Rights and responsibilities when working with a Disability Management Consultant

The ethical obligations of a Disability Management Consultant are taken very seriously. To give you a better understanding of those obligations, this article summarizes the codes that govern any registered professional providing rehabilitation services.

Who is the client?

In almost all cases, the client is the person with a disability (whether it be permanent or a short-term illness or injury) and the consultant’s primary concern is that person’s rights and well-being.

Getting a good night’s sleep?

Almost everyone experiences trouble sleeping at some point in their life, frequently due to external disruptions or temporary stress or anxiety.

Many people, however, have ongoing and significant difficulty getting enough sleep. Are you one of them? If you have not done so already, make sure you see a medical professional. Sleep disorders and disruptions can frequently be treated very effectively. You can read more about sleep disorders here: Sleep disorders   (note this link is provided for information only and not intended for diagnostic or treatment purposes).

Proper sleep is vital to our wellbeing; it affects and is affected by our overall general health. Here are some tips on getting a good night’s sleep!

Looking for a job in Ottawa or Toronto?

Check out Peters New Jobs! These folks issue a daily newsletter with new job listings for each city. The Ottawa version has recently been expanding to cover surrounding regions, including Gatineau, and the Toronto version covers the entire GTA.

Peter's New Jobs

They scan thousands of corporate websites on a daily basis, and only post links for new jobs, so it’s unlikely that you’ll see the same job listing repeated (unless it is posted by a recruiter, but that information is stored in a separate section of the newsletter).

There is a cost for it, but they do offer a free trial which will give you at least a week or two and lots of possibilities to review.

If you're looking for a job in one of these areas, make sure you include this in your tool kit!

Combining activity and volunteerism

Further to our recent post about adding activity to our lives, this recent article adds some ideas for activities that also help you give back and/or pay it forward!

Read the article here:  If not for yourself, exercise for others

Craig and Marc Kielburger are Canadian activists who founded the Free The Children organization and are very popular as speakers and columnists.

Duty to accommodate: knowing your rights

Whether you are an Employer or Employee, you should be aware of your rights when an issue arises that affects a person’s ability to perform their job. The Canadian Human Rights Commission provides guidelines in order to prevent possible discrimination.

Please note that as Disability Management Consultants, our role is to remain objective and we cannot advise or recommend a course of action to either party, but we can ensure that all parties are properly informed along the way.

The  Canadian Human Rights Commission provides helpful resources on this topic, including the following:

• A summary of the issues 
• A template for developing a workplace Accommodation Policy (PDF booklet) 
• Human Rights Maturity Model – Implementation Guide (PDF booklet); designed to help organizations develop and implement human rights practices and policies in the workplace  

Another excellent source of information, including descriptive examples, can be found here: Duty to Accommodate: A General Process For Managers

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Are you an inspired Employer?

On a general note, this article is a great read: What We Can Learn From The Man Who Runs The "World's Happiest Company", and here's a quote to take away:

Will your resume pass the test?

If you ever apply to large companies or respond to online or well-publicized job postings, how can you be sure your resume gets noticed?

Unfortunately, the answer is not encouraging – there are no guarantees that a human being will ever even see your application! There are a few reasons for this, including the fact that your resume may first undergo an automated screening process. (Another reason is unavoidable, as companies literally throw out unread resumes due to sheer volume!)

The good news:

If you are fortunate enough to have a great personal network and/or you are applying for jobs in smaller companies, your resume will likely land in the right place!

The information in this article is directed for those in very competitive job searches.

Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) systems, sometimes known as automated resume screeners, are being used more and more frequently. You can read about some of them here: ATS systems

To stay ahead (or keep up!) with the competition, it helps to understand the screening process.

Adding activity to your life

Does “exercise” just sound like a chore to you? We’ve all heard the message: exercise is good for you! It helps you sleep better, improves your mental outlook and the list of beneficial effects on physical health keeps growing.

The thing is, we don’t always love what’s good for us, and if you’ve been sedentary for a long time it can be very hard to get started.

Try thinking about being “active” instead! There are all sorts of ways to increase your activity level, and you can make it fun for yourself!

The power of doing nothing… for a few minutes at least

We hear so much about the wonders of meditation – it will help us sleep, make us more creative, lower our blood pressure, alleviate depression and more – but how many of us actually take the time to do nothing but focus on our breath for more than a few moments?

Why not give it a try? Here are some introductory videos to get you started!

(You'll need Adobe Flash Player to see them on this site, or you can click on the title of the video to open a YouTube window) 

One-moment meditation

An engagingly-presented animated video on learning to meditate, starting with a one-minute practice meditation and lots of reassurance.

