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Archive for category: Original Posts

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Flexible Work Arrangements: No Longer Working “9 to 5”

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

Co-written by Occupational Therapy student Carolyn Rocca

I have several commutes.  If I bring my laptop home, one commute is to my dining room table.  If I leave my laptop at the office, I have a seven-minute drive (eight in traffic) before I am sitting at my desk.  If I am required to be in Toronto for 8:30am, my commute starts at 6:00am for a drive that in “good traffic” would only take me 50 minutes.

With more and more people living away from work so they can afford more sizable housing, more property, or even perhaps a desire or need to stay close to extended family and child care, Flexible Work Schedules are becoming more valued, and dare I say, necessary.

Flexible work schedules are arrangements that allow employees the opportunity to better juggle their family and personal responsibilities that typically conflict with the traditional Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-5 work week. These arrangements can take several forms, including: working a set number of hours with flexible and agreed upon start and end times, working longer days in exchange for a day off, or requesting time off for personal reasons and offering to make it up by working longer hours on another day.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2014 69% of couple families with at least one child were dual-earner families, representing quite an increase from 36% in 1976. As the number of dual-earner families continues to rise, the option of flexible work schedules will become increasingly enticing for such families who struggle to get their kids on the school bus in time for their lengthy commute. In 2012, an estimated 36% of Canadian employees with caregiving responsibilities had flexible hours, and this value will likely continue to rise. As they say, times have changed, and this seems to be a change for the better.

Canada’s 2012 General Social Survey reports that having a flexible schedule that allows employees to choose when their work day starts and ends was associated with slightly greater satisfaction. In fact, 79% of employees with a flexible work schedule reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their work–life balance, compared to 73% of those whose schedule was not flexible.

More specifically, studies that have explored the benefits of flexible work schedules for employees suggest that they improve overall work-life balance, reduce workplace stress and health-related symptoms, and increase job satisfaction and organizational commitment, ultimately maintaining their connection to the labor market. These advantages go both ways, as these arrangements benefit employers by enhancing recruitment and retention, reducing absenteeism, and increasing productivity, naturally leading to reduced costs.

So what does this shift towards flexible work options mean for you if you have a disability, and me as an occupational therapist?  If you need to return to work following injury or illness, an occupational therapist is well-equipped to help you and your employer devise workplace accommodations to gradually resume your full-time duties, and flexible hours makes this transition more feasible and likely to be successful.  For example, if sitting for long periods is challenging, but sitting is a necessary part of your job, then we don’t want your “sitting clock” to be “ticking” while you are stuck in traffic.  If flexible work hours can get you at your desk faster, allowing you more time to work and less time to aggravate your symptoms in the car, then a supportive employer should see the benefit of that – for you and them.  Also, if as part of your recovery you continue to require medical oversight or treatment by other providers, a flexible work schedule will allow you the freedom to maintain your treatment schedule, while still gradually resuming job duties.

If flexible work hours can benefit both employer and employee, both within and outside of a rehabilitation process, then I say “just ask for it”….and work with your employer to develop a program and schedule that works for both of you.

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Solutions for Living with Spinal Cord Injury

The number one cause of spinal cord injury is car accidents, but falls in the elderly are also rising as precipitating factor.  Those suffering from a spinal cord injury struggle with mobility, bowel and bladder control, muscle spasms, and many other secondary effects of being unable to walk or use their upper body.  Occupational Therapists are integral to the process of adjusting to life post spinal cord injury as we look at all areas of function and promote independence through creative solutions to immobility.

Learn more about the solutions an Occupational Therapist provides in the following infographic.

Learn more about living with a spinal cord injury in our previous blog post:  Spinal Cord Injury 101 – Julie’s Picks.

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The Ultimate Weekly Meal Planner

When it comes to eating well, taking time to plan your meals is the number one way to ensure you eat healthy.  It prevents reactive eating, saves time, money and ensures you eat a healthier diet.

Each Saturday or Sunday take time to plan your menu for the week ahead and shop accordingly.  Doing so will save those extra trips to the grocery store or drive-thru which cost you time and money.

Use our FREE printable Weekly Meal Planner to help!  Simply print and fill out each week.

Weekly Meal PlannerFor more helpful tools visit our Printable Resources page.

