Cost of Staying Where You Are PinterestI recently attended a 1-day seminar, where we learned all about how our thoughts create and shape what we see as out reality, and how, because of this, we are able to change how we feel about things, by changing the way we think about them. It might sound a little “woo-woo” or “out there”, but this was all evidence-based and related to the fields of psychology and coaching.

There were many parts that absolutely blew my mind, but one of the biggest pieces was a question that was asked, of us (for those moments we felt stuck or defeated) and of our clients: “How is that working for you?” (more…)

SLP Weekend Stress Pinterest

As a Speech Therapist, not matter how many years you have into the field, you are probably really, really busy. You are either trying to juggle a full caseload, piles of paperwork, productivity standards or trying to keep up with your CEUs and education. This can all lead to a huge, exhausting amount of stress. When you are constantly stressed at work, the weekends can seem like the light at the end of the tunnel.

The weekends are there for you to take a break from work, relax and unwind, and perhaps even dabble in some hobbies or non-work related interests. They are time for you to recharge your brain and take care of your needs. The weekends are a time to decompress and fill up before the week begins again. (more…)

Reduce SLP Job Burn Out Pinterest

In any field or lifestyle where you are primarily putting the needs of others before yours, there is a possibility of Compassion Fatigue and Burn Out. This is due to the fact that is can be exhausting and stressful to have someone’s needs, and sometimes life, depend on your skills and abilities. You constantly have to be focused, thinking and keeping them engaged in what you are doing. As SLP’s, this can be even harder because you are caring for people of ALL ages in so many different settings, where you are sometimes responsible for their ability to think and communicate effectively or perhaps even to nourish their bodies safely. It can be beautiful but draining work, that comes with the additional stress of productivity levels, paperwork and a lack of understanding from those around you. It can be extremely stressful and, when that stress becomes chronic or daily, it can become serious and turn into Burn Out.

Burn Out is recognized by the World Health Organization and is real. It is also manageable and treatable. If you are feeling overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, and think you might be heading toward burn out, there are things you can do to help reduce it. I’ve partnered with the ASHA Leader Blog today to share 3 simple, but hugely effective, things you can do to help reduce and prevent Burn Out as an SLP. (more…)

SLPs More Time Pinterest
I recently gave a lecture at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. I spoke to their Speech Therapy graduate students about how to recognize, prevent and manage burn out and stress during grad school and into their professional careers. I spoke to them about mindfulness, self-care and gratitude practices. I also spoke to them about the things that might become stressful once they start working – paperwork, caseloads and productivity. These are the top 3 things that stress out most people I have worked with and talk to. For most SLPs, these are the biggest sources of stress and the main reasons they are either wanting to quit or questioning if they are in the right field at all. Despite being pretty different and concrete things to be stressed about, when you boil it down, they all come from the same source of stress – there is not enough time in the day to finish everything you need to do. (more…)

Face SLP Stress Pinterest

I recently had a talk with some people about stress. The conversation was about feeling stressed by others stress and walking away from it. It was about how to avoid feeling stressed by work and life. It was about how hearing stories form others about how much they are struggling is too much, and makes you want to turn away. It was a conversation about daily stress. Mostly, about running away from it.

It is a conversation that I have had come up more than once over the last few months.

In the Stressed Out SLPs Facebook group, we often share the things at work that leave us feeling the most stressed. Then other people can comment, give you a boost or help you figure out a solution. I often share some of the tips and tricks that I write about here, as well as do LIVE videos and leave additional information or share articles. It is place that is meant to lift you up, not by constantly making you laugh (which is a good thing at times), but by helping you to really take charge and make changes to your schedule, job, caseload, etc, or at least to let you know that you are not alone in the struggle. (more…)

Vision Board Pinterest (1)

Each year, I like to set an intention for the year – whether it is something small, like going to the beach more often, or something big, like paying off debt or starting a new training/school. Sometimes it is a simple mantra, like “expand” or “create joy”. This helps me to focus on where I want to go in the year, rather than what let me down or what I need to change from the year before. The intention is to bring in something more positive, so there are more positive shifts happening in my life throughout the year.

Similar to setting a goal, it helps me to make better decisions and gives me something to lean back on. With my intention in mind during decision making, I can make sure I ask myself “Is this moving me towards my intention for the year, or taking me further from it?”.  This strategy can work for new continuing education, certification or degrees; a new job or setting; or perhaps even a change in your lifestyle outside of work.

