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06Sep2010

The Lunch, Part V of Returning to Work

  • By Ian Bradley
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The return to work from a psychological disability can be harrowing, but worse yet, it can fail.  The prognosis for returning becomes worse, the longer the disability leaves continues according to an expert report. Seventy-five percent of disabled workers are able to return after 12 weeks, only two percent after one year.. http://www.mentalhealthroundtable.ca/june_2004/monitor_june2004.pdf Although not
14Aug2010

The Plan; because rest is not enough! Part IV Returning to Work

  • By Ian Bradley
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As explained in my previous posts on the topic of returning to work, the worker disabled by psychological workplace issues needs a comprehensive psychological and occupational assessment.  Often this dual assessment leads to various cognitive behavioural interventions that address the employee’s stress or depression as well as an understanding of the workplace issues that led
04Aug2010

Occupational Assessment: Part III of Returning to Work

  • By Ian Bradley
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This is another post in the series about returning to work from a psychological disability. Previously, I described some issues involved in assessing the clinical or psychological aspects of a workplace disability.  Now, we will examine the second half of the assessment, the occupational. I begin with what the Industrial Psychologist calls the KSA’s, or
25Jul2010

Clinical Assessment: Part II Returning to work

  • By Ian Bradley
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Most of my clients suffering from workplace stress or burnout have symptoms in two areas- clinical and the occupational. As a result, I have to treat the client’s psychological symptoms but I also have to understand how the factors in the workplace might have contributed to the presenting psychological symptoms.  Focusing upon just one provides
15Jul2010

Having a story: Part I of Returning to Work

  • By Ian Bradley
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People are curious.  Office romances, organizational changes, either real or imagined, vie with hockey pools as major themes of work place conversations.  High-up on this water-cool conversational list are sick leaves, especially an absence related to psychological problems. Whether it be; “There but the grace of God, go I.” or “If he’s off with stress,
19Apr2010

Part III Business Blunders; how to handle them

  • By Ian Bradley
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In my last two posts, I shared my view on how CEO’s and managers discuss mistakes in their executive coaching sessions with me.  I pointed out how much the discussions focused on the emotional consequences of the mistake and not the underlying cognitive process.  This got me thinking about how my professional of psychology handles
31Mar2010

Mistakes: do we learn from them? Part II

  • By Ian Bradley
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In my previous post, I shared my view on how CEO’s and managers discuss mistakes in their executive coaching sessions with me.  I pointed out how much the discussions focused on the emotional consequences of the mistake and not the underlying cognitive process.  I offered that my own profession of clinical psychology didn’t do a
22Mar2010

Mistakes; do we learn from them? Part I

  • By Ian Bradley
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We all make mistakes. Lawyers sometimes accept cases that they know they shouldn’t; teachers get into battles with kids that are unwinnable; and executives fail to consider all the variables in their strategic planning analysis. The question is; do we learn from our mistakes. Regrettably, our current culture stresses apology over analysis. In my practice
27Feb2010

Panic; Team Canada and Psychology

  • By Ian Bradley
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Like most Canadians, I was glued to the screen last night following Canada’s Olympic team on its march to gold against the team from Slovakia. Our national level of comfort was jolted by the Slovaks second goal to close the margin in the third period to a nail-biting 3-2 with minutes to play. Watching our
01Feb2010

Employee Recognition: why is it so hard?

  • By Ian Bradley
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Just say: “good job,” it’s simple, certainly brief and surprisingly effective. As an occupational psychologist listening to stories of workplace stress and discontentment, I frequently wish that I had a communication pipeline to my clients’ bosses to whom I could whisper the above advice. For the hard working but often harassed administrative assistants who receive
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