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Forming Healthy Habits

In my work as an Occupational Therapist I am often asked to help people learn to manage or improve their behavior.  Things they want to stop or start doing, and how to get there, become the topic of our treatment sessions.  But my response in these situations is often the same and my approach is to encourage people make “lifestyle” and not just “behavior” changes when it comes to improving function or health.  After all, if behavior (be·hav·ior) is: “the way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially toward others” and a lifestyle (life·style) is: “the way in which a person or group lives”, then there is a difference between acting and living.  My job is to coach the latter.

Modifying behavior helps, but how do we turn this into a lifestyle?  By forming healthy habits.  In the words of Jim Rohn:   “motivation is what gets you started… Habit is what keeps you going!”

Use our Daily Habit Tracker to help you work turn your new healthy habits into a lifestyle.

Simply print, fill in your goals or “habits” and record each day if these goals were or were not met.

Learn more about turning your healthy goals into lifestyle changes in our post:  Healthy is a Lifestyle, Not Just a Behaviour.

habit-trackerAccess more helpful tools for children and adults on our printable resources page.

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Blue Monday and Beyond — Tips to Beat the Winter Blues

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

I made a comment after the Holidays that I was slowly recovering from Christmas Affective Disorder.  For me, Christmas is stressful, hectic and challenging.  I struggle with it every year.  After the seasonal rush, it takes me days, or even weeks, to get back to my normal equilibrium.  However, really, winter despair is not a joke and for some, can be debilitating.

In fact, some research suggests that up to 15% of people in Ontario experience the “winter blues”. These leave you feeling tired, groggy, and maybe even sad or irritable.  While this causes discomfort, it is not incapacitating.  However, a more serious form of the winter blues, known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), can be.  While occurring less frequently at 2-3% of the population, the symptoms can prevent individuals from leading a normal life.  Symptoms of SAD include decreased energy, changes in appetite, especially leading to cravings for starchy or sweet foods, oversleeping and weight gain, among other things.  If you feel this is you, talk to your doctor and have your symptoms investigated.

The problem is not always the blues, but how these create a negative behavior cycle.  When you feel down, you revert, avoid, or change habits.  This leads to feeling worse and the cycle continues.  Occupational therapists (OTs) recognize the importance of being engaged in activities that are meaningful, active and productive, and understand how these contribute to health and well-being. In fact, one of the best treatments for beating the winter blues involves just “keep on keeping on” by doing what you normally do every day.  Some tips include:

 1.       Use behavioral activation to keep your normal routine.  Make the bed, have a shower, prepare a decent breakfast, walk to the mail box.  Don’t change habits that are ingrained just because it is winter.  Never underestimate how damaging it can be if you avoid even small things that ultimately add up to a productive day.  Gradually try to get back to those important tasks if you have found that your daily behaviors have become unproductive.

2.       Stay active.  Those that love the winter do so because they get outdoors.  Walk, ski, skate, toboggan – something to help you appreciate how wonderful a change of seasons can be.  This is best facilitated by proper clothing that will keep you warm.  If exercise is tough for you, build it into your day by default – park farther from the door, use the stairs, make a few trips from the car with the groceries to get the blood flowing.

3.       Consider light therapy.  Sit by the window at lunch, get some fresh air when the sun is out, or consider purchasing an artificial light for your use at home.

4.       Up the nutrients.  When some bad eating habits creep into your winter these can be hard to break come spring, and only contribute to further mood declines.  Shop in the fruit and veggie isles, and avoid the isles that house the bad foods you seem to be eating too much of.

Finding ways to help you do the things you want to, need to, or enjoy, is at the heart of occupational therapy. While the winter months can be long, dark, and cold, ultimately how we adapt to the seasonal change is up to us.  If moving or going south is not an option, consider some of the above tips to make the winter bearable, or dare I say, even enjoyable?

