How good are you at coping with adversity? Somehow, life always finds a way to present you with challenges that you didn’t see coming. Fortunately, you can improve your resilience skills—enabling you to bounce back when confronted with a crisis or an overwhelming change.

1. Differentiate problems from your response to them.

You have the option of reacting with panic, or responding in a calmer, measured way that allows you to proceed logically toward a solution. It’s your choice!

2. View your strengths positively.

Remind yourself that you’ve gotten through tough times before and be confident in your ability to re-apply those successful strategies.

3. Always be ready for change.

Remind yourself that life is always ready to throw you a new curve, and that sometimes the advent of a big, intimidating change can end up being a positive learning experience that helps you grow.

4. Keep your perspective.

No matter how overwhelming your problem might seem, try to view the situation in the longer- term context of your life and the larger world.

5. Lean on close family, friends and peers.

Being able to share concerns— and to brainstorm innovative solutions together—can give you more confidence as you move forward.

6. Stay flexible.

Try not to get locked into a single approach to solving a problem and have a flexible mindset.

7. Don’t forget your own needs.

In times of crisis, staying physically and spiritually fit helps you fight off stressors of all kinds!

8. When in doubt laugh at it.

Try to find those nuggets of humor, shake your head, and laugh at life’s wackiness.

9. Look for light at the end of the tunnel.

No matter how difficult or uncomfortable a situation may be, remember that even the darkest of days won’t last forever.

10. Keep building you resilience skills.

It may take time to learn how to stay balanced when times are tough. Keep learning from others who seem resilient, and build upon your valuable experience and personal strengths.

Holidays are meant to be a joyful time celebrating with family and friends, enjoying time off from work, and indulging in delicious meals. That said, it is also easy to get overwhelmed and anxious as you try to keep up with multiple demands on your personal, family and work life.

Try these sanity savers to help you find the right balance so you can focus on making positive memories this holiday season:

• Keep it simple (and be realistic): Perfection is overrated. Don’t put pressure on yourself by committing to every party or making your own party a gala event. Focus on what makes the holidays special for you.
• Set aside differences: Try to accept family members and friends as they are, even if they don’t live up to all of your expectations. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discussion.
• Stick to a budget: Before you start shopping for gifts, food, and decorations, decide how much money you can afford to spend. Don’t try to buy happiness with excessive gifts or lavish meals.
• Plan ahead: Identify possible challenges that can trigger stress and develop an action plan to feel prepared to deal with them. Set specific days for shopping, cooking, traveling, visiting friends, and other activities.
• Keep healthy habits: Don’t let the holidays become a free- for-all. Overindulgence only adds to your stress and guilt. Get plenty of sleep and make as much time for exercise as you can.
• Take a breather: Pay attention to your own needs and feelings. Spend a little time by yourself if you can. Meditate, do some relaxation breathing, or go for a short walk.
• Control the controllable: As families change and grow, traditions often do as well. Choose a few to hold on to, and be open to creating new ones and finding new ways to celebrate together.

Take steps to prevent stress and find peace and happiness this holiday season.

Magellan’s own Chairman and CEO, Barry M. Smith, was recently featured in Behavioral Healthcare Executive, talking about the importance of prioritizing behavioral health as a part of disaster recovery.

In the article, Barry discusses how delivering innovative access to behavioral health services is critical to enabling not only physical, but emotional renewal.

Read Barry’s complete article here.

Mike* was dancing wildly to hip hop music before running up to me and confidently stating, “I’m a leader.” He told me about how he ran to be a class officer and lost but how he was not going to give up. He talked about his search for a life-long mentor and how he wanted to make the world a better place. Not the type of random conversation you would expect at an outdoor community event, but MY LIFE youth are not average.

Since 2007, Magellan Youth Leaders Inspiring Future Empowerment, or MY LIFE, has proactively sought to change the trajectory of young lives engaged in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, as well as youth with behavioral challenges. Led by Greg Dicharry, Magellan’s national director for youth empowerment, monthly MY LIFE groups and annual MY FEST events have provided thousands of youth an opportunity to connect to their community and hear stories of overcoming hardships and reaching for their full potential. In Florida alone, groups in Tallahassee, Orlando and West Palm Beach enable over 100 youth ages 13 to 23 to meet monthly in a safe environment where fun and inspiration are plentiful.

Getting to spend time with youth involved in MY LIFE underscores the impact. One young man who has been attending a Florida MY LIFE group for three years described how the motivational speaker’s life lessons inspired him to focus on his future instead of focusing on his past. He told me about the hard times he was going through now and how the stories of the speakers going through tragic times provided him with the feeling that “it’s not too late for me.” It was a tough thought to imagine that at only 16 years old, this young man felt like the cards had already been stacked against him. MY LIFE provides a consistent message that he and his peers have the power and support to create a future different from their current reality.

And then there was Mike with his boundless energy. He may never lose that energy, which could either lead him down a path that is damaging to himself and others, or one that honors his strengths and abilities as he contributes to society. MY LIFE has helped him set upon the latter path. His future can now be one where his energy is directed into developing his leadership skills, pursuing higher education and a meaningful career, despite the challenges he might face at home or at school.

MY LIFE is just one way Magellan is supporting young leaders to help make our communities stronger.

*Mike is not this individual’s real name.

I have had the privilege of wearing many hats in a variety of industries throughout my career, including as an entrepreneur, executive, board member, educator, inventor and investor in technology, healthcare, biotechnology and life sciences.

I have seen the development of ideas and innovations that never had the opportunity to come to fruition. There are a number of contributing factors that impact these advancements. However, one of the most frequent causes is that inventors and researchers do not have the proper experiences, training and education to advance their ideas and work from the research setting to the patient or consumer.

