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16Sep

5 Ways to Feel Less Stressed this School Year

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Stress Management
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less stressed this school year

One of the things that happens at the start of the school year, is that you dive into it with the thought of “this year will be different” or, maybe, “I hope this year will be different”. Chances are the year before ended on a highly stressful note, even amongst the joy and bittersweetness of the end of the year, and you have spent the summer trying to decompress, often by ignoring the work, pushing it away, or continuing it work to “get ahead” for the new year. 

And, yet, despite all of this work and positive thinking, the year usually ends up pretty much the same, or even worse if your stress never really turned down at all from the previous year.

As an SLP who is back working in the schools after a (long) hiatus, I am seeing a lot of this happening in the way we go about our work and daily routines. Mostly, because it’s the only way we know how, and it’s how we teach each other.  

It’s no wonder so many SLPs face burnout and chronic stress (even before the pandemic). 

Chronic stress is what happens when those small, daily stressors begin to grow or last longer, and you have less time between them to process and regroup. When they start to become more frequent, or the importance of them grows, your brain doesn’t have the time to work through it and recover before another stressor hits. And with each one, the stress grows and your brain looks out for more things that could be stressful, kind of like being on “high alert”. 

This is where so many of us SLPs leave each day and feel stuck in. 

And, when this is left unchecked, the only place it can go is into burnout – a place where stress grows so much that you no longer feel driven or motivated to work through it and you kind of give up and disconnect from your work. And this can be really, really challenging to work through and come back from – but it is not impossible. 

If you are in burnout or chronic stress, you can begin to shift out of it by setting up your day to support yourself and looking at your stress management and resilience building strategies a little differently. This will help you come out of burnout, and stop chronic stress from growing further, while you start to turn it down as well. 

As you move into a new school year, and are looking for some ways to create some real changes in your stress this year, here are a few things you can try. 

5 Ways to Feel Less Stressed this School Year

Take time for yourself 

Ugh, this has been the most overused phrase of the last two years. Mostly because it is thrown out there with the hopes of being helpful, but in reality is just a phrase that is pretty useless without some action behind it. It’s not the message itself that doesn’t really help, but giving it without any way to actually do it. 

Because, truly, this is one of the most important things you can do to help keep stress low, to build resilience to it, and to work your way out of chronic stress and/or burnout when you find you’ve somehow landed there. 

Take 5 minutes at the start of your day, and end of the day, to check-in with yourself. See how you are doing, maybe grab a drink or snack, go for a quick walk or stretch, or turn out the lights and have some quiet while you breathe. And, if you need a moment or two during the day, pause to breathe for 5-10 deep breaths. These actions seem small, but they can make a big difference and help counteract the “rush” and “push” mentalities that can add to stress and build it. 

Pause before you react

Similar to pausing for a breath to take care of yourself, you can use this to help with reaction. There are many, many times when, yes, the stressor itself is stressful, but it is our reaction that adds to the stress and takes it to another level. This is when we see ourselves and other SLPs or professionals getting really worked up when a session doesn’t go exactly as planned, when a student doesn’t show up or someone forgets to send them, or when you have to change the plan completely for the day at a moment’s notice. It is so frustrating and the reactions we have can add to our stress – fuming, sending an angry email, etc. These are natural and human responses, so it’s not that you should ignore them. But you could take a mindful approach to observe rather than react to them. They are not you (which is also part of the next segment). They are the reaction that you are having at a really challenging and frustrating moment. 

So, before you react to the situation, pause and take a few deep breaths, or even step away for a few moments. Taking this pause gives you a moment to think, to find clarity, to ask yourself “what has this brought up for me”, and shifts you into a place where you can observe, explore, and let the stress of it go – another place of action. 

