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It is Social Work Month, and Social Workers across the nation are celebrating the theme for 2020, which is Generations Strong. Our nation’s more than 700,000 social workers each day meet people where they are and help them live to their fullest potential. Social workers from every generation-from the Silent Generation to Generation Z […]
It is Social Work Month, and Social Workers across the nation are celebrating the theme for 2020, which is Generations Strong. Our nation’s more than 700,000 social workers each day meet people where they are and help them live to their fullest potential. Social workers from every generation-from the Silent Generation to Generation Z – are shaping our society for the better. Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States, with the number of people employed in social work to grow by 11 percent over the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Social work is a profession with expansive borders. You will find social workers everywhere in our society. In schools, in centers for veterans, in mental health and health care facilities, in corporations and in local, state and federal government to name a few. In fact, many people do not know social workers account for the largest group of mental health care providers in the United States or that the
Veterans Administration is the largest employer of social workers with master’s degrees.
At We Care Management, we not only employee Social Workers from various generations, our clients are from all generations. This is why, this year’s Social Work Month theme is so meaningful to us, Generations Strong. Everyone is touched by the various generations among us, whether the effects are positive or negative, and this is why, our Social Workers specialize in supporting our clients honor or heal the different situations they have experienced over the years and within a variety of relationships. Whether our client is a middle aged adult child of an aging parent, a young adult coping with the transition of parenthood, a teenager trying to find a college and career direction, or an elder experiencing a variety of losses, we support them in leading a life with more peace and joy.
Deciding when to move to a senior living community or to transition a loved one to a community is a very difficult decision. How do you know when the time is right? Owner, Amanda LaRose, LCSW, C-ASWCM, was interviewed by Peggy Breda owner of A Family Tie, and Toni Reinhart owner of Positive Dementia Care […]
Deciding when to move to a senior living community or to transition a loved one to a community is a very difficult decision. How do you know when the time is right? Owner, Amanda LaRose, LCSW, C-ASWCM, was interviewed by Peggy Breda owner of A Family Tie, and Toni Reinhart owner of Positive Dementia Care Training, on the topic of what to look for when you are trying to decide if it is time to move yourself or a loved one to a community. Download the interview here When to Move-Interview.
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I have been using my essential oils more at home in my personal life, but also in my office with patients and realized I have not shared with our community how helpful they can be! Essential oils help support the microsystems of the body and provide rapid and sustained improvement for people in regards to […]
I have been using my essential oils more at home in my personal life, but also in my office with patients and realized I have not shared with our community how helpful they can be! Essential oils help support the microsystems of the body and provide rapid and sustained improvement for people in regards to their overall well-being. Whether emotionally or physically essential oils can help in many ways and there is an abundance of research backing it up. The fields of psychology and biology show that the smell of aromas hit the receptors of the brain and triggers certain emotions, memories, and actual changes in the body. This video shares more about the specifics about how essential oils can help individuals and families lead a more well-balanced life. It even discusses the benefits for elders and how a simple hand massage with lavender oil can decrease anxiety and agitation. At the same time it helps lessen the stress of caregivers. Please check out this video and let me know if you have any questions. – Amanda LaRose, Owner
Alicea Ardito, a Therapist with We Care Management, is a Licensed Master of Social Work and a certified Aging Life Care Manager. She is currently a Supervisee in Social Work working toward clinical licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She has been working with older adults for more than ten years with clinical focus on […]
Alicea Ardito, a Therapist with We Care Management, is a Licensed Master of Social Work and a certified Aging Life Care Manager. She is currently a Supervisee in Social Work working toward clinical licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
She has been working with older adults for more than ten years with clinical focus on depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and physical and emotional pain. Her background includes working with a community mental health team serving older adults with severe mental illness, coordinating social services in assisted living and long term care settings, with hospice, and as a geriatric care manager. She is passionate about educating others on aging well, and can provide expert advice on resources available to older adults and how to navigate the complex web of care options.
In addition to older adults, Alicea provides psychotherapy and counseling to adults of all ages. She is a firm believer in holistic, comprehensive care. She has completed mastery training in hypnotherapy and can provide clients with brief hypnotic psychotherapy to enhance healing and therapeutic process. Alicea specializes in utilizing hypnotherapy with clients for cessation of negative behaviors, facilitating positive change, weight loss, anxiety/phobias, and for non-pharmaceutical management of pain.
Alicea’s commitment is to provide supportive, empathic and client-centered care to her clients.
