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Section 1
Track #1: The Activity Director Pressure Cooker

Table of Contents | NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet

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Note-Taking Exercise

The Activity Director Pressure Cooker

Brainstorm a list of the stressors in your facility:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Transcription of Track 1

Welcome to the Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute.  This course deals with practical techniques for coping with stress in the facility.  Please note permission has not been granted for the duplication of this copyrighted CD. 

Our primary intent for this course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979.

The author of this script is Cathy Zugel.  She holds a masters degree in Social Work, a master degree in Education, has been a licensed nursing home administrator, as well as been an activity director in a 200 bed Intermediate/Skilled facility.  Ms. Zugel is also a founding member of the National Association of Activity Professionals.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding specific tools for reducing stress in the facility.  As individual concepts are given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a notes in the Note Taking Booklet that accompanied this course, or a spiral bound notebook or in a Word, Excel or other program.   Since each track provides you with an experiential stress reduction activities, I strongly encourage you to play more than once each track to review the content or practice the technique.  Also, the Director of the Activity Department might review CD tracks prior to an inservice given to the rest of his or her staff, in order to have thought though how the exercises could be applied to your facility.  Due to time limitations one or two tracks might be played and discussed during each Activity Inservice.)

However, merely listening to a course on stress reduction, and reading the Manual, will have little effect unless you look for concepts you feel are appropriate for your situation, and actually implement them into your daily routine. 

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term "Activity Director."  However, if you use the term Activity Professional, Activity Aide, Activity Assistant, etc., please transpose the term Activity Director to be the one most meaningful to you.  If you are a staff member transpose the term most meaningful  to you.  In short, don't let my use of the term Activity Director set you off track with self-talk like, "I'm not an Activity Director, this isn't for me.  I’m an Assistant."

Also, for the purpose of brevity, I will use the term “resident.”  However, if you deal with patients, consumers, clients, etc., transpose “resident” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

This two CD set deals with such topics as:  The Pressure Cooker,  Your Quest for Cal, 4 Keys to T.R.U.E. Calm, How to Pivot to the Positive, Defusing 6D’s in your Department, Instant Calm 6 Second Skill, How to Lose your Baggage, Presence of Mind, 3 Easy Techniques, De-Stress at Work (and Keep your Job, Finding the “Little Sun” Inside You, Quieting Your Mind, Body Voices, and Sixth Sense Development Exercise.

So let’s get started

In your facility, have you ever felt like you are a tightrope walker?  On days that are going well, you walk across your tightrope, your arms gracefully stretched, your feet firmly planted on the cable.  You are balanced and in control.  However, if you lose your focus, and you start to lose your balance, how does a tightrope walker regain his or her balance?  Well, usually they lift one foot out to the side to counterbalance.  Ask yourself, what causes you to lift your foot in your facility?  If you continue to lose your focus on your tightrope, you may flail your arms around to try to regain your balance.  Then your heart may start to race, and panic sets in.  Let's go back to the first part of this illustration.  What causes you to lift your foot, or sets you off balance?

Why did you buy this course?  Did you or your facility purchase the whole Management Series, and this just happened to be part of it?  Or did you see the title related to stress, and you thought, "Wow, that's for me!"  However, if you really don't perceive a real need for decreasing stress in some area in your workday at the facility, you will finish this CD set and manual and be left thinking, "That was interesting!"  However, the Activity staff member that this course is really directed towards is the person who genuinely feels he or she has a specific stressor that you face, perhaps daily, that may be affecting their health, and perhaps even their relationships outside of the facility. 

Thus to make this a real working tool for you, throughout these tracks I will be giving you mental exercises followed by musical tones.  The musical tone is your signal to turn the CD player off and contemplate the activity I have suggested. 

For your first exercise, at the end of this track, when you hear the musical tone, turn your CD player off , and I want you to, if you're in your car, make a mental list, or if you are able to write in the Note taking booklet, that accompanied this course, make a written list  of any and all stressors.   If you are writing names, perhaps of other employees in your facility, and you feel other staff may see your Note-Taking Booklet, you might use initials or some other system you are comfortable with.   But start thinking about the answer to the question “What makes me lift my foot because I have been thrown off balance on my tightrope at work?”, so to speak.  Think, “Who or what is stressful in my facility?” 

To get you started, let me give you five stressors that may arise due to the CMS Culture Change Surveyor Guidelines.   These Guidelines are briefly outlined in the front of the manual that accompanies this course and in your Note-Taking Booklet.  See if you can relate to any of these stressors in your facility?

Possible stressor #1. Hester was taken out of Bingo, one of her favorite activities.  The CNA stated, “Hester is scheduled for a shower now.” 

Possible stressor #2. You discovered Effie loves to wind yarn in her room.  You have given an inservice to CNA’s regarding providing resident with activities you have left in their room.  However, CNAs are not taking on this added responsibility.

Stressor #3. Mary was not transported to the Bible study conducted by her church.

Stressor #4.  Once again Harry had been given his medication, which causes him to be drowsy, prior to the Men’s Discussion Group.  So he dozed during the entire discussion.

Stressor #5.  When you came to get Helen for the weekly Crafts session, one of her favorite activities, she was not in room.  Helen’s Speech Therapy had not been changed, so it still prevents here from attending her favorite activity.

Do any of these sound familiar?

Now turn the CD player off when you hear the tone, and make your list, either in writing or mentally.  MUSIC

At this point, you may be saying, "Gee, I thought this course was a stress reduction course.  Now,  you have me thinking about all of my stressors. I find myself feeling not only stressed, but maybe frustrated and even upset about some of the things that go on at my facility!”  Well, I'm going to change all of that, hopefully when we get to track 3, but at this point and on Track 2,  I need to increase your awareness of some current thought patterns you may have regarding events you are defining as stressful. These stressors are perpetuating your stress and perhaps keeping you off balance with not only your foot in the air but psychologically flailing your arms around.  On track 2, I'm going to walk you through four questions that most people think about when they are thinking about the stressors you just listed or thought about. 

But let’s stop a minute.  Are you just listening to the this CD saying to yourself, “Gee that’s interesting,” but not putting any real thought into actually listing stressors in your facility?  If you are, you might consider how you use procrastination, saying “I’ll do this exercise next time I listed to the this track, or when I have more time.”  But the problem is “next time” or when you have more time often never really comes.  I challenge you to change now! Not later!  If you are riding in you car, turn your CD player off and list in you mind your main 2, 3, or 4 stressors at work, if you already have not done so. 


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