If you find yourself grappling with feelings of anxiety, irritability or depression amid scorching and unrelenting heat, you’re not alone. Sweltering heat can destabilize mood, exacerbate existing mental health conditions and complicate psychiatric drug treatment. Elevated temperatures have also been linked to surges in suicide rates. Finding ways to stay cool can be a good starting point to help reduce the impact of periods of intense heat on your mental health.

Tips for Coping with Extreme Heat

Below are simple yet powerful ways to help you and others manage extreme heat and stay mentally well during periods of extreme heat.

• Stay hydrated—Adequate hydration, including restoring electrolytes, is vital for maintaining mental and physical wellbeing during heat waves. Sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium are key electrolytes, or charged minerals. They help balance fluids, nerve-muscle functioning and hydration. Keeping them balanced is key for your overall health and bodily functions.
• Manage medications—If you take medications, consult with your provider before combining your dose with excessive heat. Some mental health medications, like lithium for bipolar patients, might not be suitable for high temperatures. Since lithium affects the kidneys and sweating can alter its levels, it’s crucial to exercise caution when exposed to heat. Adjusting the dosage or avoiding heat altogether might be necessary to ensure your wellbeing and medication effectiveness.
• Cover your head—Wearing a hat, cap or other head covering can prevent heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heatstroke by helping you maintain a cooler body temperature. It can also reduce sweating which decreases the likelihood of excessive fluid loss and dehydration.
• Wet your head— Pouring water on your head offers immediate relief by absorbing heat and evaporating and cooling your skin. This helps regulate body temperature and prevent overheating. The sudden coolness also improves alertness and cognitive function in hot conditions.
• Seek shade—Exposure to direct sunlight, especially during peak heat hours, also increases the risk of heat-related illnesses. Seeking shade reduces these risks and can help you maintain a comfortable body temperature.
• Stay cool—Embracing cooling strategies like taking cold showers, using fans or placing cold compresses on pulse points helps regulate your body temperature, prevent heat-related issues and promote positive mental health despite challenging weather.
• Exercise inside—If you normally go for walks outside, move them inside a mall or other large space with air conditioning. This change protects you from the heat and offers a controlled space for physical activity, improving your mental wellbeing and keeping you cool and comfortable. If this isn’t possible, change your exercise routine to exercise in the early morning or late evening to avoid the midday heat.
• Practice mindfulness—Engaging in mindfulness exercises like deep breathing and meditation can help you manage heat-related stress and anxiety. These practices not only promote mental clarity and emotional balance but also help in reducing the psychological impact of extreme heat, allowing you to navigate through challenging conditions with a sense of calm and resilience.
• Check-in—Regularly reach out to vulnerable family members, neighbors or friends, offering support and assistance as needed. This act of care can strengthen bonds and provide a sense of purpose and connection, benefiting both your mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of those you care about.
• Visit Heat.gov—With proper planning, education and action, many of the impacts of extreme heat can be prevented or reduced. Heat.gov provides valuable guidance, including information, tools and resources to help you stay safe before, during and after a heat wave and understand the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable populations.

Remember, staying proactive and well-prepared is key to maintaining your mental health during periods of extreme heat.

For more mental health resources, visit MagellanHealthare.com/bh-resources.

Sources:

• Excessive heat and its impact on mental health | BCM
• Heat Health Awareness: Why it’s Important for Persons with Substance Use Disorders and Mental Health Conditions, Caregivers and Health Care Providers
• Heat Singes the Mind, Not Just the Body
• Psychiatry.org – Extreme Heat Can Take a Toll on Mental Health
• Understanding effects of heat on mental health – Mayo Clinic News Network

A life-altering situation is an event that is strong enough to upend long-held routines and can positively or negatively impact an individual’s quality of life. Examples include a death of a family member, marriage, relationship issues, and in more extreme cases, can include natural catastrophes or intense personal losses.

