An Antidote for the Christmas Blues ...

Monday, December 12, 2011

An Antidote for the Christmas Blues ...

Are you feeling exhausted, depleted, and just a little bah-humbuggy?

Tired of adding lists and shopping malls to an already overfull life?

Hearing your voice sounding more irritated than joyful?

Caring so much for others that you've lost the larger picture?

Then, make yourself a nice hot drink, curl up in your favourite chair and watch this wonderful video clip, borrowed from one of Barbara Stahura's latest posts. By the time you're done, I guarantee that your perspective will have shifted and that your nervous system will have begun to calm. (The clip's best viewed in a full screen format.)

And, if you have a little more time - time to spend with your journal or just thinking quietly in your chair - you might want to consider completing one or more of these sentences -

1. The ordinary things for which I'm grateful this holiday season are ...

2. The miracles of life that make my heart sing are ...

3. The things that truly matter this holiday season include ...

4. The experiences that have made me smile this week are ...

5. The things for which I'm hopeful are ...

May this video, the sentence stems, and the thoughts and feelings that spring from them, chase away some of the humbugs and bring you "a really good day".

(This lovely film was made by filmmaker, Louie Swartzberg, with music by Gary Malkin and narration from Brother David Steindl-Rast.)

No comments:

Hello and Welcome!

Hi! I'm Jan Spilman, the founder and principal of Caregiver Wellness Workshops, a Vancouver-based provider of workshops and retreats dedicated to the healing, refreshment and revitalization of people-who-help-people.

I am a Compassion Fatigue and Chronic Sorrow Specialist and BC Registered Clinical Counsellor with a Master's degree in Mental Health Education.

After 10 years as an acute and critical care nurse, 19 years as a trauma and grief therapist in private practice, and 7 years as a family carepartner caring for my husband until his death from heart failure in 2004, my passion is helping people-who-help-people to live well with the stress of their personal and professional care-giving.

I'm pleased to offer workshops on a variety of topics including:

* compassion fatigue recovery & resilience,

* emotional resilience in family caregivers,

* living well with chronic sorrow,

* sustaining hope and

* the Enneagram as a source of personal growth and a counter to emotional reactivity in the workplace and at home.

I would be delighted to hear from you!

COVID-19

COVID has disrupted our lives in so many ways, including our ability to gather physically for workshops. Additionally, our ability to gather online has been complicated by the mountaintop location of my office and its unreliable internet service.

I'm hopeful that by Fall 2021 or New Year 2022, we will be able to meet once again, physically, for the Caring On Empty workshop for helping professionals and the Chronic Sorrow workshop for family caregivers - workshops that will be all the more needed and valuable after another few months of life with COVID.

If you would like a workshop now and have the technological capacity to bring me in as a speaker, please do contact me for a Speaker Information Kit and a conversation.

In the meantime, know that I'm thinking of you all and sending you my warmest care and encouragement,

Jan

Presentation Feedback

I think your presentation was fantastic, and this sentiment was shared by everyone I spoke to! I was most curious to hear feedback from the psychologist who works in my clinic, as this is more her area than mine and she thought you were absolutely stellar!

In fact, you were the one I appreciated most during the entire conference. Part of the great impact of your presentation is that you have the ripple effect of making us happier people and therefore better clinicians. (Rather than merely increasing our knowledge base in a specific area with the scientific part of the meeting.)

I think that your area is very much overlooked for all healthcare professionals, and an area that has huge impact on patient care!

I found myself (talking) about your lecture to one of the physicians I work with who commented that you would be great for our hospital wide rounds here and/or their physician wellness program. I did forward your contact information and hope that more people can benefit from your expertise!

I sincerely hope to be able to hear you speak again. You have a refreshing and real take on things.

Jenny Wichart, BScPharm, ACPR

Paediatric Nephrology & Transplant Pharmacist

Alberta Children's Hospital

Calgary, Alberta

2010 CST Conference Liaison

Jan developed several workshops for health care professionals and nonprofessionals. Evaluations were very positive. They remarked on Jan's ability to connect with people on a deep level and to effect change in outlook and practice.

Adaire Leander, RN, MSN, CHPCNS
Former Advanced Practice Nurse
Fraser Health Hospice/Palliative Care Program
Burnaby, BC

Jan is an OUTSTANDING adult educator! The learners nod their heads in recognition and understanding.

Cindy Bouvet, MEd, RT

Coordinator - North Shore Caregiver Support Project

North Vancouver, BC

I attended the in-service you gave September 20th with the MS Society. The information and techniques you shared were wonderful and definitely made a profound impact on everyone I spoke with. I think the most important aspect was that the information is excellent to share with caregivers we interact with, but also a critical "pit stop" for us all to do some self reflection.

