Holiday Stress and Peace

Susan Campling, RN, PsyD

The holiday season is here again and we are once again full of the yearly hustle and bustle of the season. Shopping for the perfect gift, visiting with family and a full social calendar are only a few of the realities of this time of year. It can be a time of great excitement but also a time of dread. Buying the perfect gift is not so fun when money is short. Visiting family can be painful when the family dysfunction arrives and quarreling and bickering arise. And, social events are not particularly festive when we run ourselves ragged in the rush.

So what to do?

Well, one intervention is to take good care of yourself. If you have not done so, and your doctor agrees, get your flu vaccine. Being around crowds of people while out in malls, church activities and children’s recitals increases your risk of becoming ill and flu season is upon us. Another self-care thing to for is to eat well. Avoid fast food and skipping meals. Plan your activities around meals so that you eat healthy food. If prepared at home, it is usually more economical. And, of course, wash your hands frequently to prevent the spread of germs.

If finances are tight, consider a family gift to a shelter or pick a child’s name from an angel tree. Home made gifts from the heart are, as advertisers remind us, priceless. And remember, the true meaning of the season is a message of hope, joy and love. None of these require a credit card or falling into debt.

What do you do though if life becomes too stressful?

First, know your signs of stress and if you are a parent, become aware of your children’s too. At this time of year children can become overwhelmed by all of the stimulation and appear to be misbehaving when they are actually frustrated, over stressed and exhausted. This can occur even when riding in a stroller. Adults misbehave in countless ways, too.

Over stressed behaviors include an increase or decrease in energy. Irritability, outbursts of anger and arguing can be present when someone is overwhelmed. Some people have trouble sleeping or relaxing. Blaming and shaming others can also be a sign of being inundated by life stressors as can negativity. Not being able to have fun or for that matter, having trouble feeling anything anything is also a sign of serious stress. Problems with thinking can occur with some people reporting difficulty-remembering things, having difficulty making decisions and being confused. These can all be signs that your stress levels are too high. Think about how many times you have lost your keys the morning you are late for work!

Our bodies also can speak to us about our stress levels. Unfortunately, we can wait too long to listen and find ourselves physically ill with stomachaches, gastrointestinal distress, altered appetite, and/or getting headaches and other pains. In addition to stress, drinking too much caffeine to keep up with the rush can result in tremors and muscle twitches, Drinking alcohol to relax can also stress the body. Having water is a better choice when keeping up with holiday demands.

Keep yourself healthy and practice PEACE


·Prepare snacks and other healthy foods ahead of time to deter unhealthy eating. Eat a snack before parties to keep hunger at bay and to help you avoid high calorie party foods.

·Exercise daily. Parking your car at the edge of the parking lot or walking to your destination is one way of walking off some anxious energy.

·Avoid excessive amounts of alcohol and caffeine. Never drink alcohol and drive. You do not want holiday memories to be tragic ones.

·Connect with your source of spiritual renewal through meditation, prayer, and helping others in need.

·Experience the joy of the holiday by being kind to yourself. Get plenty of rest, and avoid excessive demands. Remember, every day is an opportunity to celebrate the gift that is you!

Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is known as one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment campuses. For over twenty five years Pine Grove has offered a continuum of services ranging from outpatient to inpatient and residential treatment for adults, children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric and addictive diseases. Specialized services include the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, and professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties. The Pine Grove Mission is to be a leader in healing and changing lives by providing the highest quality behavioral health services.

Visit http://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/ or call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) for more information.

Gratitude

Russell Rainey, MS, LPC

Warning: This will be the same recycled article that you have always read this time of year!

Each year, around the first week in November (and sometimes as early as late October) you find in your inbox, mailbox or shoebox an article about giving thanks, counting your blessings or having the proverbial “attitude of gratitude.” This is no different. Having a grateful heart and expressing that to your Higher Power, loved ones, or the guy you don’t even know that held the door open for you this morning, never gets old.

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all. ~William Faulkner

We have all had that buzzing feeling, generated from the deepest recesses of our soul. You know the one. That feeling that you felt when your boss noticed your hard work and offered a promotion. That feeling that you felt when your wife called all of your friends together for an awesome surprise birthday party. That feeling you felt when Ed McMahon came to your house with a huge check. Okay, so I’ve never felt that, but you get the idea.

Growing up with three channels and being stuck at home in the summer, I used to watch The Price Is Right EVERY DAY before going out to play with my friends. At a young age I imagined thankfulness in the form of an unsuspecting individual kissing Bob Barker and jumping for joy when they were called to “Come on down!” The thankfulness expressed to the man with the long skinny microphone was based on the person getting something that they had not expected, perhaps not deserved.

