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19Mar

4 Ways to Find More Ease as an SLP

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Gratitude Journal Techniques for SLPs Meditation Reduce Stress Self Care
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SLP Ease PinterestAs an SLP, you are probably more familiar than you want to be with feeling stretched a little too thin on a daily basis. You are trained in so many different aspects of communication (and swallowing), you probably have a pretty varied caseload (that is most likely way too big or way too small), and you are constantly between direct and indirect therapy services. Plus, you have become a pro at multi-tasking all day, every day.  All of this has become part of your routine (or soon will be if you are a student or CF), and it can, honestly, be quite exhausting at times. Or most of the time.

There are reasons for that.

Sometimes you might feel like you are loaded down with more work than there is time in the day. Other times you might get a new student or patient and feel like you just don’t have the skills or knowledge to fully treat them. And there will be times that you just feel run down and tired (or perhaps even sick), and you just don’t have the mental energy to do your work, but you still show up and do it anyway.

There is a ton of paperwork. Productivity levels change constantly in all settings. Caseloads are often out of your control. Multi-tasking causes you to do mental jumping jacks all day. You are physically and mentally exhausted. Add all of this together and you might notice that your outlook on your work, career and even your daily life might have shifted for the negative.

Being stressed and feeling stuck can cause your brain to start to work in overdrive to protect you. This is a beautiful and wonderful system that can keep you safe when you are in danger. But when you aren’t in danger, and life is just constantly feeling stressful, it only sets you up for more stress and more exhaustion each day. It stops you from being able to find more ease as an SLP, and leaves you feeling more and more stressed each day.

When you are chronically feeling stressed, your brain starts to stay on “high alert” to look out for threats and stress around you. If you have a stressful job, or lots of work piling up, stress is everywhere and your brain is constantly seeing it, signaling to your body to release hormones and keeping you in a state of anxiety and stress, which can eventually lead to burn out in your body (adrenal system), your energy (mental and physical) and your job.

To help shift out of this mode, you can do a few practices that help you to find more ease as an SLP, even when your day and schedule haven’t changed one bit. These practices are designed to help you calm the signals in your body that alert your brain to stress (deep breathing), help you to find space in your thoughts (movement), finding positive moments in your day (gratitude journal) and reducing the amount of task switching each day (no more multi-tasking).

Here are 4 ways to find more ease as an SLP, every day:

Gratitude Journal:

  • Helps you find some good in the day
  • Helps your brain to notice more good
  • Gives you a pause in the day
  • Write down 3 positive things from your day

Movement:

  • Clears your head
  • Blood and breath flowing
  • Energy lifts
  • Take 5-60 minutes to walk, stretch or move mindfully

Deep Breathing/Meditation:

  • Sends signal to bran and body to be calm
  • Decreases stress response
  • Gives you a break in your day
  • take 1-5 minutes to focus on your breath

Drop Multi-tasking:

  • More efficient work
  • More mental energy
  • Less strain on brain to constantly switching from task to task
  • Instead bulk like tasks together and check email at set times

When you incorporate one or all of these tings into your day, you’ll start to create new habit and patterns that help reduce stress, but also train your brain to be less affected by the stress that is around you each day. They teach you to manage stress better.

For more on stress management, make sure to check out the “SLP Toolbox” where you’ll find more strategies and tips to build ease in your day. You can sign up below for access.

Much Love,

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19Jan

How to Set Better Professional Goals as an SLP

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Goal Setting
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Set Better Professional GoalsGoals and dreaming big can become overwhelming and can make you feel as if you are stuck and they are impossible to achieve or reach. This can lead to more anxiety, stress and burn out, usually the exact opposite of why you created the goals in the first place, because they seem like so much work, or it feels as if they will never happen.

When you are stressed or looking to create a change, it often feels like it needs to happen quickly, and with a HUGE shift in our daily life, in order to make it happen and stick. You probably really want that goal to part of you life, sooner rather than later, so you push, feel frustrated when it take more time, and eventually feel as though it is not worth the effort.

