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9Oct

What to do When SLP Self-Care Gets Stressful

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Reduce Stress Self Care
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slp self-careA few weeks ago I started back to work after the summer break. We had moved, my daughter was now in preschool and I had a brand new office I was getting set up. I had a new caseload for work and I was creating a more expanded schedule than the year before. There was time built into my schedule for lunch each day. I also planned flex time in the mornings and afternoons, to prepare for the day. This included self-care such as meditation or yoga or a walk outside. My daily SLP self-care routines had become pretty important to me for a few reasons.

  • My anxiety had increased with the stress of the move. I could feel it creeping up and needed time to myself to breath and relax again
  • Yoga and hiking were good for my body and mind, since they helped me work up a sweat. They also give me time to reflect on a mat or in nature.
  • Meditation was good for my brain. Not only was meditation good for easing some anxiety, it is also said to be great for preventative health care. I have a few family members with dementia and meditation has been shown to help maintain and improve your brain function.

It seemed perfect until reality hit. There would never be a day with a “perfect” schedule for all the SLP self-care things I wanted or needed to do. There would be mornings that didn’t run smoothly and I would use up all of that extra time on other things. I would have days with a gazillion emails that needed to be sent or the dogs would need to go out again. I would forget I was supposed to prep dinner a few hours early. They were all normal things, but at times really seemed to pile up.

I was feeling super rushed one week in particular. My morning had been hijacked by clients calling with scheduling issues. I was running late for work and not able to find the breakfast I wanted. In the afternoon, I was out walking the dogs, thinking about how if they hurried, I ‘d have 5 minutes to pee, make tea and get settled before my next session Then I would be able to squeeze in my daily meditation right after work and before my family arrived home. If I planned everything just perfectly, I’d be able to make it all happen, as long as not one thing fell out-of-place. Then it hit me. I was starting to find myself stressed about squeezing in my SLP self-care – the thing that was supposed to help me manage stress.

Have you ever had one of those moments, where it seemed like everything you were doing to feel better or do better was absolutely futile?

If you feel that way often, you might too be finding yourself stressed over your personal self-care routine.  You might be constantly stressing about how to not stress or worrying over how much self-care practices you can actually get in during one day. You may even be pushing to make it all happen, despite your crazy work schedule.

There are a few reasons this could be happening and a few things you can do to make it better.

Here is What to do When Your SLP Self-Care Gets Stressful:

  1. Check Your Schedule: If you feel like you are struggling to squeeze in your self-care practice into your already jam packed schedule, your schedule itself might be to blame. When we are stressed, we often start adding things into our day that are supposed to help us release stress. But if your schedule is already packed, adding in one more thing might make your stress levels skyrocket. Instead, try to look at your schedule and see where you can make an adjustment or find some time that you didn’t realize was there. You might notice you have a break after work or before bedtime, but tend to go on Facebook or Instagram. Instead, do your practice first, then hop on the social media sites.
  2. Change your work: Often we blame work for being the main thing that takes up all of our time and stops us from taking time for ourselves. If your work schedule is out of control, you might need to see how you can reorganize or prioritize it. Look at how you start your day and end your day, and when you actually arrive and leave. Look at any gaps in your day. Where you might be able to consolidate some activities you have planned? You’ll find your schedule might be a little lighter. This will automatically help you reduce stress, as well as find time to fit in your self-care routine.
  3. Change your self-care: You don’t have to do it all, all of the time. Even just 5 minutes of self-care can make a huge difference in balancing your life. If you notice that you are overwhelmed because you can’t fit all of your self-care routines into your day, it might be best to cut back a bit. While meditation, yoga, candle lit baths and a good book are all worthy rituals, trying to squeeze them all into one day might not leave you room to actually relax, breathe and let go of stress. Instead of cramming them all in, pick one or two that seem important on that day. You might find that you have more time to enjoy the practice, instead of just checking off an item from your self-care to-do list.

Just like with your SLP self-care routine, try choosing just one of these to implement. If it works, stick with it. If it doesn’t try another. Find what works right for you and keep it simple. For a few ideas, join the SLP Toolbox, featuring several simple self-care practices.

You can also check out these CEU/CMH Professional Development Webinars:

Have you found an SLP self-care routine that works or ever been stressed out over it? Leave a comment below and share what you do or how you need help doing it better.

Much Love,

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9Oct

Are you at Risk for SLP Burn Out?

