Individual best health depends on organizational best health. I spent a valuable portion of my professional career working in behavioral health. Organizations and individuals all suffer tragedies from time to time. Many similarities exist between organizational improvement and personal recovery. For example, an addicted person follows a longstanding behavior without question. The behavior affects the addict negatively, even tragically, but definitely results in poor performance. Resistance to change is fierce. The addict will not be forced to change. When the addict perceives the hopeless of the addiction, usually in a heightened state of collapse and despair, he or she becomes open to exploring new behavior patterns and significant belief systems become rearranged, thus creating positive change and subsequent improvement. Paradoxically, hope evolves from despair or surrender. Healing occurs first in the spirit, then in the mind and last in the body.
