After a 20 percent increase in use last year, the Rollins Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has adjusted its treatment methods to accommodate more students.

The new emphasis on group therapy and a switch from weekly to bi-weekly individual appointments, leaves some students feeling concerned.

In the past, students began individual talk therapy at their first appointment. In this new model of care delivery, students will first attend a 30-minute consultation. They will work one-on-one with a counselor to design an individualized care plan and identify their needs and goals for therapy. In this way, resources can be delegated more efficiently.

Additionally, one-on-one therapy is offered on a biweekly rather than weekly basis, and group therapy and workshops are emphasized and integrated into individual plans.

Dr. Connie Briscoe, director of the Wellness Center, said that the changes are part of an initiative to move to a stepped care model of mental health service provision.

This approach is considered one of the most appropriate and cost-effective models for college campuses. A patients care plan is adjusted based on the severity of their mental health issues.

Briscoe said, We spent time at other college counseling centers talking to other people who are using a variety of different models and felt that because we are a highly individualized campus and were all about relationships, the stepped care model really fits our campus and our culture best.

The individualized care plans include self-help resources, group therapy, therapeutic workshops, biweekly individual talk therapy appointments, campus and community resources such as Student & Family Care. It can also include referrals to off-campus therapy, as well as any necessary specialized treatment options.

Were matching the needs of the students to the services much more intentionally, and so were seeing that students are receiving a much broader range of services, said Briscoe.

One of the consequences of this need-matching plan is that many students will have less one-on-one appointments, unless a student is receiving specialized treatment or experiencing a crisis.

Anecia Inbornone (22), a client of the CAPS program, said,I know that for me, if Im in a group setting, Im not as vulnerable as I would be in like a one-on-one session, and I know thats probably very true for many people; so, although its an alternative, I dont think that fixes the problem.

Students are not upheld to the same code of ethics that requires counselors to maintain students confidentiality. Therefore, in group therapy and workshops, students must place their trust not only in their counselors but also in their fellow students to keep their personal information protected.

A survey conducted at the end of last year indicated that Rollins students would prefer to see a larger number and variety of workshops in addition to an increase in the availability of individual CAPS appointments.

Briscoe said that the CAPS program is not meant to be used as a long-term individual therapy service.

If students really want and need long-term intensive individual therapy, something we dont have here, we can always work with that student to provide them with resources in the community where they can go out and get that type of care, said Briscoe.

However, many students at Rollins rely on the schools mental health services because appointments are free and on-campus. Some students feel that there are not enough individual appointments available.

Kendall Clarke (21) has been using the CAPS program since the fall of her sophomore year. She said she benefited most from the relationship she built with her counselor in individual therapy.

A lot of people use CAPS as a replacement for a therapist, and I get that its counseling and not official therapy but we are college students and our money and our mobility are really limited, Clarke said.

I wanted to go to a professional therapist, but I dont have a car, and I dont have the money to be paying a Lyft or Uber every week to pay for a therapist, so CAPS kind of is the only thing I can get to help with some of my mental health issues, she said.

From 2017 to 2018, faculty and staff referred students to CAPS at an increased rate of 300 percent. Last spring, roughly 350 Rollins students were utilizing CAPS.

From 2018 to 2019, the number of students using CAPS increased by 20 percent, raising the average wait time for a CAPS appointment from 6.5 days in 2018 to two weeks in the spring of 2019.

In August 2018, the Wellness Center was awarded the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant, a federal government grant matched by Rollins and totaling over $300,000 distributed over a three-year period.

Besides that, the Wellness Center has not requested any additional funding from Rollins, but Briscoe said she is always hoping for more resources.

However, there would be challenges along the way. Briscoe said, If we were to get a lot more staff, where would we put them? We only have this one building.

As this new model is implemented, Briscoe remains hopeful that the changes will be beneficial to a majority of students on campus.

I think it cant be anything but really positive for our students to have more options and opportunities and better ways to tailor our resources to their needs, said Briscoe. I wouldnt have put the model together if I didnt think that it was a more effective model than the one we had in the past.

Students in need of mental health assistance are encouraged to contact the Wellness Center. No matter the time of day or availability at the Wellness Center, students in need of someone to talk to are encouraged to call the 24/7 crisis phone line at (833) 848-1761.

Additionally, students may utilize the WellTrack self-therapy app for free by registering with their student email address.

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Wellness Center alters therapy options - Sandspur

Twenty years ago, McKinsey predicted that the success of organizations would primarily depend on their ability to identify, develop, and retain top talent. Those employees are responsible for most of their employers productivity, revenues, profits, etc., and are therefore also the key to outperforming their competitors.

Today, few companies would disagree. There is also ample scientific evidencethat in any workgroup or team, a small but vital number of people have a disproportionately high impact on that units performance and success.

The last two decades of academic researchreveals that these indispensable individuals are far more similar across jobs, cultures, and industries than most people think. They havethree major traits that set them apart.They tend to be smart and curious, which means they learn faster and better than others. They tend to have better people skills, so they are more effective in their interpersonal relations. They are more driven and hard-working than their peers, which explains their higher productivity rates.

But one critical dimension of talent appears to have been mostly forgotten and is surprisingly absent from companies competency frameworksand high-potentialmodels. Its importance is such that it can amplify or extinguish any other aspect of talent, including the benefits of learning ability, people skills, and work ethic.

That trait is self-control, and it explains why some people are much better able to resist temptations and make short-term sacrifices to pursue more meaningful long-term goals, not just at work, but in any area of life. Without self-control, every other virtue, skill, or ability is rendered futile, as any significant accomplishment starts with the ability to manage yourself. As Plato said: The first and best victory is to conquer self.