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Burn Out
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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,

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15Sep

How to Start an SLP Gratitude Journal

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Journal Techniques for SLPs Reduce Stress
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SLP Gratitude Journal Pinterest

At the end of the summer, I decided I wanted to start a regular meditation practice. I was feeling stress and anxiety creep in from moving, work and life in general. I hopped on YouTube and found a 21-day meditation practice, guided by Oprah and Deepak Chopra. I had done one of these before, so I knew it would be a good blend of meditation and life lessons. As I sat on my meditation cushion, listening to Oprah explain the purpose of the practice that day, she started talking about finding hope through gratitude. She mentioned how this was a turning point for her and that she had been keeping a gratitude journal for more than 20 years.

I realized that a lot of what I had been feeling, the stress and overwhelm, had to do with not recognizing the positive things that were happening each day. I would look around and see the things at my house that needed to be fixed: floors that weren’t finished, rooms that needed to be painted, boxes that needed to be unpacked, and the day-to-day chores that were piling up. I would look at my yard and see grass that needed to be mowed, clippings to mow and trees to trim, not to mention spiderwebs to knock down. My nightstand was full of books I needed to finish. Yoga mats were rolled up in their corner instead off being used. regularly. I wasn’t seeing the beauty and of my house. I wasn’t seeing the wonder of having trees surrounding me and trails to walk. The yoga mats were there for when I was ready to hop on them and the books were waiting for me to crack them open anytime. My brain was stuck in the cycle of waking up and seeing the stress, living each day with the negatives of the stress and not being able to make a change to break the cycle. I needed something to help me get unstuck. I decided that maybe having a moment to write down a positive to even just think of something positive from my day, or week, would help me get out of this funk.

As an SLP, and most likely a stressed out one, I know you can relate to this sinking feeling. At times it seems like nothing in your work setting is how it should be, you can’t help your clients due to lack of budget, training or support, and you feel absolutely overworked and underappreciated.

According to Positive Psychology, it takes 3 positive experiences to make up for a negative one. That means that our brains are wired to remember the things that aren’t great, instead of the things that are. When you look back on your day, if this balance is off, and you have more negatives than the 3:1 ratio, your brain will register it as a negative day. This also relates to your basic survival needs. When we were hunters and gatherers, we always had to be looking for the worst in things, and expecting it, as a means of survival. We had to look out for danger around every corner. Now we do not, but our brains are still ready for that threat at any time.

Your brain is also wired to define experiences as positive or negative based on which note they end. If you end on a low note, your are bound to remember the day as being negative. Think about one of those days when everything has gone great, but you have a fight with your spouse right before bed, you probably categorized that day as being  a “bad” or stressful one. Conversely, if you end on a high note, you are bound to remember it as being a positive day. Think about one of these days that started rough, but turned itself around with a few really fun and special moments that made you smile by the end of the day.

Having a gratitude journal can help to not only end on a high note, but also recall more of the positive things from your day, no matter how big or small they might be.

A gratitude journal is nothing more than a place for you to record your thoughts on a day or week, or even month. It is a place for you to reflect on all the good that has happened, and to look back over time at all of the good things that have occurred in your life. Many people, like Oprah, find that having years of gratitude journals to look back at help them to feel uplifted when they are feeling down, as well as look back over the years with fondness.

How to Write a Gratitude Journal:

  • Take 5 minutes out of your day, preferably at the end of the day, to start your journal. Try to do this right before you go to bed once a day, week or few times a month. At the end of the day, you’ll be able to reflect back on all that has happened. It will also help you to empty out your thoughts and end your day on a final note, which might help you sleep better.
  • List 5 things that you consider positive from the day. It doesn’t matter how big or small, as long as it was something positive. It could be a promotion at work or a new job, being recognized for your hard work, having a co-worked to vent with, baby smiles, a fun client, green-lights on your commute or simply a stranger smiling and saying hello.
  • Expand on each item. What emotion did you feel or do you feel when you think back on that instance in your day? What was it about that moment that made you feel so positive?
  • Optional: Try to find a way to continue it tomorrow. Reflect on how you can have that feeling on a regular basis. Maybe you make time for your friends, pay it forward with a kind smile or even recognize someone else for their hard work.

If you’d like even more, sign up for the newsletter to get access to the “Daily Reflections” guide full of daily prompts and meditations perfect for journaling. You can sign up below and you’ll receive access to the “SLP Toolbox” as well.

Where do you feel you are lacking gratitude in your life? Is it home life, work a bit of both? Leave it in the comments below with your intentions for starting a gratitude journal. If you’ve ever written one, leave a comment or comment on someone else’s post to let them know how it went for you.

