You may or may not have seen the recent article in the ASHA Leader Magazine, that talked about things like Emotional Intelligence and overwhelm and other things, including Stress Management. First, thank you to ASHA for publishing a piece that talks to stress in our field. No matter how you or I may feel about this piece, it IS good that this type of thing is starting to be talked about and we are able to have conversations about our stress and what to do about it. Awareness is the first step after all.

But, secondly, there were a few things here that really missed the mark. In the Stress Management paragraph, there was talk of breathing exercises and exercise/movement, which is GREAT advice for managing stress. These things have been studied and show that they can help to reduce the stress response in the brain and body, and in turn help you to manage stress. Other things, such as bubble baths and aromatherapy were also listed. These don’t necessarily go deep enough to help with truly managing stress, but they can be relaxing and this is a start.

However, there was also another suggestion for stress management that was just not quite ok, and really missed the mark. This was the suggestion that as SLPs, needing to manage our stress, we go ahead and cry in our cars.

While I think (or hope) this was meant as crying once in awhile for a release (or better yet, was a joke that didn’t translate well when read), this is in no way true stress management. It might help in the short term, but doing this day after day is not realistic and would end up feeling awful. And unfortunately, there are some SLPs who know this first hand.

I do believe that this article was well intentioned, but it just simply backfired and does not really give us tools we need, as stressed out and overwhelmed SLPs, to manage stress and prevent Burn Out.

Here’s the deal, as SLPs, most of us are really freaking stressed out and heading towards burn out, if we aren’t already there. You may be experiencing this or may be close to it yourself. I’ve been there, and I ended up quitting for several years.

It took me many years to work through this before I could make my way back into the field. And during that time, I studied things like yoga, mindfulness, meditation, wellness coaching and mind-body fitness – all things that are actually good for reducing and managing stress.

Now, I work with other SLPs to help manage and reduce their stress through Stress management coaching, webinars, articles, resources, presentations, speaking, etc.

With all of this, there is one thing I know for certain:

Crying in your car is NOT a technique, its a sign of chronic stress and burn out left unmanaged.

Bubble baths and aromatherapy are relaxing, sure, but true stress management goes much deeper. It seems as though this article meant to approach it, but didn’t quite get to what SLPs really need and how much stress there is for many of us each day. We need DEEP knowledge about stress and tools that pertain to us.

Instead, we need to try less distractions (binge watching to ignore our feelings) and fluff (bubble baths) and do deeper self-care work, like mindfulness, meditation, movement, journaling, etc that have been studied and help you both reduce the stress response thats been triggered and shift your mindset so the stress doesnt continue to affect you as deeply (because unfortunately some of the things that suck wont be going away anytime soon). We need articles and courses that teach us these and share info on them, even if we already know that they will be helpful or have heard about them before.

Because knowing is one thing, but doing is another and it is MUCH more difficult.

For the last 3 years, I have been working to share resources and info on this topic. In recent months and weeks, I’ve been wondering how much I really had to offer or if I should really continue to share about stress management for SLPs. Let me tell you something, this has lit a fire within me. In this next year, I plan to have even more opportunities to help you and other SLPs to manage and reduce their stress, so we no longer have to resort to crying in our cars.

For now, try things that can actually help:

• Meditate: It helps your brain rewire
• Journal: It can help to let go of stress and build in more positivity/gratitude
• Move your body: it lessens the stress response
• Breathe deeply: it’s simple but signals to your nervous system that you are ok, and reduces the stress response you can be stuck in

If you want more resources, please check out my current have articles, podcast episodes, a free resource library, and links to CEU courses here on my site http://jessiandricks.com. These are updated regularly, with more podcast and resources each month, and new webinars throughout the year.

This year I plan to expand the reach and community, so we can all work on this together, making it easy to not only know but to put it into action. This will include expanding and reopening online and private SLP Stress Management Coaching.

I know it’s not for everyone, but hope it helps those who need it.

For now, you can sign up for resources below:

You can also reach out to me at any time with questions, collaborations or to learn more about SLP Stress Management Coaching via email: jessi@jessiandricks.com

Much Love,