Remember – Stress is not you

It sure does feel like the stress is you, and that is part of your makeup, but it is not you. Stress is real and it is a survival mechanism. And the things we consider “stress” are really the triggers of the reaction in your brain and your body. It is an automatic thing that happens, for some more than others, depending on your circumstances, past experiences, and how much you are already trying to process and filter through in that moment. AND the tools you have been given to cope and work through (with) it in your life so far. 

So, while it does get really big and scary and seems like it is going to take over everything…it is not who you are. YOU are not Stress. Stress is happening TO you and within you. You can look at it as the enemy, or look at it as a survival instinct that is a natural part of being a human, and then try some strategies to work through it and manage it from here on out. 

Make friends with breaks and downtime

One of the biggest challenges I have heard about from SLPs is the guilt and uncertainty when there does happen to be a break or amount of time in the schedule that is not direct therapy sessions scheduled. I haven’t really had a problem with this before (lol), but there has been a little inkling or two when I look at my schedule and see space – even after I have scheduled over 30 students for 3 partial days.  

Having a break or a moment to breathe seems wrong, especially if you are used to a jam packed schedule, tons of testing, only being paid for direct time, or high productivity rates. 

But these small breaks are incredibly beneficial for you. For one, they give you space to shift your schedule, to test or write reports or hold a meeting, to plan and prep for the next sessions or day, and to collaborate. And they also give you time to get up and move, to take a walk, to stretch. Time to breathe, pause, check-in. To eat, hydrate, or go to the bathroom. And to sit back and process and recharge before you jump back in. 

Breaks don’t make you weak or lazy or inefficient, they make you better able to do your work. 

Remember we are all humans (even you!)

This school year, remember that you are human, You are not a computer or a robot or anything that runs perfectly (and, honestly, these aren’t perfect either). You might make mistakes, need to try things and make changes, or just have a rough day. It is ok and does not mean you have failed, things will stay that way, or that you are a terrible SLP. It means you’re a human, going through a human experience. And if others seem to have a rough day or are not perfect, remember that they are also human. We all make mistakes and can greet them with curiosity and compassion. 

As you move into the school year, give these 5 strategies a try. When stress starts to build, take a break, pause before you react, and remind yourself that the stress is not you. Utilize some downtime that you have when it shows up and remember that you and all those you meet are humans, trying to figure it all out, too. 

Which one of these can you see yourself using this year? Share in the comments!

For more resources to help manage and lessen the stress you face this year, make sure to sign up for The Resilient SLP Toolbox. It’s a free resource library full of tools such as yoga classes, meditations, journal templates and more.

Subscribe below for instant access!

With Love and Light, 

Jessi

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12May

5 Things I learned in yoga teacher training that (surprisingly) helped me as an SLP

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Career Advice New SLP Stress Management Yoga
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things I learned in yoga training

When I was in my second year as an SLP, three big things happened in my career and life: I finished my CF (finally), I started yoga teacher training (yay!), and I was laid-off due to budget cuts (wtf?). It was such a mix of joy and hardship and not knowing what I was going to do, and it absolutely sent me into some burnout and chronic stress in the year(s) to follow.

On the SLP side, I ended up going from a hospital setting, with inpatient and outpatient adults, to working in the schools with all ages. I was the solo SLP, aside from my supervisor.manager, and now I was one of three SLPs in my school. And I felt like I was the one who was faking it, floundering, and not as “into” it as they were. 

I had a tough caseload I was taking over. The schedule was set-up by someone else and was NOT compatible for my needs or life. I hadn’t really shifted to school-mode yet. And, a part of me really wanted to teach yoga more, which, at the time and where I lived, was not exactly something that was talked about or put into practice as an SLP.

I ended up leaving a year later, for 5 years. During this time, I taught yoga and mind-body fitness, and helped run yoga studios where I lived. I absolutely used my yoga teacher training to teach yoga – obviously.

But, it was when I came back to being an SLP, that I realized I could use it there as well. There were a few things I learned while training to teach yoga that helped me be, IMO, a better SLP. Or at least feel better about HOW I was working as an SLP. 

