Latest news with #mentalhealthprofessionals
Forbes
6 days ago
- General
- Forbes
Why Experts Advise, ‘Treat Anxiety As Your Best Ally, Not Your Enemy'
Most of us unwittingly fight or resist anxiety because it feels like an enemy, but mental health ... More experts advise that treating anxiety as your friend, instead of your enemy, helps reduce it. You feel your heart pound during a job interview, quarterly review or presentation to colleagues. Butterflies swirl in your stomach before confronting the coworker who talks over you in meetings. And there's that knot in your chest and booming critical voice, lurking over your shoulder, making sure you get it right, as you pitch ideas to your team. While the physical and mental discomfort makes this a hard sell, mental health experts advise that if you start to treat your anxiety as a friend, instead as an enemy, it relaxes. If you're like most people, you consider anxiety to be an enemy infiltrator that invades your mind and body. When it's sternly warning you--through headaches, indigestion, muscle spasms, body aches, clenched teeth or knots in your chest--you fight, ignore or try to stampede over it. These reactions add insult to injury, fueling the anxiety and exhausting you. If you combat, fight or battle anxiety, it implies that anxiety is bad, something to get rid of. If you resist and react to anxiety--your bodyguard, your first responder-- it's like fighting the fire department when your house is on fire. It adds insult to injury, activates the sympathetic nervous system (your fight-or-flight response) and intensifies the emotion. Plus, it's exhausting and doesn't work. Modern-day experts are advising that you befriend versus fight your anxiety. It's counterintuitive, but it's simple physics. Consider someone caught in a riptide. The life saving phrase 'Float Don't fight' was created to help swimmers survive rip currents. Fighting seems like the natural reaction, but it exhausts you and eventually drowns you. Floating parallel to the shore—going with the flow—brings you into dry land. Similarly, kayakers claim the best way to escape if you're trapped in a hydraulic—a turbulent funnel-shaped current—is to relax, and it will spit you out. But the tendency is to fight against the current, and that can keep you stuck, even drown you. A similar course of action is a beginning point to reduce anxiety—going with it, instead of against it or responding instead of reacting to it. Although this is a hard pill to swallow, understanding that it's your friend, not your enemy, is the best medicine to manage and reduce it, and you can respond to it in a few simple steps. 'Why would I befriend something that is ruining my life?" you ask. This is a hard pill to swallow because it's counterintuitive, so the first step is to shift your perspective. It helps to think of your anxiety as a bodyguard or first responder. It has probably saved your life more times than you can count, and you might not even realize it. It's job is to keep you alert and aware, like an upset parent who swats her toddler, when he runs into busy traffic. I spoke with psychotherapist Britt Frank, author of the new book, Align Your Mind. "Anxiety isn't the enemy—it's your internal smoke alarm,' she told me. 'Loud? Yes. But it's trying to keep you alive. We don't need to fight anxiety—that's like taking a jackhammer to your smoke alarm. The alarm isn't the problem—it's a signal pointing toward a problem.' She explains that at its core, anxiety is your brain's way of scanning for threats and preparing you to act. "That heightened awareness, fast-beating heart and mental alertness?' Frank asks. 'Those are signs of a body ready to perform. When harnessed skillfully, anxiety can sharpen your focus, energize your body and give you the edge you need to rise to a challenge. Instead of seeing anxiety as a malfunction, see it as a superpower—one that needs guidance, not rejection.' Accept it as normal, hardwired in you from birth for protection. Frank advises against thinking of anxiety as a disorder but to understand its true nature, which she describes as 'a finely tuned survival mechanism that's been keeping you alive since birth." I also spoke with stress physiologist Dr. Rebecca Heiss, author of the groundbreaking new book SPRINGBOARD: Transform Stress to Work For You. Heiss also calls anxiety your Superpower, challenging conventional wisdom and suggesting that you frame stress and anxiety, not as an enemy, but as a powerful ally. She teaches that everybody is hardwired for anxiety and stress, and the only people who don't have it are dead. Not to mention that anxiety makes us feel alive and thrive. Without anxiety, you wouldn't have as much fun. It gives you that thrill when you watch a suspenseful movie or root for your favorite Superbowl team. It provides excitement when you're on a roller coaster, bungee jumping, taking a safari, going to your first prom, getting married, buying your first house, delivering your firstborn, going through the haunted house at Halloween. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Anxiety has gotten a bum rap. Frank argues that the goal isn't to banish anxiety; it's to turn it into a high performance coach. You don't achieve by banning anxiety; you succeed when you harness it. That's how Simone Biles won Olympic gold, the Kansas City Chiefs the 2025 Superbowl and Meryl Streep snagged her string of Oscars. Without it, you might not be as successful in your career or your intimate and professional relationships could crumble. You would be more susceptible to danger, and your life could fall apart. And one thing's for sure: you wouldn't be alive right now. The next time anxiety comes knocking, remind yourself that its function is to shield you. Then observe the emotion by self-distancing, much like inspecting a blemish on your hand. From a bird's-eye view, notice how it's doing its natural job, protecting you as it comes and goes. Frank suggests that, instead of reacting, that you respond to anxiety like a leader. Listen to it without letting it take the wheel, and when you feel it rising, pause and name it—'Here's my inner smoke alarm.' Once you name it, neuroscience shows that self-talk can help you regulate it. Frank suggests, for example, that you engage in silent conversations with the anxious voice. When you hear it, say to that voice, 'I hear you. I've got this. I'll take it from here' to develop a non-combative relationship with it. If possible, Frank recommends thanking your anxiety for trying to protect you, then take the lead with it. "Shift your mindset from 'How do I get rid of this?' to 'How can I use this energy?' Channel it into small, focused action—a 'Micro Yes' like writing one sentence, stretching or sending an email. This turns anxious energy into momentum. Over time, your brain learns: stress isn't the enemy; it's fuel. And with practice, you become the one steering the car, not the alarm in the passenger seat.'
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Health NZ wants to close a mental health facility, staff say more people need it
Photo: 123RF Warning: This story mentions suicide. Staff at an Auckland mental health facility are rallying to save what they say is a vital service for people who otherwise fall through the cracks. Health New Zealand is proposing to close Rauaroha Segar House, a publicly funded intensive programme for people with long-standing or chronic mental health problems. The proposal says not enough people are treated there and staff will be better deployed elsewhere, but staff say it can be saved. RNZ has spoken to a clinician at Segar, who said the central city service must remain. "Our main concern is that Segar House is a unique service. It's actually one-of-a-kind in the North Island," they said. "It treats people with chronic suicidality and trauma. It's offering gold-standard treatment for people who couldn't get proper treatment in the community mental health service." The clinician requested anonymity because they feared speaking out following a recent directive from Health NZ reminding staff not to talk publicly. The directive said Health NZ's communications team could respond to media in a timely, accurate and consistent manner, while representing the organisation in a positive manner. Despite that, the clinician said the public had a right to know what it stood to lose. "It works. The clients that are coming to Segar House are probably clients who are bouncing between the urgent services [or have] longer admissions to the hospital inpatient units. "Most of our clients, when they graduate the programme they don't require any more mental health service inputs." The intensive programme is a mixture of individual and group sessions, and for the people attending it's like a full-time job. After a change in 2019 tightened the criteria of who could enter the programme, it was now for people who haven't found a programme that worked elsewhere. Staff said that's limited the numbers of people the programme could see and Health NZ cited low numbers - there were about 10 people at any given time - as one of the reasons behind the proposal to close. But the clinician said that could change. "We're calling for an immediate halt to the disestablishment proposal and for a revitalisation plan that will help us be responsive to the clients and the service's need. "I do think we should increase the number of clients that are being treated at Segar House." The staff proposal sent to Health NZ this week has called for a loosening of the programme's entry criteria and said it could treat people drawn from a bigger area. It was thought a decision on the proposal to close could be made as soon as Thursday - and Health NZ's original proposal said it would happen this week - but mental health minister Matt Doocey has confirmed it now won't be that soon. Kyle MacDonald, a psychotherapist who previously worked at Segar House, said closing it would mean more costs later. "From the moment I first read the proposal I was both shocked and upset because I know not only how vital a service Segar House is, but also how high risk the clients they serve are. "The reality is if we lose Segar House as a service there will not be a replacement service for these extremely high-risk, chronically suicidal patients who do very very well under this treatment." The service was operating on about half its full staff capacity of seven full-time equivalent positions, but was fully supporting its clients, he said. "People will be there four or five days a week. They will attend three or four groups a week. Those will be skills groups, learning particular behavioural skills... around regulating your emotions and dealing with high levels