CHILD LIFE COOPERATIVE



Child Life Cooperative Reflective Meditations for Healthcare Heroes General OutlineOutline for intro episodeOutline for each reflection1234567Record each reflectionCreate music Edit Ethan record “Child Life Cooperative Podcast” introRelease intro episode firstCanva IG designs for each day Email professors/managers Intro Episode:Hello Child Life Cooperative Community!There certainly has been a lot that has happened since the Child Life Cooperative Podcast has taken a hiatus due to my grad school work and now having a second little baby. But I wanted to share a few things on my heart with the launch of a special podcast series before I go back into grad school hibernation for the Spring semester. As we come through the holiday season, not only is the stress of donations, patient care needs, and special events mounting, it is all taking place in a time where our world is experiencing incredible hurt. A global pandemic, polarizing politics, ongoing racial tensions, skyrocketing unemployment rates…the list can go on and on. For healthcare workers especially, COVID 19 is overwhelming hospital systems in a horrific way. And speaking from my own experience, I already struggled with feeling like I could never do enough or be enough for patients and families before the pandemic…how much more my heart aches for the helpless, exhausting nature for our healthcare heroes with the present demands. Whether you are a practicing child life specialist in a hospital or alternative setting, a child life parent who has now had to take a step back to be with children at home due to remote learning, a student facing impossible new barriers to your learning and experience, or maybe another healthcare worker pressing on to serve the great needs around you, now more than ever it is critical we take time to reflect and be still. And yet, I can speak for myself that rarely, if ever, would I actually take time to sit and reflect. And yet, this is a powerful practice to help us better learn, grow, and make meaning from the experiences around us. Self-reflection (meaning exploration of experiences and feelings) is a proven way to aid in professional practice. It can help us better adapt to the hardships around us, improve our work with others, and empower us in times of difficulty. Through meditation (which is a “state of deep peace that occurs when the mind is calm and silent”) and self-reflection, I want to help guide us all in taking a step back from the screaming noise around us. By sorting through our thoughts, identifying lies, and clinging to truth, my hope is that we will give space to grow and develop in spite of the crushing barriers around us. With growing burnout, anxiety, and fatigue due to the nature of our circumstances around us, I am taking a brief break from my hiatus to release season 3 of this podcast. But it will look a bit different than the past of hearing stories from child life professionals. Instead of listening to others voices, I want to give you an opportunity to listen to YOUR voice. These short episodes will walk you through ways to listen to your thoughts to lead to greater peace, motivation, and meaning. Here are just a few ways you can consider using each episode to promote calm in chaos, stillness in the storm:Make a practice to listen to an episode before or after your shift or on break. Wherever you listen, do so in an environment that is quiet, free from distraction, and that can allow you the stillness you need. Try to make a habit or routine of carving out the space to be quiet and to reflect. While you are listening, perhaps you would like to write down and journal your thoughts as they come to you. If you are a manager or director, use each episode to begin a meeting with your staff. Springboard discussions based off of each topic to encourage group reflection.Though this is a child life podcast, this is not exclusive to just child life students and professionals. Share this with your nurses, doctors, social workers, and other healthcare heroes…we ALL need the space right now to process the ever changing circumstances around us. I hope this podcast series will encourage your work and encourage your heart. I will conclude with the Child Life Cooperative mission…may you learn through reflection, uniting for support, and equipping stu dents. Day 1- Burdens and BarriersIntroduction: When I have been referred to patients who were having an especially difficult time with their hospitalization, diagnosis, or treatment, I would usually start with a therapeutic activity to allow them to express their pain. We would write out or draw pictures of everything horrible, everything hard, everything that hurts.In this first reflection challenge, we are going to do something similar: sit in the pain. Acknowledge the barriers. Dwell with the burdens. We will begin by unpacking the hurt and challenge around us to later see the hope. This is a critical first step. Oftentimes as healthcare workers, we are so focused on other’s pain that we don’t intentionally sit with our own. It’s okay to not be okay. Breathing/Relaxation: As we begin, clear a quiet space around you to allow you be physically comfortable. Let the tension from your head melt down all the way to your toes. Focus on your breath as you inhale gently through you nose, and exhale through your lips. Relax your shoulders. Take 3 more gentle breaths. Beginning Thought to Ponder: We all carry burdens with us. The burden of conflict in a relationship. The burden of