Crisis intervention is an immediate acute intervention after a life-altering situation. This intervention type is focused on reducing the initial distress caused by the event to foster adaptive functioning and coping. Magellan Federal supports Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responders with onsite stress counselors to provide crisis intervention and support to FEMA employees so they can provide critical disaster response to areas in need. We have been supporting FEMA’s disaster response teams for more than 20 years.

We believe crisis intervention is critical to resilience and recovery due to the immediate intervention after a life-altering situation. Immediate intervention can help someone cope with the initial reactions of fear, worry, powerlessness, and/or hopelessness afterward. Here are some tips for normalizing and addressing these needs to improve long-term recovery.

How to Provide Assistance

It is hard to know exactly when and what to say to support someone who has experienced a life-altering situation. In our experience, it is best to reach out and offer assistance early, when the individual is most vulnerable. Here are a few steps that can help to facilitate crisis intervention:

1. Connect with them on the human level. Focus on listening with compassion and being present for the person while validating their experience and acknowledging their feelings.
2. Determine if their basic needs are being met. This includes food, water, shelter, clothing, and safety. Assess their immediate needs and connect them to available resources. Addressing immediate basic needs is a way to improve quality of life quickly while providing steps towards recovery.
3. Help them to identify additional needs they may have. Connect them with practical resources once their initial basic needs are cared for.
4. Connect them with available support resources. This can include family, friends, neighbors, and community helping resources.

How to Cope with a Crisis and Move Forward

Validate and Acknowledge Your Feelings

It is completely natural to feel overwhelmed after undergoing a life-altering event. Common reactions after a crisis can include strong emotions, numbing, and worry. It’s important to acknowledge and validate that these feelings may come and go in waves and are normal in short durations. Also, remind yourself that these feelings are an expected part of the acceptance and healing process. Identify strategies used in the past to cope, and determine if they would be helpful now.

Break Tasks Down into Smaller Actions

Recovering from a life-altering situation may feel overwhelming and insurmountable to some. The stress from a life-altering situation can affect cognitive and problem-solving abilities, and a survivor may need assistance with making appointments and completing paperwork. It’s crucial in those times to break down needs into smaller action steps. This will lead to small measures of success and increase confidence in coping.

Connect with Social Support

Social support includes reaching out to others in the community such as family, friends, or neighbors for help. It may feel challenging at first due to embarrassment, worrying about burdening others, doubting if support is available, and being too overwhelmed, but connecting with others can accelerate the healing process by normalizing a shared experience and decreasing isolation.

Practice Deep Breathing Exercises

Take time out of the day to practice calming exercises such as deep breathing. Controlling our breath allows our nervous system to regulate and emerge from a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. A simple exercise can be to inhale slowly through your nose and comfortably fill your lungs all the way down to your stomach. Exhale slowly through your mouth and comfortably empty your lungs. You can repeat this five times slowly and as many times a day as needed.

Develop a Structured Routine

Try to develop a structured routine to help with decision-making. This new routine may differ vastly from your previous routine based on new values post-life-altering situations.

Focus on Getting Adequate Sleep

If possible, try to get to sleep at the same time daily. Don’t drink caffeinated beverages in the evening, reduce alcohol consumption, increase daytime exercises, relax before bedtime, and limit naps to 15 minutes, not after 4 p.m. Giving your body and mind adequate time to rest will help fuel positive processing skills and emotional responses the following day.

Limit or Eliminate Alcohol Consumption

Substance use can lead to problems with sleep, relationships, jobs, and physical health.

Know When to Ask for Additional Help

If stress reactions persist over four to six weeks or worsen and impair functioning, it’s a sign to ask for additional help from a community counselor or therapist. It’s important to note that crisis intervention is not therapy. Therapy can help make a diagnosis and can be a long-term commitment with one identified provider with treatment-specific goals.