of distress. "It also includes things like mindfulness groups, and also trauma-focused group therapy, where people learn to manage and process past traumatic experiences." Health NZ group director of operations for Auckland Michael Shepherd said the proposal to close Segar House wouldn't reduce the number of frontline mental health staff, and would instead mean their expertise was available to more people when they're redeployed. It had very low numbers of people access the programme and in other districts they would be treated in other individual and group-based programmes, which was proposed here. "The consultation process is still under way and no decision as to the proposal has been made," Shepherd said. "While the consultation process is occurring people will continue to receive the same service and support that they are currently receiving." Labour spokeswoman for mental health Ingrid Leary said it felt like a decision had already been made to close the facility. "The Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey, needs to show some leadership to pause the closure and get some proper independent advice before he rushes to make yet another cut, which will actually have serious safety and financial consequences." Staff from Segar House could end up in the private sector, where pay and conditions were better, and the service should stay open while it was properly reviewed, she said. Doocey said he'd sought and received assurance from Health NZ it would take as long as needed to carefully consider feedback, and a decision was some time away. "It would not meet my expectations for a decision to be made this week, days after consultation has closed," he said. "As I said previously at the time this was announced, I expect to be briefed on the outcome of the consultation. "I would not want to get ahead of having the opportunity to consider the feedback and advice from officials, therefore I have nothing further to add at this stage." Segar House's lease agreement on its Khyber Pass Road property runs out at the end of June.
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Plans for NHS staff to restrain those in mental health crisis ‘dangerous', medics say
Plans for NHS staff to restrain and detain people experiencing a mental health crisis, instead of the police doing so, are 'dangerous', doctors, nurses and psychiatrists have warned. The former prime minister Theresa May has proposed legislation in England and Wales that would change the long-established practice for dealing with people who may pose a risk to themselves or others because their mental health has deteriorated sharply. But a coalition of eight medical groups, ambulance bosses and social work leaders said the switch would put mental health staff at risk and damage their relationship with vulnerable patients. The row has echoes of the controversy stirred by the Metropolitan police's decision in 2023 to stop responding to 999 calls involving mental ill health unless they involved a threat to life. The force said the change meant officers were attending crimes such as robberies faster, but mental health groups said they feared it could result in deaths. May and two ex-health ministers, Syed Kamall and Frederick Curzon, have tabled amendments to the mental health bill going through parliament which, if passed, would lead to mental health nurses, psychiatrists or other doctors being called out to restrain and detain someone under the Mental Health Act. Those professionals would each become an 'authorised person' who is allowed to detain someone under the act. May took an active interest in mental health issues during her time as home secretary and in Downing Street. She helped ensure those detained under the act were no longer held in police cells and were instead taken to 'places of safety', usually at NHS facilities. But in a joint statement on Monday the eight groups said the risks posed by someone in a mental health crisis meant police officers must continue to always attend. The groups include the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association. At present, only police officers are permitted under the Mental Health Act to detain someone in a mental health crisis, for example because they are having a psychotic episode. The groups said: 'Removing police involvement entirely has hugely dangerous implications, as entering someone's home without permission is fraught with huge risks and is only currently done with the assistance of police intelligence. Without this, professionals may be entering homes without police help and therefore lacking crucial intelligence that could ensure their safety.' They added: 'While we recognise the immense pressures faced by police services, we also acknowledge that mental health crises in the community are becoming increasingly acute and almost never occur without some level of risk. 'The expertise, skills and equipment of the police remain essential for safely reaching individuals in crisis, especially where they may be in immediate danger to themselves, pose a risk to others or face a threat from others.' Dr Lade Smith, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: 'Detaining, and if necessary restraining, someone is essentially arresting them and to do this safely requires specialist skills and legal powers. 