Menu

5Dec

Burn Out and What to Do About It

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice
Comments Off on Burn Out and What to Do About It

Burn Out Webinar PinterestAs Helping Professionals, especially Speech Language Pathologists, we are no stranger to feeling stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted. But did you know that these can lead to a condition called Burn Out?

Most SLPs love their work and are passionate about helping people, young and old, to communicate, grow and thrive to the best of their abilities, but at some point this passion starts to fade. The stress of paperwork, productivity and managing a caseload can start to make it hard to really enjoy the work, continue to learn and grow as a therapist or to even feel supported and respected by your co-workers. As this stress and dispassion builds, it can become chronic and lead to exhaustion, overwhelm, and burn out. (more…)

Tags:
28Nov

4 Ways for SLPs to Increase Your Energy at Work

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Well-Being
Comments Off on 4 Ways for SLPs to Increase Your Energy at Work

SLP Work Energy Pinterest (1)

Have you ever had one of those days where you didn’t do anything physically, or even mentally, exhausting, but you feel completely drained and exhausted by the end of the day. These are the days that can easily make you feel like you are in the wrong job, aren’t good enough or are completely out of balance. I had one of these days recently, and just felt so exhausted by the end of the day. My caseload had been pretty easy, I had plenty of sleep the night before and I didn’t do any extra work that day. By the end of the day, though, I was too exhausted to make dinner, go for a walk or really be of much company to anyone.

It kind of sucked.

I often find that the days I sit at my computer, typing, for hours at a time are the most exhausting ones. The days where I am up and moving, or in and out of my office, are the days when I feel energized and ready to do more after work. Sometimes, it can also be a really tough caseload or overbooking my students. But other times, it has nothing to do with the work itself.

You might find that it’s not the work you are doing, but the way you are experiencing your work day that is taking a toll on you, physically and mentally. Your posture, the meals you are or aren’t eating, and what you are drinking might all be things that can zap or give you energy. If you often feel exhausted at the end of the day, try these 4 tips for more energy.

  1. Swap coffee for water, or at the least, tea.
    • Caffeine can be just what you need at certain times of the day. It provides a little invigoration, helps wake you up, and studies even show it helps to give you more mental clarity and focus. But overdoing caffeine can do the exact opposite. You might find your energy plummets, you feel jittery and nervous, and you suddenly feel scatter-brained.The best thing to do is to drink more water, whether or not you cut back on coffee. This will help you to stay hydrated and flush out any symptoms you might accidentally have from over-caffeinating. Try swapping out coffee for some caffeine-free or low-caffeine drinks instead. Tea is also a great option, hot or cold, if you need a little boost or flavor, without the huge crash from coffee. Go for a cup of coffee in the morning and a chai or green tea latte in the afternoons.
  2. Find some down time. 
    • Work can be all about productivity. If you aren’t helping clients and making money for the facility (or yourself), it might not seem like time well spent. Unfortunately, this type of go-go-go attitude can lead you to burn out, quickly. If you don’t have time to recharge at work, you won’t be able to keep up the pace, stay focused and get done what needs to get done, as efficiently.Have you ever had a day with no breaks and a million things to do, only to find yourself staring blankly at your computer screen, not focusing during your sessions and feeling completely disorganized with your paperwork? Instead of rushing around and doing a million things at once, take 5 minutes to grab a cup of tea, stretch, go for a walk, etc. You’ll be a little more clear headed, have more energy flowing through your body and be more ready to tackle the tasks at hand.
  3. Get up and move during the day. 
    • Sitting at a desk, in one spot during the day can really start to wear on you. NPR recently released an article showcasing just how many hours we sit during a day, and how it can affect your overall health more and more as you age. It’s not just your risk of heart disease, diabetes or weight gain, but also your body actually starting to age and tighten into a “sitting” stance. In yoga, sitting is done during meditation, with a tall spine, so energy and breath can travel through the body as you sit, and your digestive system is uncompromised and able to do its job. This is rarely the way we sit during the day at work. We tend to slump, slouch and cave in a bit. If you find it hard to sit with good posture, or find yourself sitting all day, you might notice your energy levels slump, you breath is more shallow and you feel sluggish and tired.To help combat this, take 5 minutes after every few sessions to get up and move. Walk to grab more water or tea or a bathroom break, do some push-ups and squats at your work station with your desk and chair or even just get up and stretch. You’ll release tension, lengthen your spine and breath deeper, so you start to feel more energized, focused and ready for the next patient or student to walk through your door.
  4. Eat Something.
    • When you are busy and stressed, one of the easiest things to forget is to take a break and eat. When I was working in the schools, I would often have just a few moments to grab my lunch, or eat a snack during my morning and afternoon. I was constantly hungry and has a stomach ache every day.  I also felt exhausted and foggy-headed on a regular basis. Most teachers and health care workers I know ate even less than that. Many would wait until the end of work to eat, or just drink coffee all day and have a really big dinner at night. Coincidentally, these were some of the people who were either super stressed or in really poor health.
    • Without nourishment from food, your body and brain are not able to maintain the energy and focus needed to get you through your work day. You r body needs the carbs and protein to maintain the proper energy levels throughout the day. Your brain needs healthy fats (like those in nuts) to function properly. All of these help to combat the feelings of mental fatigue and physical exhaustion we experience throughout the day. Not eating during the day, or not getting enough calories, can also send your metabolism into “starvation mode”. This means your body thinks you are trying to fast for the long winter, so it slows down and hold on to everything it can. It can cause you to gain weight or have a difficult time maintaining your weight, even though you feel like you never eat.  Make sure you have scheduled breaks for meals and snacks, even just a few minutes, so you are able to make a proper meal or snack to fuel you through your day. Have fresh fruits, nuts and whole grains nearby, so you’ll have something even on the shortest of breaks.

