Author: alyssamandelcenter

Types of Social Workers

Alyssa Mandel Types of social workers

A lot of people aren’t sure about the extensive role of social workers. They usually think of someone who works with families and impoverished people. But they are in many fields and offer a wide range of services.

They are able to assess the needs of individuals or communities and supply or refer them to services to meet their needs. This ability is useful in a variety of fields, including medical, mental health, academic and more.

If you’re considering becoming a social worker, you might be interested in the career options available to you. You can choose a career path with these fields in mind.

 

Healthcare

Social workers in the medical field help patients by being their advocates. They assist patients with financial, psychological and social needs. They ensure that patients receive resources, education and counseling relative to their treatment plan.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care social workers earn on average $28.11 per hour. Their annual income is averaged at $58, 470.

 

Mental Health and Substance Abuse

In this field, social workers work with individuals who require counseling or rehabilitative services. They provide counseling and treatment options for individuals, couples or families.

The current mean hourly wage for mental health and substance abuse social workers is $23.86. On average, the annual income is $49,630. To work in this area, an MSW is required.

 

To learn more visit AlyssaMandel.com

Top Mental Health Benefits of Exercise

The popular benefits of exercise are weight loss and maintaining one’s weight. But exercise goes far beyond physical health. Working out and being active daily can be very beneficial to mental health. If you’re looking to better your mental health and overall well-being, then exercise will become a vital tool:

Stress Relief

Day after day, new challenges and responsibilities begin to weigh us down. This can cause immense stress and drain begin to drain you. When stress is built up, one of the most effective ways to relieve stress is by exercising. Even if a demanding schedule is what is weighing into your stress, it’s easy to take the time to go for a walk or take a bike ride around the neighborhood. Setting aside a time in the day to be active helps to shut off your brain for a bit and focus on something other than daily responsibilities.

Decrease Depression

According to studies, exercise has been shown to decrease depression. It was found that exercise can treat moderate depression just as effectively as antidepressant medication, but luckily without the side-effects. Exercise combats against depression by releasing a chemical called endorphins that are known to boost mood. It also reduces inflammation in the brain and promotes neutral growth. Much like being distracted from daily stresses in your life, exercise can also be a great distraction from any negative thoughts or emotions.

Confidence Boost

As mentioned before, exercise can help to lose or maintain weight. This can lead to feeling much more confident and feeling really great about yourself. Whether its improved endurance or weight loss, it can leave you feeling much more confident. Even if it’s just slight changes from clothes fitting a little looser, running a mile without stopping, or other slight changes in your body, this helps to feel good about yourself and puts you in a healthier mindset. More confidence encourages a healthy mind.

Sleep Benefits

Lack of sleep can cause major mental health issues. Many people, especially in adulthood, struggle to fit in a good night’s sleep. A great way to sleep better is by exercising more. Although exercise has a reputation for boosting energy, it also is the key to getting more sleep. It’s been found that being active and daily exercise helps regulate circadian rhythm, which controls how tired you feel and when to feel alert. Sleep is without a doubt imperative to mental and physical health.

What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy?

There are many different types of therapy. With so many kinds of diagnosis and conditions, there is a need for these different kinds of therapies. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive therapy and provides clients with new skills on how to manage painful emotions and minimize conflict in their relationships. DBT focuses on mindfulness, dealing with stress, regulate emotions, and healthy communication with others.

When to Use

Originally used as therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder, it is now used to treat depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, PTSD, and substance abuse. For patients that are struggling with self-destructive behavior, DBT can help improve their ability to regulate their emotions. Patients will be able to tolerate distress and negative emotions, become more aware of the present moment and effectively communicate with others.

How it Works

Patients working with DBT treatment must learn how to focus on the present, tolerate a crisis, assert themselves in a positive relationship, and recognizing negative emotions while also knowing how to cope with them. When implementing DBT treatment, patients typically will go through individual therapy sessions as well as DBT skills groups.

