How Counseling Can Support Your Working Life
When The Motivational Cliches Aren’t Enough: How Counseling Can Support Your Working Life.
By, Theresa Beasley, LISW-S
Whether you are “working to live”, or “living to work” (which, by the way, are equal in amount of validation) – work is an everyday reality; a necessity to support us obtaining/maintaining the needed resources to survive and thrive in life.
Too-often, most challenges faced in the occupational world are typically perceived as “common” or “just part of the job”, but it’s essential to recognize and address mental health concerns that can be experienced in the workplace, which can comprise of:
● Burnout: chronic/persistent stress leading to emotional exhaustion, reduced performance, and detachment from work. Symptoms can include fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, loss of motivation and
○ The phase “compassion fatigue” is a form of burnout in occupational roles that demand sustained higher levels of empathy.
● Perfectionism, or Overachievement Pressure: is oriented in unrealistic self-expectations that lead to constant self-criticism and excessive work hours. Symptoms can include anxiety (overthinking), procrastination, fear of failure – all of which provoke a sense of feeling “frozen” or “struck”.
○ Imposter Syndrome, which holds some similarities: the feeling of being inadequate or like a “fraud,” despite evident achievements. Symptoms can include self-doubt, fear of failure, overworking to “prove” oneself, and reluctance to take on new challenges.
● Interpersonal Challenges, including but not limited to: poor communication, micromanagement, lack of recognition/appreciation; differences within expectations, working styles, and personalities. Symptoms can include: irritability (including anger or resentment), detachment/withdrawal, which can influence our ability in maintaining healthy boundaries or advocating for oneself.
This is not an exhaustive list of experiences, and neither of this list of cliched phrases and responses that are dismissive, invalidating, and simply not viable solutions: ““work smarter, not harder”; “everyone else is also going through this”, “just stay positive”; “you just need to take some time off”). The dismissal of these concerns often not only exacerbate their intensity and complexity, but impact other important areas of well-being such as our motivation to engage in activities of personal interest/fulfillment, our personal relationships, and physical health.
Counseling provides a hands-on, supportive, and non-judgemental approach in exploring coping skills, solutions, and perspectives to help overcome your work-related mental health concerns in a pacing and direction that you get to decide what works best for you, such as:
● Setting realistic expectations within your day-to-day workload; applying self-compassion when needing to take breaks/time off.
● Challenge/reframe negative thoughts, especially those directed towards the self.
● Improving communication and other interpersonal effectiveness skills to mitigate conflict; gaining self-confidence when needing to advocate for oneself through healthy confrontation and setting boundaries.
● Increasing personal resilience through development of distress tolerance skills that can support high-pressure situations.
Counseling is not meant to fix our life problems; but it can provide clarity and a boost in personal sense of competency over our abilities to navigate and overcome life’s challenges alongside the path of least resistance. Further curious how counseling can support you? We have immediate openings at Vibrant Health Counseling and Teletherapy!