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By Dr. Joti Samra, CEO & Founder of the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic and MyWorkplaceHealth  Suicidal Thoughts: Making a Safety Plan
When someone is experiencing significant or persistent distress, or negative feelings, in their life, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or hopeless about the future. Many people think about suicide because they’re looking for a way to escape the pain. If you’re thinking about suicide, know that you’re not alone and your feelings are valid. The best things you can do when you’re feeling suicidal are; make sure you are not alone, be in a safe place including making your home safe by getting rid of things you could use to kill yourself, and make a safety plan. What is a safety plan? A safety plan is a written set of instructions that you’re able to use when you’re feeling suicidal and may be at risk of hurting yourself. When using the safety plan, you start with the first item and work your way through escalating steps until you feel safe. It is helpful to make the safety plan with someone you trust. A therapist may be the best option, but a close friend or family member can also be helpful. It’s particularly important to get these people in your life involved because they’re the ones you’re likely to call for support when you need to execute the safety plan. It’s also helpful to create the safety plan when you’re not actively suicidal, and keep it in a place where it is easy to access when suicidal thoughts arise. How to create a safety plan Before starting to write down items on your safety plan, it can be helpful to determine the situations where using the safety plan is necessary. Consider the situations, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that precede or accompany suicidal thoughts for you and when a safety plan would be most helpful. Next, see our free digital download Coping with Suicidal Thoughts where you can print and fill out a safety plan. The information below can help with filling out the safety plan. When making a safety plan, the following are the key elements you want to consider and have a ‘plan’ to do: 1 - What can I do to calm or comfort myself?
2 - What are my reasons for living
3 - Who can I talk to?
4 - Where can I go to be safe / how can I make my current environment safe?
5 - What can I do if I still don’t feel safe?
Final Thoughts Many people experience suicidal thoughts and it’s not something to be ashamed of. Having a safety plan helps you and your loved ones be prepared to keep you safe when you are feeling distressed. If you or somebody else is at immediate risk of suicide, call 9-1-1. By Dr. Joti Samra, CEO & Founder of the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic and MyWorkplaceHealth The question:
I’m curious about therapy, but not ready to commit to seeing someone on a regular basis. My aunt keeps encouraging me to read different self-help books. I assume it will be very difficult to follow through on all the advice in these books. Are they useful or a waste of my time? The answer: Fantastic question. You, like many people who have not tried therapy before, have some hesitations and apprehensions about making a regular commitment to undergoing treatment. This can be understandable if you have no reference point for what therapy may look like, if you have limited funds or coverage for treatment (this is unfortunately the biggest barrier for most people), or if you are not yet emotionally prepared to start to peel away the layers on some significant issue(s) in your life. Undertaking some self-directed work, with the aid of self-help books, can certainly be a great place to start. A plethora of self-help books exist on every topic under the sun. It can be overwhelming to know what to get given the range of books that are available. Start by doing your research. Look for recommendations from friends, read online reviews of books, and also look to reputable psychological/mental health websites that offer suggestions. If you visit my website and go to Individual/Employee Resources, you will see that I have listed a range of freely available and downloadable treatment materials that I have co-authored (on depression, coping with chronic health conditions, dealing with suicidality). I have also listed useful websites that offer other recommendations, as well as a list – by topic – of books and treatment manuals that I recommend. There are a few guidelines to follow as you are undertaking your search: find books that have been around for some time and that have solid reviews behind them; look for books authored by licensed professionals (where the author is described as being “registered” or “licensed” in their jurisdiction of practice) and look for words such as “evidence” or “research-based.” This will help ensure you are accessing high-quality resources. Certainly the level of benefit you obtain from self-help materials depends on a combination of the nature of your presenting issues, and the severity of those issues. Research supports the benefit of self-guided work (through self-help or self-management) of the common mental health conditions (depression and anxiety) when those issues are in the mild to moderate range of severity. As presenting issues move into more serious levels – for example, if you are experiencing a significant impact on your ability to fulfill your day-to-day obligations and tasks – then self-help materials are most helpful when they are augmented by the assistance of a health professional who helps you work through your difficulties. Also remember that you can meet a therapist once or twice to get further information without necessarily having to undertake an intensive course of treatment. In my practice, I see many high-functioning individuals who find a session every four to six weeks is enough to help keep them on track with other work they are doing independently in between our sessions. Excerpted from Dr. Joti Samra’s “Ask the Psychologist” weekly column in The Globe and Mail. By Dr. Joti Samra, CEO & Founder of the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic and MyWorkplaceHealth  Goals…we all set them – lose that last five pounds, eat better, quit smoking – but only a few of us actually find it easy to make those changes in our lives, particularly if we are changing long-standing patterns. One of the reasons that goals, like New Years Resolutions, often fail is that we aren’t setting effective and achievable goals. There is a major difference between wishing something would change and setting a goal to make that change and following through.