As January moves ahead, it is a good time to reflect on the goals and intentions you may have set for the year. You can start to see if you have been able to make shifts towards that intention you’ve set, or if that goal isn’t quite what you intended it to be. You can also see if your goals are already pushed back into the far corners of your mind as you make space for all of the “must-do’s” that are part of everyday life.

This happens really easily, and is one of the reasons why most of us either forget our intentions or just give up on them after a month or so. If you are feeling like your goals are already slipping away from you, or you are looking for a way to be more aware of them each day, you can try making them visual.

One way that I like to do this is to create a vision board. A vision board is a visual means of having your goals on display, around you, to see every day. These goals come as pictures, images, quotes, trinkets or anything that is meaningful to you. Having these items on display helps you to remember your intention, connect to it more often and feel as if you are really working towards it each day. It also helps give you more input to use when you ask yourself “Is this bringing me closer to my intention?”.

In the past, my vision boards have represented where I wanted my yoga practice and teaching to lead me, what I wanted to learn, how I wanted to develop my coaching practice and even what I wanted to do with our house once we moved. My boards usually focus on my career and personal goals or hobbies, as these are the areas I need the most clarity in, but they can really represent anything that you wish to work on.

Here are some examples of my boards in the past:

2012 Visions2013 Vision Board

A vision board is very simple to make and can be made for very little expense. It can be a fun project to do as part of your self-care on evening, or could even be a family night activity or part of a date night. If you run a business, this could be part of your business strategy sessions and planning for the year ahead.

How to create a vision board:

  • Grab some magazine or newspapers or flyers
  • Print out images or quotes that are meaningful to you
  • Find photos, pictures or even cards around your home
  • Paste or thumbtack them into your board
  • Place your board somewhere you see every day. If it is focused on your career, place it in your office. If it is focused on personal development, place it somewhere you work or attend to often. If it is relationship focused, or perhaps you made a board with your partner or family, hang it in your room or family space.
  • Each year, look back at your board and swap out things that aren’t meaningful or you have moved beyond with things for the new year.

That really is all there is to it. Once you create your board you are ready for it to work its “magic” and help you reach your intentions throughout the year.

Have you ever created a vision board before? If so, leave your tips in the comments below or in the FB group. If you want even more useful tools to help combat stress and burn out, make sure to sign up below for the SLP Toolbox.


You can also check out more on goal setting here. If you’d like to dive deeper in setting your goals and decreasing your overall stress, I’d love to work with you this year. You can email me any questions you might have to jessi@jessiandricks.com or schedule a phone/skype chat here. 

Much Love,

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8 Pieces of Advice PinterestRecently, I have been seeing tons of questions and posts in FB groups from brand new SLP’s, in their CFY, who are completely overwhelmed. Many of these professionals are lacking the confidence of a seasoned SLP or are just looking for a bit of reassurance on their choice of evaluation tool or therapy materials. But it’s not just because they feel new and aren’t as confident in their skills as a clinician yet. For many more, it is because they feel a lack of support, have way too much work and their caseloads are out of control.

My personal CF story is a little confusing. I had three different jobs between the time I graduated and the time I earned my CCC’s. I left one position a month before my CF was to be completed, because my supervisor had forgotten to renew her license and I was docked 3 months of my CF, plus I had to go to the board to determine my case. I had otherwise felt very supported and that my workload was good, although I often felt I wasn’t really helping anyone or doing enough for my patients. It didn’t give me enough of a challenge or push to do grow as a new SLP. (more…)

SLP Meditation Pinterest (1)

When I was in Yoga Teacher training, and going through burn out in my Speech Therapy career, I decided I needed to buy a meditation cushion. We were learning about how important meditation was, how we should be doing it on a daily basis and how it could be life changing. So when I saw a beautiful cushion in the store, I decided I needed it. It would be the thing that kick-started my meditation practice.

Instead, it became the place my dog would take naps.

My cushion was used sporadically and was often found stuck under my desk, in a corner or behind my bedroom door under a pile of clothes. It was often covered in dust and was not as worn out as I had hoped it would be. But lately, 7 years after buying it, I have found myself taking a seat on my cushion most days of the week. Some days it is for 20 minutes, and other times ti is just for one or two. Most often, I sit for about 5 minutes at a time. Meditation is slowly becoming part of my daily routine, and one of my main sources of stress-release and ease.

