WORK | COMP | PSYCH, PC
Workers Compensation Psychology of Maine
Help for Maine Workers
Life altering injuries create a lot of problems: chronic pain, anxiety, depression, adjustment, PTSD, TBI, legal, health and financial stressors, insomnia, feelings of loss and grief, impacts to occupational identity, relationship impacts, return to work challenges, panic features, uncertainty, overwhelm...
These problems are very reliable. They keep presenting themselves for our consideration. Your ability to be successful in therapy is closely tied to your willingness to stop and look around, take ownership, and choose a path forward.
You didn't choose to be injured, but you can choose how you respond.
This requires creativity, effort, and courage. You employ your existing skills and strategies while learning new ones, ultimately moving each day towards living a life of integrity - a life in which your actions match your values. You stop running from problems and instead welcome their return, because these problems help you clarify what is truly important. The problem becomes the solution.
There is a reason you are thinking of counseling now. I welcome the opportunity to hear more.
About Work | Comp | Psych, PC
Workers Compensation Psychology of Maine has been providing support to injured Maine workers since 2015.
Dr. Will Hafford, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Maine specializing in depression, anxiety, and trauma associated with occupational and/or life altering injuries.
Meeting remotely online and in Belfast, Maine. Periodically,
Dr. Hafford facilitates workers compensation support groups.
This situation is extraordinary, your response is normal. Proven care for common challenges associated with life altering injuries.
Anxiety
Depression
Occupational Identity
Anxiety is a needed part of life, and it can become overwhelming. Worry, panic, discomfort. If we are not aware of our relationship with anxiety, it will make choices for us about our life. Usually to live in your basement and not go out in the daytime. Anxiety does not get to choose how you live your life. You do.
Depression is a very common cooccurring condition with chronic pain and injuries/loss. How much do you struggle to get out of bed and get going in the morning? Have you noticed that your world feels more flat, like it has lost all its color and vibrancy? Do you feel that everything is outside your control and its your fault? Small steps over time can help you return to your self. What is your next step?
We define ourselves by our work. It is part of who we are, often one of the largest. What happens when we lose that sense of self? Who are you when you are unable to work, or can no longer do the work that you used to? You will need to grapple with these questions prior to returning to work, and/or moving forward into the new normal of your life.
Chronic Pain
There are many types of pain, what do you do when it persists long after the accident is over? Coordination amongst your team, consideration of medication and other treatment options (therapeutic massage, yoga, gentle outdoor activity) can all be a part of your plan. So can working on the psychological factors of pain, building tolerance, turning the pain dial down, knowing the difference between hurt vs. harm. You might not be able to control the presence of pain, but you can adapt to and mitigate it.
Trauma
So, a meteor has smashed into your life. A terrible thing has happened to you and your family. Not everyone will have a trauma response to traumatic events. But for those who do, it is the long echo of the terrible truth. What will you do when it presents itself to you? Do you find your self numb and disoriented? Nightmares or feeling like you are back reliving the accident? Trauma is a thief of the present. You can reclaim your time and bring your self back to your life.
Stressors
Well, you definitely didn't sign up for this. Not only injured, but now loss of income, marital stressors, physical limitations, doctors appointments and medications and insurance details and legal proceedings and and and....the list is overwhelming. It is unfair that it comes at a time when you are at your most vulnerable. Lets make a plan to control the controllable.