Acknowledging the Emotional Effects of a Crisis

Whether you were directly involved in the crisis or not, it is normal to experience waves of emotions after a life-altering event. Often, the structure, schedule, and routine in your life have been destroyed, and you are unsure where to start. It’s OK to feel powerlessness, overwhelmed, and even angry. At that moment, it may feel embarrassing or burdensome to ask for help. You are not alone. Know that there are people that can and want to help and getting help early is critical to being one step closer to recovery.

Additional Resources

• The Disaster Distress Helpline: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/
• Red Cross Disaster Relief: https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief.html
• FEMA assistance after a Disaster: https://www.fema.gov/assistance
• FEMA disaster preparedness: https://www.ready.gov/

According to Gallup®, 70% of the population is struggling or suffering, and 70% of employees are not engaging at work. Investing in wellbeing at work is critical to the success of your employees and organization.

The impact of wellbeing extends far beyond how employees feel — it affects the number of sick days they take, their job performance, burnout levels, retention rates and the organization’s bottom line.

We will dive into these issues in this blog post, and you can learn by listening to the webinar recording: “eMbrace the link between employee engagement and wellbeing.”  Click here to access the recording.

Organizations should care about wellbeing

Contrary to what many believe, wellbeing is not just about being happy or physically fit. Wellbeing encompasses all aspects of our lives:  how our lives are going, feeling good about our thoughts life experiences and what is important to us.

Poor wellbeing affects employees and organizations:

• 75% of medical costs accrued are due to largely preventable conditions.
• $20 million of additional lost opportunity for every 10,000 workers due to struggling or suffering employees.
• $322 billion of turnover and lost productivity costs globally due to employee burnout.

 In contrast, employees with high wellbeing are more resilient during widespread or personal tough times, less likely to have unplanned days out of the office and more engaged than those with low wellbeing.

Traditional EAPs are not enough

Traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) fall short because they average about 5% engagement and focus mainly on distressed employees. Low utilization and a reactive model leave a large gap to fill to meet the wellbeing needs of all employees. Organizations need a proactive program that benefits all employees.

Learn more in the webinar recording.

Building a thriving culture of wellbeing

Leaders that bring engagement and wellbeing together create a high-performance environment where the two inform and build on one another. Magellan Healthcare and Gallup® collaborated to create eMbrace, a fully integrated, evidence-based solution delivering improved employee wellbeing and engagement across six key areas of their lives: Emotional, Career, Social, Financial, Physical and Community.

Through eMbrace, employees and organizations can measure their wellbeing and discover where they are suffering, struggling, and thriving. Employees receive a personalized plan that guides them to services and resources to help them improve their total wellbeing and lead thriving lives.

Resources:

• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/215924/well-being.aspx
• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/320297/invest-employees-wellbeing-afford-not.aspx
• https://www.gallup.com/workplace/358082/struggling-suffering-employees-twice-likely-leave.aspx

As I entered the workforce, I was drawn to work for an organization supporting the military and their families. Magellan Federal’s founding history as a non-profit and mission focus on improving the lives of the military and their families inspired me and has kept me engaged as an employee for 22 years. Service is embedded in our culture—you are surrounded by people who are passionate about giving back to others, especially those who are connected to military service. I’m proud to be a part of an organization that attracts individuals searching for meaning and purpose in their careers, and I’d like to share how volunteering has helped me find even greater personal and professional satisfaction.

Connecting to a Cause

As a military family member myself, with personal experience in the challenges of military life, Magellan Federal was a natural fit for me. I began my career in Member Services, helping active duty, veterans, and family members understand the benefits they were entitled to. Over the years I became a military benefits expert providing guidance on topics ranging from health care, life insurance, dependent entitlements, and survivor benefits. The tragic events of 9/11 led me to my calling of working to support military survivors.

