maker of Work  has given you to do.

 

An open door and a little chocolate might change you and your organization.

Topics in Leadership, Work
Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay 

95% of the time I am in my office I keep the door open. I only close it if I am having a confidential meeting or need some brief quiet time. I do this because I am the executive director and I want everyone I work with to know I am available and open to them. I do it because I want to say “hi” to my co-workers and ask them how they are doing when they walk past my door. I want people to see me working. I tell all of the new team members that if they see my door open they are welcome to pop in and ask me a question.

Not only have I always kept my my door open but I have recently started keeping candy right by the door. Cool things happen when I leave my door open. My team members check in throughout the day. They ask me how my days is and I get to find out how they are doing. If they can’t find their supervisor I can help them with a quick question. Our team members who are working with children bring the kids by to grab a piece of chocolate. I get to see a little person smile and laugh. If there happens to be a disturbance in the building I hear it and get to be part of the “all hands on deck” team. A couple weeks ago one of our counselors walked by, handed me a soft drink, said “cheers, ” and walked on down the hall. I have been blessed as people have gotten to know me and I have gotten to know them.

There are many ways a leader can send a message to their organization. Some of the ways are simple such as smiling, remembering everyone’s name, or… leaving the door open when you are in your office. Here is a summary of the messages an open door can send,

  • I am here for you.
  • I am working hard to make our organization better able to accomplish its mission.
  • I do not have anything I’m trying to hide from you.
  • I am interested in what is going on out there.
  • I want to know what is going on out there.
  • I want to be part of what is going on out there.
  • I am part of the team.
  • I am available.
  • I want to interact with you.
  • I am approachable.

To all my leadership and management friends out there, leave your door open when you are in your office. Try putting a container of chocolate near the entrance. You may be surprised by the subtle but meaningful difference it makes for you and your team.


The Most Important Skill to Teach Your Children

Faith, Life, Mental Health, The Joy (and humor) of raising girls., Topics in Leadership
kevin-gent-219197-unsplash

There are many reasons I am proud of my daughters but one of the biggest reasons is how seriously they take friendship. They are tenacious friends. A few weeks ago, Mary, a dear friend of my two oldest daughters lost her mother to a rare and fatal illness. The time between diagnosis and death was short, only a few weeks. This death came on the heels of Mary’s husband Jay losing his father to a short brutal battle with cancer. Two deaths in a matter of three months. These two deaths were devastating to the family. But like so many things in life, that tragedy was an opportunity to observe love and kindness at its best. Melisa, my oldest daughter who is especially close to Mary, announced that she had completely cleared her schedule so she could stay with Mary for the entire time of her mom’s calling hours and funeral. She made it clear she was going to be there for Mary for whatever she needed. Abby, my second oldest daughter, lives four hours away and just started a new job. She advocated with her boss and was able to get a day off to be home to support her friend. As I watched Melisa and Abby support Mary during her darkest hour I found myself admiring them and their capacity to unselfishly care for someone else.

I believe that teaching your son or daughter to be a good friend is possibly the most essential strength you can give them. Within that strength are several skills that will help them in most other life circumstances they will find themselves in. Being a friend means having a set of attitudes and behaviors that enable you to develop authentic and trusting relationships with others. It means being able to set your own needs aside to help another. It means having the capacity to be vulnerable and share emotions. Friendship requires the selfless skill of listening. It includes the capacity to think about what someone else is going through and what they may require to get through it. It means being able to suspend your needs for comfort and be a comfort to someone else. It means keeping someone in confidence rather gossiping. It means having someone else’s back. All of these not only make you good at being a friend, but also a good employee, a good parent, and a good citizen.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was, “If you want a friend then be a friend.” Research studies into longevity and happiness repeatedly find that having good friends correlates to a happier and longer life *. In an era where adults and children are more and more lonely **, more and more anxious, more and more connected to an imaginary world known as social media, and less likely to say they have a close companion, it is absolutely essential that parents teach their children how to be a good friend. This of course means that you parent, know how to be a good friend as well. You must model friendship skills to your children. Use the many opportunities in daily life to model friendship and include your children. Take a meal to an elderly person. Go see people you know who are in the hospital. Send notes of encouragement to people who are going through a rough time and have your children draw pictures to include in the envelope. As a family start a list of people you are going to pray for and pray for them with your kids. Invite people you know over for dinner and a game night. Use these activities to help your children hone the skill set they need to be aware of others needs and to be in healthy and appropriate friendships. If you do this you will not only give your children skills that will serve them well as adults, but you will you also most likely make the world a better place.

* https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

** https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8294451-cigna-us-loneliness-survey/docs/IndexReport_1524069371598-173525450.pdf

How to be Taken Seriously. A Short List.

Life, Topics in Leadership, Work
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.jpg

Over the years I’ve been in a leadership role, I have kept a running list of small behaviors or principles that build trust. They let others know the relationship you have with them is important to you. They serve as a set of behaviors and boundaries that promote integrity. They are things we all can do. Here are eight  I jotted down that recently have meant a lot to me.