Seasonal Affective Disorder. (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2013) http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/
Beat The Winter Blues (Readers Digest, no date) http://www.readersdigest.ca/health/healthy-living/beat-winter-blues
Kurlansik, SL & Ibay, AD. (2012).
Seasonal Affective Disorder. Am Fam Physician. 2012 Dec 1;86(11):1037-1041.
10 Winter Depression Busters for Seasonal Affective Disorder (Borchard, no date) http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/12/30/10-winter-depression-busters-for-seasonal-affective-disorder/

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Goal Planning Barriers and Facilitators

Now that you’ve set goals for the year ahead using our SMART Goal Planning worksheet, let’s delve deeper into how to achieve these goals by looking at barriers and facilitators towards success.  While a barrier is something that may stand in the way of you achieving your goal, such as time or budget constraints, a facilitator is something that can help you, such as a helpful friend or professional.

Considering the goals you’ve set take time to look at the barriers and how you will overcome these and the facilitators you can utilized to help you reach your goal using our printable worksheets.

barriers-goal-planning

 

facilitators-goal-planning

 

If you’re looking for more helpful tools, be sure to visit our Printable Resources page. 

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PTSD and Occupational Therapy

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

From when I was a teen I have been highly sensitive to movies, news stories, songs or videos that involve violence (particularly against women).  In fact, I avoid movies and shows in general (beyond thoughtless sitcoms or socially interesting reality TV), fearing that I will see (or hear) a bothersome scene.  If my screening process fails and I catch something disturbing, I have problems sleeping for days as the images or sounds replay in my mind.   In talking to my friend about this, she asked me a pointed question:  Do you think you have PTSD?

Her question was referring to her knowledge of my experience as a teenager in 1991:  My former elementary classmate Leslie Mahaffy and later Kristen French were both abducted, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered by the notorious Paul Bernardo and his wife Carla Homolka.  Kristen’s body was found near my community.  Not long after, Nina de Villier was abducted and murdered after leaving for a run from the tennis club where I played and her brother was my double’s partner.  I was part of the search party for Nina in the days of her disappearance and following these tragedies my mother became involved in an organization developed by Nina’s mother Prescilla called “Canadians Against Violence” (CAVEAT).  Over the next few years I assisted with the organization at times, meeting many people whose lives were horribly impacted by the tragic loss of a daughter or sister, or who were victimized, stalked and threatened (some ongoing) by men.  Now, as a mother of four girls, I recognize that these experiences still foundationally impact how I parent and I try to not let my fears about the safety of my girls restrict them from experiencing the important milestones of growing up.

Whether I have friend-diagnosed PTSD or not, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, PTSD is a mental illness. It involves exposure to trauma involving death or the threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence.  In general, the traumatic event involves real or threatened physical harm to the self or to others, and causes intense fear, hopelessness, and/or horror. Emotional impairment results due to anxiety, depression, recurrent flashbacks, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and feelings of guilt of having survived when others may not have (Stats Canada).  In the military, one in six are reported to experience PTSD as a result of their service (Learn more from the Globe and Mail).

Occupational therapy, a profession vested in helping people to function safely and independently in their life-roles, is often one of the many health care providers that can assist people to overcome the symptoms associated with PTSD.  Problems like anxiety, depression, flashbacks, difficultly sleeping and concentrating, and overcoming feelings of guilt can be tackled through: cognitive and / or behavioral strategies aimed at increasing activity participation slowly over time; by identifying, recording and sharing thoughts and feelings; and through engagement in healing-focused activities.  Occupational therapists break down life tasks into smaller and manageable chunks to grade the successful return to meaningful roles.  Over time, previously challenging tasks become easier as we help people master the roadblocks that are preventing their successful engagement in function.

However, with something as significant as PTSD, it will be the collaboration of multiple professionals helping the client to overcome their challenges that will have the most impact.  Medical doctors, social work, psychology, psychotherapy, even massage, art or yoga therapy can help to provide a holistic approach to helping people move beyond these often crippling experiences.  If you have PTSD and this is impacting your ability to do the things you need or want to do, please seek the help of professionals.

As for me, I don’t currently have the goal of wanting to return to watching movies and shows riddled with violence, rape and murder.  I personally don’t find that entertaining and actually wonder why other people do.  I am not sure I will ever understand, PTSD or not, why people derive pleasure watching (even if simulated) images of people’s horrible mistreatment.  So, I will stay in my bubble for now enjoying Modern Family, Survivor and The Amazing Race.  However, if my past does start to impact my ability to parent my girls, participate in activities I would otherwise enjoy, or snags my engagement in any other necessary or important area of my life, I will surely reach out for help.

