Stress Relief & Relaxation Techniques for Serving Underserved Populations

1. Stress Relief & Relaxation Techniques for Serving Underserved Populations Jenisa Thompson, AMFT & Elizabeth Holden Presenter Name

2. Who We Are? One Life Counseling Center is a local non-profit committed to serving the community. We provide low-cost and accessible mental health treatment to anyone. Our main belief is that money should never be a deterrent or barrier to mental health services. We provide community programs such as school-based counseling, support groups, music and memory in senior residential facilities, art therapy groups, and many more!

3. First: Taking care of YOU

4. Techniques for Caregivers • Mindfulness • Active Listening • Cultural Humility • Managing Compassion Fatigue • Self-Care

5. Mindfulness Mindfulness: “awareness without judgement of what is, via direct and immediate experience”... most of us cannot let our judgements fall away and usually do things automatically without noticing what we are doing. Examples: • While having a dessert, you are not thinking about “is it good or bad to eat this,” you eat it, enjoy it, and are not looking around the room to see who you know or who to talk to. • While dancing, you dance to music and experience every note, instead of wondering if you look graceful or foolish

6. Mindfulness Example: Perhaps you are sitting in a session with a therapist who cares about you and has a kid expression on her face; but you’re not looking at her face...not really. Instead, you are feeling so self-conscious and ashamed that you begin to “space out”. You miss a moment of connection with someone who cares for you and instead have one more moment of rejecting yourself.

7. Mindfulness Summary: Mindfulness is awareness, without judgement, of life as it is, yourself as you are, other people as they are, in the here and now, via direct and immediate experience. When you are mindful, you are awake to life on its terms. “The repetitive act of directing your attention to only one thing in the one moment” means training your mind to pay attention to what you choose to pay attention to instead of letting your mind hijack you.

8. Mindfulness • Practice: Get in a comfortable position that won't cause you discomfort, with your feet on the floor and you back straight but not tense. Sit still and breathe normally. Focus on your breathing. Now, just watch your thoughts for a few minutes. Don’t try to force thoughts or think specific thoughts. Don’t push some away or hold on tight to others. Just watch what your mind generates. If your mind wanders away from watching your thoughts (like planning what you will do after this conference), just notice that it wandered and gently bring it back. If you start to judge yourself, your thoughts, or this practice (“this is such a waste of time”), just notice your judgements and go back to watching your thoughts. Practice for 5 minutes.

9. Mindfulness How did that feel? Especially when working with clients who are underserved and possibly enduring incredible stress, it is important to remain mindful and present when interacting with them. Good mindful practice, leads you to a sense of humbleness, gentleness and patience which can be a critical emotional state for you, the caregiver, to be in during situations that have already escalated.

10. Active Listening Active Listening: making a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, try to understand the complete message being sent. In order to do this you must pay attention to the other person very carefully. You cannot allow yourself to become distracted by whatever else may be going on around you, or by forming counter arguments to make once the person has stopped speaking. Nor can you allow yourself to get bored or lose focus.

11. Active Listening By becoming a better listener, you will improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade and negotiate. Also, you will avoid conflict and misunderstanding!

12. Active Listening *Tip: If you are finding it difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, try repeating their words mentally as they say them-- this will reinforce their message and help you stay focused *Tip: Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness. By understanding your personal style of communicating, you will go a long way towards creating good and lasting impressions with others

13. Active Listening Reflection: Have you ever been engaged in a conversation when you wondered if the other person was listening to what you were saying? How do these experiences make you feel?

