Archive for category: Worker Wellness News

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of February 26, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from the failure of the US War on Drugs to how a “phone call” can help cure loneliness to stories on the links between depression & inflammation as well as exercise & pain. Today, I wish to shed some light on the podcast touching on the Forgotten Mothers of Civil Rights’ Leaders. As Black History Month soon comes to a close it would be remiss on my part not to share such an impactful this piece. It reminded me that NONE of us are self-made! Most of us have had people in our lives who have been there to support & guide us through the good times and bad times during this journey we call life. PLEASE find 50 minutes during this coming week to listen to these three moving stories. You will NOT be disappointed!

Source: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ted-radio-hour/id523121474?i=1000597760729

On the USA losing the Drug War

Harm reduction in the USA

US resistance to effective treatments

More on harm reduction

Fentanyl / Smuggling / Mexico Border

Mexico / Law / Bribery

Emojis / Kids / Drugs

MH & 988 progress

Girls & Sadness: What parents should know

College / Discrimination / Depression

Depression & Inflammation

Are you at risk for loneliness?

A Loneliness Cure: The Phone Call?

When is best time to exercise?

Exercise & Pain

Lower back pain?

IBS & Anxiety/Depression/Suicide

Running out of time?

Slowing time down?

On “saving” others

Update: US COVID Death Toll

COVID & Kids’ Learning Loss

A School Counselor & Kids’ Anxiety

Spirituality & Well-being

Benefits of Music Therapy

MH Workforce Shortage

HC Apprenticeships

Labor’s Spring Rising

NLRB & Severance Packages

Forgotten Mothers of Civil Rights’ Leaders

Seattle & Banning Caste

Happiness & Work

Tailoring benefits to the employee’s needs?

MH in the Workplace

MH & Better Managers = Better Workers

The 4-day Workweek?

Tracking your brain @ work?

Does implicit bias training work?

Men’s Soccer joins AFL-CIO

MLS Union / FIFA & Concussion Subs?

Female athletes / Head injuries / Suicide

Upcoming webinars:

https://www.slcl.org/content/virtual-program-compassion-fatigue

https://www.slcl.org/content/virtual-program-chair-yoga

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of February 12, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from providing more Mental Health assistance to children in ERs to why women continue to leave the workforce to the risks of Magic Mushrooms. Today, I wish to shed some light on the article touching on the possible repeal of child labor laws. With a >35% increase of child labor law violations in 2022, this is not an issue to take lightly…worker shortage or not! We are not merely talking about kids working more than the allotted hours in a given week in the “safe” confines of your local grocery store. In fact, a number of these abuses stem from reports at suppliers to foreign car plants (mostly located in the south). As a lifelong advocate of Career & Technical Education, I can attest that the majority of these schemes over that past +4 decades have less to do about the virtues of work-based learning and more to do about sourcing another form of cheap labor…at the cost of worker safety, in general…and our children’s futures, in specific!

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/us-child-labor-laws-violations?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

988 Guide for Schools

More govt funding for MH?

Deadly Fentanyl Wave

How to be happier?

Are Trigger Warnings working?

MH / Obesity / Isolation / College & COVID

Sailors / Nukes / MH

Setting boundaries

Microdosing & Mushrooms

Ketamine & Mushrooms: Risks

Vets / Ketamine & Therapy

Kids / Crisis / ER v Home

COVID / Food scarcity & College

Athletes & Personal Reporting

Women / Workforce / Health Inequalities

Co-workers & Well-being

On falling asleep

Syncing moods & Sex

Porn & Sex Addiction

Mixed handedness

Having it all v Falling apart

US Secretary of Labor’s next move?

The dangers of tweaking US child labor laws in 2023

Resenteeism

Learning to say NO

Women in construction

Productivity v Safety?

Navigating Rec Marijuana in MO

STL Co Jail & College

Kids / Concussions / Sports

UPDATE: CTE found in 92% of former NFL players

Upcoming webinar, etc.:

A tale of 2 surgeries

Mental Health in Construction Summit

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of January 30, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from drugs worse than fentanyl to the impact of gun violence on our Mental Health to homelessness issues in STL. Today, I wish to shed some light on 2 remotely related articles. First, the importance of empowering Justice Involved Individuals (JII: recently known as the formerly incarcerated) before they re-enter the community appears to be a strategy that truly refocuses our correctional systems towards rehabilitation vs punishment. Why does this matter? For far too many reasons to list herein…but one for sure is to help address the current worker shortage. Regarding the second article, COVID is now not being seen as a major culprit of today’s lack of workers. A recent study suggests that younger less educated men (Think: no college degree) are not seeking work as they did in the past. To all apprenticeship directors/coordinators looking to fill your ranks, this seems like an issue worth exploring!

