Therapy for Workplace Difficulties

Today’s workplace can be challenging indeed. All of us may experience some difficulties at work at some point in our careers.

Below are several key workplace difficulties in which I specialize. If you have questions about your specific problem, I’d be happy to consult with you to determine if your needs are more appropriate for counseling or coaching.

• Organizational Change
• Presentations and Public Speaking
• Career Changes
• Performance Appraisals
• Difficult Boss
• Getting Recognition
• Stress and Time Management
• Work-Life Balance
• Alcohol and Drug Problems
• Other Issues

Organizational Change

These days, it seems organizations change more frequently than not. Downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, and restructuring are increasingly commonplace in today’s work environment.

Change can be stressful, and it’s normal to feel some anxiety when you are going through these types of changes. A certain amount of worry is adaptive because it helps you prepare for certain anticipated outcomes. However, if your worry becomes unrealistic, you could be suffering from workplace anxiety.

Here are some of the common complaints that might indicate workplace anxiety:

• I’ve been irritable lately
• My boss is a jerk
• Things keep changing and I don’t know if I’ll have a job
• My mind is always racing and I can’t concentrate
• I have headaches every day I go to work
• I can’t get or stay motivated
• I can’t seem to get my work done
• I’m always working long hours

These types of complaints are often accompanied by physical symptoms, such as loss of appetite, nausea, or body aches. If you’re experiencing thoughts or feelings similar to these, you might want to consider how psychotherapy might be of help.

Treatment and Outcomes

I help people learn to effectively manage their stress as they undergo changes in the workplace. With therapy, you can learn how to cope effectively with stressful situations and you can also learn to take control and develop a strategic plan for yourself within the workplace.

Presentations and Public Speaking

The fear of public speaking is called glossophobia (or, informally, “stage fright”). It is believed to be the single most common phobia — affecting as much as 75% of the population. Fear of oration is ranked even above that of death.

Many careers require some ability in public speaking, for example presenting information to clients or colleagues. Public speaking is considered one of the most importantly valued skills that an individual can possess. This skill can be used for almost anything and often is effectively or ineffectively used.

Most great speakers have a natural ability to display the skills and effectiveness that can help to engage and move an audience for whatever purpose. Having knowledge and understanding of the use and purpose of communication can help to make a more effective speaker communicate their message in an effectual way.

Psychotherapy can help you to overcome your fear of public speaking, and enhance your ability to learn effective speaking and presentation skills.

Treatment and Outcomes

I help people learn to understand, control, and change their anxious thoughts about public speaking so they can give effective presentations in a variety of settings. Through an individualized, collaborative approach you can make improvements in both your thinking and your actions.

Career Changes

Tired of your job? Thinking about making a career move, or changing your career altogether?

Recent research indicates that the average person will change their career about four times during their life. Career dissatisfaction is often a reason to change your career, but there are other reasons. Sometimes, people want to explore an opportunity they’ve always thought would be a better fit for them. Sometimes, people get burned out on one type of work and want to see if there’s anything better out there. Whatever your reasons, therapy can be a good first step in making a career change.

Therapy can help you sort through all of your thoughts and feelings about your career, and help you to determine an appropriate game plan for your future career.

Treatment and Outcomes

I help people clarify their career needs and desires, and work with them to develop a strategic plan for a new or different career.

I help you identify your passions in the work arena, encouraging you to take control and find a career that is both satisfying and fulfilling.

Performance Appraisals

Performance evaluations can be very stressful. Are you preparing for a review? Maybe you haven’t had a review in quite some time and would like to get some important feedback on your performance.

It’s important to be able to focus on the facts when you’re in a performance evaluation. Clear objectives and performance measures are critical for your success. Conversely, loose expectations and unclear behavioral measures can cause a great deal of stress.

Treatment and Outcomes

I help people clarify their role in the workplace, and help them to set clear expectations and performance measures with their supervisor. Therapy can help you be more in control of your work performance and get the important feedback you need to succeed.

Difficult Boss

Are you working for a difficult boss? Have you felt exposed or intimidated by a supervisor? Do you have a difficult time understanding what your boss wants?

Working for a difficult boss can be a daunting challenge. Therapy can help you to clarify your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to your boss and help you to take control of your communications and actions in the workplace. Learning how to deal with a difficult boss can help you reduce your level of anxiety and can improve your mood and performance.

Treatment and Outcomes

Therapy can help you determine the best strategies to deal with a difficult boss. I help people understand their feelings and reactions to difficult people, and help them learn how to communicate effectively with their boss. I help people take control of their behavior and develop strategic plans to manage their difficult boss.