If you are feeling drained by the end of the day, give these a try. See which one might be affecting you the most and try to make a small change each day to increase your energy level. Leave a comment and share what works for you. You can help keep track of your energy levels with the “Daily Check-in” journal page found in the SLP Toolbox (subscribe below).

If you are still feeling exhausted and want to dig deeper into it, make sure to check out these webinars (certification hours and CEUs!) to reduce your stress, and increase your energy.

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 ASHA CEU hours .15 units

The more awake and alive you feel at the end of a work day, the better you will feel after work and looking ahead to the next day.

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

 

Tags:
9Oct

Are you at Risk for SLP Burn Out?

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out
2 Comments

SLP Burn Out Risk Pinterest

When I was at the height of my burn out, I was working in the school system at a fairly standard caseload, had fantastic support from the principal and assistant principal, and worked with great teachers. I had taken over mid-school year for someone who had quit and it left me with an extremely difficult schedule, difficult therapy sessions and a lack of community. I had also been laid off, then fired, from previous jobs, so I was feeling bitter towards the profession in general. This was a great job, but the only one I could find and it was a huge pay cut. I had also just finished my yoga teacher training and wanted nothing more than to teach yoga full-time.

Despite my training in a holistic practice, I was in a constant state of stress, anxiety and exhaustion.

As SLPs, we are considered to be in a “helping” profession, which puts us at a greater risk for burn out than most others. And, I believe, that we might be in one of the highest positions, since we fall under both healthcare workers and education professionals. As an SLP, you are constantly having to work with patients/students, families, and the school or care team, as well as organize your therapy materials and keep up with your continuing education and professional licenses. You are also sometimes the sole person who understands how your client needs and wants to communicate their desires and needs, which, at times can seem like the weight of the world on your shoulders. And while there are plenty of rewarding moments in your career, most of the time you may find you feel underappreciated and misunderstood as a professional.