Career Uprising and We Care Management often support individuals in Mid-life career crisis. Lorraine Rise, Owner of Career Uprising, wrote us a great article to share with you about this important topic. You hear a lot about the mid-life crisis. When you reach the midpoint of any journey, it’s natural to feel some restless and […]
Career Uprising and We Care Management often support individuals in Mid-life career crisis. Lorraine Rise, Owner of Career Uprising, wrote us a great article to share with you about this important topic.
You hear a lot about the mid-life crisis. When you reach the midpoint of any journey, it’s natural to feel some restless and to want to re-evaluate your progress. Is this direction still working for me? Do I have different priorities now than I did when I was younger?
These feeling of uncertainty extend to our careers as well, resulting in a mid-career crisis for many in their 40s and 50s. As a career coach, I work extensively with mid and late career professionals and this is a common concern.
Reality often sets in that you’re not 25 anymore, but your competition is. You’re not early career, but you’re not ready to retire either. Where does that leave you? You still need to be seen as relevant and competitive, but you don’t know how to do that. Or, maybe you don’t even know what you want to do with your career anymore.
For some, they wake up one day at 45 and realize that the career they’ve been in for the last 20 years may not have ever been right for them. If this sounds familiar, then this article will be therapy for you.
First, let’s define a mid-career in case you don’t know if that applies to you. Generally, if you are in your late thirties and definitely in your forties, with about 15-20 years of work experience, then you are probably mid-career. I generally start to consider people late career when they hit 50. But of course, age is just a number, right?
This is the time in people’s careers where they start to worry about two things:
Once people hit that magical age of 50, or even start approaching it, they start to worry about their ability to get a new job contributing even more to their stress and sense of “crisis”.
Let’s tackle the first concern really quick. It’s very normal and even necessary, I believe, to pause and take stock of where you are at when you reach the midpoint of anything. It’s a little progress check. I would encourage you to do this at any point in your career, but definitely when you feel you are at a crossroads or a midpoint. What you want to ask yourself here are some of the following questions:
Am I still happy doing what I’m doing?
Have my priorities in my career changed in the last few years?
What matters most to me right now? Money? Job satisfaction? Growth potential? Location?
Does making a change feel right—right now?
And don’t worry about the “how” with this question. You don’t have to know how you are going to do something when you start out. All you need to know is if you want to do it.
If you ask yourself these questions and give yourself honest answers, you’ll gain clarity on whether or not you should make a career change at this point. Your intuition is going to be of utmost importance here. And the good news is the older we get, the wiser and more aware of our intuition we tend to be. So, trust yourself here. I would highly encourage you to write out your thoughts and responses here. Get it out of your brain and onto paper.
The second big concern that people start to have around the mid-career point is ageism. The older we get, the more we worry about competing against younger job seekers and overcoming biases. Here’s what we know about discrimination. Yes, it does exist the job market unfortunately. How much it really exists is very difficult to measure. Discrimination of any kind is inherently very difficult to quantify or prove.
But here’s one advantage that older job seekers actually have over younger folks. The older you are the larger your professional network usually is, and you should absolutely leverage that as much as possible. Relying on your network for information and referrals is going to be key in getting you through a job search or career transition at this stage.
The bottom line is this: The mid-career point doesn’t have to be a rut. Use this time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far and celebrate that. Resist the urge to have the word “should” in your self-talk.
“I should be further along than I am.”
“I should be making XXX amount of money by now.”
The word “should” is essentially a regret and judgment on yourself which does nothing to help your cause. It will only leave you feeling inadequate. Once you’ve reflected on your past, make a plan for the future.
Where you do want to go next?
What goals are still left to accomplish?
How can you take even baby steps towards those things?
Lorraine Rise is the owner of Career UpRising, LLC which supports mid and late career professionals with job searching and career transitions. She can be reached at www.careeruprising.com
As people age they often acquire difficulties with their health and daily functioning and therefore have more stress and more things to “manage”. It can become a full-time job taking care of one’s life as they navigate through the aging process, whether it is the individual themselves managing everything or a family member or friend. […]
As people age they often acquire difficulties with their health and daily functioning and therefore have more stress and more things to “manage”. It can become a full-time job taking care of one’s life as they navigate through the aging process, whether it is the individual themselves managing everything or a family member or friend. We often see these circumstanced lead to increased frustration, worry, sadness, and a loss of the ability to have enough time to take part in enjoyable activities. Because there are multiple health issues to deal with and therefore many appointments, in addition to all of the other daily life tasks, people can become overwhelmed and sometimes forget appointments or plan for them on the wrong day. If you or someone you know is experiencing something similar to this, we encourage you to ask for help in managing some of this, so you and your loved ones can still have time and energy for enjoyable activities in your day to day lives!