Scientific research suggests there are five key reasons for the critical importance of self-control in the workplace.

We live in an age of information overload and ubiquitous digital distractions. And as Herbert Simon noted, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. Academic research shows that individuals with higher levels of self-control are better able to ignore distractions, which enables them to concentrate more and achieve higher levels of performance.

Curiosity is a sought-after trait by many top organizations, including Google and Amazon. But the type of curiosity they seek aligns with what psychologists call the bright sideof curiosity. That means those people can be so deeply immersed in a subject that they are able to develop superior levels of expertise and skill that provide a competitive advantage to both the employee and the employer. Unleashing this positive aspect of curiosity and key knowledge driver requires shutting down its dark side. That is the short-term glut that pushes individuals to consume trivial content, as a short-term cure to boredom, and a lazy alternative to focus and concentration. The more self-control you have, the less time you will waste binging on random YouTube clips or looking at the Facebook photos of your neighbors cat having breakfast.

As Daniel Markovits highlights in his excellent new book, The Meritocracy Trap, we live in an age of unprecedented competition for jobs and career success, where even the most highly skilled and employable individuals are pushed into longer and more intense working hours. In this ever more complex and unpredictable world, nobody can succeed unless they are able to marshal the necessary levels of resilience and stress tolerance. People with higher levels of self-control are more likely to be in this category.

As a recent meta-analysis shows, employees personality is as important a predictor of their level of engagement and job satisfaction as the actual job they are in. This means that one of the best ways to ensure that your workforce is engaged is to hire people with a predisposition to enjoy work and be enthusiastic about their careers. Self-control is one of the key traits that distinguish employees who are more engaged at work.

Self-control is a strong predictor of ethical and prosocial behavior. When employees who lack self-control are promoted into management or leadership roles, they misbehave. Sadly, this happens all too often, which explains harassment and the prevalence of leaders who engage in other reckless, entitled, and antisocial behaviors at work. Incidentally, if we selected leaders on the basis of their self-control, the majority of them would be female.

When you look for talented people, focus not just on what they know or their likability. Pay attention to their ability to control their urges and keep their impulses in check. This evidence-based recommendation is in stark contrast with much of the popular self-help advice you will find online on just being yourself and bringing your authentic self to work.

Self-control is as underrated as authenticity is overrated. Theres no need to go against ones values and principles, but the most productive and rewarding version of you will require a healthy degree of restraint and self-censorship, and that can only be achieved if you exercise self-control.

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the most under-rated aspect of talent - Fast Company

The world around is being cluttered with too many screens and India hasnt been slouching on that front either. An overload of screens, which was once considered an assault on our senses, has now become a part of our everyday lives. Moving beyond TV and computers or laptops, we are always connected through smartphones, often carrying more than one to segregate professional from personal. But thats not all! When running out of cash, the ATM screen is our go-to resource. At airports, we would rather get the boarding pass from a self-help kiosk and drop the baggage at the counter instead of bearing a long queue.

I sometimes pause and wonder How many screens per second are we living." With every passing day, the world around us is being increasingly populated with screens. No matter where we go, the black mirror follows usat workplaces, home, indoors and outdoors, buses, trains, airports, there is simply no escaping now. However, one may halt and wonder, what does this explosion of the screen mean for the evolution of laptops? From clamshell designs to athletic architectures, laptops have certainly come a long way. Yet, the future may hold true integration of multiple screens, with a pursuit to de-clutter and help multi-taskers prioritize better.

It was 1982 when Grid Systems, under the leadership of John Ellenby, popularly known as the godfather" of laptops, launched the first-ever laptop as we recognize todayclamshell and portable. Named the Compass, the laptop was, however, noting like a modern-day notebook. Despite the clamshell design, the laptop was heavy (weighing 5 kilos) and expensive (a present-day equivalent of over $20,000).

However, the Compass led to Apple, which released its first portable laptop in 1989, which may have been priced lesser but was still questionably portable, weighing 7.2 kg. It was the 90s when some other popular product ranges greeted us, for instance, the 1992 ThinkPad, which is still an active product line. It folded the screen at the top and keyboard at the bottom neatly in half, also offering TrackPoint allowing users to operate the mouse on the screen. In 1996, Toshiba Libretto may have been the first entrant to the subnotebook category, owing to its sleek design. With the dimensions of a novel, the laptop weighed only 840 g, garnering immense popularity within the market for its industry-leading easily portable attribute.

While tracing the evolution of laptops, a standout aspect has been the consistency in the design of laptops architecture. While the machines have surely shrunk, the year 2018 saw the growth of the thin and light" category priced at an affordable range. But not much has shifted in the age-old clamshell design.

We made a leap towards the weird and wonderful design of laptops when Windows 8 debuted over half a decade ago. It led to the rise of interesting designs, noteworthy to mention the Yoga laptop range and other athletic designs from the leading OEMs. However, the quirky designs have come and gone, without defining the generation. The industry, thus, in the need of a serious makeover and to de-clutter the proliferation of multiple screens, is perhaps headed what may be a significant epoch in the laptop space the advent of dual-screen laptops. Brands are tinkering with the idea of adding another secondary screen to the traditional design.

A dual-screen laptop allows the user to perhaps check the work emails on a secondary screen while focusing on the major task at hand on the primary one.

