Employee Assistance Summer Newsletter 2017
In This Issue

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What We Do



Be Well at Work - Employee Assistance provides free, confidential counseling and referral for UC Berkeley faculty and staff and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory employees.


 

Employee Assistance is confidential.

  Our counselors and administrative staff do not share information about you or your visits with anyone outside of Employee Assistance without your consent, except when required by law.


 

 

 

Elder Care
 Program

 

 

As part of Employee Assistance, the Elder Care program offers confidential, free assistance for current UC Berkeley faculty and staff and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory employees caring for or concerned about an elder.


 

The Elder Care Counselor, Maureen Kelly, is available to answer your questions, help set priorities, refer you to resources and provide support.

 

If you'd like to schedule an appointment with Maureen, please call


 

Tel: (510) 643-7754
 
 



Contact 
Employee Assistance

UHS
Tang Center
2222 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720

510-643-7754

Hours
Mon - Fri: 8 AM - 5 PM

Schedule an appointment with an Employee Assistance Counselor by calling the above phone number.


UC Walks


Join your campus colleagues in celebrating Staff Appreciation Week with an energetic gropu walk and a fun experience. Group walks will depart at 12:10 from four campus locations to converge at Memorial Glade. All UC faculty and staff are encouraged to commit to a 30-minute walk on this day.

Participants in the UC Walks will have a chance to:

Pick-up a free UC Walks t-shirt (while supplies last.)

- Enjoy light refreshments

- Participate in a Flash mob at 12.40 

- Win great prizes

 

Free Positive Apps. for Daily Use


 
Happier motivates you to stay more present and positive throughout the day. Use it to lift your mood, take a quick meditation pause, or capture and savor the small happy moments that you find in your day. 
IOS   Android


With topics ranging from self-compassion, sleep, and stress relief, to moving movements like yoga and walking meditation, this app. features over 5,000 guided meditations from over 1,500 teachers. It also includes music, specialized talks, community forums and courses.
 


As the sunny summer days greet us, we hope you find some time for self-care to release any accumulated stress or strain from the departed semester. Whether you choose to take vacation, enjoy the upcoming holidays, or practice mindfulness, experiencing a brief moment to unwind can create a big impact on our overall mental and physical health.

Remember to acknowledge all of your hard work over the past semester, and recognize that you deserve a moment for you.

Employee Assistance is here to provide you and your dependents with support through short-term counseling, assessment, referrals, and workshops.

Take care,

Event:
This is Your Brain on Meditation: Bringing Diversity and Community Engagement to the Neuroscience of Meditation

Studies on the neuroscience of meditation in the U.S. have historically included meditators  from the dominant culture. Over the past year, Dr. Helen Weng has collaborated with EBMC to engage in community dialogue so we can increase the diversity of meditators represented. This includes people of color, LGBTQI community, and people with disabilities.

In this evening of dialogue, Dr. Weng will describe the current state of the field, and how her research brings in diverse meditators. This includes groundbreaking neuroscientific methods that allow each meditator's brain states to be individualized.


When: July 10th, 6.30 pm - 9 pm
Where: East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland 
Cost: Free (Registration is required)

 
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Mindfulness Meditation Group
Take some time out for you, and try the free meditation group led by staff members who meet during lunch hour every Tuesday at the Tang Center.

Where: Tang Center, 3rd Fl. Conference Rm (3110)
When: Every Tuesday, 12:10 - 12:50 pm
Format: Drop in - no registration necessary.


Can Mindfulness Make You Less Biase d?

Practicing mindfulness is a great way to reduce stress, increase positivity, and allow us to focus on being in the moment in our daily lives, but mindfulness is also a great way to increase our empathy, and strengthen our relationships with work colleagues, loved ones and even strangers.

Jill Suttie at the Greater Good Science Center, Berkeley, discusses various ways in which the practice of mindfulness can reduce not only stress, but also prejudice and bias.

To read her article, "Three Ways Mindfulness Can Make You Less Biased," please click here .
Summer Series for Caregivers 2017


Caregiver Challenges: Memory Loss & Resistance
Thu. June 20th, 12.10 - 1.30 pm
This workshop will focus on specific challenges related to caring for an older adult, including caring for an elder with memory loss and caring for an elder who resists help. Strategies for self-care will be shared. Resources provided.
Caregiver Challenges: Roles & Responsibilities
Wed. July 12th,  12.10 - 1.30 pm
This workshop will focus on specific challenges related to caring for an older adult, including roles and responsibilities of the caregiver and other family members; the caregiver-care receiver relationship; expectations you and others have of you; and feeling responsible but not having control. Strategies for self-care will be shared.  
Caregiver Stress: Competing Demands & Finances
Tue. July 25th,  12.10 - 1.30 pm
This workshop will focus on the stressors associated with caregiving, including competing demands, such as work, family and personal, as well as finances for care. Strategies for self-care will be shared. Resources provided.
Caregiver Grief: Losses Associated with Aging
Wed. August 8th,  12.10 - 1.30 pm
In this workshop we will identify various losses associated with aging and how these changes may be experienced by an elder, the caregiver, and other family members; recognize grieving as an active and important process; and try to differentiate between grief and depression. Strategies for self-care will be shared. Resources provided.
Relaxing Sound Bath: A One Hour Sound Savasana
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Sound therapy is highly effective at providing relief for chronic pain, digestive issues, insomnia, autoimmune disorders, trauma, depression, and anxiety.
Experience the powerful benefits of these meditative tools by relieving your body of stress and tension.

Join sound alchemist Melissa Felsenstein for a unique and deeply relaxing evening of pure sound. Let your body and senses bathe in a wash of ancient sound and blended tones of Paiste gongs and crystal singing bowls.
These unique instruments slow down your brainwaves to meditative like states through a scientific process called entrainment and have the potential to:

- Release emotional stress and physical tension
- Receive spontaneous insight and heightened intuition
- Soothe and balance your nervous system
- Create meaningful rest and better sleep


When: June 17th, 2017
Where: 1700 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Cost: $25

The Breema Center Summer Intensive 

Breema bodywork, Self-Breema
exercises, and the Nine Principles of Harmony are natural expressions of the unifying principle of Existence. They provide ideal support for practicing body-mind connection and the art of being present.

In each class, you'll learn and practice Self-Breema exercises and Breema bodywork sequences that help to create a new unified relationship between the body, mind and feelings. You don't need to have any prior bodywork experience. 

Breema movements and sequences can deepen our understanding of the principles through body-mind connection. It gives us a new education in which we learn, first through our body, that the principles are a natural way to relate to ourselves, to other people, and to everything in life.

When: Various dates from July 15th - 22nd
Where: 6076 Claremont Avenue, Oakland CA 94618
Cost: Prices vary depending on weekend, 3-day, and 6 day courses.

Book Recommendation

Don't Feed the Monkey
Ancient sages compared the human mind to a monkey: constantly chattering, hopping from branch to branch-endlessly moving from fear to safety. If you've ever experienced anxiety, you are familiar with this process.

Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, " Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry," discusses strategies for stopping anxious thoughts from taking over. By following the exercises in this book, you'll learn to identify your own anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.

"If you are ready to turn the tables on your anxiety, you can find no better book than Don't Feed the Monkey Mind. Jennifer Shannon will help you turn away from the enticing tactics of fearful worry and teach you how to return to the life you love." - Reid Wilson, PhD, author of  Stopping the Noise in Your Head