Beginner’s Guide

Anyone can follow the five easy steps described (and drawn!) in this video to get comfortable, optionally listen to binaural frequencies (to block out extraneous noise) and breathe deeply.

Mindfulness

A live video in which an experienced teacher provides some details (at the beginner level) on techniques for sitting properly, focusing on your breathing, and labelling your thoughts as two students demonstrate.

There are many free resources for meditation on the internet. You can listen to or download free guided meditations, such as the one here: Free Mindfulness Resources. To find more just type something like “meditation download” in a search engine.

And if you’re not convinced about the benefits of meditation, here are some links to articles backed by solid research:

• The science behind meditation, and why it makes you feel better
• 7 Health Benefits of Meditation 
• Mindfulness Meditation Benefits: 20 ReasonsWhy It's Good For Your Mental And Physical Health
• Strongest Study Yet Shows Meditation CanLower Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

So, perhaps it's time to go do nothing for a while!

Avoid the reject pile!

Let’s say you apply for a job for which you are well qualified: you meet all the requirements, your experience is a perfect match and you have great references to back you up.

Did you know there’s a chance the employer will never find out about you? It’s true – some applications hit the reject pile following the briefest of scans. Here are some easy-to-fix things that can knock you out of the running:

A messy-looking resume

No employer is looking for a sloppy employee, so make sure your resume doesn’t say that about you! Use a clean-looking, simple template (just type “resume template” in a search engine to get started). If your computer skills aren’t strong, make sure you get some help!  

A disorganized resume

Make sure the most important information is near the top and visible. Use standard headings and make sure your content fits the heading. You don’t want your key qualifications to be overlooked because they’re in the wrong place.

Proofreading errors

Depending on who is reviewing resumes, a simple typo can get your entry thrown out. Why? Because attention to detail is a quality that employers look for, and you have just shown that you don’t have it. Your best bet is to take a close look at everything when you think you’re done, and then have someone else look it over too. Even if your word processor catches basic spelling errors, they won’t catch everything – look for inaccurate word choices, missing words and information that is obviously incorrect (often resulting from copy/paste actions that were left unfinished).

Failure to follow directions

This is another quality that is valued by an employer, and if you can’t follow the instructions given in a job posting properly, why would they possibly think you’ll be any different on the job? Read the posting or website instructions carefully and give them what they’re looking for!

For a quick look at these and other mistakes, check out these examples of bad resume elements.

For some more reading on resume "don'ts", check out these "Resumania" articles.

Check your public image before starting a job search

In our tech-savvy world, it’s not always easy to manage your image. We often use the internet, voice mail and other resources for personal communications and forget that others can see or hear.

If you’re looking for a job, it’s especially important to make sure you present yourself well. Check your public image by reviewing the following things:

How does your voicemail message sound? Save that super funny greeting for later use and replace it with a greeting that sounds mature and professional. Speak clearly and keep the message simple – a greeting, your name (optional), phone number and a brief statement about returning calls as soon as possible.

Your email address shouldn’t raise any eyebrows either – no mention of partying, sexual themes or potentially controversial words – instead, just a simple variation on your name or occupation.

Hint:  it’s very easy now to set up a free email address to use just for job searching, and have it forward all messages to your regular one so you don’t miss anything. Use this email address on your resume, job applications and follow ups.

Do you use social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram? There are countless sites to which you may have supplied information at some point, and many of them can be tracked back to you. Many employers will do an online search to find background information on job applicants. Make sure your privacy settings are set appropriately and take steps to hide or remove information that you don’t want found. It’s always safest to conduct yourself online as though you are in a public place!

The article here makes some great points: Why your image is everything

Psychotherapy resources

As rehabilitation consultants, we work with many claimants who struggle with depression, anxiety, sleep issues, eating disorders, and many other problems that make it difficult for them to maintain a good quality of life. Although we don’t provide treatment, we can certainly help our clients with access to helpful resources.

The following websites are a great start:

• Depression Hurts, from the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario 
• Mental health-related brochures, from the Canadian Mental Health Association
• Workplace Strategies for Mental Health 
• Worksheets and useful tools for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Welcome to our blog

Our consultants have many years of experience working with insurers, employers, claimants and treatment providers. Along the way we have picked up many great tips and resources and we are thrilled to have a way to share them!

Please keep visiting us here; we'll be updating on a regular basis to provide disability-related resources, great stories, and lots of job search information.

If you would like more information about us, please visit our website! We're here: Salus Cura website