On the other hand it usually ended sad in the “Showcase Showdown,” as I would watch the person grossly overestimate the combined cost of a trip to Jamaica, a treadmill, snow skis and an Isuzu Rodeo. It was truly unfortunate. I would secretly wonder what I would do with snow skis in south Mississippi, and think that they better come up with something else in the Showcase Showdown when I get on the show. The person did usually walk away with some sort of winnings, a consolation prize.

In recovery we are growing to realize that gratitude can come not only in moments of great joy, but also in times of deep sadness. Sometimes the richest blessing comes not in what we received, but what we learned when something was withheld. Either way, thankfulness is produced within us when that spiritual part of who we are recognizes that situation as being exactly what God intended it to be. It wells up within us, and like electricity it can’t stop there. Thankfulness must be discharged.

When that feeling gets a hold of you it almost seems as though you couldn’t keep it inside if you wanted to. We practice discharging thankfulness daily at Next Step in our community meeting. We call it Affirmations. It is a beautiful time that we set aside to teach the art of appreciating someone for something that they did that was epic and awesome, and just for you. Sometimes, and rather unfortunately, we sit on that feeling long enough and it dissipates. We miss our chance. We miss that golden opportunity for true gratitude to exist, because even though it was produced in us by some kind and selfless act from another, we did not discharge it. Remember what Faulkner said? We stifled it and now it is as if that awesome, life-changing gratitude never existed.


But let’s say, for the sake of the season, and the sake of positive thoughts and energy that the gratitude was produced and was discharged. What then? How does it get ‘used up?’ I’m glad you asked. Gratitude gets used up when we pay it forward. Gratitude exists and is perpetuated when we get off of our pity pots, count our blessings and seek to be a blessing to someone else in word or deed. That is when, Faulkner says, gratitude exists.

Our Sober Living patients are living this out as well. They have and seize the opportunity, each week, to do volunteer work in the Hattiesburg community. Habitat for Humanity provided a recent opportunity for the Sober Living group. At the end of the day the guys returned, weary and worn from a day of manual labor. Even though the task of scraping paint off of an old house wasn’t fun, the idea of giving hope to someone else, because they had found it through the program, offered all the motivation they needed. I heard a saying from an unknown author once that goes something like this, “If you want to know how grateful someone is, ask them to help you.” People give back when they have something to give; when they have experienced true gratitude themselves.

Undoubtedly we will gather with our families on the last Thursday of this month, watch the Macy’s parade, toss the football, eat fantastic food, take a nap and shop till we drop the day after. As we gather around the table let’s not forget why we gather. Don’t’ neglect the still, small voice that says, “Be grateful.” “Pass it along.” “Practice this often.” Gratitude is a gift that will change your life. We see people every day finding the peace of recovery through humility and thankfulness. It is a gift far greater than anything Bob Barker has to offer.

Russ Rainey is the Clinical Director for the Next Step program at Pine Grove. Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is known as one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment campuses. For over twenty five years Pine Grove has offered a continuum of services ranging from outpatient to inpatient and residential treatment for adults, children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric and addictive diseases. Specialized services include the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, and professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties. The Pine Grove Mission is to be a leader in healing and changing lives by providing the highest quality behavioral health services.

Visit http://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/ or call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) for more information.

Sanford named Champion by Behavioral Healthcare magazine

Debbie Sanford, Forrest General Chief Behavioral Health Services Officer, has been named a 2011 Behavioral Healthcare Champion. This award, given annually by Behavioral Healthcare magazine, recognizes leadership of senior executives in community mental health and addiction treatment facilities nationwide. Behavioral Healthcare is the practical resource on technology, reimbursement, and treatment trends for managers and clinicians in the mental health and substance abuse fields.

Sanford began her work as Pine Grove's lead administrator in 2006, and has since helped guide Pine Grove through the addition of new services, including new outpatient workshop services and expansion of the Evaluation Center, which provides evaluations for many kinds of patients dealing with addictions or behavioral health issues. Sanford was nominated for this prestigious recognition by her peers and selected as one of five award winners by the Behavioral Healthcare magazine editorial team. Champions will receive their awards during the National Conference on Addiction Disorders (NCAD) in San Diego, California in September.

Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is known as one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment campuses. For over twenty five years Pine Grove has offered a continuum of services ranging from outpatient to inpatient and residential treatment for adults, children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric and addictive diseases. Specialized services include the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, and professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties. The Pine Grove Mission is to be a leader in healing and changing lives by providing the highest quality behavioral health services.

Visit http://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/ or call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) for more information.

Pine Grove welcomes Tebow the Drug Dog

Pine Grove is proud to be the new home of a somewhat unconventional staff member who will use his canine charm and talents to help patients in their recovery.