  1. Return calls promptly…next day at the latest.  If you can’t call right away send a quick text or email letting the caller know you got their message and will call back the next day.
  2. Return emails on the same day. If you can’t fully answer, shoot back a courteous quick reply letting the sender know when you’ll respond to their question. Keep the conversation going.
  3. If you are going to be late to a meeting send a text or a quick call to let the person leading the meeting know you are on your way and how late you’ll be.
  4. Send  thank you notes, emails or texts frequently. Be generous with “thank you”.
  5. If a group or meeting you are part of doesn’t have a secretary and needs someone to take minutes, volunteer to do it then email out the minutes to the group within 48 hours. (FYI often the minutes are not  much more than a detailed outline)
  6. Before you can expect someone to be interested in what you have to say, you have to be interested in what they have to say.
  7. If you make a mistake admit it, apologize for it, and learn from it.
  8. Do not gossip (revealing personal or sensational facts about others…Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Gossiping ruins your credibility.

I challenge you to put these into practice over the next month and see how it goes.

My Daughter The Resilient.

Faith, Life, The Joy (and humor) of raising girls.

According to the Google dictionary resilience is  “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”   I am seeing more and more how resilient my daughter Krista is. God has given her a unique strength to recover from difficulties, reframe setbacks, and keep moving on; not allowing herself to become fatalistic. When she experiences a knock-back, Krista regroups and presses on. I’ve seen this characteristic in Krista for several years, but recently I saw an example that made me really proud of her.

Krista is our youngest. She was diagnosed at a young age with an abnormal EEG and ADD [ADHD inattentive type ].  The abnormal EEG diagnosis came because her brain registered seizure activity nonstop during the entire time she slept at night. Academically she was affected by the ADD and also by a learning disability that makes reading comprehension very difficult for her. In junior high and high school we spent many nights pushing through homework, often with tears, as Krista tried to understand  what she was reading or trying to comprehend multiple step math problems.

Outweighing the learning issues, Krista has the characteristics of being a kind, compassionate, and determined hard worker.  Throughout high school she maintained good grades all while running cross country and playing flute in the marching and concert band. After high school she went to a gap-year program and is now in college majoring in social work.

Krista likes to stay busy. For example, she is on the college cross country team, part of a couple recreational clubs, holds a part time job, and keeps up with her school work. In November Krista came home for Thanksgiving break. One quiet evening during the holiday weekend Krista let us know she had gotten “let go” from her job at the campus library because, she “was not analytical enough.” I could tell Krista was really hurt by this. She expressed anger at the library administration for not giving her more time to improve. Krista also expressed frustration over her own struggle with the learning disability that has caused her so many challenges over the years. She said that the supervisor who had delivered the bad news told her that Krista had a great work ethic and was always willing to do the jobs other workers didn’t want to do. The library gave Krista the option to work out the semester, meaning she would work the last three weeks before Christmas break, knowing that they didn’t really think she could do the job. Krista, showing her ability to wade into hard things, chose to stay on and finish out the semester.

Over Christmas break Krista had a few more days of expressing her frustration and hurt over being let go. She could have allowed herself to become embittered at the library administration and settled into a valley of self deprecation over how her cognitive processing issues led to the situation at the library. But…she didn’t. Shortly after New Year’s Day, Krista and I were in the living room talking. I asked her how she was doing with the “whole job thing?” She looked up and said, “Oh, I already have another job. I’m working in housekeeping.” She went on to say, “I’m really excited about it because the supervisor is really cool, and plus I love to clean.” She had apparently applied online over Christmas break and got hired. I didn’t really know what to say. She had accomplished a 180 degree maneuver in a matter of a few days. Though she still feels some anger about the way she was let go and is still a little embarrassed, she has not gotten hung up there. She is not letting herself be defined by a bump in the road. In fact, going further she is able to see how all of this may be a gift. She’ll have better hours and a less stressful work environment for the same pay.

Krista has a heart of compassion for children who have experienced difficulties. Ever since entering the school of social work she has had her eye on working with a child protective agency. Over Christmas break, because she is very efficient, Krista completed a 30 hour practicum at our local child protective services agency. She observed case worker assessments of parents who have had their children removed, observed parent-child supervised visitations, and observed juvenile court hearings. Krista has an ability to see people in all kinds of situations through a lens of mercy. I can’t help but believe that her God-given gift of resilience is not only going to continue to benefit Krista, but may well be a gift she can lend to others as she helps them on their journey.



Christmas Blessings from the Meek

Faith, Life

Every Christmas, for the past several years we have spent the first part of the morning at a community breakfast for people who don’t have anywhere else to go. Our daughters, now in their twenties, look forward to it as much as any other part of Christmas day. The large room is filled with smiles, great conversation and a grand dose of Christmas spirit. Those present have become an annual group of regulars; people from all walks of life, all with an interesting story to tell. The guests not only enjoy the hearty breakfast but also look forward to receiving a generous gift bag. The gifts range from hats, gloves, and scarves to candy and fruit.  The past few years the host church has given away hams and turkeys, which for the folks in attendance, is a special treat.