The good news is, goals are more achievable when you take smaller steps (or smaller goals) in order to reach the bigger ones with time. This means – they don’t have to happen all at once and they can happen (and should happen) with smaller increments .

Take creating healthier eating habits aka dieting, for example. With dieting, people tend to want to make huge, drastic changes and overhaul their diet, and in return receive results immediately. However, it is often the people who make small changes that build over time who reach their goals and keep results for the long-term, more than the people who make big, sweeping changes at once (like New Years resolutions). This is because the huge, drastic changes are often harder to do in the short-term and even more difficult to keep up in the long-term. It’s where yo-yo dieting comes from. Smaller goals, that may not yield as big of results immediately but instead build up overtime, are easier to start and to maintain, because you are incorporating them into your current life and learning new habits along the way. It cuts through the overwhelm and give you something more sustainable. This is true for any goals that you are trying to reach or changes you are wishing to make.

Here is another example: Let’s say you are looking to reduce stress and overwhelm with some mindfulness practices. You have a friend who reduced their stress through daily meditation and you’d like to give it a try too. They are on Day 25, and are able to sit in a 20 minute meditation each day, without any issues with sitting, their mind wandering too much, or difficulty finding time to make it happen. You think this sounds like something you would enjoy, but the idea of sitting with your mind “blank” for 20 minutes seems overwhelming – you don’t have the time or stamina – so you decide it is too hard to do and not something that would fit your schedule. You share this with your friend, feeling upset that this goal won’t work for you.  Your friend let’s you know they didn’t start this way either. They started small and built up, until it became a regular part of their day, even though at first it seemed like it would be impossible.

If you wish to start a regular meditation practice, you have to start small and build, so that is becomes a regular habit that grows and helps you meet your overall goal. Start meditating for 5 minutes a day (or most days) and then build up to 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, as you start to make room for it and experience benefits from it. When doing it this way, you build up slowly, so the changes are easier to make and last longer than if you had started all at once.

With goals setting, it is not always about completing your goal quickly or overnight, but instead having an action plan to help you reach that goal as you grow. This will not only help you to reach your goal more effectively, but help you to keep going and evolve more once you reach your goal.

Let’s look at the common types of goal setting together:

  • SMART Goals:
    • These are the traditional type of goal setting, and are similar to the types of goals used for Speech Therapy clients.
    • SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.
    • These goals are made to be well-defined, measurable goals that are realistic and are able to complete in a certain amount of time.
    • They focus on the smaller details.
    • The good: They give you a guide to follow and a time-frame to get there.
    • The bad: They can be limiting, without a lot of flexibility, and often don’t give you anywhere to grow once you reach your goal
    • Example: “I want to get certified in _ therapy technique within the next 2 years”.
  • Goals with “Soul” or Purpose:
    • These are more non-traditional, holistic ways to set your goals
    • A shift in how you look at your goals and the reasons behind setting them.
    • They focus on the bigger picture of your life, instead of the smaller details
    • They often work with how you want to feel, rather than focusing on what you should do or what you want
    • The good: They offer a lot of growth for creating your daily life and after you reach your goal.They are ever evolving.
    • The bad: They can be difficult to follow, without set steps or actions to take. They don;y always have a timeline or trajectory for how to incorporate them
    • Example: “I want to feel more freedom and passion within my work day”.

Both of these are great ways to set your goals, but they both also have faults that will make it difficult to pursue your goals, or to feel fully satisfied once you achieve them. In order to make better goals, you need to combine the two types to create a bigger picture and have an action plan. When you put the two together, you get to look at the bigger goals of how you want your work and life to feel – how you want to experience it – by setting smaller goals that can take you there and continue to evolve once you reach them.

Let’s set some goals: Start with the bigger picture and work you way down to create a step-by-step process of reaching your goals, and growing with them.