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The Complete Guide to New Year’s Resolution Success

For many of us, this is when we take time to reflect on the previous year, and set Resolutions or Goals for the year ahead. However, significant research highlights that many people who set resolutions for the year end up abandoning these before the end of January.

Why does this happen and how can you ensure the positive changes you wish to make come to fruition?

Follow our guide to help you create resolutions you can achieve and start you on your best year yet!

 

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Beating the Holiday Blues: The Top 5 Things to Consider when Giving Back This Holiday Season

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

Tis the season for me to carefully balance my dislike for the Holiday season with my desire to not bring those around me down with my “baa-hum-bug” attitude.  My hate-on for Christmas started in my late 20’s probably around the time I had four kids under age 5 and through some lack of communication among my family, my kids had like 15 presents to unwrap EACH.  No, I am not complaining that my kids have access to such “abundance” by some very loving and well-meaning people, but with this display of affection comes a parent’s concern that their child will love Christmas because of the stuff.  And the more stuff they get, the more they want.  The more they want, the more they miss the point on the difference between want and need and the more they expect the “bar” to be raised with each passing year.

So, in my search to not pass on my “hate-on for the holidays” gene to my children, I landed on charity and acts of service to balance the fact that they, like most of their friends, live in abundance but still need to be mindful and grateful that they get a lot of what they want, while “needing” nothing.  After all, most of us can give something and there are so many options for this.  This new approach has been helping me to beat the Holiday Blues for the last few years.  It helps me to slow down, reflect, and be mindful and grateful for the things I have and can provide others, and for the pleasures of my own life. 

But in stepping out and getting my girls involved in local charities over the holidays, I have realized that there is an art to “giving” that can have the most impact.

Here are my Top 5 Things to Consider when Giving Back This Holiday Season:

Donate Money – good and responsible charities are appreciative of every dollar.  From the Salvation Army Bell Ringers to putting in a payment online or in the mail.  Money does help.  Search online with your kids to find a charity close to your heart, and have every member of the family donate.

Donate Items – some charities collect food, clothing, toys, or housewares to provide to those in need.  Time to purge those things you don’t need or use.  But before you donate items, ASK the charity what they need and HOW they want the items provided.  If they want new toys, these need to be packaged and un-used.  If they want them unwrapped then don’t take the time to wrap them – it only adds cost and time for you, and cost and time for the charity to unwrap the item before distributing.  Also, ASK what age groups they have a hard time providing for.  I was volunteering at the Good Shepherd recently and they had an abundance of items for small children, but very few for teens.  If you ask them, they will tell you the age categories they struggle to provide for.  Lastly, be sensitive.  If the charity is serving refugees or people immigrating from war-torn countries, toys that involve violence or war (i.e. guns or tanks) might not be appropriate and will need to be screened out by the charity before providing it to the recipient, again adding time and administration during a busy season.

Purchase Charity Goods – some charities sell “goods” that provide an item with a donation.  World Wildlife Federation sells small stuffed animals to represent an “endangered species” and most of the cost of the animal goes to the charity.  So, for $40.00 my child gets an “endangered stuffie” with a certificate about the animal they have adopted, and the charity gets $32.00 as a donation to their cause.  This is also true of other charities that aim to sell farm animals or agriculture supplies that are provided to third world countries.

Support Events – many charities offer dinners, auctions, or other seasonal events to raise money.  This is a great way to donate while engaging in an “experience” with a friend, partner or as a family.

Donate Time – sometimes donating your time reaps the best reward for you and the charity.  Not only does it provide you with an opportunity to see how the organization operates and allow you to be “hands on” in making a difference, it saves the charity from needing to fund staffing to manage the busy holiday season.  I have been at the Good Shepherd three times this month doing anything from sorting clothing donations, food donations, stocking housewares on the shelves in their store, and sorting toys for their Christmas hampers.  There are many organizations that just need some extra hands during the holiday season and sometimes our time is our most impactful gift.

Today on our blog we begin our annual tradition of giving back to our readers with the 12 Days of Inspiration.  We hope you find these uplifting stories a source of inspiration and hope this Holiday Season.