Professionals can develop the PowerPoint presentation on the main screen, while constantly brainstorming on the messenger app opened on the secondary screen. Gamers can utilize the dual offering to focus on the high-adrenaline action-packed formats and leverage the secondary screen to take stock of their arsenal, zoom in on the map, or simply stream music online. In a nutshell, dual-screen laptops are here to make life easier for the multi-tasking clan and take some pressure off from having to utilize multiple screens. They would also solve the conundrum for users to select between gaming devices and work laptops.

With their razor-sharp focus on delivering high horsepower to enable productivity and multi-tasking, the dual-screen offerings are the torch-bearers of an integrated and de-cluttered future.

In days to come, laptops will continue to get more powerful and play a significant role in the lives of users. The high-powered machines would empower users to venture into critical tasks such as 3D modelling, animation programs, and more. With the machines getting ready to take charge of critical roles, the market for consumer notebooks and laptops will only get enriched with superior and disruptive offerings.

Arnold Su is BDM, consumer notebooks & ROG, Asus India

Excerpt from:
Opinion: The evolution of laptops from bulky machines to compact, dual-screens - Livemint

La Jolla, CA, Oct. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MadCap Software, Inc., the leader in multi-channel content authoring, today announced that the MadCap Flare and MadCap Central October 2019 Releases are now available. Together, the latest versions introduce several industry firsts, including the drag-and-drop import of Microsoft Word and other files, responsive content personalization, and built-in business intelligence and data analytics on customer content and user activity, among others. With MadCap Flare and MadCap Central, users have more comprehensive functionality than ever for creating, reviewing, analyzing and delivering modern self-support websites, training content, technical documentation, and knowledge management centers.

MadCap Flare and MadCap Central are part of the MadCap Authoring and Management System (AMS). Combining the power of desktop authoring with the convenience of the cloud, MadCap AMSprovides a complete solution to support the entire content development lifecycle. MadCap Flare offers cutting-edge technical authoring and publishing capabilities with advanced features to maximize authoring efficiency, content reuse, and multi-channel publishing. MadCap Central is the first cloud-based platform for content and project management designed specifically for the documentation industry. As a result, content developers can leverage one integrated system to streamline their content deliveryfrom authoring, publishing and translation to cloud-based project, content and workflow management, to now gathering valuable business intelligence and user statistics on how end users interact with the content.

Today, more than 20,000 organizations worldwide and growing rely on our solutions to deliver an increasingly broad range of content to support their training, customer service, employee education, and documentation demands, said Anthony Olivier, MadCap founder and CEO. With the newest releases of MadCap Central and MadCap Flare, we are extending our commitment to innovating solutions that facilitate the development and delivery of these diverse content requirements. Now, customers have unprecedented power and simplicity in leveraging existing content by importing various file types, personalizing their output to users different needs, managing their content publication, and using analytics to consistently improve their content and create a superior user experience.

Unprecedented Ease with Microsoft Word ImportsMadCap Flare is used by thousands of companies worldwide to create and publish their technical documentation, user guides, instruction manuals, online Help, and support websites to any number of print, web, desktop and mobile formats in users languages of choice.

The October 2019 Release introduces two innovations that make it easier than ever to import Microsoft Word files and convert these into Flare topics for maximum content reuse. In a first for the industry, MadCap Flare enables users to simply drag and drop any number of Word files directly into Flare for a simplified content import workflow. Additionally, a completely redesigned import wizard simplifies the process of customizing the import of Word files and adds new options for streamlining the conversion process.

The MadCap Flare October 2019 Release also adds the ability to drag and drop any other file typesuch as image files, PDFs, and Excel spreadsheets among othersdirectly into Flare.

Business Intelligence and AnalyticsTogether, the XML-based MadCap Central and MadCap Flare provide a comprehensive, agile, highly extensible, and cost-effective alternative to enterprise content management (ECM) and component content management system (CCMS) solutions. In another industry first, the October 2019 Releases of these solutions extend their functionality with new business intelligence (BI) and data analytics.

Providing a Google Analytics-like experience, the new capabilities enable technical communications and documentation professionals to use analytics on Flare-generated content to analyze and continuously improve their content, thereby increasing self-help, ticket deflection, and overall user satisfaction. Technical authors can easily set up the analytics in minutes with no hardware or additional IT requirements and track usage on any hosted website or desktop outputcontent can be hosted anywhere, not just with MadCap Centralto start gathering data analytics immediately. Analytic data includes:

Responsive Content PersonalizationMadCap Flare is the only professional authoring and publishing solution that lets authors create and publish responsive HTML5 output out of the box with top and side navigationwhich more closely resembles a modern, search engine-optimized, and fully customizable informational websitealong with high-end print documentation from the same source of content.

The October 2019 Release of MadCap Flare extends responsive output to now include responsive text. This intelligent, responsive content functionality introduces another industry first by adding the ability to personalize and create content with the intelligence to change based on not just the device but also the format or user type. Now text, images and video can be automatically modified based on the screen to provide the most appropriate and personalized content to end users, regardless of device, format or user type.

Atlassian Confluence ImportAtlassian Confluence is the content collaboration tool widely used by software development teams to collaborate and share knowledge efficiently. Increasingly, organizations are seeking to repurpose content from Confluence within their MadCap Flare-based documentation, Help websites, training content, and knowledge management systems. In this way, customers can capitalize on Confluence as a source of gathered subject matter expert information and then use the power and flexibility of MadCap Flare to extend the delivery of this content throughout the enterprise and across multiple channels. MadCap Flare is also being used by these businesses to better stylize the content to align it with their corporate brandingas reflected by the new Cloudistics case study published earlier this week.

With the October 2019 Release, users now have the ability to import Atlassian Confluence content directly into MadCap Flare, including HTM and Resource files for Confluence cloud and desktop, while respecting the Confluence structure.