My passion for volunteerism started early on in my career at Magellan Federal (at the time called Armed Forces Services Corporation). I was fortunate to work with leaders and mentors who volunteered often and put a high value on honoring the military community by giving back. This mentality encouraged me to incorporate volunteerism into my life as well. One influential leader was a Board Member at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) and educated our team on their mission and volunteer opportunities. I connected to the TAPS organization immediately and their noble purpose of providing compassionate care to all those grieving the death of a military loved one. I began volunteering for TAPS in the early 2000s because their mission aligned with my desire to help military survivors.

At first, I was unsure if I could make a difference by volunteering, but I soon learned that non-profits like TAPS not only appreciate but rely on any time and help that their volunteers give—whether folding t-shirts, welcoming survivors to an event, writing correspondence, or running in a 5k to fundraise. According to the Nonprofit Leadership Center as of April 2022, the estimated value of each volunteer hour is $29.95. This is a good reminder that no matter what level of service you provide, the simple act of volunteering your time brings a huge value.

The Real Reward

Volunteering for organizations whose mission I care about has given me validation as a contributor but also, I have made lifelong friends. I recognized my professional skills translated well to lending my free time to help organize and implement improvements to non-profit programs. I have volunteered over the years for my daughter’s community recreation dance program and my son’s Little League team by managing their website and programs. I volunteer annually at the Virginia Scottish Games to connect with our family’s heritage. It is very rewarding to give time to these programs that get our community active and involved in the arts, recreation, and sports. While the tangible value of volunteering to me is using my creativity and innovation for the greater good, the feel-good factor is priceless.

I’ve also found that volunteering has benefited me socially in my career and personal life. I have expanded my sense of purpose and community, improved my social skills and self-esteem, learned new skills, and developed an overall happier outlook on life.

Where to Start

Having a formal volunteer program within your organization can be extremely valuable. At Magellan, we are lucky to have a robust volunteer program that is supported at every level of the organization. Not every company has that, and that’s OK. You can start small, connect with others, encourage involvement, and get more organized around your activities. I think you’ll find that volunteering is contagious and can help spread a culture of caring within your career as well as your community.

Through our Magellan Cares Foundation, qualified charity donations made by staff are eligible for matching funds. Full-time employees are also eligible for 8 hours of volunteer time off—paid leave for volunteer activities. We also have a central portal where our employees can record volunteer hours, connect with other givers, and search for or organize events. I love that Magellan makes it easy for employees to give back and encourages us to deepen our ties to the communities we serve.  As another great mentor once said, “working and leading with a servant’s heart will give you and your team fulfillment.”

I think we could all use a little more of that in our lives.

Article originally published on MFed Inform.

References

• https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-are-benefits-of-volunteering
• https://nlctb.org/tips/value-of-volunteer-time/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjIzsyOOC-gIVA-TICh3b9gi1EAAYASAAEgK4o_D_BwE
• https://hbr.org/2021/01/volunteer-programs-that-employees-can-get-excited-about#:~:text=Many%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,they%20performed%20on%20work%20tasks.

Now is the time to recognize and honor family caregivers across the country. It is an opportunity to raise awareness of caregiving issues, educate communities and increase support for caregivers.

The burden of care is often placed on adult children or other family members, many of whom have full-time jobs and kids of their own. According to an Alliance for Caregiving and AARP Public Policy Institute survey, 40% of caregivers feel emotionally stressed, almost 20% say it caused financial problems, and about 20% feel physically strained. Unpaid-caregiver burnout among these “sandwich generation” individuals often impacts their performance and engagement at work.

Family caregivers comfort their elderly and/or ill companions, coordinate their care, help them bathe, clean their houses and shop for them. While many find the experience rewarding, it can also be frustrating and take a toll on their emotional and physical wellbeing. Over half of caregivers report elevated levels of depression and anxiety, worsened physical health and higher use of psychoactive medications.

