Asking for Help: A Sign of Strength

The New Year has started out with a bang. As I write this February blog, CHI Health Psychiatric Associates is converting to a computerized system of record keeping. It’s very new for us as a Department – challenging, but very exciting. It will help providers and support staff help those we serve even better. Within a few months, nearly every aspect of CHI Health will be on this new system. I have to take just a moment here to applaud the amazing team I have the privilege of working with every day at CHI Health Psychiatric Associates AND the amazing team of computer experts who helped us go-live yesterday. Boy was I relieved to see those same experts back in the building this morning! They get to stay with us for the next couple of weeks, making sure that we are fully supported in this major transition. It may take us a bit of time to fully adjust, but at the end of the day, it’s all about you – our patients – and providing even more excellent care!

So how is your New Year going for you? We’re more than a month into 2014 and I’ve heard that, for some, the year has started out great; for others, there have been some struggles. For those who have said things were going great, I asked them what they were doing to make that happen. The number one response I got back from my survey was that things were going better because people asked for help when they needed it.

Asking for help and then being open to receiving help is a great way to move closer to any goal. Unfortunately, we live in a world that doesn’t always encourage us to seek help. There seems to be an unwritten rule somewhere that, if we ask for help, it’s a sign of weakness.

I couldn’t disagree more with that unwritten rule. Asking for and receiving support from trusted others is a sign of strength, not weakness. And sometimes, we need to look outside of our current support system for a new expert or support system in an area that we are interested in pursuing, but not familiar with.

For those who have set new goals for the New Year, but are struggling with achieving that goal, have you asked for help? Is there someone you know who can help you with your goal? Is there someone you’d like to know that can help you with that goal? Sometimes we have to do something different – make just a small change - to achieve the goal. If you are hesitating to ask for help, maybe now is the time to consider taking that step. That step might make the difference, moving you a step closer to achieving your goal.

It’s always good to hear from you and how your 2014 is going. Please feel free to send me your feedback or suggestions. This blog is for you, and I’m happy to respond to any of your questions.

Take care!