Mental Health First Aid Certification
Sep 22, 2011 Family Preparedness
There’s a relatively new development in mental health called the Mental Health First Aid course. More health care professionals are being required to take the course, and it’s my opinion that each workplace should have at least one person with this certification. 1 in 3 Canadians will experience a mental health crisis in their life. That’s the statistic, but I think all Canadians will be affected by a mental health crisis either directly or with someone they know and love, during their lifetime.
But how do we help? If it’s something physical, most of us know at least something about first aid to try something, like a band-aid or calling 911. But few of us know what to do in the case of a mental health emergency, if we even know how to identify it!
I urge you to check out the site and strongly consider registering for a course.
Mental Health First Aid Canada
Tags: depression, first aid, mental health, mental illness, psychosis, schizophrenia, suicide
Episode 37 – Life’s Most Stressful Events – Marriage
Apr 17, 2011 Family Preparedness, Relationships
On the list of Life’s Most Stressful Events, marriage comes in with a score of 50. 100 being the most stressful which is the death of a spouse. Let’s assume they mean the process of getting married is stressful, because I don’t think marriage is a constant stress, half as stressful as your spouse dying.
Today, I present some questions to ask of yourself and your future spouse about what you marriage might look like. Look at all the facets of married life – children, family, finances, careers and the possibility of what might end your marriage. Ask each other the “What if’s”.
If you can get through these kind of questions and whatever ones you come up with along the way, you may find less stress in getting married and begin to enjoy the married life a lot sooner than if you didn’t talk things through. Let me know what you think of the podcast in the forums or comments below!
Tags: careers, children, couples, events, family, finances, life, marriage, prepared, stress
Episode 36 – Life’s Most Stressful Events – Passing of a Family Member and Major Injury or Illness
Apr 5, 2011 Family Preparedness
This episode covers 2 more of life’s most stressful events. Is anyone ever really prepared for these things to happen? Probably not, but even some degree of preparation can help you dramatically. Sometimes even just thinking about these things and recognizing that they do happen, can be some comfort.
I hope you get something out of this podcast – it was a hard one to do. Just thinking and talking about the subject matter was very stressful for me. It may be distressing to listen to, and to think about these possible disasters. Nonetheless, we have to face the topic, if we are going to be prepared at all for it.
My sincere prayers and wishes are that you never have to go through any of this. Yet I also want you to be prepared if you have to go through it.
Tags: CBT, death, disability, family, illness, injury, preparedness, therapy
Unexpected Preparedness Lessons – Vacuum Storage Bags
Mar 20, 2011 Family Preparedness, Uncategorized
Sounds like some sort of oxymoron, right? Yet there are times when you do something for one reason that turn out to be great for a preparedness reason. Vacuum bags for packing clothes is one of those things!
When my sweetie headed down to our Nova Scotia home with about 1/4 of the stuff from our household, she packed all her clothes and linens in these vacuum packing bags that she bought at Dollarama. I’m sure other dollar stores have them as well. She got the large size for $1.25 each, filled them, sealed them and they happened to fit perfectly into a 5 cubic foot moving box. Honestly, this wasn’t planned! It just worked that well.
She towed her things behind the truck on a 20 foot car hauler with side rails and everything tarped. But that wasn’t enough for the rain she would encounter on the last two days of their trek. When they got to the house, everything was soaked! All the cardboard, furniture, everything! Well, everything except her clothes and linens!
If you’ve ever been in that ‘everything soaked’ situation, you know what a morale booster having clean, dry clothes can be. That’s the bonus lesson of using these vacuum bags. She did it to save space, and it saved some of her peace of mind.
|
|
If you’ve got an unexpected preparedness lesson anything like this, please join our forum and share it with our friends.
Episode 33 – Life’s Most Stressful Events – Divorce
Sep 22, 2010 Family Preparedness
Almost half of marriages in Canada end in divorce. Almost all of those divorces have the same thing cited as a reason – “I’m not happy anymore.” With people using that kind of rationale, it’s easy to see why divorces happen so often and how the situation can become utterly disastrous.
If you’re thinking of getting married, are married, getting divorced or thinking of a divorce – this podcast is for you. If you plan on staying single for the rest of your life, well, then you can’t get divorced can you? This podcast is deeply emotional and personal for me as I have gone through a divorce. Please keep that in mind as you listen. *Warning – I drop the f-bomb once.*
Tags: divorce, life events, marriage, marriage counselling, prenuptial, stress