  • Start with the bigger picture – What is your overall goal?
    • What do you want to feel?
    • Find your core values/feelings/words that will help bring that to you
    • Examples: abundance, freedom, grounded/security, thriving, flourishing
  • Set a time-frame:
    • When do you see this happening (reasonably)? 5 years, 1 year, etc.
  • Plan it out: Decide how to make it happen in small steps
    • If your goal is 5 years – What do you wish to achieve by then?
      • What can you do this year, and each continuing year, to bring you closer to it
    • At 1 year – What piece of your 5 year goal do you want to reach by this time?
      • How can you start to move forward from your 6 months?
    • At 6 months – How will this help you reach your 1 year goal?
      • What more can you do to start to get to your year mark?
    • At 90 days  – How does this continue the month goals you have set?
      • How can you expand upon what you have done, to create more?
    • At 30 days: Where does this take the weekly goals you have made?
      • What can you do this month, and each month, to reach this goal?
    • At 1 week: How does this build upon each day?
      • What can you do each week to reach your monthly goal?
    • Today: How can you begin?
      • Where can you start today to get you there?

Example: You want to have more freedom in your life, through less financial struggle. You decide pay off your student loans in 5 years, through a side hustle. In the first year, you need to make _ amount to help you pay for that, growing it by X each year through various streams of revenue. In the first 6 months, you need to be making X amount through a few of the revenue streams, so you market them to new sources. In the first 90 days, you have 2 steady streams of income, that will grow over time. In the first 30 days, you start selling your first product. In the first week, you start creating your first product. In the first day (today!), you decide what type of products you are going to create. 

*This is just an example and not a fool-proof plan. Your real plan will have more details and factors, most likely. 

Now go to your calendar or planner: If it’s not written down, it is more likely to NOT happen. You need to write it down and put it into your calendar/planner BEFORE you begin.  This way, you can see what to do each day or week to help you reach your goals. It also helps you to reduce some of the stress and anxiety that can come with setting goals, because you are taking it out of your head and putting it somewhere else. This allows you to examine it a little better, and also takes some of the responsibility of remembering it off of you.

Remember, goals that are worth doing, and that are most achievable, are ones that look at the smaller details to help you get to the bigger picture of your life.

What are your goals for your SLP life and what steps are you taking to create them?

You can download this entire post, as well as a free workbook for Goal Setting in the SLP Toolbox. If you are a member, look for the “Goal Setting Guide” in the SLP Toolbox. Not a member? You can sign up (it’s always free!) below.

Much Love,

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15Dec

Should You do SLP Work on Your Holiday Break?

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out New SLP Reduce Stress Self Care
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SLP Work on Your Holiday Break (1)It’s the holiday season! Many SLPs are either about to be on a Winter Break for a few weeks, or are perhaps taking a few days off, finding the work load to be less, or having to juggle shorter days of work when their kids are off from school. For these SLPs, the lighter and often shorter schedule can be like a light at the end of the tunnel, especially if you schedule was a little hectic with meetings, make-up sessions, and getting it “all” done right before the break.

While this is a time to sit back and relax for a few weeks, perhaps traveling or spending time with your loved ones (or just a good book), a lot of SLPs find it hard to turn off their productive side and spend a lot of the time off catching up on work, and not finding much time to relax at all. Or, you might find that your burn out is full-blown and you spend the break denying (to yourself that you even have a job you have to go back to in a few weeks. Either way, it does not bring about much balance in your life, and will often lead to more anxiety and stress once you head back into work after your break.

So the question is, should you do SLP work on your Holiday Break?

The answer is dual-sided, and comes back to this –  You have to find (the seemingly mythical) balance. When you are on your break, there are times that doing work will be extremely beneficial for you, but too much of it means you don’t get a break at all.

