January/February, 2010: Presidents Report |
| Posted by Rhonda Messamore (rmessamore) on Jan 14 2010 |
I hope your holiday season was a blessing to you and yours. We have exited the first decade of our millennium and now stand at the threshold of the “teens”. I heard someone say recently that “we fail at times to allow failures to be stepping stones of growth”. If we look back at some of the high-profile events in our recent history, they can motivators for continual perseverance and resiliency. Your CAADAC leadership will continue pursuing efforts that will both benefit and validate you as true professionals.
According to our lobbyist, Louie Brown, Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed that there are going to be major cuts within the health and human service industry due to California’s 19 billion dollar deficit. Although there have been major cuts that have impacted the alcohol and drug addiction industry over the past 18 months, there still have been many who continue to maintain occupational stability. I remain to stay optimistic about the impact that President Obama’s Healthcare Reform will have on both the addiction and mental health counseling professions. Your CAADAC leaders will be very active and making their presence known throughout the state and nation over the next quarter with such objectives as: accessing workforce development funding and advancing our legislative efforts with strong collaboration within the profession. We have truly made great strides in 2009 by working towards our mission of unifying the AOD counselor workforce.
I hope that as substance abuse professionals we are utilizing the very skills that we teach our patients on a daily basis with regard to handling crisis. Did you know? The Chinese symbol crisis is not one symbol but two. The symbols for crisis in Chinese are made up of these two words:
They are pronounced wei1 ji1. wei means "danger; peril". And ji means "opportunity; crucial point". So literally, wei plus ji equals "danger" plus "opportunity".
However in reality, a crisis is still a dangerous state of affairs - regardless of the language. Crisis wei ji still means "a situation that has reached an extremely difficult or dangerous point".
However, a dangerous situation can become an opportunity if wei ji becomes zhuan3 ji1.
Zhuan ji means "turn for the better". Zhuan means "turn into". So zhuan ji means "turn into opportunity".
In this sense, the Chinese symbol crisis can mean "opportunity" in a time of danger. Let us continue to see adversarial moments as doors of opportunity that may produce long-term rewards.
Last changed: Jan 15 2010 at 12:27 AM
Back