Getting Recognition

Getting recognized for all of your hard work is an important motivating influence on the job. In fact, receiving recognition is often reported by employees as the single most important reward at work – even more than money!

Often we receive feedback only once a year, at the time of the annual performance evaluation. And often, this limited amount of feedback isn’t enough to sustain you through the rest of the year, leaving you feeling unmotivated or bored.

Therapy can help you learn to communicate better and get more recognition when you need it. Therapy can also help you sort through and clarify your need for more regular performance feedback in the workplace.

Treatment and Outcomes

I help people clarify their thoughts and feelings about work, learn to communicate their needs effectively, and help them develop strategic plans for receiving more feedback in the workplace.

Stress and Time Management

Today’s work environment is a stress-filled place. You’re expected to produce more with less resources and in less time. You’re expected to be available at all times, even outside of working hours. The line between your work life and your personal life has become blurred, maybe even non-existent.

These pressures require that you be able to manage your time and stress effectively in order to perform well and succeed.

Stress can lead to ineffective coping behavior, such as smoking, drinking, or overeating. Stress can be a factor in our physical symptoms as well as our emotional distress. Ironically, many of our most severe health problems stem from our own ineffective attempts to find relief from the tension of everyday stress.

Treatment and Outcomes

There is help for managing stress. Learning how to counter the effects of stress, and how to prevent the future impact of stress is possible through the techniques of relaxation training, building a sense of personal control, and developing techniques for self-renewal.

I help people with stress to feel more empowered, cope more effectively, manage their time well, and develop strategies for self-renewal. I help you develop an approach to life based upon health and wellness.

Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance is a strange phrase because it assumes that work and life are two separate things, rather than work being a subset of your larger life picture. Nevertheless, it’s a phrase that’s gained a lot of currency, and it does communicate the necessity of keeping work in perspective.

It’s easy to throw yourself into your work when things at home aren’t going so well. It’s also common to feel good about yourself because of the work you do, rather than having a positive sense of self-esteem independent of your career. We are who we are, and we are what we do. That doesn’t mean that what we do is all that we are.

If you have children, work-life balance takes on a whole new perspective! How do you balance demands at home with your career and financial needs? It’s a complicated scenario, and most of us muddle through as best we can.

Treatment and Outcomes

I can help you develop a plan for work-life balance. We will begin with establishing your goals in career, home, and leisure areas. I’ll help you learn how to prioritize goals and establish action plans for achieving those goals. We’ll also explore ways to manage the areas of your life more effectively.

You can create the life you want, and I’m here to assist you in that process.

Alcohol and Drug Problems

Sometimes it’s hard to resolve problems, and you might find yourself having frequent arguments or misunderstandings.

It’s not easy to control everything in life, and sometimes experimentation with drugs or alcohol can have disastrous results.

If you have tried to control drug or alcohol use, but failed, you might have a problem. Drugs and alcohol can be alluring and may even seem to help you cope with difficult problems in life, and you can get hooked.

Symptoms of drug or alcohol dependence include tolerance and withdrawal. Tolerance means that it takes more and more of the drug to get the same ‘high’ (for example, drinking much more to get the same buzz you used to get from a smaller number of drinks).

Withdrawal means that when you stop using the drug, you have specific (and usually very uncomfortable) physical symptoms in your body.

Treatment and Outcomes

Fortunately, there is treatment for alcohol or drug addiction. Therapy and self-help programs (for example, Alcoholics Anonymous or other 12-step programs) can help you.

If you already have some recovery time under your belt, therapy can help you expand and strengthen your sobriety.

I help people with addictions become free from the grip of substances, whether you want to cut down your use, give up drugs and alcohol altogether, or strengthen your ongoing personal recovery.

Other Issues

There are many other issues that occur in the workplace, causing stress, worry, and sometimes physical symptoms. Some other problems or complaints might be:

• Poor decision-making
• Dwelling on extremely negative consequences, or expecting disaster
• Over personalizing events at work and feeling ashamed or worthless
• Fear of job uncertainty
• Inability to network or get ahead
• Fear of being in contact with higher levels of authority
• Competition and paranoia
• Being the subject of unrealistic demands

There is a long list of difficulties you might find at work, and these are just a few of them that I hear frequently. Any of these issues can cause anxiety, which if it persists, can undermine your job performance.

Treatment and Outcomes

Therapy can help you learn to manage stress, take control of your thoughts and feelings, and perform at your best in the workplace. I help people find ways to deal effectively with a wide variety of workplace stressors.