CSA-Non-Profit
CernySmith Non-Profit (CSA-N)
helping NGO’s and their families answer the question
“How are you doing?”
An NGO’s CSA Story:
It started out like most other conferences our company has…pile the kids in the car for the long drive, check in to our small room and then go register and receive the schedule for the week. My fatigue and lack of energy were still there. I was really dreading this. Now, to make it worse, our employer wanted each one of us to take a test on the computer having something to do with stress and adjustment. Then we were to make an appointment with a coach to go over the test results. I didn’t even have energy to talk to my friends. Now I had to do this? Just what I didn’t need!
To get it out of the way, I took the test. It wasn’t that bad, but all week long, I dreaded talking to the CSA coach. I didn’t want somebody else making judgments about me – what does anyone know about the stress we face? Finally, after several cancellations on my part, I kept the appointment. It was actually kind of interesting when the counselor showed me the results. No wonder I was feeling exhausted. I didn’t realize the toll everything was taking on me and my family. My daughter had been threatened by a co-worker’s older son; my wife has been very unhappy living in a very conservative neighborhood in our Turkish city; I am not getting along with one of my co-workers. I was feeling like a total failure with no control over what was happening. Things had been going from bad to worse.
The results of this test were so on target. It was incredible… as though somebody had figured out how to display my emotions on a graph. How stress was affecting me was plain to see, but the test results also highlighted my strengths. That was something I had forgotten – that I even had coping mechanisms! I did have some control over what my response to all of this would be.
Looking at the results, the coach helped me as I developed some plans for what I should do. I was so impressed with this test that I asked if my wife could take it. She did and it confirmed she was mildly depressed. Now, she’s meeting regularly with someone to talk about her concerns and fears related to living where we are. We are much more at peace with our situation. It is amazing. As it turned out, it truly answered the question “How are you doing?”. A question I never took the time to answer. We can’t thank you enough for developing the CSA!
