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Wellness & Well-being Highlights March 17th

Work life balance

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of Mar 17, 2025

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at how drugs like Xanax are posing problems (i.e., anxiety, memory loss, physical pain) for patients seeking to quit the use of benzos—to how proposed cuts to SAMHSA (the govt agency that oversees efforts addressing drug addiction and mental illness) may negatively impact recent progress—to how Gen Z is seriously considering the skilled trades over the traditional “college for all” pathway. This week I would like to take this opportunity to continue my acknowledgement of women who have touched my life.

 

As most of us reflect on our years in the K-12 school system, we can likely point to a few teachers who positively impacted our lives. To me, those years provided the foundation for lifelong learning. As I think back, it was more often than not, women in higher education and the workplace who inspired me to think differently. Those women include Dr Celia Edmundson, Dr Deborah Henry, and Sr Antona Ebo.

 

To this end, just yesterday I was invited to participate in an event at St. Joseph’s Academy High School in St. Louis County. It was called “Witness History: The Sisters Who Marched on Selma.” The event consisted of watching the documentary movie (linked below), a panel discussion with 3 of the nuns who were in Selma (+ the film’s director), and a brief Q&A session. Two of these sisters actually marched (1 Black and 1 White). The third was a (White) nurse in the hospital who treated many of protesters/victims who were beaten by State Police near the site of the Edmond Pettus Bridge. Interestingly enough, the hospital where the nun who served as a nurse, was the only hospital in Selma willing to accept Negro patients. As sad and disturbing as it was to see/hear firsthand accounts about this dark era of US history, I was so VERY proud to see my dear friend, Sr Antona Ebo, front and center in this crucial turning point alongside other Civil Rights leaders like US Rep John Lewis and Ambassador Andrew Young.

 

As we enter further into a time of uncertainty and renewed bigotry, I cannot help but to think about words of wisdom from historical figures. Below is merely a sampling that come to mind:

 

J Lewis: “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

 

A Lincoln: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

 

Napoleon: “Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.”

 

E Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

Source: https://stlouiscatholicarchivescollective.com/sisters-on-the-silver-screen/

 

Construction Industry: Safety Attitudes

 

MH & Skilled Trades

 

MH struggles in the Workplace

 

Benzos: The Dark Side

 

Update on Fentanyl: Winning Battles but not the War

 

How Purdue Pharma Re-harms its Victims

 

Big Pharma & MH

 

AI’s impact on MH

 

Body Image & MH

 

Mindfulness & OUD Treatment

 

COVID & Grief

 

Deep Distress & Moral Injury

 

MH Professionals & Disasters

 

Fed Cuts to SAMHSA

 

Focus: Goals v Time

 

Words: Chaos v Joy

 

Placebos & Pain

 

Aging @ Different Speeds

 

Palliative Psychiatry & Assisted Suicide

 

Benefits of Walking

 

The “Falsie” Journey

 

Cooking Oils & Your Health

 

B Sanders / PRO Act / NLRA

 

Fast Track to Labor Contracts?

 

New US Secretary of Labor Confirmed (1)

 

New US Secretary of Labor Confirmed (2)

 

Homebuilders / Tariffs / Pricing Pains

 

Update: US-DOT on Equity & Environment

 

Italy’s Labor Stance on Musk

 

BRC / Trump / Supreme Court

 

Dealing w/ anti-DEI

 

Eliminating Watchdogs = Foxes Guarding the Henhouse

 

DOGE: More Mistakes & Less Transparency

 

Will Musk Target Social Security?

 

Paid Family Leave v Career Setback

 

COVID’s impact on Construction

 

Adv Mfg Workers wanted in STL

 

DC Politicians sit back & watch “local” cuts

 

MO Politicians seek to reverse Prop A

 

IL Politicians battle Fentanyl

 

NY Construction Deaths Rise

 

Failing Economy + Lack of Housing = Trumpvilles

 

Domestic Workers: Saudi’s Mistreatment of African Women

 

Gen Z: College v Trades

 

 

Upcoming webinars, etc.:

988: Engaging Communities (3/27)

 

Financial (Employee) Wellness (4/2)

 

Narcan (Naloxone) Training (4/22)

 

The NEW Drug Talk

 

Sisters of Selma

 

Work Should Not Hurt

 

FREE Diapers

 

FREE Food

 

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 jgaal@moworks.org with related questions or comments.

March 17, 2025/by Dr. John Gaal
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https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/iStock-697895326.jpg 779 1345 Dr. John Gaal https://moworksinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/missouri-works-initiative-logo-new-1-300x222.png Dr. John Gaal2025-03-17 15:11:062025-03-17 15:11:06Wellness & Well-being Highlights March 17th
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