Sources: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/connection-hope-purpose-and-empowerment-for-justice-involved-individuals-reentering-the-community

https://www.wsj.com/articles/labor-participation-factors-economy-11674780877

Kids / Social media / Drugs

Biden / Congress / Opioids

Worse than Fentanyl: Nitazene?

Xylazine (1)

Xylazine (2)

Chronic pain: Opioids v PT

Native Americans & Deaths of Despair

MH resources for under-represented populations

MH & Gun violence

MH & Football

How to be happier?

Rodents & Love

Empowering JII

HUD on Homelessness

STL & Homeless

Train to be positive

Why urologists matter

Yoga for seniors

Selfish Mindfulness?

Benefits of Guided Imagery

Changes to Medicaid?

Worker shortage & COVID?

Does a college degree matter?

Holocaust & Lessons yet learned

Upcoming webinars:

Managing everyday anxiety

Use of herbs

Emergency Preparedness

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of January 8, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from civil rights heroes to kids and cannabis to injuries on the field and at work. Today, I wish to shed some light on the 2 articles focusing on suicide. The first story examines the effectiveness of 988. In July 2022, this nation implemented a three-digit Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (Think 911). On average, wait times to speak to a MH professional went from 3 minutes to less than one minute over the past 6 months. This is great news for a person in crisis! The second story appeared in yesterday’s WSJ and reported on the VA’s new efforts to reduce suicides among our Veterans. This concerns me as I know many of our union sisters and brothers who proudly served our country! It was not too long ago that our nation saw a loss of nearly 24 vets EACH day to suicide (in 2021, this dropped to <18/day). Reports in 2017 suggested that over 50% of those related deaths were by guns. PLEASE…If you know of someone who is having suicidal thoughts, etc. NOW is the time to have discussions about the safe (offsite) storage of weapons and ammo.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/13/1148970520/examining-how-effective-the-national-mental-health-helpline-has-been
https://www.wsj.com/articles/va-expands-efforts-to-curb-suicide-among-veterans-11673704191

Standing up for civil rights

MLK: Test your knowledge

How effective is 988?

Curbing veteran suicides

NY & MH

NY & Overdoses

Combating opioid ODs

Workplace naloxone

Less lethal fentanyl?

Is any amount of alcohol harmful?

Kids & Cannabis

Children & Sexual Assault

Children & Vaccinations

S.A.D. & Light

US cancer rates drop

Remote work & Corporate Wellness

Health & Gas stoves

Does online therapy work?

Adults & Relationships

Best time to eat?

Changing your personality

PTs & reducing job injuries

Preventing shoulder injuries

Women / Track / Success

Of sport & injury

Death of a former NFLer

Nursing shortages, etc.

NYC nurses return from strike

Student loan update

Upcoming conference

Are you a global educator?

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of December 25, 2022

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from improving your mental health in 2023 to the importance of making connections to how COVID’s learning loss may negatively impact our children’s future earnings. Today, I wish to highlight the article pertaining to how each of us needs to focus on healthy daily habits. In order to reduce stress, try incorporating a mixture of the following into your daily routines: relax (mindfulness), journal (gratitude), exercise (including sleep and nutrition/hydration), monitor (limit your exposure to social media), and laugh! The past three years has taken a toll on most of our lives. The COVID pandemic has changed the way we must negotiate the future. To this end, Abe Lincoln once said: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.”

Source:

www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/7-daily-habits-thatll-improve-your-mental-health-in-2023/

MH advice for 2023

7 daily habits for improving MH

Emotional health & Kindness

Emotional support / Sadness / Conversing

Does virtual MH therapy work?

Military / Behavioral challenges / Enlist

Psychedelics on the rise & Safety

Psychedelics & Brain research

Post-pandemic life: Connections

Mental Illness & Connections

Teen pregnancy & Child poverty

Children: Victims of fentanyl

2022: Opioids in America

Another Opioids lawsuit

Narcan is NOT bulletproof

Fentanyl addiction & Treatment

Schools stock Narcan

FDA & non-prescription naloxone?

Anxiety & Your brain

Aging & Insomnia

Tinnitus treatment?

Schools & Absenteeism

Schools / Learning loss / Earnings

Rosati-Kain HS update

Tua / Concussions / Future?

Women / Rugby / Concussions

Pele: The real GOAT

Pro-union sentiment

OK & Black market weed

Student debt: Update

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.