Here is how you can break down what type of work is best for you, and when to do it (or not):

  • Beneficial to Work:
    • Completing a Project: If you have something that you don’t usually have time to complete, and it is not just paperwork, this might be a good time to work on it. make sure it is something that you enjoy doing, so it doesn’t feel like a lot of work, and that you set a time limit to when you will begin and end working on it.
    • Something Stressing You Out: If not planning for the month/week.year ahead stresses you out, go ahead and take some time to plan out your next month or so, but limit the amount of time you have by setting a timer. This way, you work on it, but you do what is most important and within a given time frame.
    • Passion: If you have something that you are passionate about and want to learn more about, create or launch, this is a great time to dedicate some of your time to work on it. Again, make sure to set up some specific days or hours, so you aren’t working your entire break, even if it is something you enjoy doing.
  • NOT Beneficial to Work:
    • Family Time: If you find you are spending more time working than with your loved ones, you might need to take a step back and re-evaluate. Go ahead and make a plan for when you will work, and when you won’t. Mark it on your calendar, along with any other family events that you have going on during your break (school plays, dinners, recitals, parties, etc), so you are giving yourself plenty of time and space to enjoy both things.
    • Vacation: If you have planned a vacation somewhere, whether a cruise, road trip, or visiting family and friends, give yourself some time to unplug from work. Allow yourself to be present during this time, so you can enjoy and benefit from it fully. Then, when it is over to before you go, carve out some time to take care of the work related tasks you have or would like to do.
    • The Entire Break: It might sounds silly, but if you don’t watch out, you might spend your entire break doing work, or thinking and ruminating on the work you need/should be doing. If you find this happening, get your calendar and mark down some specific times you will do work, along with what you will work on. The rest of the time, try to focus on what you are doing in that moment – whether it is a trip with family or sitting down to a cup of hot cocoa. This will give your brain some much needed rest and help you to feel less stressed and overwhelmed, during break and after.

Of course, this might be a bit different for you and your circumstances, but use this as a guide to help you decide if working during your break is something that will help reduce your stress and bring back some passion for your work, or if it is something that you are doing in order to feel productive and could cause burn out to flare up.

For more resources, make sure to sign up for the SLP Toolbox below. You’ll get free meditations to help you release stress and unwind, templates for your “Must-Do” lists, and even some journals and Self-Care guides.


Much Love,

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10Oct

Big Announcement: I’m Presenting at ASHA Convention 2018!

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Goal Setting
2 Comments

SLP Burn Out ASHA Pinterest
For many years, I wasn’t sure what my purpose was for my work. It was a constant battle in my head to figure out what work I was “meant” to be doing, and how that would balance with the est of my life (schedules, finances, career paths, relationships, etc). I spent a lot of time and a lot of money training and trying to figure it all out, and moved around to many different settings, classes, studios and paths.

But it always felt like there was a piece missing:

  • I didn’t feel like I fit in as an SLP
  • Yoga and fitness were fun but I wasn’t sure if they were sustainable
  • Health Coaching just wasn’t picking up
  • I wanted to help others but I didn’t know exactly how or what that looked like

The main part for me was that I didn’t know how to put everything that I had done and learned together, or see that it could all fit together. It wasn’t until I came back to the SLP field after a very long hiatus (almost 5 years) that I realized the people I wanted to help and reach out to the most were the SLPs.

I always knew that I wanted to help people to feel better in their lives. To me, that meant showing them that they could have more freedom in their daily life and wellness, feel less stressed and stuck, have more energy throughout the day, and feel as if they were doing meaningful work that was sustainable. I wanted to help people have more balance in their lives overall.

Most SLPs I knew go into the field to do all of that and to help others, but were doing it at the cost of their own health and wellness, both physical and mental, and were really struggling with their career choice.  Some were even, much like me, debating if they had made the wrong choice. This was mostly due to the constant stress and demands of the field, but also to the general giving nature of the work, built into a society and culture that doesn’t pride itself on taking care of yourself. The problem for SLPs is that when you give so much, and never give back to yourself, you burn out really hard and really fast.

I started working with SLPs, reaching out for coaching, FB groups and writing blogs. I had done this in the past, with no real audience to work with, and I usually heard crickets. But this time was different because I was different. I knew who I wanted to talk to and what I wanted to share with them – ways to reduce stress and prevent burn out. I wanted to share how to find more balance in their live and passion for their careers.