Much Love,

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6Sep

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Reduce Stress
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SLP Stress and Overwhelm Pinterest (1)

For awhile now, I’ve been trying to figure out where exactly I fit in within my “chosen” career path. I have a degree and am certified as an Speech Language Pathologist, but my passions also sit with yoga, holistic health and nutrition. I also have a deep love of learning and teaching ways to reduce stress, decrease overwhelm and move through, or prevent, burn out, because I have been through it all. Needless to say, this is not the way I had planned for this blog to happen.

My visions of a career at first were of working in a hospital, doing big and amazing things with my patients. I imagined drastically changing lives and improving health, The reality of it was not quite the same.

I was constantly feeling stressed and moving through different phases of being burnt out, lost and a little overwhelmed with my life. No other SLPs seemed to be feeling this, at least to me. I felt very alone, like I was the only one interested in more than just my work as an SLP. After feeling really overwhelmed, I decided to quit for awhile and focus on building a career as a yoga teach, health coach and writer.

These few years “off” were full of hustle, working for not much money and learning a ton about wellness, stress and myself.

After taking 4 years off, I decided to get back into the Speech Therapy field. I soon realized my whole perspective had changed. I could see how even small things can really make a difference in patients/clients/students lives. I understood that having balance between work and daily life was everything to me. And I finally realized that I was not alone in feeling overwhelmed and burn out. It seemed like every SLP I met or spoke with was feeling that way and ready to breakdown or quit.

So I decided to share my experience of working through burn out, put all of my different training together and create this site and blog as a resource. I wanted to share with you how I had finally figured it out and had balance in my life again.

I wanted to share with you how you could move away from these things, like I did, and become a much more balanced, less stressed, overwhelm-free Speech Therapist/Pathologist/Teacher. I wanted to show you how it could all be “perfect”.

But then life happened and I realized, that’s not possible.

Why? Because we are human, life is full of ups and downs, and I will never, ever be free from overwhelm and stress. And that’s ok.

Recently, my life has been full, but a bit chaotic. My husband and I moved to a new state, into a beautiful but outdated home. He started a new job that sent him to Europe for 2 weeks, while I was at our new home with visiting family and friends, trying to unpack, repair and remodel the new house, all with a toddler in the mix. And when August rolled around, I started back to work as well.

It has been beautiful at times and worth every moment, but it has also  been absolutely overwhelming.  I found myself feeling those old feelings of overwhelm, doubt and anxiety creeping in.

I felt a bit defeated. Here I was, trying to start a blog and resource for other people and SLP’s who were feeling this way, showing them that they could live this super amazing life, while I was feeling less than amazing myself. I questioned myself, thinking “Who am I to teach anyone anything about stress, when I am so stressed and anxious at the moment?” And that’s when it hit me. I was back in my former way of thinking (the way that made me quit being an SLP for 4+ years, swearing off the profession forever). I had spent years treating myself better, learning about my own needs and, finally, getting back into the field with a renewed passion for it. It didn’t mean that I was completely free of stress, overwhelm, anxiety or really tough days forever – that wouldn’t really be living or human of me – but it did mean that I could use tools that I had learned over the years to make it a little better and move through it. It meant I didn’t have to stay stuck.

So here is what I did:

  • I allowed myself to throw a fit. Then I got over it.
  • I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself “This too shall pass”.
  • I made a cup of tea.
  • I promised myself to go for a walk in the woods as soon as I could.
  • I made an effort to get more sleep that night.

The next day wasn’t perfect, but I could feel things were already turning back around. Instead of resenting the less than stellar evening I had, I looked at what I had learned from it. These simple, everyday experiences seemed like a set back at first, but then I realized, they were universal, not something I was going through alone. We all have days that feel like everything is falling apart. Sometimes it does and sometimes it gets better. The thing we need is to remember that it will pass, if we allow ourselves to move through it, and that we are not alone in it. There are thousands of other people in our field who feel absolutely lost and unsure, about their job or home life, each and every day.

Now, instead of bringing you a perfect blog, reflecting an “I’ve Made It!” lifestyle, I get to keep it real. I get to share with you how hard it was for me when I started out as an SLP and how I finally made it through (and how you might be able to make it through a little easier). I can share with you the struggles and triumphs of working in the field and balancing daily life. And I can share with you some things that help me, and that might help you in return.

I promise to never be perfect, but instead, be real, and be human.

If you are ready to start your journey towards learning from your stress and overwhelm, make sure to sign up for the SLP Toolbox for free resources.

 

Much Love,

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