Sonja

MS Client Services Staff

Vancouver, BC

Terrific presentation - well timed for me! Thanks for tossing the lifesaver! I will recommend this workshop.

Healthcare Professional

Whitehorse Hospital, Yukon

Just simply excellent! Your presentation was well paced, well-organized, thought-provoking and very empathic. Excellent content and suggestions with wonderful vignettes of your personal experience. Your insights were calming and supportive of our experiences.

Caregiver Support Professional

Victoria, BC

Feeling inspired! I will take home so much from this day to use for a lifetime.

Hospice Professional

Vancouver, BC

Absolutely the most helpful workshop I have ever been to. I've come away feeling better able to cope with the work I do. Jan, thank you!

Children's Hospice Professional

Vancouver, BC

Workshop Availability

I am generally available to teach on Tuesday

through Saturday. Please email me at caregiverwellness@shaw.ca for a Speaker Information Kit with rates and details.

Workshops can be booked by agencies and organizations or by more informal groups of 12 or more individuals who locate their own venue and share the speaker's fee and expenses.

If you are outside the Lower Mainland and hope to reduce travel costs, try checking the schedule for a time when I am already in your community and choose a date close to that time.

I am sometimes able to teach at short notice so please do ask. I may have a time slot available for you.

Some Previous Workshops

* BC-Yukon Heart & Stroke Foundation

* Canadian Association of Transplantation

* Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver

* Pacific Institute on Addiction Studies

* BC School Counsellors Association

* Justice Institute of BC Trauma Conference

* BC Children's Hospital

* St David's United Church, West Vancouver

* BC College of Family Physicians

* Caregivers Association of BC

* Fraser Health Hospice Palliative Care

* Lions Gate Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation

* BC Paraplegic Association

* Vancouver Coastal Health Geropsychiatric

Continuing Education

* Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses -

Canadian Cardiovascular Congress

* BC Ass'n of Speech & Language Pathologists

* BC Women's Hospital

* Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary

* Whitehorse Hospital Corporation, Yukon

* MS Society of BC

* Union of Psychiatric Nurses of BC

* Central Cariboo Hospice-Palliative Care Society

* Surrey School Board

* Ridge Meadows Hospice Society

* Crossroads Hospice, Pt Moody

* Lions Gate Hospital Social Work Department

* VCH Older Adult Mental Health Team (North Shore)

* Vancouver Infant Development Program

* BC Pregnancy Outreach Programs

* Q'wemtsin Health Society, Kamloops

* Prince George Rotary Hospice

* Central Okanagan Professional Caregivers Society

* Kamloops Hospice

* Family Caregivers BC, Victoria

* RCMP Victim Services

* BC Funeral Association, Victoria & Abbotsford

* Pr George Regional Hospital/Northern Health

* Vancouver Island Health Authority Palliative &

End of Life Care

* Greater Vancouver Food Bank Volunteers

* Canuck Place Children's Hospice

* Lower Mainland Palliative Care Physicians Retreat

* Children's Organ Transplant Society & Starlight

Children's Foundation

... and others.

What is Compassion Fatigue?

CF is a serious but natural negative consequence of working with people who are suffering or traumatized.

It is a trauma response that causes symptoms of posttraumatic stress culminating in a helper's loss of capacity for, or interest in, being empathic or compassionate with others' suffering. It almost always coexists with burnout.

Put differently, CF occurs when the trauma we've experienced directly in our own lives (primary traumatic stress) converges with the trauma we've experienced indirectly through hearing stories of others' suffering (secondary traumatic stress) in the presence of pre-existing burnout. Baranowsky & Gentry, 2008)

What is Chronic Sorrow?

What is the Enneagram?

The Enneagram (pronounced ANY-a-gram) is a surprisingly accurate and dynamic system of nine fundamentally different personality types. Each type has different patterns of thinking, feeling and acting and a different unconscious motivation. Each person within a type sees the world and responds to it in similar ways.

The Enneagram differs from other personality typing systems like the Myers-Briggs in that it focuses on the motivation behind our behaviour rather than the behaviour itself. Rather than "putting people in a box", as some might assume, the Enneagram helps to free us from the "box of our unexamined personalities".

By working with the Enneagram over time, we develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and others and learn alternatives to our own habitual patterns of behaviour. We can break free from worn-out coping strategies, become more accepting of ourselves and others, and begin to see life from a broader, more compassionate perspective.

The Enneagram is particularly useful to those seeking Compassion Fatigue resilience as it can help us to identify our personality-based areas of emotional reactivity (the things that push our buttons). And, when combined with appropriate self-regulation strategies, it offers us individualized pathways for returning to a state of calm.