In the individual therapy sessions, patients will talk one-on-one with their therapist to keep them motivated, ensure their DBT skills are being used in their daily lives, and help them through any challenges they may face during the treatment. In DBT skills groups, they’re able to find support from others and share their own experiences. Groups meet weekly or monthly to learn new skills and participate in exercises. The therapy sessions are to make sure all of their therapeutic needs are being met and that the DBT treatment is working to improve their daily lives.

DBT Therapists

In order for DBT to have a positive effect on the patients, the therapist running the treatment has to be qualified. Knowledge on the subject is not the only factor that will make a therapist qualified, they must also practice the skills of DBT themselves. It is also imperative for therapists to understand the basics of behavior therapy techniques and DBT treatment strategies. When a patient seeking DBT treatment, it’s important to find a therapist with specialized training and extensive experience in DBT.

DBT has been proven to be very effective among patients with self-destructive behavior. Once patients are able to find a therapist they feel comfortable with and make a commitment to their therapy, DBT has been shown to improve their relationships, communication, and emotional state.

What is Mindfulness and How Does it Help You?

Alyssa Mandel What is Mindfulness and How Does it Help You_

Mindfulness is, in a sense, “single-tasking” as opposed to multi-tasking. Mindfulness takes many forms, but all of them are very specific disciplines that require practice to master. Mindfulness is difficult for some because of the fast paced world that surrounds us today. It can be challenging to just stop and observe a moment of silence. Mindfulness helps you learn to discipline your thoughts allowing you to become more comfortable with silence. Here are three simple exercises to help you become more mindful:

  1. Focus on your food

Next time you eat, try putting away your smartphone, book or magazine and simply focus on your food instead. Notice the taste, the texture, the flavor. Notice the way your teeth sound grinding through the food or the way it feels on your tongue. Feel the path it takes as it moves down your throat and the feel of the fork on your teeth as you take the next bite.

To learn more about mindfulness please visit AlyssaMandel.net

Sleep Hygiene and Mental Health

A close connection lies between mental health and sound, sufficient sleep. Lack of sleep has a profound impact on mental health and the psychological state. The connection goes both ways; those with mental health have a greater likelihood of suffering from sleep disorders such as insomnia.

Sleep deprivation is an issue in many nations, but people who have mental health experience a much larger chance of daytime grogginess. While between ten and eighteen percent of general adults in the U.S. complain of chronic sleep issues, such problems persist in fifty to eighty percent of those patients seeking treatment in an average psychiatric practice.

Understanding the link between sleep and mental health is useful when considering sleep hygiene and its effect on psychiatric conditions. A ninety-minute span in a person who experiences regular sleep contains the process of cycling between two major sleep categories: quiet and rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. In quiet sleep, muscles relax, the temperature of the body lowers, and breathing and heart rate slow. The deepest part of this stage of sleep permits the production of physiological alterations to boost immune system function.

In REM sleep, people dream. Blood pressure, breathing, heart rate, and body temperature rise to those levels experienced during the waking hours. Studies indicate that REM sleep improves memory and learning as well as the contribution to emotional health in a variety of complex ways. Disruption of sleep has been shown to wreak havoc in the brain’s functioning. It impacts levels of stress hormones and neurotransmitters, impairs emotional regulation as well as thinking, and can amplify the impacts of psychiatric disorders.

A variety of lifestyle changes for sleep and mental health exist to affect insomnia in addition to psychotherapy, behavioral strategies, and potentially necessary medications. Limiting caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine near bedtime is one. Participating in a routine of aerobic activity has shown to help people achieve sleep more quickly and experience longer bouts of deep sleep.

Sleep hygiene is a big factor in achieving a healthy sleep schedule and a healthier mental state. This refers to a variety of tips such as setting the ideal scene for sleep and using the bedroom solely for such activities as sleep. For overall health, keep things calm, dark, and soothing.