Availability and PricingThe MadCap Flare and MadCap Central October 2019 Releases are available today as part of the MadCap Authoring and Management System. Per-user subscription pricing for MadCap AMS is $2,988 per year or $249 per month. The subscription includes 30 GB of storage per company account (with additional storage available), free product upgrades and updates, Platinum-level maintenance and support with unlimited email and telephone support, a knowledge base, and forum access. Standalone perpetual licenses for MadCap Flare and subscriptions for MadCap Central are also available. Visit MadCap Software at https://www.madcapsoftware.com/ or contact MadCap Software at sales@madcapsoftware.com or +1 (858) 320-0387 to learn more.

About MadCap Software MadCap Software, Inc. is a trusted resource for the thousands of companies around the globe that rely on its solutions for single-source multi-channel authoring and publishing, multimedia, and translation management. Whether delivering technical, policy, medical, marketing, business, or human resources content, MadCaps products are used to create corporate intranets, Help systems, policy and procedure manuals, video tutorials, knowledge bases, eBooks, user guides, and more to any format, including high-end print, online, desktop or mobile. MadCap services include product training, consulting services, translation and localization, and an advanced developer certification program. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, MadCap Software is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the content development industry. Learn more about MadCap Software at http://www.madcapsoftware.com.

MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, MadCap Authoring and Management System, MadCap Central, and MadCap Flare, are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners.

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MadCap Software Introduces Industry Firsts with Plug-and-Play Imports and Data Analytics in the Newest Releases of MadCap Flare and MadCap Central -...

If parents were giving their children virtue names today, as the Puritans used to do, nobody would choose Charity or Grace or Patience. Instead, half of all baby girls born in America would be named Empowerment or Assertiveness.

For women in this cultural moment, assertiveness is perhaps the ultimate in aspirational personal qualities. At the nexus of feminism and self-help lies the promise that if we can only learn to state our needs more forcefully to lean in and stop apologizing and demand a raise and power pose in the bathroom before meetings and generally act like a ladyboss (though not a regular boss of course; that would be unladylike) everything from the pay gap to mansplaining to the glass ceiling would all but disappear. Women! Be more like men. Men, as you were.

There are several problems with this fist-pumping restyling of feminism, most obviously that it slides all too easily into victim blaming. The caricature of the shrinking violet, too fearful to ask for a raise, is a handy straw-woman for corporations that would rather blame their female employees for a lack of assertiveness than pay them fairly.

Theres also the awkward issue that it turns out to be untrue. Research shows that despite countless attempts to rebrand the wage gap as a confidence gap, women ask for raises as often as men do. They just dont get them.

But even if we leave these narrative glitches aside and accept the argument that female unassertiveness is a major cause of gender inequality and that complex, systemic problems can be fixed with individual self-improvement, we are still left with a deeply sexist premise.

The assumption that assertiveness is a more valuable trait than say, deference is itself the product of a ubiquitous and corrosive gender hierarchy.

As a rule, anything associated with girls or women from the color pink to domestic labor is by definition assigned a lower cultural value than things associated with boys or men. Fashion, for instance, is vain and shallow, while baseball is basically a branch of philosophy. Tax dollars are poured into encouraging girls to take up STEM subjects, but no one seems to care much whether boys become nurses. Girls are routinely given pep talks to be anything a boy can be, a glorious promotion from their current state, whereas to encourage a boy to behave more like a girl is to inflict an emasculating demotion. Female hobbies, careers, possessions and behaviors are generally dismissed as frivolous, trivial, niche or low status certainly nothing to which any self-respecting boy or man might ever aspire.

Women: Improve yourselves! has always been a baseline instruction of both the world at large and the self-help movement. Take the whole Women Who subgenre, a surprisingly large range of books whose titles start with the words Women Who and end with a character flaw that then blames us for our own failure to be happy or successful. Women Who Love Too Much, Women Who Think Too Much, Women Who Worry Too Much, Women Who Do Too Much.

Rarely do we stop to consider that many of lifes problems might be better explained by the alternative titles Men Who Love Too Little, Think Too Little, Worry Too Little or Do Too Little. But instead we assume without question that whatever men are doing or thinking is what we all should be aiming for.

Now the assertiveness movement is taking this same depressingly stacked ranking system and selling it back to us as feminism. We in turn barely question whether the male standard really is the more socially desirable or morally sound set of behaviors or consider whether women might actually have had it right all along.

After all, one mans assertive is often another womans abrasive, entitled or rude. Surely many of our current most pressing social and political problems from #MeToo to campus rape, school shootings to President Trumps Twitter posturing are caused not by a lack of assertiveness in women but by an overassertiveness among men. In the workplace, probably unsurprisingly to many women who are routinely talked over, patronized or ignored by male colleagues, research shows that rather than women being underconfident, men tend to be overconfident in relation to their actual abilities. Women generally arent failing to speak up; the problem is that men are refusing to pipe down.

Take apologizing, the patient zero of the assertiveness movement. Women do too much of it, according to countless op-ed essays, books, apps and shampoo ads. Theres even a Gmail plug-in that is supposed to help us quit this apparently self-destructive habit by policing our emails for signs of excessive contrition, underlining anything of an overly apologetic nature in angry red wiggles.

The various anti-apologizing tracts often quote a 2010 study showing that the reason women say they are sorry more often than men is that we have a lower threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior. This is almost exclusively framed as an example of female deficiency. But really, isnt a person with a high threshold of what constitutes offensive behavior just a fancy name for a jerk?