It seems I’m not alone.

Meditation was once something for the woo-woo, hippy-dippy tribe or perhaps the new age. It was something your crunchy aunt used to do in a field or the woods. It was not something for those in a busy, professional career with things like a family, soccer games, minivans, sports cars or a large paycheck. It was for the minimalists and those who turned against modern living. But somewhere along the way, things started to change.

Meditation, and its benefits, are now part of a modern lifestyle. Along with practices like yoga and deep breathing, meditation has gone mainstream. People everywhere, from all walks of life, are being prescribed and practicing it on a regular basis.  There are apps for meditation, books and magazines, and doctors and therapist prescribing it to patients. It is now as much a part of a healthy lifestyle as diet and exercise. Much of this integration is due to the large amounts of research that support meditation as a way to transform your daily habits, by rewiring your brains coping mechanisms and stress patterns.

Here are a few ways meditation can help you:

  • Research has shown that meditation is not only creates a few moments of calm in an otherwise hectic day, but it actually rewires your brain to handle stress better.
    • It also helps decrease activity in the amygdala, the home of our “fight or flight” response. Too much stress an trauma can cause your amygdala to work in overdrive. Meditation has been shown to help decrease that response, so you are better able to work through stressful situations on a daily basis.
    • This means that if you suffer from a lot of anxiety or stress, due to the chaos of your daily life, meditation can help you reduce it and gain some control over your day. Instead of going straight into panic mode when something arises, meditation helps your brain pause and rethink your reactions.
  • Regular meditation can also help to improve your memory and perhaps even prevent or slow the progression of diseases of the mind, such as dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment.
    • This is because meditating actually helps your brain to function better. According to a study from University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds in Mindful Magazine, regular meditation can increase the gray matter thickness of your brain, which can help you with everyday functions like problem solving, attention and memory.
    • One particular meditation, according to several studies and the AlzheimerPrevention.org, chanting Sa Ta Na Ma, has been shown in studies to help treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.  This is a chanting meditation that you perform for 12 minutes. It has a set rhythm and pattern. You can find the steps here or follow along with this guided meditation.
  • Meditation also helps you to relax more, which can help reduce cortisol in your body. Cortisol is the hormone that releases when you are feeling stressed. It is a natural response to stress, but can go into overdrive when you are constantly stressed, such as when you are burnt out. This constant stream of the hormone can contribute to weight gain around your middle, increased anxiety, decreased digestion, sleep problems, heart issues and memory problems, to name a few. Meditating can help reduce and regulate your cortisol release, to help bring balance back into your body and mind.

Now that you know why meditation can be so important to reduce stress and burn out, try to make it part of your daily routine. It doesn’t have to be stressful or even take much time or effort. Try to take 5-10 minutes most days to meditate. Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably, without distractions. If you are comfortable with it, close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and repeat a mantra (quote or saying), count down from 50 or 100, or pay attention to your inhales and exhales. For guidance, you can try one of these downloadable meditation practices from UVA, apps like Pacifica or Headspace or even a Youtube video. If you want a live class or session, many yoga studios and retreat centers offer weekly meditation classes. You can also try one of these downloadable meditations from the Meditation and Audio Library or sign up for the “SLP ToolBox” which features even more free meditations and resources to reduce stress and burn out.

For even more, insight sand practices to use to reduce your burn out and manage stress as an SLP, check out one of these Continuing Education webinars (you’ll earn hours towards your certification!):

3 Common SLP Stressors and How to Manage Them  on Xceptional ED (1.5 CMH Hours)

Managing Common SLP Stressors before Burn Out Occurs on Northern Speech Services (2.5 ASHA CEU hours .025 units)

3 Biggest Stressors for SLPs and What to Do About Them on Speechpathology.com (1.5 hours ASHA CEU .15 units)

It doesn’t matter what you try or how you decide to meditate, just find the one that feels right for you and that you can make into a regular practice. Then let me know how it goes! Leave a comment below if you have given it a try or already have a meditation practice. Which works for you and why?  If you have a regular meditation practice that has helped you, please share with others to help them see the benefits and get started.

Much Love,

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