Understanding the Difference Between Anxiety and Depression

Alyssa Mandel The Difference Between Anxiety and Depression (1)Two of the mental health conditions that most people are aware of are anxiety and depression. However, when asked to explain the difference between the two, some people are at a loss. This is due in large part to the fact that there are many symptoms that overlap. Also, many people with depression are also diagnosed with anxiety and vice versa.

So how does one know how to make a distinction between the two? In order to answer this question, it is necessary to understand exactly what each of these disorders are and then make a comparison between the two.

To learn more visit Alyssa Mandel’s blog at alyssamandel.com/blog

Mental Health Benefits of Yoga

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Yoga has become increasingly popular in the last 30 years for a variety of reasons. Studies since 1970 have shown that yoga has beneficial effects on both the body and the mind. Although some of the ways yoga does this are apparent through relaxation and breathing techniques, some of the mental health benefits are less obvious.

Regular yoga practice has been linked to decreased depression and stress. It has also been shown to improve mood, sleep quality, and confidence. These improvements can have effects on many facets of the individual’s life and mental health. In order to obtain the maximum benefits from yoga, individuals should practice yoga between three and seven days a week for at least fifteen minutes at a time.

 

To read more visit Alyssa Mandel’s blog.

Benefits of Pet Therapy

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Did you know our furry friends can provide therapy for us? Pet therapy is a rapidly going trend, and we’ve seen a number of different animals provide comfort to humans. Dogs and cats are the most common therapy pets but, horses, guinea pigs, and other animals can qualify as well. Pet therapy is an interaction between a person and a trained animal (guided by a handler). This type of treatment helps those with a physical or mental illness cope or overcome their health problems. For example, therapy dogs and their handlers make visits to hospitals and interact with patients. After interacting patients feel happier and are less focused on their illness.

 

To learn more about pet therapy visit Alyssa Mandel’s blog.

Skills Every Social Worker Needs

Alyssa Mandel Skills Every Social Worker Needs

Social work is a profession that requires its workers to provide many different types of services. Some of the services a social worker can provide include, helping individuals apply for social services, counseling, and other clinical services. Social workers help the disadvantaged navigate day-to-day life and more significant issues they may face. Working within this field requires you to have a broad skill set that transcends a variety of situations. Here are a few skills that can help you succeed as a social worker.   

Communication

While working in this field, you’ll interact with people every day; this makes it crucial to have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Keeping detailed and organized reports as well as notes helps you manage cases for your clients. It can also come in handy for supervisors when evaluating your work. The ability to also connect verbally with a variety of clients is important to the overall success of a case.  

Dependability

In a difficult situation, your clients will look to you for guidance and strength. It’s your job to build a level of trust with your clients and be there for them when they need you. Sometimes you might have to respond to a client at different hours of the day, and even if a client does something you don’t agree with you still have to support them, regardless of the situation.

 

 

 

To read more visit Alyssa Mandel’s blog at AlyssaMandel.com/blog

Quick Tips for Managing Stress

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Stressed out? It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to balance work, a social life, and family. But don’t worry it happens to everyone. Stress in small amounts is a good thing, and it can even make you more productive. However, you should be cautious about carrying too much weight on your shoulders. If not treated, chronic stress forms quickly, leading to anxiety, insomnia, and high blood pressure. Luckily, it’s easier to reduce your stress levels than you think! Use the tips below to keep your stress at a healthy level.

 

Take a Break.

A taking a break can make all the difference when trying to reduce your stress levels. When feeling overwhelmed, the American Psychological Association recommends taking at least a twenty-minute break. Clear your mind by listening to calming music, going for a walk, or reading a book. Stepping away for a brief amount of time can also give you the opportunity to reset your mind. Who knows, you might even come up with new ideas for completing tasks or projects.

 

To find more stress management tips visit Alyssa Mandel’s blog at AlyssaMandel.com/blog