"You don't have to think about doing the right thing. If you're for the right thing, then you do it without thinking."
~ Maya Angelou

June 22, 2013

Helping Professionals with Gratitude!

by Daniel Jacob, MSW: Founder of Can You Hear Me?


Helping Professionals with Gratitude!  I'm pleased to be back and as my fingers glide across the keys, I'm connected to my internal drive to help others change for the better.  This week I'm inspired by the gratitude I embrace as it pertains to my model of support, helping those that help others in need.  Helping Professionals are either working for, training in, or learning from organizations whose mission is to help others change for the better.  The support that I have chosen to provide gives me purpose.  As I move through opportunity I'm  investing myself into the emotional states that motivate, inspire and empower me to accomplish my said goals.  It is through challenge and the process of overcoming such that I have been given choices.   As with all moments that cause us pain we can choose to understand it and accept it.  I honestly feel that we are all capable of embracing our own suffering in a manner that can educate us, inspire us and ultimately motivate our will and ability to change for the better.  Helping Professionals with Gratitude affords me this opportunity, one that not only empowers others, but also provides me with much opportunity as well!

In the field of helping others change for the better one may become solely focused on the person/population you are trying to reach.  Yes, this is the nature of your work but what goes into this work is so greatly influenced by your availability, sense of self and what you are able to give to the process.  So I ask, what about that helping professional?  What about their well being?  What about their working environment/system, support network, etc.?  What about their capability and ability to effectively provide positive support and services to those in need?  Many in the field of helping others choose to suppress their pain and suffering as it pertains to their role as and career of.  Think about it...  You are a trained and educated professional in the business of helping others change for the better,  the expectation is not to show your own vulnerability.  So, how do many cope with this?  Many will suppress, avoid and resist, moving closer into that "survival mode" and a way that just gets one through the day...  They will lose sight of (or just not have the energy for) positive self-care and well-being support.  They will increasingly break down while venting to their co-workers, friends, spouses, etc. in a manner that only demonstrates their frustration, anger, apathy, and complacency within a situation that feels as though no solution is in sight.

Helping Professionals with Gratitude is where my support services come in to action as I strive to empower, educate and support these professionals.  To be able to inspire others through my own plight, my own challenges (in and out of the career), while promoting one's ability to stay available and present is a truly rewarding opportunity.  It is through this mutual process that I am able to help my fellow professionals identify, understand, and thus address the challenges they are facing in the field of helping others change for the better!  I don’t always get the opportunity for feedback, so when I share it is always an opportunity to reflect, process and embrace that I am exactly where I need to be.  What I do know is that it is my true desire to support Helping Professionals so that they can move closer to helping others change for the better.  If I can accomplish this I am able to impact two different populations; the helping professional as well as the clients they serve, both of which are in need of support! 


This in itself is what I see every day with intention, purpose and action!  If you are a helping professional and you are suffering, you can not be available and present for those in need in a positive, effective and sustainable manner.  It is a reality within an already difficult field that usually begins with immediate challenge.  So, I ask you, why create more challenge if you can choose not to?  It begins when you start, while committing to the necessary work so that you can change the outcome, one that will be a truly transformative process...

I'm just gonna keep putting it out there to the universe, and if my efforts open the door towards change for the better I am Helping Professionals with Gratitude!  Until the next time my words meet your availability you breathe well out there!



About Author
 








Daniel Jacob, MSW  Email
Founder of Can You Hear Me? External Field Instructor at University of Southern California School of Social Work MSW@USC. Daniel has a Masters in Social Work (Families and Children Practice/School Social Work). He is currently nearing the completion of the LCSW testing process. More about the man behind the mission ⇢

No comments:

Post a Comment