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Mental Health Monday (Quick Bite): Four easy ways to incorporate small mindful moments.

Heath Wilder — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 02:02:23 GMT

Mental Health Monday (Quick Bite):

Four easy ways to incorporate small mindful moments.

A Mental Health Monday (Quick Bite) from Mental Armour

Four easy ways to incorporate small mindful moments. Moments of mindfulness can help bring a sense of calm and peace into our day. These moments can help reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. A common belief is that incorporating mindfulness into your day requires time, the right environment, or even a meditation track to listen to. It does not have to be this complicated.

Moments of mindfulness are simply small points throughout your day when you give yourself permission to check in with yourself, how you’re feeling, and what is happening around you in the present moment. Permitting yourself small mindful moments every day can make a massive difference.

Here are four easy ways to incorporate small mindful moments into your current schedule.

Household Tasks

So often we enter autopilot when doing the dishes or hanging up the washing. Try breaking this autopilot pattern and pay attention to the sounds, smells, and sensations that accompany each daily household task.

Mindful Walk

Try going for a walk without music or headphones. Listen to the birds, feel the breeze, pay attention to the flowers and colours around you. Really be present on your walk and see if you notice anything new.

Sit With A Cup Of Tea

Let your tea, coffee, or juice break be precisely that: a break. Take a moment to enjoy your tea, relax your muscles, and settle into the moment. Put your phone away and enjoy being completely present in this rest time for you.

Mindful Shower

Showers are another thing we tend to do on autopilot. Take this moment to pay attention to the temperature of the water, how it feels, and the smell of your shower gel. Give yourself this time as a moment to relax and rejuvenate.

What other ways might you be able to introduce small mindful moments? When else are you able to spend 30 seconds checking in with yourself, seeing what you need, and giving yourself permission to take a short break to reset your mind?

Shelly and Heath

(Australian Museum) Night Owls: An autism and sensory-friendly night out for adults

Heath Wilder — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 03:48:06 GMT

Hey folks,

Just walked to let you know about that the Australian Museum's Night Owls is back with one on tonight - I'll be there with (silent) bells on.

It's an event with sensory accessibility in focus. I went to the Sharks Event last year and blogged about it HERE.

Even if you can't attend (teleportation room is overbooked) they have a lot of great Accessibility resources to have a look at incl. their Visual Story and Schedule and a big accessibility page

Say "hi" or drop me a line if you pop on down.

Cheers,
Heath

INCLUSIVE EVENT

Night Owls: An autism and sensory-friendly night out for adults

Friday 5 April, 6pm - 9pm

Experience the AM after hours in a reduced sensory, tranquil, and supportive atmosphere. Plus, see Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs in lowered lighting, sound, and reduced capacity.

BOOK NOW

Assisting people with access needs - disclosing personal details v access requirements

Olivia Bowman — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:05:22 GMT

Hi all,

As part of our mission to better assist people with access requirements to attend the museum, festivals and events, we have detailed information online including physical and sensory considerations. People are also welcome to contact our booking and enquiries (ticketing) team to ask more detailed questions and organise specific provisions (e.g. using the viewing platform or wheelchair seating area; letting us know they need an alternate entrance so we can look out for them; needing transport from the car park to the entrance; booking a tactile experience).

We’re more than happy to provide this information and service about our venues and events, and have had many folks feel confident and comfortable to come along to our events and festivals because of the information and support we’re able to provide.

However, team members have reported that these conversations often include a lot of personal detail, including stories of trauma, that patrons feel the need to share as a justification for their requests. It can thus be hard to sift through the information to clarify what someone actually needs from us, and listening to stories of trauma, discrimination and injustice can be upsetting.

While remaining conscious of our own privileges and compassionate to people’s lived experiences, I’m interested to know if anyone has strategies to help customer service teams to steer the conversation to the information they need to serve someone’s accessibility requirements, while ensuring someone that they don’t need to justify these provisions and potentially relive their own trauma to secure them?

Any insights would be sincerely appreciated!

Warmest regards,

Olivia

Mental Health Monday: Mindfulness: What is it and is it for me?

Heath Wilder — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 12:48:11 GMT

Mental Health Monday:

Mindfulness: What is it and is it for me?

What is mindfulness?

To be honest it was quite a few sessions after my shrink introduced that topic before I said “Hey, can we just be clear about what you mean when you say practising mindfulness”. Let’s start with the American Psychological Association's Dictionary ^[1]

Mindfulness n. awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings. The concept has been applied to various therapeutic interventions—for example, mindfulness-based cognitive behaviour therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness meditation—to help people avoid destructive or automatic habits and responses by learning to observe their thoughts, emotions, and other present-moment experiences without judging or reacting to them. —mindful adj.