Rarely in the course of this anti-apologizing crusade do we ever stop to consider the social and moral value of apologies and the cost of obliterating them from our interactions. Apologizing is a highly symbolic and socially efficient way to take responsibility for our actions, to right a wrong and clear space for another persons feelings. Its a routine means of injecting self-examination and moral reflection into daily life.

Indeed many of our problems with male entitlement and toxic behavior both in the workplace and elsewhere could well be traced back to a fundamental unwillingness among men to apologize, or even perceive that they have anything to apologize for. Certainly many emails I have received from men over the years might have benefited from a Gmail plug-in pointing out the apology-shaped hole. The energy we expend in getting women to stop apologizing might be better spent encouraging men to start.

So perhaps instead of nagging women to scramble to meet the male standard, we should instead be training men and boys to aspire to womens cultural norms, and selling those norms to men as both default and desirable. To be more deferential. To reflect and listen and apologize where an apology is due (and if unsure, to err on the side of a superfluous sorry than an absent one). To aim for modesty and humility and cooperation rather than blowhard arrogance.

It would be a challenge, for sure. Pity the human resources manager trying to sell a deference training course to male employees. She would need to paint all the PowerPoint slides black and hand out Nerf guns just to get started. As long as the threat of emasculation is a baseline terror for men, encouraging them to act more like women still instinctively feels like a form of humiliation.

Which is exactly why we need to try, because until female norms and standards are seen as every bit as valuable and aspirational as those of men, we will never achieve equality. Promoting qualities such as deference, humility, cooperation and listening skills will benefit not only women but also businesses, politics and even men themselves, freeing them from the constant and exhausting expectation to perform a grandstanding masculinity, even when they feel insecure or unsure.

So H.R. managers and self-help authors, slogan writers and TED Talk talkers: Use your platforms and your cultural capital to ask that men be the ones to do the self-improvement for once. Stand up for deference. Write the book that tells men to sit back and listen and yield to others judgment. Code the app that shows them where to put the apologies in their emails. Teach them how to assess their own abilities realistically and modestly. Tell them to lean out, reflect and consider the needs of others rather than assertively restating their own. Sell the female standard as the norm.

Perhaps some capitulation poses in the bathroom before a big meeting might help.

Ruth Whippman, the author of America the Anxious, is working on a book about raising boys.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Enough Leaning In. Lets Tell Men to Lean Out. - The New York Times

Private therapy helps so many people stay mentally healthy, but it also can come with long wait times, high costs and sometimes awkward moments. So its no wonder that many people turn to mental health apps for help with their own mental health concerns. Popular apps can include mood tracking, meditation, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and other tools to use to stay mentally healthy.

People find that they can increase insight, improve habit forming behaviors and build mindful awareness [using apps], Lauren Cook, MMFT and Doctoral Candidate of Clinical Psychology at Pepperdine University, tells SheKnows. Furthermore, they can be discreet. It might look like youre texting when in actuality you may be utilizing a mental health app.

But with all the advantages, mental health apps arent exactly perfect. There can be some drawback to using them especially if youre using them incorrectly. Here are five things mental health experts want you to know before you hit download.

Mental health apps are best used in conjunction with in-person therapy. Jessica A. Rose, LMHC, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist, says mental health apps are most useful for individuals who are currently working with a mental health professional and are looking for an organized way to their track symptoms or experiences, or to practice the interventions theyve learned in therapy in their daily life interventions such as meditation and breathing techniques.

The best thing about mental health apps is that they extend the learning from the therapy session, says Cook. They bring the skills into a day-to-day practice and build greater awareness. They also help you form healthier habits. For example, you may begin a more consistent mindfulness practice when you get a daily reminder from your phone app.

Rose has only criticism for any mental health apps that promise to make you your own expert.

Imagine the same statement was put forward regarding legal advice, dental health, acupuncturist? Mental Health Professionals (LMHC, LCSW, Ph.D., PsyD, MD) have, at minimum, six years of college education, plus externships/residencies, supervised clinical hours, and must pass a state licensure exam, says Rose. It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine an app that is able to encapsulate all the education acquired both in and out of the classroom to assert that one who downloads this app may become their own expert.

Mental health apps should not be diagnosing anyone and it is concerning that someone would use an app after they have self-diagnosed themselves, says Cook. Ideally, she says, use of an app is monitored by your clinician so that any questions or significant changes in behavior can be monitored. Mental health apps also dont assess for safety in the same way that an in-person therapist can. For example, if someone is feeling suicidal, an app can only do so much to get you to the appropriate care whereas a therapist can guide you through the process of getting support.

In the same vein, of course you want to select apps that will do you good, and your doctor or mental health provider can likely give you a personalized recommendation. But if thats not possible, read reviews about the apps and Google what apps may be the most helpful for treating the symptoms that you believe you are experiencing, recommends Cook.

If youre experiencing mental distress, Cook suggests connecting with your personal support network first before you go to an app. Having conversations with family and friends about your distress can be a meaningful way to process your experience, she says. That face-to-face opportunity for support can make a tremendous difference even if its through FaceTime. Human connection makes a big difference.

If its a small amount of stress, that in-person support may be all you need to help you cope. But if youre having difficulty completing your daily obligations and/or are overwhelmingly upset, Cook recommends that you seek professional care before turning to an app.

Ultimately, when it comes to treating your mental health effectively, the experts we talked to believe that seeking treatment from an in-person therapist should always take priority over seeking help from a mental health app.

Mental health apps are great for those who are looking for self-improvement and increased awareness, Cook says. But for people who have difficulty controlling their emotional responses and/or are emotionally in distress or for those who lack motivation, a mental health app is likely insufficient treatment.