These tips are a good reminder for caregivers and those who are close to caregivers:

• Seek support Ask family members for help and include them in caregiving decisions. See if your employer offers a program like Magellan’s Senior Caregiver Assistance, powered by DUOS, that combines human contact with technology that can give caregivers much-needed support and enable seniors to live full lives.
• Share the tasks When family or friends offer to lend a hand, be ready with specific ideas. Make a weekly list and share that list with others to help with shopping, housecleaning, etc.
• Take care of yourself Be sure to schedule and go to your medical checkups. Eat a healthy diet, exercise and get enough sleep.
• Make time for activities you enjoy Don’t neglect the things in your life that need attention. Read, listen to music, paint, play a game, etc.
• Plan for respite care Respite services provide someone who can stay with your family member while you get away for a few hours or days. Time off can help you manage your stress and be a better caretaker.

Visit our Behavioral Health Resources web page for free resources and expert advice to help our communities, client, members and providers.

Sources: CDC, Healthwise

Influenza (flu) season can be unpredictable. In the United States (US), flu activity typically begins in October and peaks between December and February, but activity can even continue into May. Australia recently finished their winter where they experienced the most severe flu season in five years, and the season started earlier than usual. Although flu forecasting is not perfect, the Southern Hemisphere serves as a barometer for what might happen in the Northern Hemisphere. In the US, flu activity is elevated across the country.

COVID-19, which is still circulating, is generally mild for children. During the pandemic flu was virtually non-existent. This can be partly attributed to mitigation measures such as handwashing, masking, distancing, as well as remote school, work, and limited travel. The flu hiatus also translates into less pre-existing immunity to influenza due to lack of exposure – from natural infection or vaccines – particularly notable in younger children who may have never been exposed to flu. Further, there is currently a surge in pediatric respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases and hospitalizations. Children and the elderly are among the populations at higher risk of influenza complications. With pre-pandemic activities resuming and school back in-person, flu is making a comeback this season.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s FluView (a weekly US influenza surveillance report), influenza-like illness (ILI) activity is elevated across the country. The CDC’s interactive map offers a visual picture of outpatient ILI activity in the US and links out to state-level information. Additional data such as hospitalization and mortality surveillance are also captured on the CDC’s site.

The best protection against the flu is prevention. The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccine for everyone ages ≥6 months old with rare exceptions. The ideal time for the flu shot is in September or October, and it can be offered throughout the season, as long as flu viruses are circulating. It takes about two weeks after vaccination to develop protection against the flu. New this year, all available flu vaccines in the US are quadrivalent, meaning they contain two influenza A and two influenza B virus antigens, thus designed to protect against four flu viruses. The dominant strain is currently influenza A (H3N2), which is especially tough on the elderly. Also new this year, is a preferential recommendation from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for high-dose, adjuvanted, or recombinant vaccine over other flu vaccines for adults ≥65 years old.

To find a flu vaccine provider, visit vaccines.gov. The flu and COVID-19 vaccines can be given at the same time. Prescription flu antiviral medications to treat flu are currently available. Remember, good hygiene and self care are critical in fighting the flu and a number of other viruses, so wash hands, cover your cough, rest, and stay home when sick.
As the flu continues to unfold this winter, prevention, awareness, and health literacy are key to being prepared.

Disclaimer: The content in this blog is not a substitute for professional medical advice. For questions regarding any medical condition or if you need medical advice, please contact your healthcare provider.

August is National Wellness Month, which makes it the perfect time to reflect on how we care for ourselves. Wellness is a series of interconnected dimensions that contribute to a person’s overall health and well-being. These dimensions of health include:

1. Social
2. Spiritual/Community
3. Physical
4. Emotional
5. Financial
6. Occupational/Career

It is necessary to give attention to each dimension as they
are interdependent and contribute to one’s overall wellbeing.

This is especially true for those in helping professions like behavioral health. According to Green Cross Standards of Self-Care Guidelines, “In order to ensure high-quality patient and client services, we have an ethical obligation to attend to our own health and well-being.”[1]

Here are some suggestions for self-care practices for each of the six main wellness dimensions. Notice that many of the self-care activities overlap to meet more than the aspect of wellness.