And they had nothing to do with incorporating yoga poses, meditation time, or even, really, mindfulness into my sessions. 

Here are 5 things I learned in yoga training that (surprisingly) helped me as an SLP:

1 You can’t look at someone’s face and tell if they are enjoying or getting anything out of the experience.

When I was going through yoga teacher training (YTT), one of the things that the current teachers would share, over and over again, was that you can’t look at someone and know what they are thinking or feeling during the class by the look on their face. They might be smiling, seeming to enjoy it, but internally cursing at you or thinking “why did I bother coming today?”. Or they might  be scowling, maybe even at you, or frowning, but only because they are working through something or concentrating, and fully soaking up and enjoying the experience. 

I learned this firsthand, in my very first class I taught. A woman in the front row had a look of disgust on her face most of the class. And I thought, “oh, sh*&, maybe I’m not very good at this teaching thing yet”. After class, she came up to me, as I internally panicked, and let me know she enjoyed the class very much and was surprised I was a new teacher – it was one of the best classes she had taken. It helped me know what was working as a yoga teacher, and where my strengths landed. 

The same goes for being an SLP Your student or patient  might look bored or annoyed during the session, or even a little checked out. This by no means is a reflection of what they are really thinking or feeling. They might be concentrating, thinking about how to use this in class or outside of the clinic, or trying to figure out what the next step in the task is. Instead of judging yourself and your work, talk to them about the experience after, if they are open to it, so you both can give feedback and shape things from there. 

2. Know what (class) you are teaching, and look at who walks in the door.

As a yoga teacher, you have to know what type of class you are teaching – hot or not, fast or slow, level 1 or level 2 – and have some sort of idea of what to do. But you also have to see who shows up for that class on that day, and what their needs and abilities might be, especially if you teach in a community center or gym, rather than a specific style studio. It might be a more advanced class that day, but, if it’s the only class at that time and the students are not advanced, or they walk in and are exhausted and tired, more than usual, then you have to tailor it to them, and their needs that day. 

This is what happens when you work with humans, having a human experience. 

The same is true for Speech Therapy. You can plan a little and know the goals for who you are seeing, but also see how they are when they show up. YOu might have to make some adjustments or try to grab a new resource to use if they are tired that day, if they are energized beyond measure, or if they are hungry or grumpy or being human in some way. Having this flexibility (no ygpa pin intended) will take you far, and help them more in the long-run.  

3. Having a “rolodex” of poses/resources is a better strategy than planning it all out exactly

(PSSST, this is probably the most important and used thing I learned in yoga training).

Here is a secret – I did not plan a single yoga class for YEARS, and rarely do now. There were no lesson plans or sequences after those first few classes I taught. And I never felt lost or stuck or like I wasn’t giving it my all or that my students would leave with “less” because of it. Once I knew the class style, and practiced or planned a class or two, I relied on the advice from one of the yoga teachers from my training – instead of planning out precisely, think about having a “rolodex” on file of how it all goes together. 

This “rolodex” was like a file to flip through, where you could pull out a pose, and then see who it was connected to  – what other poses could link to it and how to build them together naturally, and, often, in the middle of the class. 

It meant really and truly understanding how they worked together, rather than just what looked good on paper, and helped to make adjustments for who was in the class that day. 

In reality, it looked like knowing the style of the class, how that format flowed, and then choosing a pose to work to or to try or an area to focus on, and then building around it as it went.

As an SLP, this is the most helpful advice I was ever given.

It saved me from over-planning and prepping and feeling stressed to do more. And, because the over-planning does not come naturally to me, it helped me loosen the guilt around not spending hours before and after work plotting out each day and creating lesson plans for it. 

What it gave me was the insights to look more at what I was working on, what that goal was really for, and how to find a way to use it, know matter what materials I had on hand, what I pulled off a shelf or website, or what the student requested to use that day. It brought HUMANITY back to it. 