'Expecting clinicians whose role is to provide therapeutic care to arrest people in the street or burst into their homes if they notice someone suffering a mental health crisis is simply inappropriate and indicates a lack of understanding of what health professionals do.' Chief constables are backing the change. They want to see responsibility for dealing with mental health crises become split between their officers and NHS staff. A National Police Chiefs' Council spokesperson said: 'We support the proposed amendments to the mental health bill, which will enable authorised medical professionals to effectively deal with some mental health incidents. This will ensure vulnerable people receive the most appropriate care without feeling criminalised because of their mental health issues.' They added: 'We will always attend incidents where there is a risk of serious harm to the individual or attending professionals, or where criminality is involved.' The groups opposed to the plan also include the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors, the College of Paramedics, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, the British Association of Social Workers and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. The Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, the party's former shadow cabinet minister for mental health who is also an A&E doctor, voiced unease about the plan. She said: 'I am concerned that these amendments aim to turn practitioners into enforcers and could expose healthcare staff to increased danger. It runs the risk of eroding trust in dedicated and hard-working mental health staff by delegating police powers to them.' Ministers are also against the change. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Extending police powers to other professionals would represent a major shift in the roles, responsibilities and practice for health and care staff and would place additional resource on an already stretched NHS at a time where we are trying to rebuild a health service fit for the future. 'It also raises questions around whether it is right for the health and social care professionals to have powers to use reasonable force, which could have implications for patient, public and staff safety, as well as potentially damaging the relationships clinicians have with patients.'
Associated Press
08-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
AMK Counseling Expands Therapy Services to Boost Mental Health Support
05/08/2025, Chicago, IL // KISS PR Brand Story PressWire // As the demand for mental health and therapy services continues to grow, AMK Counseling is proud to announce the expansion of its therapy offerings to serve the local community better. Located at N Ravenswood in Chicago, IL, the practice now provides more accessible and tailored therapy options to support individuals in need. With a focus on personalized care, AMK Counseling works with clients through various therapeutic modalities, including traditional counseling, specialized programs, and EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). The practice is designed to support individuals dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and relationship issues. As a trusted mental health care provider, AMK Counseling employs a team of experienced professionals, including skilled therapists, counselors, and other mental health specialists. Each therapist or counselor is client-centered, ensuring patients receive appropriate care. The expansion thus reaches more people in Chicago and surrounding areas who require mental health assistance. One key aspect that sets this clinic apart from other providers is its use of cutting-edge methods like EMDR therapy in its services. These unique solutions suit clients who may not have responded to traditional therapeutic techniques. Many individuals have found relief from past trauma through the practice's personalized approach. In addition to expanding therapy services, AMK Counseling continues to serve a wide range of clients across Chicago, including individuals, couples, and families. Its team understands that every person's experience is unique and thus takes great care in tailoring each treatment plan to fit the client's needs. Whether someone is seeking individual counseling or family therapy, it has built a reputation for providing quality care that fosters long-term healing and well-being. The therapists and counselors also work closely with clients to ensure a comfortable and supportive environment. They are dedicated to guiding clients through their mental health journey with compassion and professionalism. As mental health awareness grows, they are ready to be allies and partners for those who need support navigating life's challenges. More information about AMK Counseling, including detailed descriptions of their services and further resources, can be found at About AMK Counseling AMK Counseling provides a wide range of therapy services, including individual, couple, and family counseling, as well as trauma therapy through EMDR. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and specializes in helping individuals overcome life challenges and emotional hurdles. ### Media Contact AMK Counseling Address: 4621 N Ravenswood, Chicago, IL 60640 Phone: 773-413-9523 newsroom: Source published by Submit Press Release >> AMK Counseling Expands Therapy Services to Boost Mental Health Support