Being an extreme extrovert my favorite part of the morning is conversing with the guests so that I hear their story and know them more personally. Yesterday when we arrived I was immediately drawn to strike up a conversation with a lady dressed in a bright red sweater who was also wearing a pair of large sunglasses because she was visually impaired. She was there with her husband and grandson. Her name was Fran* and she was a great conversationalist. Not only did Fran share her story, but she was genuinely interested in hearing mine. I don’t know her age but I am guessing Fran and her husband are in their early 60s. I found out Fran has family in upstate New York and had lived near my sister-in-law. Their story included 17 years of employment at a factory in Ashland that ended when her husband had an injury on the job. Before he could return to work the company went out of business.  She and her husband became homeless after the job loss. She shared they had been homeless two times during their life together and had many other struggles including a very long bout with severe depression, failing eyesight, and other health issues. They now live on a very limited income but are comfortable in a small apartment.

I came away from my visit with Fran very enriched. I was enamored by four things about her: her joy, her story, her spiritual perspective, and her prophetic voice. Fran was joyful. She smiled often, laughed easily, and gave out encouragement like a generous millionaire. She was so happy I was familiar with the part of New York she had lived that she chatted with her husband about the connection we were making. Her joy was woven into her story. Here is a person who had been homeless, suffered from debilitating depression for years, had lost most of her eyesight, and yet in the same breath declared enthusiastically “but God is so good.” Her husband joined in at this point and recounted how at every turn, when they were experiencing the lowest points of their lives, God provided for them. They discussed how a friend had given them a place to live, a church helped them with an apartment, Fran found a job right after her husband lost his, and how God had healed her from depression. At this she got very quiet and seemed to mouth a prayer of thanks. She didn’t go into detail but she indicated that the depression had been long and very dark. She then looked up and told me that in that dark depression God had revealed himself through a song. Right there, on the spot, quietly so only I and her husband could hear her, she sang it. Fran had experienced a very personal encounter with the Maker of All Things. Her confidence and her joy were not fake. They were supernatural.

As it was getting to be time for Fran and her husband to go I stepped away from their table. They both shook my hand and told me how they enjoyed talking with me. I told them I had been blessed by our conversation. But I had one more blessing to go. As we three were standing there ready to part ways Fran unexpectedly grabbed me by the shoulders. She bowed her head and began to pray. She prayed a prayer of blessing over me. She spoke her prayer with a voice of authority. It came out of a heart experienced in spiritual matters. Her prayer was personal and powerful. I felt the blessing she transferred to me. Thank you Fran for freely giving what you have received.

*Name was changed to preserve anonymity

For Leaders Battling Negative Thoughts: “If You Know How To Worry, You Know How To Meditate.”

Faith, Life, Mental Health, Topics in Leadership, Work
Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash

The pastor of the church I attend the shared the quote in the title one time and it has always stuck with me. I know after thirteen years of being the director of a not-for-profit mental health center, in leadership, there are plenty of things to keep your eye on.  Being aware of what is wrong or what could go wrong is part of the job. Thinking about those things can easily become an exercise in ruminating about the worst possible outcome.

I am not, by nature, a worrier, but there are times when a worry gets lodged in my mind and I can’t get rid of it. It just grows and grows, eventually stifling and suffocating my thoughts with its pervasiveness and robbing me of joy. I had that experience this weekend. It started on Friday.

  1. My Friday had been made up of  back to back intense meetings. 
  2. I had a conversation around noon that led me to begin to perseverate on doom and gloom. My mind was just starting the process of ruminating on bad things happening.
  3. Around 3:15 pm, after a non-stop schedule, my brain needed a quick break.  About that time I read a message from a local faith based group. It was part of a verse from the prophet Isaiah, “I  have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and rescue you.” 
  4. My spirit immediately connected to the reassuring words. It was the kind of expedience in which you sense the Maker-of-all-things heard your struggle and sent a gentle reminder to encourage you. 
  5. Over the next 44 hours the message of doom and gloom peddled hard for supremacy in my head. I recognized it and tried hard to replace it with the words from Isaiah I had been comforted with on Friday,  “I  have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and rescue you.”
  6. I continued to work at replacing the fatalistic thoughts with the encouraging phrase I had been given. When your mind is in this struggle you have to be persistent about reframing the negativity. It takes focus. On Sunday around noon a new perspective broke through. It cleared the path for problem solving and relaxation.
  7. I have not gone back to the doom and gloom thoughts. They have tried to come back but I focus on the truth of that phrase from Friday.

Sometimes I get asked to speak to a group about how to cope with stress. I tell them that for me it is not easy. My job is so stressful I have to take three kinds of medication in order to manage. When I say that, people get a worried look on their face. They relax though when I tell the medications are exercise, journaling, and prayer-meditation. It’s the third one that helped me get through this last bout of worry and fear. 

If you are a worrier remember, if you know how to worry you know how to meditate. You can find truthful words to meditate on by reading classic literature, Scripture, or poetry.  It is about putting good things into your head and focusing on them when worry wants to take over. Also remember, the Maker-of-all-things is here to help you and remind you that you are not in this alone.