4. Something is better than nothing/Any bit counts for something.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing each and every time. There were so many times that I wanted to share so many poses, to hit every part of the sequence, or every part of the body (hips, twists, folds, standing, seated, core, backbends, savasana), and it just didn;t happen. It might have been time-management, or that the students needed to linger in a pose longer than planned. And it was ok. The students still got a lot from it, and, maybe, got what they needed, which was better than hitting every piece exactly. 

While it is important to try and get as much as you can, and to work towards the goals you have in front of you for your students, there are times when it is not going to happen. Again, it is part of working with humans. You have plans, and they are living creatures. They might not always match up. 

Even if you end up spending the session talking together or laughing or not focusing on the specific activity you planned, it is ok. It is WORTH it. Because that day, you might be the only kind person they wrun tino. Or the only time they feel they can talk or share or try to communicate safely. Or the only moment they laugh. Or the only person who smiles at them. And THIS is huge. It is so important, and it does, absolutely, make a difference towards halogen them to improve their well-being – which is usually the ultimate goal. 

5. No one will know if you make a mistake or if it doesn’t go as “planned”.

I still have dreams (nightmares) sometimes that I get up in front of the class to teach, and I totally forget what to do and spend an hour trying to remember, until time runs out. Super fun. Very relaxing sleep. 

But, when it comes down to it, there are plenty of times when I have forgotten the next pose, not taught the pose I meant to in the moment, or accidentally changed the sequence or left out an entire chunk of it. And a funny thing happens. No. One. Notices. Or. Cares. And sometimes, it works out better than what I had in mind anyway. 

What I learned in yoga training was this – you can plan (not too much!) and if  you change it or make a mistake, no one knows!! Because YOU are the only one who knows the plan. If it changes to you, the students don;t know. There is NO mistake made to them. In their eyes, this is exactly what was planned.

I learned to just go with it. 

As an SLP, this is haaaaaaard to do. Because perfectionism is strong in our field. And judging and critiquing yourself is commonplace. 

But, if you have an activity or are trying to work on something, and you accidentally do it “wrong”. NO.ONE. KNOWS. It is ok that your plan shifted by mistake. Your students and patients will experience it as what you meant to do that day, and won’t notice. They will still get something out of it, simply because they are there with you.

Mistakes happen, it is ok to do. And you can usually learn something or maybe find a new therapy tool along the way. 

While I also learned some cool “yoga” tricks and tools to use in sessions, and some ways to be more mindful as a practitioner of Yoga and SLP, these are the big things that I learned in toga training that helped me to grow, be more comfortable, and to start to enjoy being an SLP. And, truthfully, they are what helped me feel most connected to my work, and, more importantly, to who I was working with. 

For more resources on yoga, meditation, and other ways to build resilience, enter your email below and get FREE resources to help you stay connected as an SLP.

Which one of these things I learned I yoga training surprised you the most? I’d love to hear how you are going to try to use them in your SLP sessions. Leave a comment below or reach out to jessi@jessiandricks.com.

With Love and Light, 

Jessi

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5Jan

How to add in Mindfulness when you are already overwhelmed

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Stress Management
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mindfulness when you are already overwhelmed

Let’s face it, things are continuing to be stressful, and every time it seems you might catch a break, there is a new change, a new policy to adapt to, or uncertainty pops in. And, even before a pandemic, there was the stress of work – the balance of therapy vs admin vs life outside of work. The impossibility of getting it all “done” and the schedules that were too full and growing. These last few years have only amplified this.

And, a good thing, is that stress is no longer a hidden, secret word. It is well-known, managers and companies and bosses are recognizing it and trying to do something about it (even when it just looks like words or feels like it’s false), and saying you are stressed out doesn;t mean you are an outcast. It is the reality we all face and are welcome to talk about it.

The downside is that it’s stress. It’s stressful. And it has only grown. 