If your company offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a variety of health and wellness services including many of the above, are often included free of charge to employees. Magellan Healthcare offers an EAP that delivers improved employee wellbeing and engagement, called eMbrace. When users take our Gallup® Wellbeing Survey, their total thriving and wellbeing scores will be calculated across the above six essential areas. These scores shape a personalized plan with services and resources to help individuals thrive in all areas. Click here to learn more and share with your employer today.

You can also take individual action. Start small by incorporating one or two of the activities above into your daily routine and see what works best for you. The more you practice, the more likely these positive wellness activities will become habits that lead to a more vibrant, healthy life.

Article originally published on MFed Inform.

[1] Canadian Veterinary Journal

[2] University of New Hampshire, Illinois State University, La Belle Society, Canadian Veterinary Journal

While mental health, wellness, and self-care have been trending topics for years, more of us are prioritizing these critical aspects of our lives as the pandemic stressors continue. Change and new challenges are guaranteed in the new year, requiring a full-on commitment to wellness in 2022.

My awakening to the need for improved wellness coincided with a significant mental health crisis. The standard things I had been told to do to feel better for my emotional health were not working. I began the journey to incorporate meaningful wellness practices in all areas of my life. As I learned more about myself and developed a clearer vision for my future self, new facets of my wellness became apparent. I eventually experienced mental health recovery as a result of the shift to a holistic and multi-dimensional focus on wellness.

When Googling wellness, you will find endless lists of tips that would overwhelm just about anyone. So where do you start? Cue the Eight Dimensions of Wellness.

The Eight Dimensions of Wellness model

Over the years, I have found the Eight Dimensions of Wellness model to be beneficial in prioritizing my own wellness and helping others. This model was developed by Dr. Peggy Swarbrick in the 1990s and has been adopted by the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and countless academic and healthcare institutions around the world, including in multiple healthcare disciplines and settings. The 8 dimensions provide a solid framework for us to understand wellness and make meaningful changes to improve our health, happiness, and quality of life.

I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Swarbrick about feedback she receives on real-life application of the model, and she shared that:

“So many people around the country have told me that the Eight Dimensions of Wellness model has been so very practical for them both personally and professionally. I appreciate hearing about how people use the model to view themselves more positively and build on their strengths to accomplish goals and overcome some formidable life challenges.”

An interconnected framework for a wellness focus

Each of the 8 wellness dimensions in the model has an impact on the others. For example, I have experienced the profound interconnection of my occupational health with my spiritual health. I have been amazed by the degree to which my physical health impacts my emotional wellness. If I go a week without practicing Pilates or rowing, my mood worsens, and I am less interested in life activities.

Utilizing a dimensional framework for wellness helps in identifying the greatest needs and desires for focused attention. Without focus, we can end up investing time in wellness activities that don’t impact the area(s) we are trying to improve. For example, if an extra hour of restful sleep is what your body and mind need for wellness, then taking an hour-long bath may not contribute to the desired return on investment.

Learn more to prioritize your wellness in 2022

In 2022, we will be exploring the Eight Dimensions of Wellness through free live webinars and resources to help you dig deeper into your wellness journey and provide you with the tools to support patients, clients, peers, and loved ones in doing the same.

We kicked it all off with a continuing education credit-eligible webinar, “Wellness in 8D: A lens to build resilience,” presented by the Eight Dimensions of Wellness creator, Dr. Swarbrick, on January 27th. If you missed the live event, you can watch the recording here and still earn CE credits. Sign up here to receive emails on our wellness events series and new resources throughout the year.

We hope you will make the choice to prioritize wellness in 2022 and let us join you along the way!

Visit Magellan’s Center for Recovery and Resiliency for announcements about upcoming events, new resources, and links to more free continuing education-eligible training opportunities and information.