I would hear back from people in groups, via email and on social media. Eventually, I decided to offer coaching programs and help others more directly. And then I decided that maybe, just maybe, I could take this to a bigger stage, to reach more people who were feeling the stress and overwhelm of being an SLP.

So I put it all together and replied to the ASHA Convention Call for Papers.

  • I thought they would laugh
  • I thought they would think it was silly
  • I thought they would say “No, that’s not what out convention is about”

But instead, they accepted my application and I will be presenting a poster presentation at this years 2018 ASHA convention!

Honestly, I have felt a lot of heartbreak over the years in my career choices and path, but there has always been another voice that guided me to keep going and trust my instincts and intuition. This is what led me to teach yoga and meditation, to get back into speech, to do this work and to apply to ASHA. It’s moments like this that make it all worth it and keep me doing this work.

On Thursday, November 15th from 1:30-3pm, I will be giving 15 minute talks on Balanced Living for the SLP: Burn Out & Stress Management Using Mindfulness & Self-Care 

Poster presentations give you the opportunity to hear form a LOT of people on various subjects, but to also be more engaged with them. If you attend the session, you get to ask questions, share your experience and learn how to work through your challenges. And after the sessions end, the posters remain up throughout the day.

As you start to fill out your schedule for the long weekend, make sure to leave a few minutes to come see me. And if you can’t make it during the session scheduled time, send me an email and we can meet up or I can answer any questions you have.

I can’t wait to continue this journey, so that more SLPs can learn how to manage the stress that they struggle with each day. Together we can work through this and find more balance in our SLP life.

Thank you all for supporting my dreams and work, and for working so hard to find your own as well.

I’ll see you at ASHA.

Much Love,

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10Oct

Meditation to Help SLPs Fight the “Sunday Blues”

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Meditation
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SLP Sunday Blues Meditation Pinterest
This meditation is to help you reduce the anxiety and overwhelm that can come from “future-tripping” or the “Sunday Blues”. If you are feeling dread before work each week, often feel your thoughts are racing and spiraling to the future, or feel stuck in the “Sunday Blues” or “Scaries”, this meditation can help you to feel more present in your body and in the moment, so you can take action and reduce stress.

Want more meditations? Make sure to check out the Meditation and Audio library, and subscribe to the monthly newsletter for a free meditation practice straight to your inbox, as well as access to the SLP Toolbox, where you’ll find more meditation audios, journal templates and more.

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

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9Oct

How to Create and Evening Routine

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Meditation Reduce Stress Self Care
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Evening Routine Pinterest (1)

Stress. Overwhelm. Exhaustion.

If you are an SLP, you are probably familiar with these, and have felt them off and on throughout your career. As Helping Professionals, it is our job to care, completely, for our patients/clients/students, and when we give so much to them each day, and then add on the administrative (aka paperwork and billing) side of things, we are usually left feeling drained, overwhelmed and stressed.

When you are feeling stressed, one of the best ways to start to feel less stressed and overwhelmed is to start to create routines, habits, or rituals that help you to feel more calm, centered and in control of your daily life. These help to bring about balance, while also giving you the routine you need to know what is coming each day, within both your work and home lives.

Morning rituals are very common, since they help you to start your day on the “right” foot. They usually entail waking up a little early, having a movement and/or meditation practice, taking time for yourself and making sure you fuel with breakfast and coffee.

Evening routines and rituals, however, are a little less talked about but can have a HUGE impact on your daily life satisfaction.

When taking time to create a routine of some kind in the evening, you take the time to  let the tension of your day go, while creating new ways to reduce stress and help you relax before you drift off to sleep. It can help you to feel more relaxed and restored when you wake up, and also to get deeper sleep or to get to sleep more easily.