Instead, Rose urges people to think of mental health the same way you think of physical health: Ifyou have a worrisome symptom, its best to first get checked out by a professional.

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5 Things You Need to Know Before Trying a Mental Health App - SheKnows

"It felt a little bit like what I imagine sending your kid off to college feels like," says Kristen Bell about wrapping up "The Good Place," currently in its fourth and final season on NBC. "It's a good and bad feeling."

That's indicative of the thoughtful, philosophically-inclined and morally-minded comedy's theme, the constant push-pull between good and bad places. But Bell, a self-confessed weepie ("Believe me, I have the instinct to cry through almost everything -- I mean, I cry at a Folgers commercial."), said she chose to celebrate rather than mourn the ending of a show that's proven to have as much meaning for its audience as it has for its creative team.

"I refuse to spend my final moments being allowed to play with these people in misery -- I think that would be pitiful," says Bell. "I didn't want to let that ruin it, because it is a gift. It really does feel like we did it for a reason, and when you see the ending you'll know."

When the finale comes, it will mark the end of a long, always fitfully funny but also moving journey of striving for enlightenment and self-betterment in the afterlife of a group of damned souls -- Eleanor (Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Jason (Manny Jacinto), plus the reforming demon Michael (Ted Danson) and the ultimate Siri/celestial automaton Janet (D'Arcy Carden). It's meaty philosophical, territory peppered with silly swear word substitutes.

"I definitely felt the anxiety of landing the plane more acutely than in previous years," the show's creator and executive producer Michael Schur tells CNN. A veteran of "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" -- two series both riotously funny and deeply warm-hearted which also struck pitch-perfect notes as they concluded -- Schur admitted his team sweated many details crafting "The Good Place's" endgame. "We spent a massive amount of time on the ending. Because we really wanted to get it right,"

"I feel like we had a fairly good handle going into it, where our end point was," says supervising producer and writer Jen Statsky, who explained that the series' creative team constantly took a "forward-thinking" approach to the way the story unfolded season by season, neatly set up the story and character arcs to play out in subsequent episodes, which paid off as the final season was conceived. "You want to give the proper ending to these characters."

"And to make sure that we had covered all the ground we wanted to, and to be like, 'Did we explore every facet of these characters and of the world?'" adds co-executive producer and writer Megan Amram, nodding to the rich, comic afterlife mythology the series has constructed. "In some ways we've been talking about the ending of the show almost since we started writing the show."

Thus the decision to end after four seasons, on their own terms, at a moment in time where broadcast networks tend to mine hit series for as long as they possibility can. When it became apparent that the fourth season would lead to the most organic and satisfying conclusion, NBC deferred to Schur's creative vision. "We knew why [it was time to end], and it was because of the meaning of the show and it was because we were telling story that deserved its ending," says Bell.

As the cast and crew delved into the many ethically and morally thorny issues the show's characters would have to contend with, they found themselves in an extended learning curve as they routinely consulted academic experts in fields such philosophy, neuroscience and criminal justice to bring nuance and context to the series. "We've learned so much about so much stuff," says Schur. "It's been like a rotating course of lectures that we've had in our writers room, and it's been so fun."

"We've all been very lucky to work with various writers rooms before, but this is the first one that felt like a combination writers room/college course," agrees Statsky. "And for a true dummy like myself, it's been very enjoyable to just not only get to be at work, but get to be learning about these topics that I had no previous knowledge of."

"This is paying us to go to college," laughs Amram.

Bell says that by exploring such heady, meaningful topics, even through a comedic lens, had a profound effect on everyone involved in the show, leaving everyone considering seriously what it meant to make a positive impact, both on those around them and on a global scale.

"There are these opposing theories in my head about ways to be, to state my opinion fighting for good or do it with my art, and I vacillate between the two," says the actress. "This was one where I felt like I really did it with my art, where I was a part of saying some things that I wanted to put out in the world, and I was really lucky to be able to be offered a job that was both creatively fulfilling and emotionally fulfilling to my sort of maternal instincts towards the world...I hope to get both again, but this is a pretty lucky experience."

The show's conceit, to strive to be better even in the face of eternal damnation, proved downright infectious.

"In the fabric of the show we talk about, life is a lot of little choices," says Amram. "The show helped me realize that going through my day, I am presented with a lot more moral decision-making than I had previously thought. And I try to always make this slightly better choice now. And I think that is what the show is about. It's like, when presented with two things, think about it, and maybe try to make the slightly better choice." As a result of her involvement on the show, for example, Amram committed to a vegetarian lifestyle.

"I don't think that I totally understood the level of which moral decision making can become a factor in your life, where from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep almost everything you do has a moral component," says Schur. "It can drive you nuts. I'm not necessarily saying this is a good thing."

"We do it when we order lunch and when we have any big decision to make. You can get really paralyzed," adds Schur, noting that the show used the character of Chidi and his inability to resolve micro-ethical considerations to illustrate the point.

"If you let the idea of making a moral decision infect your life to that level, you become a nonfunctioning human being," he adds. "The important thing is that you think about it, and then the next most important thing is that you are okay with the idea that you're going to blow it sometimes...You need to let yourself off the hook when you do things that aren't exactly perfect."

It's a quandary that resonates deeply for the actor who brings Chidi's indecision to life.

"A lot of that is a very intuitive manifestation of a lot of my own stuff," says Harper. "Maybe it's more universal than I thought. Maybe a lot of people feel that way, but I personally get stuck a lot, and I think that just seeing what that paralysis looks like can actually be freeing, because sometimes it's really useful to see it from the outside, the commitment to an action or inaction, how frustrating that can be. Especially to someone who is like, 'Any choice you make right now will be better than not making one'... The most salient thing about the show and especially about this character for me is that."

