Nurse Elizabeth’s Success with Work-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: An Ascellus Study

Elizabeth, a nurse in her early 40s and mother of three, was referred to Ascellus for a Comprehensive Psychological Stress Claim Evaluation. Having worked on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic since its beginning in early 2020, she found herself overwhelmed with anxiety and stress from treating the virus victims and reported a fear of transmitting the disease to her children. 

A licensed Ascellus clinician collaborated with Elizabeth to set her treatment goals, which included identifying her emotions and reactions to stressful situations, gaining control of her responses and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. With these goals prioritized, she completed four therapy sessions. To measure her functional improvement and success in the program, Elizabeth ranked herself on a scale of 0-10 for work preparedness, stamina and performance, mental focus and flexibility, and interpersonal interaction and communication. This functional work-related data captured Elizabeth’s working capacity at the beginning of her treatment and again post-treatment. Her baseline functioning increased in all four categories. Most significantly, Elizabeth scored a five for work preparedness before treatment, which suggests she “sometimes-often” had difficulty completing tasks. After treatment, she recorded a work preparedness score of 10, suggesting significant improvement.

Elizabeth learned a breath focus technique that she uses when feeling overwhelmed to ease her negative thoughts so she can better manage her reactions. She felt two times more ready to go back to work than she did before treatment. With a 66% improvement in mental focus and flexibility, she was motivated and prepared to use the coping tools she learned with Ascellus to navigate stress with confidence. 

Overall, Elizabeth reported feeling better and looking forward to resuming full-duty work. She reported an improvement in sleep patterns and a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms. She successfully completed therapeutic assignments and made significant progress with treatment goals, ultimately regaining full functional capacity.

W-CBT programs can improve claims costs and get injured frontline workers back to health and wellness faster. 

For more information on both individual support and treatment interventions or organization-wide prevention programs, call us at 1.866.678.2924 or email us at referrals@ascellus.com.

Patient examples have been de-identified in accordance with Section 164.514(a) of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Thus, any similarity to actual persons, living or deceased, or actual events, is purely coincidental.