How to Create an Evening Routine:Copy of Ep 20 Graphic A

  • Carve out dedicated time each evening, perhaps right before bed or right when you get home/end work.  5-10 minutes can be enough to help you transition, by letting work thoughts stay at work (or let your mind relax before slumber) and releasing some of the tension you might be carrying form the day.
  • Find something that both relaxes you and helps you feel less drained and depleted. Try a Self-care practice that allows you to unwind form your day, but also nourished you on a deeper level. Bubble baths can be great, but deeper practices, such as journaling and meditation, can help you get even more out of your time.
  • Make sure you choose something that allows you to check in, rather than check out. Binge watching your favorite show might be all you feel like you have the energy for at the end of a stressful day. Go ahead and try it – but notice if it becomes routine. If you are doing this every night, just to make it through, you are likely to be checking out instead of checking in.  This will create more stress overtime and won;t really help you to destress. Instead, choose a self-care activity that helps you to face and let go of some of the stress.

And example of an evening routine to help you transition from work to home might look something like:

  • At the end of the work day, take a few minutes to write down 3 things you need to do tomorrow. If there is anything on your ind form work, go ahead and write about it to get it out of our head. Maybe even write down 3 good things from your day.
  • Meditate, stretch or deep breath for 5 minutes. If you have more time, go for a walk or try an energizing workout.
  • Grab some water, tea, coffee and a healthy snack for your commute home, so you are energized and nourished as you head to your duties at home.

For an evening routine closer to bed time it might look something like this:

  • Grab an herbal tea or water to hydrate for tomorrow (not right before bed though).
  • Take 5-10 minutes to meditate or deep breathe. If you have the time, take longer and add in some movement such as deep stretches and folds to help release tension from your day and prepare you for sleep.
  • Write down your top moment from the day, as well as 3 other small but positive moments that occurred.

When you carve out sometime for yourself, it helps you to check in with what you are feeling and needing, mentally, emotionally and physically, so you are more aware of how to move through in that moment and as you move into the next day. It also helps you to refuel and give back to yourself after spending the day giving back to so many others. When you do this, you are less drained and exhausted, which means you are of better service to others (and yourself as you move about the world.

What can you do today to create more routine? Leave a comment below and make sure to check out my recent interview over on SLP Happy Hour podcast, where we discuss Self-Care and creating an Evening Routine as an SLP.

You can also find more resources, such as meditations and stress relieving webinars, over on my education page. You can also subscribe to the “Balanced SLP” newsletter/magazine for monthly-themed self-care video tips, fresh blog posts, new meditation audios, recipes to-go and more.  You can subscribe below.

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

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3Sep

3 Ways for SLPs to Stress Less this School Year

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Reduce Stress Self Care
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SLP Stress Less Pinterest

With a new school year here and many of us already back at school and (yikes!) even seeing students already, you are bound to start having those dreaded, stressful thoughts that you left on your desk at the end of the year, start to find their way back to you.

Even if you are excited and feeling recharged form the summer break, you might find your thoughts starting to flicker back an forth between excitement and anxiety, the familiar pull that you know will eventually take over by the end of the year. I don’t mean to paint a dark and dreary picture for you, but to show that you are not alone in this. If you have ever felt the exhaustion of chronic stress or burn out, you know that it can slowly creep in and take over before you realize what has happened.

That is the bad news.

The good news is that this usually only happens because we go through the same cycle each year or excitement about the start of the new year and all that it could bring right on to the reality of the work it entails and then the sheer exhaustion it brings by Summertime. For most, this cycle gets slightly more difficult each passing school year, because the few months in the summer, where you could really take time to recharge and create some changes in your work-life balance, are spent ignoring the feelings while you relax for a few months, or you work like crazy in a PRN job or running errands all summer. (more…)

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3Sep

Grounding Meditation for Overwhelm and Stress

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Uncategorized
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Meditation for SLP Stress and Overwhelm PinterestThis meditation is to help you reduce the anxiety and overwhelm that can come when you are feeling “ungrounded”. If you are particularly frazzled, feel like you are being pulled in all directions, or you just can’t seem to get it together, you may need to take a moment to get out of your head and back into your body. It only takes a minute once you get started.

Want more meditations? Make sure to check out the Meditation and Audio library, and subscribe to the monthly newsletter for a free meditation practice straight to your inbox, as well as access to the SLP Toolbox, where you’ll find more meditation audios, journal templates and more.

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

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