Harper says that as a result of being a part of "The Good Place," on screen and off, he couldn't resist a powerful impulse for self-improvement.

"I've learned in a very visceral way that people make the world, and the world that we are so privileged to inhabit for these past four seasons is beautiful, and wonderful, and full of good feelings and positivity and kindness," he says. "And there's no way to have that environment at work and not feel like, 'Well, why can't this be what the rest of my life is like?' So coming away from the show, I want to make sure that I try to put as much good into the world as I can going forward."

Much of that is a result of the people Schur invited in to "The Good Place's" world, says Stasky.

"Mike's an expert picker of people to work on projects. He has a very good radar for good people who want to make good things and treat each other well in the process of making those things. He empowers people to feel like they are a part of the project, and that really I think creates this environment where everyone is just happy, they're happy to come to work, they feel they have a stake in it, and it's a fertile ground for relationships to grow."

Indeed, as the public face of the show, the cast has demonstrated an emotional investment in both "The Good Place" and one another that's rare among even the oft-self-proclaimed "families" of other TV series. A recent panel at the Television Critics Association's press tour found the actors all tearing up as Danson waxed poetic about what a gift the series had been to them. And the show's fans are likely to have similarly intense feelings about its departure.

But will it have a lingering effect on the way its viewers choose to impact the world?

"I am extremely wary about ascribing success or failure to the show in any goal," says Schur. "People used to ask if I felt like 'Parks and Recreation' had convinced people that government could be good or something."

"The only thing you can ever do is you can be very specific about what the show is saying. You can't force people to hear the message or to react to it in any specific way," he continues. "I don't know whether people engage with the show purely comedically, or whether they engage with it spiritually, or academically, or whatever. I don't think you can ever hope to control that. You can only say, 'Here's the thing: now it's yours. You can react to it however you want.' And we certainly have hopes that that's true, but I don't think there will ever be a meaningful way to gauge that."

Harper, however, offers anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.

"I remember this one time there was a woman on a train who recognized me from the show, and we started crying," he says. "I feel like there's a real desire for people to see other people being good to each other, especially where we're at right now in the country where it just doesn't feel like that's happening very much."

"It gives you hope that this is something that is possible, that there's someone out here that's thinking about these things, and putting it on television for people to watch." Harper adds. "It must be comforting for people to know that people like Mike Schur exist."

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How 'The Good Place' made the cast, creative team and maybe even the viewers better people - WFSB

Fox Business Briefs: A new Merrill Edge report shows 59 percent of Americans worry about their finances.

Feeling anxious? Youre not alone. Millions of American adults suffer from anxiety disorders, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Anxiety disorders are actually the most common mental illness in the U.S., according to the group. And while the disorders can be treated, they said less than four in 10 people suffering from anxiety get treatment.

The association recommends that people suffering from anxiety disorders seek treatment like therapy or medication.

While an app cant provide the same care as an expert, there are many apps that offerhelp with ways to calm down and get through the day. Here are some of the most popular apps to help deal with the stress:

This app offers help in learning how to mediate, breathe and live mindfully. It has different exercises on topics like managing anxiety, relieving stress and breathing.

Its two three-minute mini meditations are perfect for a quick quiet moment alone during a stressful day.

Headspace also comes with features to help users sleep better, including sleep meditations and sounds.

The app is free but a subscription costs $12 per month or $69.99 for the year.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This female-focused app includes more than 800 guided audio sessions designed to help users examine their emotional health.

The creators said they want to take the shame out of taboo topics, and its sessions include topics ranging from relationships and sex to anxiety and self-improvement.

The audio sessions range from five to 30 minutes, offering something for people with different schedules.

The app is free, but a $99.99 annual subscription opens up more features.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This Best of 2018 award-winner offers hundreds of guided meditations offering help with sleeping, being more mindful, improving relationships and generally becoming happier.

The app includes brief meditations to help users when they just have a few moments free. It also brings stories and inspiration to help with mindfulness.

Its free, but a subscription opens up the apps full library of content.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

Apple named this app its 2017 App of the Year and it boasts the No. 1 ranking in the App Stores health and fitness category.

The app comes with guided meditations, sleep stories, breathing programs, stretching exercises and relaxing music. Its mindfulness exercises are designed for beginners up to advanced users, and meditation sessions came in six length variables between three and 25 minutes.

The sleep stories include celebrity voices like Stephen Fry, Matthew McConaughey and Leona Lewis, plus the sounds of painter Bob Ross.

The app is a free download, but subscriptions range from $14.99 per month to $69.99 per year or $399.99 for a lifetime.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

This app, also a Best of 2018 selection, offers users a personalized program led by a self-care expert to help work toward specific self-care goals.

Users will receive an empowering message with affirmations and advice each weekday morning. The app also recommends articles, meditations and exercises based on a users mood, plus a library of more than 500 guided meditations.

For bedtime, it includes stories inspired by movies.

The app is free. It offers monthly and annual subscriptions to unlimited access to its Shine Talks, priced at $11.99 and $53.99, respectively.

Here's where you can find it in the App Store and the Play Store.

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Stressed at work? These apps offer help for anxiety and trouble sleeping - Fox Business

According to economist and author Scott Paige, When we solve problems with generally one perspective, we build an error rate of 30%.