Tebow, a young Labrador Retriever, will provide care to patients by spending time with them in recreational, therapeutic activities while keeping the Pine Grove campus free of substances that could be detrimental to their recovery process. The four-legged friend is currently working on obedience and search and find skills and will soon begin regular rounds at Pine Grove to locate any drugs or alcohol, including prescription drugs.

Tebow is named after Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and comes to Pine Grove from a group in Arkansas who raises dogs specifically for service jobs. Once he is fully on board, Tebow will spend most of his time with handler and full-time Pine Grove employee Derrick Guinn, who worked with the facility’s previous service dog, Samantha, who is now semi- retired. While Tebow will take over Samantha’s search and find duties, the long-time Pine Grove “employee” will continue to spend time with patients in a therapeutic capacity.

Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is known as one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment campuses. For over twenty five years Pine Grove has offered a continuum of services ranging from outpatient to inpatient and residential treatment for adults, children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric and addictive diseases. Specialized services include the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, and professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties. The Pine Grove Mission is to be a leader in healing and changing lives by providing the highest quality behavioral health services.

Visit http://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/ or call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) for more information.

Unique Intensive Workshops

Caroline Smith, MA, LPC, LSAC

A personal past. Everyone has one. And sometimes they are not very great. A family past. All families have one. And sometimes they are not very glorious. It has been said that all happy families are alike; but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The following quotes may underscore this idea.

“Families are about love overcoming emotional torture.” ~ Matt Groening·

“Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.” ~Cary Grant·

“The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.” ~George Carlin·

“In the best relationships, there remain serious pockets of unresolved bitterness.” ~Anthony Wolf

We know that when the disease of addiction enters a family system, insidiously and progressively everything changes. In fact, the English word “addict” was initially used to denote a sense of being obligated or formally bound to someone else. The word eventually took on the reflected meaning of being attached to something through one’s own inclination. Quite often both of these definitions fit a family dealing with addiction. The addict is attached to something (drugs and alcohol, sexual compulsivity, disordered eating, etc.) while family members become bound (addicted) to “helping” the addict. Each member uniquely dances with the disease; it is a slow dark dance of distraction, destruction, and despair.

Many family members earnestly seek the day their loved one enters treatment. But will everything within the family be resolved if the identified patient goes to treatment? What support is available to the family after a successful or not-yet-successful intervention? Often, the heartache from the past remains and feels like needle-pointed thorns festering just under the surface. Imagine a family of porcupines on a cold night. They want to snuggle for warmth and comfort, but as they huddle closer together, they end up hurting each other… again.

One of the hallmarks of treatment at Pine Grove is our ability to individualize services to meet the diverse needs of our clients. So… we are very pleased to announce the implementation of our newest workshop; the Unique Intensives. The remarkable thing about this workshop is Pine Grove’s ability to customize structure and location based client need. Whether it is for an individual, couple, family, or small group, our intensive workshop staff is highly skilled at delivering excellent individualized care. After a successful intervention and successful completion of treatment by the identified patient, one brave family realized that they needed more. More healing, new dance steps, fresh dreams and expanded legacy construction. Following their Unique Intensive, their adult daughter had this to say…

“Because of my family’s willingness to participate in an intensive workshop, we have finally broken generational cycles of addiction and loss. My children will have a different childhood than mine."

Pine Grove… One place with many truly unique solutions. We look forward to working with you!

Caroline Smith received degrees in psychology and professional counseling from Ottawa University. She has certifications in trauma, abuse, deprivation, chemical addictions, and sexual addiction counseling. She has worked at The Meadows Treatment Center as a Family Counselor, Primary Counselor, Survivors Workshop Facilitator, Community Relations Representative, and Special Assistant to the Clinical Director. Within this program, she worked with individuals notable in the field, including Patrick Carnes, John Bradshaw, Claudia Black, Terrance Real and Pia Mellody. Ms. Smith then went on to join the professional clinical staff at Remuda Ranch Treatment Centers for Anorexia and Bulimia in Wickenburg, AZ as a Primary Therapist working exclusively with adolescent females and their families. She specializes in the field of eating disorders, trauma, and co-morbidity.

Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is known as one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment campuses. For over twenty five years Pine Grove has offered a continuum of services ranging from outpatient to inpatient and residential treatment for adults, children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric and addictive diseases. Specialized services include the treatment of addictions, eating disorders, and professionals struggling with interpersonal difficulties. The Pine Grove Mission is to be a leader in healing and changing lives by providing the highest quality behavioral health services.

Visit http://www.pinegrovetreatment.com/ or call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) for more information.