While all of this can lead to a cycle of burn out, there are a few more factors that make us prone to burn out. The main 4 factors for burn out are:

  • Perfectionism:
    • When I was an SLP graduate student, I felt a constant pressure to do more and do better. There was a competitive mindset to the class, which was often fostered by the professors of the classes themselves. It was very rare to have an instructor praise us for something other than receiving top marks, and most of the time, we were told what we were doing wrong. This really wore me down and made me feel as if I was never doing enough.
    • As an SLP, you might always feel like someone out there is doing more, doing better and doing it the “right” way. There are pinterest boards dedicated to the latest and greatest DIY therapy tools, FB groups full of people spending their weekends working on SLP lesson plans and loads more trainings to take. It makes it easy to seem like what you are doing, especially if you are a type “b”, is not enough or not worthwhile. (These are all lovely things and can be super helpful, but can also be super overwhelming).
  • Pessimism
    • This can also lead to a bit of pessimism. When our patients don’t get better, or our students just don;t grasp that /r/, we can start to feel cynical about our profession. When I was going through burnout, I often stated that I felt like I was baby-sitting my students or just a glorified “snack lady” in the SNF setting. I would say that I didn’t think the profession mattered as much as we were trained to think. I was bitter, pessimistic and ready to quit. If you have a high caseload, no respect from co-workers, or patients/students that just don;t seem to be improving, it can be easy to slip into this mode of thinking.
  • High Achiever
    • I am not a Type “A” personality. I am a Type “B” with “A” tendencies, or a Type “A-“. Many SLPs, however, are Type A. They like to plan, be organized and have everything in order for each therapy session and each client. They want to know that they are doing everything exactly how it should be, with no mistakes. With such high caseloads and demands each day, this can be nearly impossible to achieve. When it doesn’t happen, it can make it seem as if you are not doing enough, not serving your clients as they need to be and not doing a “good job” as an SLP, even though you are doing fantastic.
  • High Need for Control:
    • It can also be extremely difficult to delegate as an SLP, if possible at all. In some places, there is no one else there to help you take on new clients, copy paperwork or organize therapy tools. You may be the sole SLP in your facility and the go-to person for everything from articulation to swallowing to cognitive and memory deficits. When you are able to delegate, it can be difficult to communicate the way you would be doing the therapy, what your client is capable of and what risks the client is facing. Taking on every task, every work day, can really start to wear on you and make you feel as if you can;t have a break or have time to take care of yourself (or work on any of your passions for the field).

Take a moment to see if you relate to any of these 4 factors. Be honest with yourself, as these are not negative traits, just realities of being an SLP and a human being. If you do relate to any of the factors, you might be heading towards burn out in the future. Burn out is no joke and can lead to more health issues and a total disengagement from your work and career. Try taking charge of burn out before it begins with a few simple daily practices, such as self-care, exercise and eating well, or try one of these 3 practices.


Do you relate to any of these? If so, which one has the biggest impact on your work life and what is your plan for working through it? Leave a comment below to share and help inspire another SLP. If you want additional help towards preventing burn out, check out these webinars and earn some credit 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 ASHA CEU hours .15 units)

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

 

 

 

Tags:
7Oct

5 Meditations to Reduce Stress

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Meditation Reduce Stress
Comments Off on 5 Meditations to Reduce Stress

5 meditations to reduce stress pinterest

I’m not sure what it is, if it is just this “season” of my life or something going on in the world and our lifestyles, but I have been feeling more and more stressed lately. It isn’t anyone thing that I can pin down, but more a few different things that have been piling up or happening at once. There are days when stress seems manageable or non-existent, but then there are days when it seems impossible to deal with.

Some stress is good.  It is your bodies natural response to a possibly dangerous or risky situation, known as your “fight or flight” response. Stress can keep you safe (flight) or motivate you to do more (fight). If you have ever felt like you work better when you have procrastinated, you are well-versed in using stress as a motivation to get something done. Stress is even what we do to our bodies when we work out, bu it is done in a good, purposeful way. This is when stress is use acute, or short-term. It’s when stress is prolonged, or chronic, that it is not good for you.