An example of this error occurred in the car industry. Previously, teams responsible for testing car safety were typically made up of all males. Because of this perspective, safety tests were done with male-sized dummies. Up until 2011, women were 43% more likely than males to be injured in a car accident. This mistake was not done out of ill intent, but as a result of having an undiversified perspective and an unconscious bias. These biases, as well as emotions, assumptions and habits, have become ingrained in our subconscious over a lifetime of experiences.

According to psychologist Timothy Wilson, Our five senses bring in 15 million bits of information every second and our brains can only consciously focus on 40 bits of this information at a time. This means, that 99.9% of the information that we receive is being processed by our subconscious. When forced to decide or respond to a situation, we really are not thinking at all, but are reacting through our unconscious bias perspective.

Knowing this, how can we become proactive and build in a safety net to open our minds to diverse perspectives and decrease the error rate?

Step 1: We must open our own mind to diverse opinions through improved self-awareness and increased self-confidence. Consistent attention on personal development and working on emotional intelligence will help you find value in behaviors instead of performance. When we solely focus on our production, we tend to pursue perfection and rarely will seek or be open to a difference of opinion. However, when we judge our success based upon our behaviors, we tend to pursue excellence and will see differing opinions as opportunities to learn and get better. Improving our self-awareness can be achieved by reading and listening to self-improvement books, enrolling in leadership development programs or seeking wisdom from some experienced mentors.

Step 2: We must begin surrounding ourselves with people of different perspectives. This doesnt mean that we just hire anyone. On the contrary, we must hire people who bring value to and fit our culture; however, we must bring in people who view things differently. This can include the obvious diversity of age, gender and race, but must also include people who are more or less dominant, extroverted, patient or process oriented. By looking to capture these differences, we are beginning to build a team that can tackle any problem.

Step 3: In order to create a safe environment where opinions can be shared without fear of retribution, intent and the behaviors required of the group must be set. One can imagine how intense and sometimes heated a boardroom could get with driven leaders of differing views. However, if the team first agrees on the intent of the group and the behaviors needed to achieve the vision, leaders are then given permission to hold one another accountable for the positive behaviors needed for all to feel safe. If behaviors are not upheld, safety and trust will never be achieved, and the group will fail to maximize the talent and diversification of the team.

Today, lets enhance our leadership and culture and start becoming people and companies that others want to follow!

Be a Champion Today.

Brandon Buck is theCEO/owner of Infinite Strengths, a Boise-based coaching company.

Excerpt from:
The power of diverse perspectives - Idaho Business Review

High achievers are typically keen on self-improvement. For me, that means constantly having a stack of books on my desk, bedside table, kitchen counter and in the door of my car which have been written by smart people. Here are several nuggets I've bookmarked in the last week in my quest to get better, achieve more and feel more fulfilled. If you're like me, these challenges serve as inspiration.

If you want to achieve more, you need to work harder than everyone else

In Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger tell the story of Kobe Bryant addressing his fellow athletes while accepting the 2016 ESPY Icon Award, during which he refers to the kind of legendary and obsessive work ethic it takes to become great.

It's the same with you. The authors put it this way:

Most people won't do what it takes to be truly excellent in their field, but then they feel frustrated and demoralized by not being where they want. They won't work weekends. They'd rather party than study. They live for Fridays. They wouldn't dare show up two hours early for work to get a head start on a project. And they sure as hell aren't rolling out of bed in the middle of the night to shoot free throws.

How much harder are you willing to work, compared with the people around you?

Never negotiate against yourself

It's called having a "poverty mentality," according to David Nichtern, author of Creativity, Spirituality and Making a Buck. He says that while there may be people in the world rooting for you to fail, falter and doubt yourself, that person should never be you. While it's important to possess an honest assessment of your own strengths and weaknesses, often people get into the habit of defeating themselves in the mind before undertaking anything.

Overcoming this tendency, he writes, necessitates taking control of your thought life and cultivating kindness and compassion toward yourself. "When we lack confidence, for whatever reason, we can easily underestimate our own value and the value of whatever it is that we're presenting as our offering," he writes. "Our business can only succeed to the level of success we'll allow in our life."

You must have a coach

Just like there are certain parts of your body you can't see when you look in a mirror, there are aspects of your personality and performance which elude your awareness. In Aligned: Connecting Your True Self With the Leader You're Meant to be, Hortense Le Gentil makes the point that just like elite athletes cannot become champions without a coach to develop their talents and provide motivation and emotional support, you need a coach in business, too. "The notion that everyone, including surgeons and CEOs, can stretch further and perform better, no matter how good they already are, is making headway outside the sporting world," he writes. "Studies have confirmed that coaching improves how individuals function in organizations, with significant positive effects on performance, skills, well-being, coping, work attitude, and goal-directed self-regulation."

Do what doesn't come naturally

In Elevate: An Essential Guide to Life, Joseph Deitch makes the excellent point that people tend to fine-tune their strengths instead of working on shortcomings and weaknesses. However, your productivity and profitability can be dramatically multiplied by doing the hard work of leaning into what you're not good at. Deitch writes:

Let's face it, focusing on areas of strength gives us pleasure, while dealing with our weaker attributes is usually unpleasant, often frustrating, and sometimes agonizing. As a result, we generally don't want to confront those weaknesses. Plus, sometimes we believe that we don't have to look at them because we're sufficiently successful doing what we do well, and we rationalized that we can just keep doing things the way we always have.

Not only does confronting weakness exponentially improve performance, it also bolsters your self-image. It's because you know deep down that your willingness to do hard things is what sets you apart from your competition.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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4 Things Experts Say You Must do if You Truly Want to Get Ahead in Your Career and Make More Money - Inc.