an insurmountable to-do list at home or at work. The burden of a patient’s pain you are unable to fix. The burden of your coworkers’ stress swirling around you. The burden of global crisis. The burden of injustice. The burden of the unknown. Visualize each burden you are carrying. Is each one particularly big or small? Truth Statement: As you acknowledge each burden, no matter how big or how small, remember this: Your burden is valid. It is significant in this moment. AND, it can be used to significantly increase your strength, increase your growth. Dwell with this truth. Your significant burdens can significantly increase your strength. Questions to Ponder: Continue to remember this truth as you ask yourself these questions: How are these burdens significant for me? What are these burdens testing in me?Truth Statement: Take a deep breath in. Exhale slowly. Linger on this truth: My burden is valid. It is significant in this moment. AND, it can be used to significantly increase my strength, increase my growth. My significant burdens can significantly increase my strength. Conclusion: You are worthy. You are a masterpiece, not perfect, but a masterpiece. The work you do (even the unseen work), does not determine your value but is an incredible value to others. Remember this as you go. Additional Questions to Ponder:List each burden you are carrying today. How would you rank each one in terms of significance in your life? How is your burden impacting your life? Your work? Your relationships? What commonalities do you see with any of your burdens (for example, do any of them stem from a common emotion, etc.) What would it take to make these burdens less heavy? List a few people who can help you carry these burdens. Write about a time when you have experienced heaviness in the past and have grown from it and endured. This episode is inspired by 2 Corinthians 1:3, John 16:33, Matthew 11:28-30Day 2- Within your ControlIntroduction: I remember sitting with a young man who had just been told his cancer had returned and the path towards healing was very unlikely. He began listing to me everything that was out of his control—every unimaginable pain that had been happening to him repeatedly. And then, he paused, and said, “But I do have choice in this. I will not stay silent or roll over. Today, I chose what I was going to wear, and I chose to say hello to someone on the sidewalk, and I choose to keep fighting.” This patient recognized that he had horrific things outside of his control, and yet, he found freedom by focusing on what choice and control he did have. Even simple things empowered him. Though many of us are not facing such devastating realities as this young patient, there is certainly still an exhaustive list that is outside all of our circles of control. And that can be an incredibly uncomfortable and draining place to be. Yet as we reflect on all the chaos and uncertainty, we also turn our gaze to what is in our control. Acknowledging this can lead to greater empowerment and peace. Let’s step into that circle together. Breathing/Relaxation: As we begin, focus on your breath as you inhale gently through you nose, and exhale through your mouth. Relax your shoulders. Take 3 more gentle breaths.Beginning Thought to Ponder: Picture the stress you face today. What looms large for you? What dominates the scene? Breathe. Now take a step back. Which stressors are actually your responsibility? What’s in your circle of control?You have choice. You choose your perspective on these stressors. So, in this moment, how can you focus on what you can control?Truth Statement: There is freedom when you focus on what you can control to keep stress from controlling you.Ponder this truth slowly… Focus on what you can control to keep stress from controlling you.Thought to Ponder: You have control over your attitude. Your actions. Your reactions. Your gratitude. Your character. Center yourself on these things.As you do so, let the other stressors fade. Let go of what you can’t control. Let go of the person you hold dear. Let go of tomorrow. Let go of the future. Let go of perfection. Continue to sit here for a moment, and surrender. Truth Statement: There is freedom. Speak it: focus on what I can control to keep stress from controlling me.Conclusion: You are worthy. You are a masterpiece, not perfect, but a masterpiece. The work you do (even the unseen work), does not determine your value but is an incredible value to others. Remember this as you go. Additional Questions to Ponder: Take pen to paper and draw out your circle of control. Write down the things that feel out of your control outside of/around your circle. Then write down the things that are in your control within the circle. What feelings does this exercise stir up for you?Look at the things that are outside of your control. Why do you want to control these things?What do you need to let go of today?How do you want to use what you can control today to experience greater freedom and courage? What does that look like for you?What is one daily practice/discipline you can do to help you let go of the things you cannot control? (For example: speaking a truth repeatedly, writing out what is in your control, etc.) This episode is inspired by Romans 15:13, Galatians 6:9Day 3 – What Are You Listening To/Who’s Doing the TalkingIntroduction: There was a time early on in my child life career when my anxiety became crippling. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of need around me and overwhelmed by my own narrative and inner dialogue that I could never be enough or do enough to meet those needs. I was too young, too na?ve, too inadequate, too…fill in the blank.When I would take time to draw away from the noise, even the noise in my own head, I realized that much of what I was speaking over myself were complete lies. Comments at work triggered me into negative self-talk: someone complimenting a colleague I felt inferior to, or a parent saying “we haven’t seen you in so long”.I told myself: “Allie, you aren’t good as so and so” or “you can never do enough or be enough for what this patient and family needs today.”As I believed these lies, my actions would follow …I became timid, I was anxious, I was self-conscious and insecure. I was frozen, unable to step out of my comfort zone to care for patients and families with confidence. These lies were holding me back from my full potential as a child life specialist; as a person.Each person is different and struggles with different lies. But, we all must make space to carefully listen to our own inner voice, to discern the truth from the lies. Let us each seek the truth about who we are meant to be. Breathing/Relaxation: As we begin, focus on your breath as you inhale gently through you nose, and exhale through your mouth. Relax your shoulders. Take 3 more gentle breaths.Beginning Thought to Ponder: As you take a moment to catch your breath from a very busy, loud, distracting, and overwhelming world around you, take time to be attentive to your inner dialogue. What are you saying to yourself? About the value of your work? About how others perceive you? Now think over the last 24 hours. Think of a moment that you felt defeated. A moment where you didn’t meet your own expectations.This moment may point to the lies you believe about yourself. A marker of truth is that it draws you more fully into who you were made to be. Did that moment move you closer or further from who you were meant to be? Truth Statement: When you speak truth to yourself, you are more truly yourself.Truth can feel elusive, but doing the hard work to find the truth and replace the lies brings a deep sense of identity. This gives purpose to your work.Question to Ponder: Now look ahead. How will you speak to yourself today? How will you move toward who you were made to be. Truth Statement: When I speak truth to myself, I am more truly myself.Conclusion: You are worthy. You are a masterpiece, not perfect, but a masterpiece. The work you do (even the unseen work), does not determine your value but is an incredible value to others. Remember this as you go forward. Additional Questions to Ponder:Take an hour (or even five minutes) to try to record your re-occurring thoughts you tell yourself. Are there any common themes? Go through each thought and mark down whether it is true (growth-centered) or whether it is a lie. What seems to be the source of the lies? Write down truth statements to combat the lies. (For example, consider the “yet”…”I am not knowledgeable in this field…yet”.) How does your self-talk effect how you act and how you care for others?This episode is inspired by Psalms 145:18, 1 John 3:18, Psalms 25:5Day 4- The Power of Perspective Introduction: Two years ago, I began to experience intense compassion fatigue as a child life specialist. I began to feel increasingly numb to the pain and suffering of patients and families and withdrawn from the meaningful work I once felt called to do.The truth is: my withdrawing from the work was connected to a lack of perspective. I put in so much effort, but I couldn’t see the impact it was making – small or big. One way I’ve learned to minimize the compassion fatigue is to remember when I had felt the significance of my role. When I’d felt the purpose in the profession…the times when a patient’s “aha” moment became my “aha” moment. The times when a patient and family felt empowered and deeply cared for by our medical team despite going through their darkest days. These moments fueled me. I had to sit and remember my “why”. Why did I become a child life specialist? Why did I work so hard to get to where I was? Why does this profession matter? What makes it all worth it?In seasons when the work load is overwhelming, the appreciation is non-existent, the stress is debilitating, and the circumstances seem unchanging, it is essential to search for the “why”. Now, let’s take a few moments to reclaim your “why”. To find the perspective you need for this moment. Breathing/Relaxation: As we begin, focus on your breath as you inhale gently through you nose, and exhale through your mouth. Relax your shoulders. Take 3 more gentle breaths.Beginning Thought to Ponder: You didn’t get to where you are today without passion for others, without effort, without a sense of purpose beyond just yourself. But circumstances in daily life challenge that sense of purpose. Maybe for you it’s external things that are stealing away your sense of purpose. You aren’t getting the praise you deserve. You feel beaten down by negativity around you. You feel so weighed down from the to-do lists. Things outside yourself are taking away your perspective.OR, maybe the challenge for your purpose lies more WITHIN you…you can’t get out of your own head. The needs of others feel so secondary to your own. You’re in survival mode. It feels like you’ve lost sight of why you’d ever put others first. What’s pulling you away from your purpose today? Are you struggling more with internal or external challenges?Whatever your answer, the truth is, perspective is a powerful tool in reclaiming your purpose. Truth Statement: Expanding your perspective expands your purpose. Question to Ponder: Pause here to consider a new perspective. Remember the past that got you to where you are today. Let the memories gently wave in. Visualize the memories…times when hours passed by like seconds. Times when you overcame. Times mentors spoke into your purpose. Times when you felt incredible pride in your profession. Picture the people who make it all worth it to you…picture their faces. Linger here… why have you committed to do this work?Truth Statement: Remember this: Expanding my perspective expands my purpose.Conclusion: You are worthy. You are a masterpiece, not perfect, but a masterpiece. The work you do (even the unseen work), does not determine your value but is an incredible value to others. Remember this as you go. Additional Questions to Ponder:How are you feeling during this season? Why? List all the things that are weighing you down, stealing your joy, challenging your purpose. List all the things that bring you joy and drive your purpose. What past experiences are you most thankful for? What has fueled your passion in the past? Who makes today “worth it”? Write down names and descriptions of those individuals. This episode is inspired by Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Psalms 90:17Day 5- Hope for the Day Ahead/You Are MoreWhat is a moment in your work that you have taken pride in? Goals Introduction: Can you relate to this scenario: Whenever I am in a conversation and it would turn to “so who are you? What do you do?”, I would proudly answer, “I am a Certified Child Life Specialist.” Coming alongside of patients and families during some of their darkest days is a deep passion, a calling, and an honor. Yet, when titles are stripped away, what remains? What am I and who am I, really? Working in healthcare can present a lot of challenge to our identity as we are reliant on our title and role. To name a few examples of challenge of our professional identity: Other coworkers may devalue our profession, a parent may be dismissive of services, a family may be ungrateful for our hard work and sincere efforts, an intervention that goes poorly may challenge our significance in the room. Perhaps we experience a challenge of our professional identity in an opposite way. We receive recognition from hospital leaders, we depend on positive feedback from a parent, we take pride in being the patient’s “favorite” of all the staff. The feedback of others, positive or negative, does not determine our worth or value. And to add on: at the end of the day, the work we do also does not determine our worth, or define who we are. We are so much more than a profession, a title, a job.Anchoring yourself in your true identity will help you weather the storm or weather the praise. Titles or not, let’s remember who we are. For this final episode, I want to encourage you in truth. Rest and be still as you let these truths wash over you of who you are, your value, your worth. Breathing/Relaxation: As we begin, focus on your breath as you inhale gently through you nose, and exhale through your lips. Relax your shoulders. Take 3 more gentle breaths.Beginning Thought to Ponder: Take a moment to recognize your proudest accomplishments. List them in your mind. Picture the faces of the people you have served an important role in caring for. Imagine the times when you left a patient’s room or walked away from a conversation that left you feeling an intense sense of pride, purpose, and joy in what you do or what you are working towards. Appreciate these moments.What was at the root of your joy? Perhaps it was making a positive difference during a dark day for a patient or family. Maybe it was the joy of overcoming a challenge. Or seeing someone else be empowered. No one in the world can do what you do. Be who you are. Bring what you bring.You are wonderfully made. You were called for a purpose. Truth Statement: You are a masterpiece, imperfect, but a masterpiece.Question to Ponder: As you consider this truth, take a moment to think through this question: What gives me worth apart from my work? Concluding truth statement: Speak this over yourself today: I am worthy. I am a masterpiece, imperfect, but a masterpiece. The work I do (even the unseen work), does not determine my value but is an incredible value to others. I will remember this as you go. Additional Questions to Ponder:Which have been your best moments in life so far? Why?What are your gifts?What things bring you joy/help you feel a sense of meaning? What do those things say about who you are as a person? What keeps you grounded in who you are, no matter the circumstances around you? Finish this sentence with as many statements as you can:“I am more than…”“I am…” This episode is inspired by Ephesians 2:10, Psalms 139Episode 3:You have the courage in the past to have the courage for today, this moment. Your commitment today is courageous. Let it carry you tomorrow.We lose our sense of purpose when we forget the theme of our story.When we recall formational moments we find purpose for. Gaining perspective gives purpose.We find our purpose when we remember our past. Your courage yesterday builds on your courage for today.It took courage to get here. Courage got you to today. Courage will carry you into tomorrow.Courage today builds courage for tomorrow. ................
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