Category Archives: Health care

How do you take care of yourself when you are taking care of others?

Supporting Individuals to reach their goals and ensuring they have the best Quality of Life available is what we love to do, but it can be very demanding both physically and mentally.

A few weeks back, we threw out the question “How do you practice self-care?” to our ASLS Team.

Here are some of the responses;

I practice Self-Care by singing in Smule apps, and karaoke at home, training my puppies and enjoying my bed after work😊😊

I practice self-care by listening to and exploring new music. It is amazing to find how many artists are virtually unknown but have such deep and meaningful lyrics, and then to find existing artists come out with songs that just ‘get’ you. Music has always been a comfort to me when I am feeling stressed. It drowns out the noise in my head with something positive, or something I can relate to on a deeper level and makes me feel lots better.

I practice self-care by:

– Going to the gym after work

– Using our EAP for counselling services

– Sewing, and

– Journaling

I love to laugh and sing. If I can find something to smile about then the stressful days become less stressful. For self-care, I like to do something creative like paint by number or cross-stitch or I just get outside with my sons and fly a kite.

First priority when I get home every day is to get a big hug and snuggle from my puppies, they are always so happy to see me it’s hard not to smile and be happy with them around. My husband and I have recently built a home gym, so we try and utilize it every other day. We also really enjoy cooking together, my favourite is cooking Italian. My love of cooking came from my Nona when I was young, she would give me and my siblings two options: cook or clean. I always chose cooking so I could taste test before dinner and then hit the couch after! Luckily, my husband shares my love of cooking, so we like to spend a good amount of our evening in the kitchen trying out new recipes or recreating some of our favourites.

I like to unwind with a hot cup of chamomile lavender tea and sit outside, enjoying the sounds of nature on our acreage after the kids have gone to sleep.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ― Audre Lorde

Recently, our Behavioural Program Team completed its quarterly review and we would like to share the results.

But before we get into the details, our Behavioural Program Supports Coordinator explains how the team supports our Individuals and their CSW’s.

“The Behaviour Support Team assists our frontline staff in understanding and getting to the ‘why’ of a behaviour. We do this by collecting data and information and then teaching new skills to both the Individual and the Community Support Worker (CSW). We create plans to help that process like BSP’s, Protocols and Individual-specific training. We provide coaching and on-the-floor support with the goal being that the CSW will acquire the skills to meet challenging behaviours head-on,” explains Jen Drummond.

The data collected shows a decrease in Record of Restrictive Intervention (RRI), Critical Incident Reports (CIR) and Serious Incident Reports (SIR) for two of three Individuals in our Saskatoon Lake group.

Data collected from two Individuals

One of our Individuals living at our Saskatoon Lake property saw SIR/CIR increases which have been attributed to numerous triggers. Those factors have since been identified and rectified including a change in staffing.

The team anticipates further RRI, CIR and SIR decreases for these Individuals in the future.

Jen and the rest of the Behaviour Support Team would like to extend a big THANK YOU to the Community Support Workers, Residential Coordinators and Team Leads who have put in all the hours and effort and often blood, sweat and tears, into our Individuals. YOU are the reason we’ve seen some amazing successes over the last year! Way to go, team!!

Recently, our Behavioural Supports Team asked for some feedback from our staff and the response was fantastic! The suggestions, concerns and comments were evaluated, and some changes have been made as a result. Have a look!

Behavioural Community Support Worker – Schedule Change:

· BCSWs will be moving to a four on two off rotation, including afternoon and evening hours to ensure there is better Behavioral Support coverage

Monthly Conference Meetings:

· Behavioural Support Coordinator will hold a monthly meeting with BCSWs, Residential Coordinators and Teams Leads

· Behavioral issues will be reviewed, and interventions will be discussed to ensure consistent protocols and communication

Behavioural Support Coordinator:

· Twice a month the Behavioural Support Coordinator will provide one on one feedback with CSWs in a private and distraction-free environment, CSWs can request to meet via ShareVision

· Will attend staff meetings to introduce, train and review protocols and other behavioural material

Front-Line Behavioural Support:

· 24-hour Behavioural Support will continue to be available to all staff

· Look on ShareVision for the on-call phone numbers, there will be one number to be contacted between 7am-11pm, and a different number for overnights from 11pm-7am.

Thank you to all staff for participating in our survey, your feedback is valuable to our continuous mission to improve our program.

Erika Gilroy, Program Manager

Sterling Andrews, Director of Programs