People can get confused with all the terms used for illnesses these days. For example, in eldercare I often here people say “I don’t have Dementia, I have Alzheimer’s Disease,” or “I would rather have Dementia than Alzheimer’s Disease.” Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to explain the terms, along with some other ideas […]
People can get confused with all the terms used for illnesses these days. For example, in eldercare I often here people say “I don’t have Dementia, I have Alzheimer’s Disease,” or “I would rather have Dementia than Alzheimer’s Disease.” Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to explain the terms, along with some other ideas to think about. Dementia is the general term used for many types of irreversible cognitive impairment . Alzheimer’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and Parkinson’s Disease, to name a few, are subtypes of Dementia. Even if someone has Dementia, they are still the person they were years ago, but at times it is hard to see them in this way. This is when people may tend to care for the individual rather then support and empower them to modify the ways they do things. For example, if someone who is experiencing short-term memory loss is having a difficult time remembering a word, we are quick to tell them the word so they don’t feel embarrassed, frustrated, or uncomfortable. I am not saying that is the wrong thing to do, but try to give them some time and then read their cues. They may try to figure out the word, they may move on and brush over it, or they may look in your direction or even ask for the word. If the latter happens, by all means, tell them the word. Just try to always remember the old age, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
Do you care for an elder, a child, clients, or someone in need? Then it is important for you to also remember to take care of yourself! Just as the the flight attendants advise you on an airplane to put your oxygen mask on before helping someone in need sitting next to you. If you […]
Do you care for an elder, a child, clients, or someone in need? Then it is important for you to also remember to take care of yourself! Just as the the flight attendants advise you on an airplane to put your oxygen mask on before helping someone in need sitting next to you. If you do not take care of yourself you can not do your best in caring for others. Self-Care is defined as anything good you do for yourself. There are many benefits of Self-Care, but here are the highlights; better productivity, improved health, improved self-esteem, increased self-knowledge, and more to give to others. Self-care can come in many different forms; sensory, emotional, spiritual, physical, and social. For example, sensory self-care can be a massage, a bath, smelling essential oils, or being in nature listening to the birds or looking at the flowers while feeling the sun and breeze on your skin. Emotional self-care can be laughing, talking to a therapist, letting your anger out in a healthy way by hitting a pillow, or forcing yourself to smile and think positive things. Spiritual self-care can be meditating, praying, or being in nature. Physical self-care can be exercising, sleeping well and eating healthy. Last but not least is socializing with people who enrich your life with love, joy, support and laughter. If we put more effort in our self the rest will fall into place. Please find ways to take care of your self!
We often hear people comment about how fraility, pain, memory problems, sleep problems, loneliness, lack of appetite, etc. are a normal part of aging. These ideas and comments are common in our society, but they must be changed! Ideas and comments such as these have the potential to create a mindset that an elder should […]
We often hear people comment about how fraility, pain, memory problems, sleep problems, loneliness, lack of appetite, etc. are a normal part of aging. These ideas and comments are common in our society, but they must be changed! Ideas and comments such as these have the potential to create a mindset that an elder should tolerate these difficulties and learn to live with them. I am here to tell you that nothing about those difficulties are normal and there are many things that can be done to alleviate some of the effects. In our era, there are many resources in eldercare, but it can be difficult to know what resources are best for each individual, when to implement the resources, and how to support the elder in accepting the resource. Let us help you with these obstacle!
Why did our Owner, Amanda, start a business in eldercare? Amanda is fortunate to have relationships with her grandparents that last into adulthood. Because of this, she has learned how to engage with elders, how much one can learn from them, how difficult life can be but how people find a way to overcome those […]
Why did our Owner, Amanda, start a business in eldercare? Amanda is fortunate to have relationships with her grandparents that last into adulthood. Because of this, she has learned how to engage with elders, how much one can learn from them, how difficult life can be but how people find a way to overcome those difficulties, and how important the little things are in life. Amanda started working in Nursing Homes in High School. She is passionate about supporting elders in leading a well-balanced and fulfilling last phase of their life. As a Social Worker, she has learned that understanding who the elder is, and how they became who they are, is an imperative part of the Care Management process. She tells many people how her work is such an honor, because having someone trust you enough for them to tell you their most meaningful and personal stories is simply touching. Moving from the DC Area to Loudoun County, Amanda saw a great need for elder support services. Her expertise is in Counseling and Care Management. All of these reasons, and more, are why she created We Care Management, LLC.
