Stress Management Health Center

Working Solutions to Stress

continued...

It's noon, and Gale L., a marketing manager, stops by to tell Cannon she's increasingly afraid of her teenage son. "He's been smoking dope and acting like a terrorist, holding the family hostage with his threats of violence," Cannon explains. "We have a lot of families who gointo counseling because they don't know what to do with angry kids." In Gale L.'s case, Cannon started exploring the possibility of getting her son into a residential treatment program. If that failed, he says, he would look into individual counseling.

From noon to 5 p.m., Cannon will be in training sessions for managers, helping them recognize signs of stress, alcoholism, or drug abuse. Between these sessions, he'll stop in on a branch office and walk the halls, introducing himself to new employees and checking up on people he's helped in the past.

And then he'll go home with his beeper on -- ready to deal with any new emergencies.

Valerie Andrews has written for Vogue, Esquire, People, Intuition, and HealthScout. She lives in Greenbrae, Calif.