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15Dec

Hearty Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies for Busy SLPs

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Nourishing Recipes for Busy SLPs
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Hearty Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies PinterestAs an SLP, you might be finding yourself a little short on time 😉

It is often the joke that SLPs live and survive on coffee, more coffee, and, of course, coffee. While it is delicious and does have a few health benefits, as well as help us get up and going for our day, too much can leave you feeling worse than when you started. When it comes to your food and eating, there are two things you, as a busy SLP, need to have – something you can grab and eat on the fly and something that is remotely healthy, so you are getting the nourishment you need to keep going.

 

If coffee is not the answer, let these cookies be the answer. In fact, pair them with your morning coffee or your afternoon tea/latte and enjoy some healthy fats from nuts, protein and fiber from whole grains, and anti-oxidants from cranberries. Plus a few other yummy items.

Make a batch to get you through the last week before your break, to keep you and your family satisfied over the break, or to help you jump-start some healthy habits into the New Year.
Ingredients:Christmas-Oatmeal-Cookies

  • 3 cups oats (organic, gluten free)
  • 1 tbsp molasses
  • ⅔ cup coconut sugar
  • ž cup coconut oil, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup raw pecans
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • Âź tsp sea salt
  • *optional 2 tsp unsweetened almond or coconut milk

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Blend ½ of oats in your blender until flour-like in consistency.
  3. Pour into a large bowl with sea salt, baking soda, spices, oats, and oat-flour. Stir until combined.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, coconut oil, molasses, vanilla, and eggs.
  5. Slowly add your flour to the liquid mixture. Stir slowly until combined. If needed, add milk for more moisture.
  6. Blend your pecans in your blender until chopped. The size does not need to be consistent.
  7. Add pecans, cranberries, and chocolate chips to your cookie dough.
  8. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and scoop out your dough with a tbsp or ice cream scoop.
  9. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Makes 1½-2 dozen cookies.

What are some of your go-to recipes for those busy times of the year? Share a link or recipe in the comments below.

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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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,

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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,

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10Jul

What to Ask Yourself Before You Quit Your SLP Job or Career

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Goal Setting New SLP Reduce Stress
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quit your SLP job

Quit SLP Job Pinterest

Being an SLP can be incredibly wonderful at times, and at other times incredibly stressful. A great deal of this stress comes from the parts of the job that are outside of the therapy realm and often seem to have more and more rules around them, such as paperwork and productivity rates. Some of the stress, though, comes from the nature of the job itself. As SLPs, it is our job and our mission to help people communicate, nourish and thrive, as best they can with the situation they are in. Our schooling and career are set up around us being able to give our tine and energy to these, sometimes without a break during the day. It is highly rewarding at times, and also highly frustrating and draining. It can be enough to make you want to quit your SLP job at times.  (more…)

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12Jun

Stop Waiting for Summer to Happen and Manage Stress Better All Year

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Reduce Stress
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Manage Stress Better PinterestThere is a common saying and feeling in the Speech Therapy world: I just need to make it through until Summer. It is often heard and seen, especially once the second part of the year and Spring Break rolls around. This is usually due to the “IEP season”, where you are having to not only complete all the IEPs for your huge caseload, but also attend and hold the meetings, as well as provide therapy for your kiddos. It is also progress report time, again, and time to wrap things up for the end of the year. If there was any small glimmer of stress earlier in the year that you were able to push aside, this is the time of year it will ooze out and saturate your day.

It is not a saying that I particularly care for, since it is seems more hopeless than hopeful, but it was one I found myself repeating over and over again in the last few months of the school year. (more…)

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5Jun

How to Really Reduce Stress this Summer Vacation

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out Career Advice Reduce Stress
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How to Reduce Stress PinterestIn all honesty, the last quarter of this year was very difficult for me to get through. I had felt some burn out in the middle of the year, but I knew a lot of it was from outside of work circumstances related to our recent move, renovating a house, and not really having the time I needed and wanted to recharge and connect to some of my passions. The end of the year was much different. I didn’t just feel burn out, I felt stuck and disconnected at times from my work. I felt like there was an overwhelming amount of pressure (not from anyone) and I wasn’t sure how to manage the stress at times or make it seem less. I was doing the thing I hated – pushing through until Summer Break. (more…)

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