14. Active Listening 1. Pay Attention • Give the speaker your undivided attention, and acknowledge the message. Recognize that non-verbal communication also “speaks” loudly. • Look at the speaker directly • Put aside distracting thoughts • Don’t mentally prepare a rebuttal • Avoid being distracted by environmental factors, like side-conversations • “Listen” to the speaker’s body language

15. Active Listening 2. Show That You’re Listening • Use your own body language and gestures to convey your attention. • Nod occasionally • Smile and use other facial expressions • Note your posture and make sure it is open and inviting • Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes, and uh huh

16. Active Listening 3. Provide Feedback • As a listener, your role is to understand what is being said. This may require you to reflect on what is being said and ask questions • Reflect what has been said by paraphrasing: “What I am hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are saying…” • Ask questions to clarify certain points. “What do you mean when you say…?” and “Is this what you mean…?” • Summarize the speaker’s comments periodically • Validate the other person’s feelings and experience, when appropriate

17. Active Listening 4. Defer Judgment • Interrupting is a waste of time. It frustrates the speaker and limits full understanding of the message • Allow the speaker to finish each point before asking questions • Don’t interrupt with counter arguments

18. Active Listening *TIP: If you find yourself responding emotionally to what someone said, say so, and ask for more information: “I may not be understanding you correctly, and I find myself reacting in ___ way. What I thought you said is _____; is that what you meant?”

19. Active Listening 5 . Respond Appropriately • Active listening is a model for respect and understanding. You are gaining information and perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker or otherwise putting him or her down. • Be candid, open, and honest in your response. • Assert your opinions, respectively. • Treat the other person in a way that you think he/she/they would want to be treated

20. Cultural Humility (Melanie Tervalon, MD, MPH & Jann Murray-Garcia, MD, MPH) “Cultural humility incorporates a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique, to re-addressing power imbalances… and to developing mutually beneficial, non-paternalistic partnerships with communities on behalf of individuals and defined populations.”

21. Cultural Humility • Understanding Privilege • Age • Disabilities (developmental & acquired) • Religion • Ethnicity • Sexual orientation • Socio-economic status • Indigenous heritage • National origin • Gender

22. Compassion Fatigue

23. Compassion Fatigue: How to Avoid it • Take a “mental health day” when needed • Work with a team that you trust • Laugh, joke, have time to unwind • Have a holistic approach to taking care of myself-- mind, body, feelings, spirituality. • Let go, do not allow stress or take on others’ stress, reduce anxiety, recognize choices • Build a trustful and supportive relationship with your supervisor

24. Compassion Fatigue: Solutions • Get and give feedback with supervisor and peers • Be assertive with feelings and concerns • Let people know my limits • Process, talk things out. Talk to a healthcare professional, if needed. • Feel safe in your work environment • Stay organized. • Any other ideas?

25. Self-Care Self-Care: any activity we do deliberately in an effort to take care of our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Something that refuels us, not something we feel that we “have to do.” It is about understanding and taking care of your own needs, which then allows us to take care of others. • Have rituals to transfer from work to home • Leave the pain in your car or in the bathroom while leaving work

26. Self-Care Reflection: Take a moment to think of at least 1 way you can practice self-care in each section of the Wellness Wheel: Spiritual, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Social, Environmental, Financial

27. Ways to help destress the underserved… Now that your bucket is full… you can help others better.

28. Trauma Informed Care • A trauma-informed system is one in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the varying impact of traumatic stress on children, caregivers, and those who have contact with the system • Programs and organizations within the system infuse this knowledge, awareness, and skills into their organizational cultures, policies, and practices. • Child Welfare Training Toolkit, 2008

29. Trauma Informed Care • How do I understand this person? What happened to them? • Instead of • Why are they acting crazy? Why don’t they just stop? Why are they doing this to me?

30. Trauma Informed Care In order to promote cooperation and trust • Help the individual regain a sense of choice, even in small ways • Emphasize safety, collaboration, and empowerment • Creating a safe space and being aware of triggers

32. Lastly, Serving underserved populations using the four R’s

33. Simple Coping Skills to Pass Along

34. Simple Coping Skills Distraction • Watch your favorite movie • Listen to songs you enjoy • Go for a walk • Call a friend

35. Simple Coping Skills Grounding • Direct awareness to the feet by moving them • Push feet into ground while sitting or standing • Gently stomp, stand, walk

36. Breathing Exercises • 4-counts or Box Breathing

37. “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are”Anais Nin

38. Questions