We often equate meditation with mindfulness but it’s worth noting that meditation is a practice and mindfulness is a quality. Also, there are other benefits, practices and uses for each.^[2] If you are interested in pretty graphics then there is of course something for you at Information is Beautiful by none other than David McCandless, a name familiar to hardcore data-viz nerds ^[3].

There are also many different types of meditation. The meditation that we do at ND&MW every Monday (at 11:30am Eastern - plug plug) is a mindfulness meditation. You can also practise mindfulness informally, such as mindful walking, eating, swimming or even having a shower.^[4]

But is mindfulness for everyone?

The answer is yes and no. There are a couple of disclaimers in the Psychology field. For people with trauma, it may bring up some painful memories, so it’s worth checking in with your therapist & having a support buddy to check in with.

Also, quite a few neurodivergent folks have reported having had a hard time with meditation and mindfulness. Neuro-affirming and Actually AuDHD mental health professional Dasha Koleshik points out:

My thoughts will never stop, nor can I have a relaxing time “watching them go by” ... watching my thoughts would be like watching a Formula 1 race… yeah, not my idea of a chillaxing time either. Don’t feel like a failure. You’re still awesome, even if your brain doesn’t “switch off” or “go quiet” enough for you to “observe your thoughts”.^[5]

Sue Hutton unpacks the findings of the mindfulness research program at CAMH Toronto that “a large number of neurodiverse people have told me they are mindfulness drop-outs.”^[6] One young autistic woman described her experience “When I’m told to focus on sensations of my breath, I feel like there is a noose wrapped around my neck, getting tighter and tighter as I keep paying attention.”

As Sue says, the mindfulness practice developed in the 1980s didn’t have the modifications needed for a wide variety of brains. ND folk know very well that it’s a minority of health care professionals that accommodate neurodivergent clients. If you are someone with Aphantasia and not able to create pictures in your mind, then you may not find the visualisations in some meditation practices to be helpful. If you have different experiences of interoception, following along with descriptions of body sensations, like breathing, might not map at all with what you are being told.

So where does that leave us? Are neurodivergent folks left out? Not at all. As Sue points out

Mindfulness has something to offer the world. Neurodiversity has something to offer mindfulness.

Like in most other parts of our life, such as accommodations at home and work, individualising your practice of mindfulness can be the answer. If feeling your breathing is hard maybe adding a soft sound to the aspiration is easier to follow. If you have a racing mind and a sensitivity to sound, maybe noise cancelling headphones and a walk over the bridge.

I’m a big fan of swimming laps including slowing my speed to fit my breathing, whilst noticing my thoughts and the whole-body sensations as I swim through the water. Another curious one: it might not look like mindful meditation but cooking familiar recipes is also a mindful practice for me. I know a few bakers that would agree.

If you want to take it further, Sue has a follow up article of tips for neurodiverse meditation practice.^[7] No matter what your identity, whatever works best for you is best for you.

Thanks for following us on this mindfulness journey. Maybe we’ll see you at a Monday Meditation Meetup.

Shelly and Heath

Resources

Mindfulness APA Dictionary of Psychology, Apr 2018
5 Differences Between Mindfulness and Meditation Joshua Schultz, Positive Psychology, Jul 2020
What is Meditation / Mindfulness Good for? Dave McCandless Information is beautiful, Feb 2014
How to Take a Mindful Shower Grace Wood, Grace Wood Therapy - Austin TX, Sep 2018
Struggling with Meditation? You're not alone and it's ok Dasha Kolesik, While You Wonder, Aug 2023
Learning to Celebrate Neurodiversity in Mindfulness Sue Hutton, Mindful.org, Oct 2020
3 Mindfulness Practices for Neurodiverse Meditators Sue Hutton, Mindful.org, Oct 2020

Scholarships for TLCC Washington, DC

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 17:45:16 GMT

Tessitura is offering 10 scholarships to TLCC in Washington, D.C., including seven Diversity Scholarships and three Emerging Leaders Scholarships.

Scholars will be awarded complimentary conference registration. This includes:

All sessions
All networking events
All conference meals and refreshment breaks (except Tuesday evening, which is a build-your-own networking night)
Access to conference materials and presentations

Scholars will be responsible for their own travel expenses and lodging.

To be eligible for the TLCC Diversity Scholarship, you must:

Be a full-time employee at a Tessitura member organization
Be a member of one or more underrepresented groups in the nonprofit arts & culture sector*
Be able to attend the full conference (August 11–14, 2024)
Not be a previous recipient of an in-person TLCC scholarship

*Underrepresented groups may include, but are not limited to: Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or a person of color; LGBTQIA+, trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming; having a disability; neurodivergent; religious minority; and other historically excluded identities.