Fitness and diet goals are among the most commonly set goals (as well as the ones that so regularly fail). Many of us start the week strong, but by mid-week, we have lost sight of eating healthy or exercising and fall back into old habits. You don’t need a Ph.D. in health sciences to know that diet, exercise, and sleep are three of the most crucial things that can dramatically impact and – when properly addressed – improve both physical and psychological health. But the diet, fitness, and pharmaceutical industries are lucrative, multibillion-dollar industries for a reason: Most people struggle with sustaining long-term change in these areas. So, welcome to the club! What can you do to enhance the likelihood of sustainable change? Here are six steps to planning and executing your goal to increase the likelihood of success. 1. Pick a specific behaviour to change.Start with no more than one to two behaviours to change at a time.
2. Identify readiness to change. Before beginning, ask questions such as: “How ready am I?” “Is this the right time for me to make a change?” “What are the pros and cons of changing?”
3. Identify barriers. Anticipate setbacks. If we tried to make a change in the past, what got in the way of success?
4. Implement change. Approach behavioural change gradually. Make small, specific changes.
5. Revisit and revise. Do not get discouraged by setbacks. If we are not on track with the changes identified, work to identify the barriers again. Were our expectations too high? Was the specific goal we set too ambitious?
6. Remember Rewards. Set milestones that help track progress and ensure to schedule in regular rewards for each achievement. Behaviour change can be challenging – especially if we have been developing the habit over a number of years. Remember these six steps and know you that success doesn’t happen overnight. Be consistent and know that we all face setbacks, it’s how we keep getting back on track that will eventually lead to permanent change. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published as part of a Globe and Mail “Ask the Psychologist” column authored by Dr. Samra, and has been edited and updated. By Dr. Joti Samra, CEO & Founder of the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic and MyWorkplaceHealth The question:
Lately I’ve been feeling uninterested in socializing. All I want to do is stay home and have netflix marathons. I’ve been feeling like this for about two months. Should I be worried I’m no longer wanting to spend time with friends and family – which I used to enjoy? The answer: All of us can benefit from the occasional TV binge. It can give us time to unwind from the day-to-day grind of our lives and give us an opportunity to recharge. However, if your tendency to avoid people has been going on for weeks or months on end, there may be cause for concern. Periods of feeling down or sad are common for all of us; most of the time when we feel this way, we aren’t depressed. Usually, mood changes will go away on their own within a few days or weeks, especially as stressors that commonly cause these mood changes start to resolve. For some people, mood issues may continue for weeks or longer. If you find that you have been feeling sad or down and have had little interest in things you normally enjoy, like spending time with friends, for an extended period, it’s possible you are struggling with an emotional problem like depression. Depression is one of the most common psychological health conditions and affects one out of four people over the course of their lifetime. Contrary to popular belief, depression doesn’t always mean feeling sad or tearful – for some people, a “depressed” mood may feel like irritability or frustration, and for others it may be associated with feeling “flat” or feeling “nothing.” Depression comes along with other problems that may include:
If you are feeling any of the above – particularly if you are having dark thoughts – you should speak to your family doctor or a psychologist or psychiatrist. There are very effective treatments for depression, including cognitive-behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy and, for some people, medication therapy. With time and the right treatment, you can get better. You may be able to access free services through your local mental health agency (see www.cmha.ca for a Canadian Mental Health Association office near you). By Dr. Joti Samra, CEO & Founder of the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic and MyWorkplaceHealth Ahh, the joys of vacation! For many of us, vacations represent no alarm clocks and schedules, limited to no work, and minimized chores and responsibilities. For all of us, getting back into the flow of regular life and work responsibilities after an extended break can be tough. As humans, we are innately hedonistic and naturally gravitate toward things that feel pleasurable, enjoyable, and evoke a positive emotional state. We are also master acclimatizers. We physiologically and behaviourally adjust to whatever environment we are placed in. This is true for both relaxing situations or intense work situations.
It can take a few days to get into vacation mode (or longer if you’ve been in a very intense work situation). You might be sleeping way more than is usual (or needed), maybe even napping. You likely don’t feel as sharp mentally as you do when in work mode. The changes can be subtle, gradual, and happen without any conscious awareness – and they can have an impact on our general mood state and our levels of energy, attention, and focus. Because of this, it may take a few days to a few weeks to make the full transition out of vacation mode. Generally, the lack of motivation we may feel when getting back to work is much more attributable to the lower energy level and reduced focus that the body adjusted to than it is to anything else. Refocusing our energy and motivation It can be easy (especially on the heels of an extended vacation) to get stuck in the trap of ruminating on the reasons we are required to work. Not only does this type of thinking do nothing to change the situation, but it breeds negative emotions. Shifting the focus to the choice elements can help us feel more engaged, more quickly. So, we need to remind ourselves why we are doing the work that we do. Put pen to paper and consider asking these questions:
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published as part of a Globe and Mail “Ask the Psychologist” column authored by Dr. Samra, and has been edited and updated. |
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