But you are not alone in it, and not helpless or hopeless. Even with the inevitability of it growing, you can still help to manage and reduce it, and build resiliency to the stress you face. This can be done through practices of Mindfulness and Self-Care. 

Mindfulness/Self-Care can be the thing that helps you be resilient to stress, and it can also be one more thing to do when you are feeling that same stress. It can seem overwhelming, when you are already overwhelmed, and like there is “one more thing” you have to do. This makes it easy to not do the things that will help you reduce your stress, and leaves the stress to grow further. 

So how do you make it a part of your day and daily routine without adding to more stress?

Give these tips a try to practice mindfulness/self-care when you are already overwhelmed:

  • Keep it simple: 
    • It absolutely does not need to be complicated to work – usually the easier, the more effective. Sure, an elaborate morning routine seems like fun and super cozy. It also seems super stressful to commit to and something that can become overwhelming quickly. Stretching, exercising, reading, journaling, getting outside, coffee in silence, a smoothie, and meditating all before your 6:45am wake-up call/get ready for work/kids wake-up doesn’t sound as good though, does it? It sounds hectic AF and like anxiety waiting to happen. Instead, keep it simple, so you can keep doing it.
    • Here are some ideas: Sit to meditate or deep breathe for a few minutes. Make a mental check in to see how you are showing up that day. Set your alarm 5 minutes early and use that time (whether you actually get up or stay cozy in bed) to reflect (write it down or mental note) or an intention or gratitude. Stretch or walk for a few minutes. Drink your coffee/tea in peace and quiet for 5 minutes (although, depending on your household and the people in it aka small children and pets, this might be easier said than done on some days). 
  • Don’t take a ton of time: 
    • While you are keeping it simple, keep it to a few minutes. Aim for 5-10 minutes. This can be added to your routines during the day, or you can wake-up a little earlier, pause before you head into work.
    • Your brain likes consistency, which is why those other habits are hard to break and new ones are even harder to build. So short amounts of time, that you can consistently do, are better than  huge, elaborate, time-consuming moments once in a while. 
  • Add it in where it already makes sense/tag onto another task: 
    • Overhauling can be incredibly overwhelming, and is usually not necessary. So instead of trying to completely revamp your routines and habits (even if they aren’t great), in order to create some mindful moments in your day, try adding them in where you are already doing something. 
    • For example: your coffee/tea is brewing, take those 5 minutes to deep breath, journal or meditate. Driving to work? Listen to a podcast you love. Before you jump in the shower or get dressed, stretch for 5 minutes or do some sun salutations. Tack it onto something you’re already doing, so it doesn;t seem like “one more thing”. 
  • Drop the perfection: 
    • Oof, that’s much harder to do than to say. But it’s the truth. You don’t have to be 100% at A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G and that includes your (grades and) stress management. Mindfulness is about showing up as you are and observing it, being present to it, and not judging. This builds awareness and helps you move forward with a more mindful mindset. And it allows you to do what you can, when you can, without guilt if you miss out or need to pause for life. 

Now that the overwhelm has been taken out of this, or at least lessened a bit, grab a notepad or sticky notes and write down a few ways you can start to do this. Remember, it’s not about perfection, so, just like with anything you do or teach, brainstorm it first and give some things a try. Come at it from a place of playfulness and exploration, without looking at it as one more thing you have to do, or a way to “fail” at your day.

Then share it with me! I’d love to see what you are up to and trying. Leave a comment below or snap a pic and share in your IG stories tagging me @jessiandricks, or send an email to jessi@jessiandricks.com.

Find joy and fun in this, and reach out to me at any time for support. 

With Love and Light, 

Jessi 

PS Want even more ways to add in mindfulness when you are already overwhelmed? Join the FREE SLP Toolbox and get instant access to mindfulness meditation audios, journal templates, and mindful movement audios and videos. Sign up below!


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