Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services won a Maggie award on Thursday, November 18th from the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA). The Maggie award earned was in the Internal Writing category for the article Nurses Were Never Taught to Stay 6 Feet Away by Patricia Calabrese, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner for Pine Grove Outpatient Services. The article was featured in Pine Grove’s March 2021 issue of its monthly employee newsletter named, The Sapling. This monthly publication features the accomplishments of Pine Grove’s employees and original articles that reflect on mental health issues and the designated month’s theme.

The Mississippi Hospital Association’s annual Maggie awards were held virtually this year during the MHA’s Society for Healthcare Marketing & Public Relations Annual Meeting. This annual event is designed to recognize excellence in hospital marketing and public relations across the state of Mississippi.

The spirit of November’s holiday is gratitude. But giving gratefulness more air time in our heads year-round could do wonders for our psychological health. Research clearly demonstrates the direct relationship between gratitude and happiness. I’d like to share some information from Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book, The How of Happiness. In it, she lists several ways that practicing gratefulness increases your happiness.

1. Deliberately recognizing and relishing our joyous moments allows us to milk the positivity from our experiences which aids in diluting the negativity in our lives. As a therapist, for example, when I enjoy the hope a client begins to feel, it helps me cope with the times when my support/ guidance doesn’t seem to be adequate.

2. When we reflect on what others have done for us and how much we’ve accomplished, it can bolster our self-esteem. This also helps us unlearn the unfortunate and more natural habit of focusing on our setbacks and times when others have hurt us.

3. Occasionally, we experience a brush with the loss of something precious and feel a deeper appreciation for it, or we actually lose something precious and our scope of gratefulness for other things previously taken for granted becomes much wider. In the days right after the 9/11 terrorism, gratitude was found to be the second most commonly experienced emotion after sympathy. Focusing on what you appreciate the most during adversity helps us reinterpret stressful or traumatic events.

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Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, one of the nation's most comprehensive treatment campuses, is currently hiring qualified Psychiatrists, Nurses, Clinical Assistants, Outreach Coordinators, Licensed Therapists, and other professional opportunities are available as well. Pine Grove is looking for candidates who are passionate about treating and helping patients find hope and healing. Pine Grove also encourages other qualified professionals to review our other available employment opportunities.

Pine Grove is the behavioral health care extension of Forrest General Hospital, a non-profit, 547-bed medical center offering specialties found at most major medical facilities.

To apply and read the full job descriptions for Pine Grove's available positions, please visit www.forresthealth.org/careers-volunteers or contact Angela M. Mucha-Brooks, Employment Manager, at 601-288-1370 with any questions. For more information about Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, please visit www.pinegrovetreatment.com.

Christian Personal Freedom is a five-day intensive workshop that incorporates biblical truths, helps people identify negative patterns, and find freedom from self-defeating behaviors holding them back from living the life they desire.

For more information call 1-888-574-HOPE (4673) or visit