Are you experiencing signs of occupational stress such as: fatigue, headaches, sleeping difficulties like insomnia, muscular tension, heart palpitations, upset gastrointestinal like constipation or diarrhea? Workplace stress is a risk factor for a range of health disorders and diseases. Occupational stress is often the result of unexpected pressures and responsibilities at work that do not line up with a person’s: skills, knowledge, perceived lack of support, or when a person feels minimal control over the work process. Psychological responses to occupational stress include: fear, anxiety, rage, burnout, hostility, bad attitudes, and depression. Behavioral responses to workplace stress include use and/or abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; other behavioral responses include increase rate of accidents and injuries, and decline in job performance. Workplace stress can cause conflict for the employee due to demands of the job, and not feeling control over meeting those demands; these conflicts can have a negative impact on the employee and employer.
Counseling is a proven approach for dealing with occupational stress; this approach incorporates treatment therapies that help people feel a sense of meaning, purpose, accomplishment, and restores mental health and function. Counselors help clients optimize the balance between personal life and work by identifying existing coping patterns, and developing better ways for dealing with stress in the workplace. Counselors also help clients find a sense of validity, and connect with their core values and motivation in their work. In addition to using counseling for achieving meaningful psychological and behavioral changes, counseling is a way to move in the direction clients want to take their life’s work, and short-term and long-term goals.