In addition to my role as chief innovation officer and chief medical officer of medical and digital innovation at Magellan Healthcare, I also serve as a faculty member at the Yale School of Medicine. It is through my role at Yale that I have the opportunity to lead a unique training program for substance abuse researches from across the country in entrepreneurship starting next spring. The work of these scientists focuses on the prevention and treatment of substance abuse disorders leading to innovative options for improved care. Unfortunately, many of these innovations never reach the market because today’s scientists do not have the training in how to commercialize their ideas.

The training program, called Innovation to Impact: Translation Support and Education, is made possible through the funding of a $1.25 million grant by the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Students will participate in a free five-day boot camp on entrepreneurship and product development and will also have access to an extensive network of new venture mentors, seed funding for new ventures and training in how to promote a culture of entrepreneurship locally.  This will also help start what we hope will be an active community hosted virtually as well.

In addition to my work in developing apps and software programs designed to combat substance use disorders, I have also been teaching entrepreneurship for many years. This program is a logical next step to not only advance these innovations, but significantly help people with substance abuse disorders.

Open to researchers across the country who are focused on basic science, epidemiology, prevention, treatment and policy, the program will help advance innovations that impact the substance use field. This work is of the upmost importance as we face a national crisis on substance abuse. I also believe the future innovations of these researchers will soon impact our work at Magellan and the customers and members we serve.

Magellan makes it a priority to advance innovation, as evidenced by its support of my participation in this initiative with the NIH as well as dedicated resources through various innovation initiatives to help develop and commercialize new product ideas or services. It is rare that you find a private sector company like ours that is committed to allowing its executives to undertake educational activities when they fit within our massive transformative purpose of “leading humanity to healthy, vibrant lives.” I’m excited to continue to focus on collective entrepreneurial spirit with an amazing team at Yale to share our lessons with others and bring new ideas to light.

Caring is at the heart of Magellan’s culture. Whether it’s approving grant applications through the Magellan Cares Foundation, utilizing paid volunteer time off (VTO) hours or matching financial gifts, this is continually demonstrated by our associates across the country. Learn more about the Magellan Cares Foundation by visiting our webpage, which includes information about how organizations can apply for grants, or learn more from our associates first-hand in this video.

Every day in the news we hear about the devastating impact of the opioid crisis across the country. While we need to confront this complicated crisis, we also need to examine the larger issue of substance use disorders (SUD) that impact millions of Americans.

This past September, I had the honor to represent Magellan Health at the first meeting of the Substance Use Disorder Treatment Task Force, founded by Shatterproof. The mission of the task force is, “To fundamentally improve substance use disorder treatment in the United States, in terms of both quality and patient outcomes.” It also addresses the underlying cause of our country’s current substance use crisis, and lack of access to quality and evidence-based treatment. The task force has been created to expand access to quality treatment for the estimated 21 million Americans with SUD.

This task force is unique in that it convenes public and private healthcare companies, advocates and former government officials to take the lead in developing a tactical plan with measurable goals for payers to follow and implement. I am proud to be joined by so many colleagues and experts across the industry.

Our first focus is to implement the recommendations outlined in the November 2016 Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Secondly, we will utilize methods outlined in a 2006 report from the Institute of Medicine which recommends the need for a group of government regulators, accrediting organizations, consumer representatives, providers and purchasers to come together to develop a common, continually improving set of quality measures, specifically for mental health and substance use disorders.

The work of this task force aligns nicely with our efforts at Magellan, helping lead individuals to healthy, vibrant lives. Working with individuals with SUD, from both the behavioral health and the pharmacy benefits management perspective, we are in a unique position to help address these issues. I believe we can make significant contributions on this task force and for the benefit of our customers, members and providers with whom we work.

During National Depression Awareness Month, we wanted to take some time to discuss the very normal stress and mental health challenges working families experience as we are increasingly connected to our jobs. As our connectivity to work has grown – between email, texting, chats, phone calls, video conferencing calls, and a myriad of social networking sites – so has the challenge to separate work from our personal lives. Employees are spending an increasing amount of time both at work and thinking about work. Habits such as checking email during a family dinner or ruminating about that email that you’d forgotten to write in bed at night are common experiences for many. Add on top of that a child who’s acting out and a parent who needs a little extra care both physically and financially, and you have a recipe for stress that affects your own health and mindset, as well as potentially relationships with family, friends or colleagues.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) have been adopted by many employers to reduce the impact of mental health disorders, workplace stress and other work/life issues on workplace productivity. Despite the ubiquity of this employee benefit, which is offered by 97 percent of large employers, utilization hovers around five percent industry-wide. A primary barrier is the stigma of utilizing EAP programs, which were historically grown from occupational substance abuse programs.

While great strides have been made in reducing stigma, a great opportunity lies in changing the premise that stands in the way of employees tapping into services that might help them move forward and find their best self. What if we were to fundamentally remove the premise that there are people with “issues” and people without? The reality is that every employee is faced with their own brand of “juggle,” and stress and anxiety continue to be on the rise as working families live increasingly busy lives.

As Magellan transforms the EAP benefit for modern day workers and their families, we’re driven to provide resources and tools to help people address their mental health challenges before they severely impact their lives and productivity. The pivot lies in helping employees take care of their mental health as a practice of self-improvement and in helping employers position EAP services in their culture of well-being.

There are three essential components to powering this shift in the transformed EAP:

• Clinically-validated online programs and mobile apps that help employees track and change habits and mindsets
• When employees experience a bump in the road, convenient access to a coach or therapist that can fit into their harried day
• Content that inspires, motivates and helps employees feel validated in the normalcy of their stress and feel connected to others tackling similar experiences

Imagine a world where employees give each other a high five for taking some “me” time, leveraging a convenient method of choice, just as they do for someone sticking to their gym routine or running their first 5k. We certainly do!