Prolonged stress can cause your brain and your hormones to work on overdrive. According to the Mayo Clinic, prolonged stress can lead to anxiety, depression and sleep problems, as well as weight gain, heart disease, digestive issues and even mild cognitive impairments. These happen because your body never gets the chance to recover and turn off that “fight or flight” response. Instead, it feels as if it is always under attack, releasing a steady stream of stress hormones and overworking your brain.

You might feel like stress is inevitable, and you’d be right. Stress is not something that we can get rid of completely, after all, some stress is good for you. The best thing to do is find ways to reduce your chronic stress and find a tool that helps you manage it better. One of the best ways to handle this stress is through a regular meditation practice.

Recently, meditation has gone from a practice for the new age, woo-woo, hippy-dippy tribe to something that people everywhere are being prescribed and practicing. Meditation, along with practices like yoga and deep breathing, have gone mainstream. Much of this is due to the large amounts of research that support meditation as a way to rewire your brain, and therefore your daily habits, coping mechanisms and stress patterns.

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 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. It also helps decrease activity in the amygdala, the home of our “fight or flight” response. Too much stress and 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. It also helps to decrease the release of cortisol, your stress hormone. Too much cortisol can contribute to the extra weight gain, anxiety, sleep trouble and memory issues you might experience when you are stressed. Meditation can help you lower these levels and regulate them, to help bring balance back into your body and mind.

Your meditation practice doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating. There are plenty of resources (most are free!) to help you get started. Take just 5-10 minutes a day to meditate. The resources below are 5 simple meditations to try, with apps or websites to go with most. Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably, without distractions. If you are comfortable with it, close your eyes and begin.

5 Meditation Practices:

  • Find a mantra to focus on and repeat:
    • A mantra is a quote or saying, sometimes in Sanskrit, that means something to you. Repeating a mantra to yourself is a way to help your mind stay focused on one thing. It also makes it easier to let distractions drift on by. You can use a mantra of your own or try one of these guided meditations from Deepak Chopra.
  • Take 5-10 minutes to observe your breath:
    • This is a very simple meditation practice and a great one to start with. All you do is take a deep breath in and pay attention to the breath moving into your body. Then breathe out and pay attention to the breath escaping your body. Repeat for 5-10 minutes. If you want more guidance, try this mindful breathing meditation from UVA’s Mindfulness Center.
  • Practice counting down from 100 or 70.
    • As you sit with your eyes closed, start by taking a few breaths. Then just start to count down from a number between 70 and 100. This helps you to focus on one thing, allowing your mind to clear a bit. If your mind wanders, that’s ok, just comes back to your counting. It take 5-10 minutes to complete.
  • Chant or sing aloud:
    • If you are wanting to try something out of the ordinary, or perhaps something to keep your mind from wandering, chanting is a great meditation to try. The “Satanama” (sa ta na ma) meditation takes just over 10 minutes and is broken down into increments. If you feel bored with meditation, this one will keep you focused and help prevent some of the boredom. There are many chants you could try, but this one has been shown to possibly help prevent dementia and cognitive impairments. You can find it on YouTube.
  • Savasana or body scan:
    • If you want to deeply relax during your meditation, try a Savasana or full body scan. Savasana is also known as the “corpse” or “final relaxation” pose in yoga practices. It is done at the very end of classes to help you fully relax after your practice. It is done by laying on your back. You can simply breathe in this pose or recite a mantra silently, or do a full body scan. A full body scan helps you to notice and deeper levels of stress that might be present within your body and breath, so you can start to release them. You can try this one your own by simply scanning, or observing, from our toes to the top of your head. You can also find a guided practice from UVA’s Mindfulness Center here.

If you want to try more meditations, or have a little more guidance, try finding a meditation class near you or try one of these meditation apps: Headspace and Pacifica. You can also follow along with the guided meditations in the Resource Library.

Have you ever given meditations a try? Why or why not? If so, what type worked best for you? Leave a comment below and lets discuss how we can help it work for each other.

Much Love,

1741931346171517140715

Tags: