Mental health counselors provide therapy for groups and individuals. Counselors must complete a master’s degree and licensing requirements before they are allowed to practice. Many counselors report to a high-level therapist or psychologist.
Average annual salary range - $23,500-$38,000

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The therapeutic relationship is at the heart of good counseling work. Working face-to-face with another human being is how change begins. Mental health counselors work with individuals, families, and sometimes groups of clients. Counselors use therapy sessions to learn about their clients, listen to them, teach them new things, and help decrease their symptoms. These sessions are done on an outpatient basis.

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Patients are held in-house for increasingly shorter stays and are going home sicker, precipitating a greater need for instruction and information than ever before. The information you provide them during their hospital stay will hopefully help them gain a full recovery and decrease the risk of readmission. So how do we educate our patients effectively? Taking these factors into consideration will help you to successfully convey the information needed.

Provide a hospitable learning environment: With all the distractions of the hospital it may be difficult to find somewhere that is free from excess noise, disruption, is private and conducive to learning. While we can’t always choose the physical location where the learning will take place, we can try to provide planned learning at a time of day when those disruptions would be minimal; possibly mid-morning after breakfast, morning hygiene, assessments and rounds. Each floor has a different rhythm, choose what will work best for you and your patient.

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If someone asked you what the most important thing in your life is, what would you say? Some people say it’s their health but their actions prove otherwise - often due to misinformation or simple lack of knowledge. Here are some health and fitness tips that should be common knowledge but aren’t.

(Please note that while various health resources and professionals were consulted, this article should not be construed as medical/ health advice.)

1. Alcohol is not a food group.
The way so many people consume potent potables, you’d think it was the secret elixir of life. When you drink excessively you eat less because the caloric intake of alcohol keeps hunger at bay. This of course means that outwardly you may stay relatively trim, but inwardly you’re starving your body of appropriate nutrients. Not to mention, you’re damaging brain cells and shrinking your brain, creating water and electrolyte losses, and doing a variety of other damaging things. There is a very good reason why studies in the U.S., Canada, Britain, etc. have listed alcohol as one of the most dangerous drugs in the world.

2. You deserve a break right now.
Taking a break from work once in a while does not put you behind, despite popular opinion. It helps by letting your mind and body rest, thus preserving your health and sanity. The alternative is to keep working and burn out, which weakens your immune system and eventually sets your work back.

3. Stress will kill you.
Actually, it’s not so much the stress that will kill you, but your reaction to it and your way of dealing with it. It’s been estimated that somewhere between 75 and 90 per cent of all visits to health care providers are for stress-related ailments. Life is full of stress. There is no getting around it, but there are ways of dealing with it and finding outlets for it. Everyone is different in this respect. Some people need to find ways to let it out, others channel stress into activities, and still others need techniques that lessen it. Regardless of what works for you, the most important thing you can do is to not ignore stress and think you can’t do anything about it. Find time to deal with it; find a starting point.

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While tips such as locking your personal belongings in your car or locker while at class and/or work, never walking alone and staying off your cell phone while walking so you are not distracted, may keep you safe in a personal safety situation, would you know what to do if your school or place of employment fell victim to an attack like those seen last week in Illinois or last April at Virginia Tech?

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It serves all four branches of the military and Public Health Service. Uniformed students receive their usual pay and benefits. Medical students have a seven year obligation to serve after graduation. Only military nurses are accepted in the post-graduate nursing programs for Master’s degree or PhD completion. Some civilians who are employed by the federal government may be eligible for admission and receive their full salary while attending.

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A homeless woman named Carol Ann Reyes was admitted to Kaiser Permanente Bellflower hospital because of a nasty fall she took. She stayed for three days, at which point Kaiser called her a cab, and instructed the cab driver to dump her in the Los Angeles area known as Skid Row. Reyes was wearing only a thin hospital gown, because, as the hospital later admitted, her clothing had been lost. Carol was confused and suffering from dementia, but Kaiser put her on the streety anyway, and was only caught because of a videocamera running outside of a homeless shelter.

Source

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• Pay down your debt - Set a goal of zero debt excluding your home mortgage. Generally you should work on paying the debt that carries the highest percentage of interest first – paying a smaller bill at lower interest may feel good as you pay it off sooner but you need to weigh that with the fact that it is costing you money in interest. When deciding how much you can afford to pay on your debt, be careful to budget enough each month to allow for expenses. Paying extra on your credit cards each month only to run short and end up racking up more charges isn’t getting you any further ahead. Learning to decipher between “wants” and “needs” will also help those bills from accumulating. Calculate your debt to income ratio here - MSN Debt to Income Calculator.
• Emergency Fund - Based on your risk aim to accumulate six to nine months worth of expenses. This money would be used to cover daily living expenses if disability, illness or unemployment leaves you with an unexpected loss of your income. This important step can eliminate or decrease the need to rack up new debt. (more…)
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