in
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family counseling
Medication Take-Back Event
Practices
For A
Good Life
Three out of five teens say prescription pain medicines are easy to get from a
parent’s or grandparent’s medicine cabinet. You can protect your teens against
drug abuse and overdose by disposing of unused and expired medications.
OPEN, the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, will be holding a
medication take-back event Saturday, Oct. 27, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Lakes
Oral & Maxillofcaical Surgery, 2300 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield.
For information, call (248) 669-6600 or visit www.lakesoralsurgery.com.
E
ach day we take
on new challeng-
es, so finding
ways to structure our
efforts can make our
lives easier. Setting
goals and following
Daniel
Rosenbaum,
them through increases
Ph.D., LMSW
the likelihood that tasks
will be done satisfacto-
rily. We can better account for our life
responsibilities by formulating specific
practices and processes.
Listening skills are essential when
formulating good practices. If parents
use the commonly heard “do as I say,”
they negate any prospective input.
Moreover, a person with a strong
personality can undermine successful
practices by taking advantage of other’s
weakness. Also, when someone feels
ignored or excluded from formulating a
practice, he or she will have little invest-
ment in its outcome. Practice decisions,
therefore, need to be made in consul-
tation with those involved, not done by
executive fiat.
Instead, when there is disagree-
ment, ask the other person to help you
understand his or her point of view.
Understanding the needs and expec-
tations on which an argument is based
brings coherence to the decision being
made.
For instance, a necessary, but difficult
practice is budgeting for the family,
especially when money is tight. Still, the
basic principles are the same whether
there is a lot of money or not. The per-
son designated to set up and control the
budget needs input to identify others’
needs and wants.
Instilling money management skills
from an early age leads to financial
responsibility later in life. Parents can
use allowances to teach these skills even
to young children by tying money to
chores, school performance or need.
Another practice is to direct money
into specific accounts designated for
vacations, holidays, gifts and even
emergencies. Oddly enough, I’ve
known married couples where each
48
October 18 • 2018
jn
spouse has only his or her money; there
is no our money. Though this may
work for some, it is inherently problem-
atic, leading to divisive arguments and
power struggles.
Family responsibilities, such as home
tasks, can be easily formulated into
practices. Many tasks get categorized as
either inside jobs — laundry, cooking
and cleaning — versus outside jobs
— lawn care, snow blowing, garbage
collection or home maintenance and
repair. Notice, there are no gender
identifiers nor need there be.
Understanding how each parent
was raised forms the foundation that
parents use in evolving their own
child-rearing practices. Hindsight then
will dictate methods to use as well as
those to avoid; foresight can identify
new practices to initiate.
Some practical questions include:
Are sons given more freedom than
daughters? How will parents teach their
children right from wrong? Other fam-
ily practices may include how we care
for elders, provide religious education
or inform children about their culture
and history.
Unsuccessful practices increase anx-
iety, depression and distress. Examine
failed practices for missing steps that
are obstacles to task fulfillment. Also,
look for overlapping or redundant steps
that can sidetrack opportunities and
cause unforeseen mistakes. When you
are in unfamiliar situations, either with
people or surroundings, like traveling
or starting a new endeavor, practices
can be thrown off. Such incidents can
force you out of your comfort zone,
meaning you’ll need to create new
practices to adapt.
Ultimately, developing valuable life
practices takes work. Create ones that
are reasonably effective and efficient to
make your life easier and your interac-
tions more agreeable. ■
Dr. Daniel Rosenbaum is a clinical social worker at
Counseling Associates Inc. in West Bloomfield,
where he counsels children, teens and adults
experiencing family or personal psychological
problems.
Masters of Illusion to Headline JARC Fundraiser
JARC, an organization serving people
with disabilities, announced the live tour
of Masters of Illusion as its 38th Annual
Fall Fundraiser. The exclusive one-night
performance will take place at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Max M. and
Marjorie S. Fisher Orchestra Hall in
Downtown Detroit.
Join JARC and some of the world’s
top magicians as they perform their
best illusions in front of a live audience.
These cutting-edge illusionists will per-
form sleight of hand, perplexing inter-
active mind magic, hilarious comedy
and jaw-dropping grand illusions. The
illusionists scheduled to perform are
Michael Turco, Jonathan Pendragon and
Bill Cook.
JARC Board Member Dani Gillman
and her husband, Ben Chutz, of
Bloomfield Hills are the event chairs.
Sponsorship opportunities remain, and
a limited number of tickets are available
starting as low as $75.
Also planned for the evening is the
young adult and corporate sponsor VIP
pre-glow “Levitation Lounge,” under-
written by Quicken Loans. Admission to
the lounge is free for young adults (ages
21-40) with the purchase of a ticket to
Masters of Illusion.
The fundraiser will again feature the
Match Challenge, this year honoring
David Carroll’s extraordinary impact
upon JARC. A group of generous donors
will match dollar for dollar any increased
gifts from last year’s fall fundraiser and
new or lapsed donor’s gifts.
For information and tickets, call (248)
538-6611 or visit www.jarc.org/events.
Upcoming Panel Showcases Strong
Michigan-Israel Medical Connections
American Physicians
Fellowship (APF) for
Medicine in Israel, an
organization that partners
with Israel to maintain
an emergency medical
volunteer roster, is hosting
a panel discussion at 10:30
a.m., Sunday, Oct. 21, at
Ora Hirsch
Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Pescovitz
Farmington Hills.
Several academic institutional
leaders who maintain very strong
Jewish identities, including substantial
ties to Israel that are both personal
and professional, will be on the
panel, including Robert Folberg,
M.D., founding dean of the Oakland
University William Beaumont School
of Medicine; Ora Hirsch Pescovitz,
M.D., president of Oakland University;
and Jack Sobel, M.D., dean of the
Wayne State University School of
Medicine.
These physician leaders will
Robert Folberg
Jack Sobel
describe their own personal
involvement and their respective
institutions’ ties to medical institutions
in Israel. This will be an opportunity
to learn more about our region’s strong
connections to Israeli medicine, and
to promote and elevate APF’s ongoing
impact on health and well-being
across Israel.
The public is invited at no cost, and
a light breakfast will be served. CME
credits are pending.
More information can be found at
www.apfmed.org.