To be eligible for the Lasting Legacy Scholarship for Emerging Leaders, you must:

Have 5+ years of experience in the arts & culture industry
Currently serve in a supervisor or managerial role
Demonstrate leadership skills and potential for leadership success
Be a first-time in-person TLCC attendee (including any TLCC Europe or TLCC Asia Pacific conference)
Be a full-time employee at a Tessitura member organization
Be able to attend the full conference (August 11–14, 2024)

All applications and letters of recommendation must be received by April 17, 2024. The Scholarship Committee will notify all candidates about its decision by May 10, 2024.

Learn more and apply now.

Axe-Con Neuroinclusive Content Design

Heath Wilder — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:50:03 GMT

Axe-Con Neuroinclusive Content Design

Laurie Cameron-Back

Axe con was on last week and there was a lot in there that was helpful both specific and broadly. To be honest it snuck up on me this year, which is to say that I didn’t get comms until it was a few days out. For me that’s ok. I’m on the other side of the planet and all sessions are in allocated rest time, but the advantage of Axe-Con is that the sessions are available to watch when I’m available. That’s a good accessibility feature. But it’s not the only one. Transcripts and slides of each talk are also posted to ease the follow-up.

There are always loads of great content but one of the sessions that I did find it’s ways into my chats was Neuroinclusive content design. It’s a broad topic that could be answered a bunch of different ways, and I’m of the neuro-spicy variety so I’m tricky to please.*

The talk unpacks Content Design in the broad sense to get an understanding of what the goals, skills and tools are, and why content design is uniquely placed to broaden accessibility. Subsequent to that, neurodiversity is laid out to get a sense of the breadth of human experience that we are aiming at including.

Designing for neurodiversity is designing for inclusion.

Reduce complexity

Be clear and consistent

Consider sensory experiences

Check your digital assets

Involve people

And the tips for designing for neuroinclusion? … lean into design.

Not only are there great tips in there, but they come from a comprehensive but usable structure. Each one of the key points is broken down further. Examples include tips on link text and why. Examples of reducing complexity and how to make writing easier to follow.

One of my favourite takeaways are

using Hemmingway App, and AI solution to help increase readability, and using Screaming Frog
Sentence vs title case and when to use them.
And my favourite: include ND folk in your testing.

Give it a watch. It was a good session and made great points for including neurodivergent and how.

Love to hear if you had any other takeaways from it or if you saw other things at Axe-Con that were helpful

Resources

Neuroinclusive Content Design - axe-con Laurie Cameron-Back, 2024
Session slides
Session Transscript
Hemmingway App

* more context than anyone's KPI

Axe-con 2024

Heath Wilder — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:37:19 GMT

Hey folks,

Just a little note that Axe Con is on tomorrow for 3 days.

Axe Con is a digital accessibility conference run by deque. They are a technology company that make free and paid digital accessibility tools at scale. The conference has a wide variety of speakers and registering allows you access after the conference (in case the event is on during allocated sleep time).

axe-con 2024 Digital Accessibility Conference | Deque

Cheers,

What to expect from a virtual axe-con 2024

Axe-con will run Tuesday, February 20th through Thursday, February 22nd, 2024, with talks from the top experts in the accessibility community.

Attendees will experience:

Three days of multi-track sessions based on areas of interest.
Interactive online sessions with Chat, Q&A, and Polling.
Live captions and ASL for every session.
Special virtual entertainment sessions.
Opportunities to win the always-coveted Deque swag.

Affinity Group Open House - Feb 21st

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 17:50:00 GMT

Hi everyone!

On Wednesday, February 21st at 11:30 am eastern there is going to be a virtual Open House about the 5 Affinity Groups.

Heath and I will be there to give everyone a description of the Neurodiversity & Mental Wellness group. We invite you to join us in representing our group, as well as hearing more information about the other four groups:

LGBTQIA+
Women in Tech
People of Color
People with Disabilities

The Community Chairs of each group will be sharing information about their group's mission, activities, and the inclusive space they foster.

Come learn how you can connect with others from similar backgrounds, discover shared interests and find your community within the welcoming affinity groups.

We would love to see you there, and you can register using this link: Tessitura Affinity Groups virtual open house (tessituranetwork.com)

Thanks,

Shelly

MHM: Mental Health Challenge

Heath Wilder — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 16:32:10 GMT

New Year Mental Health Challenge

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024.

We really hope that you manage to meet your challenges and goals safely this year.

In order to kick off the year right with some active self-care, let's play some well-being Bingo. See if you can check off at least one in each coloured column and when you have ... BINGO!

Let us know how you are getting on.

Have a safe 2024,
Shelly and Heath

MHM Quick Bite - Holiday Selfcare Tips

Heath Wilder — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:45:57 GMT

Wellbeing Wednesday:

Holiday Selfcare Tips

As fun as the holiday season can be, even for the most festive it has it's limits. Whether it's trying to sustain an endless level of Holiday Merriment, the pressure of entertaining, or mountain of things you have to do on top of the usual overload - If you are like us at ND&MW Central then you might be running a little low on the Festive Cheer right about now.

Here's a little reminder from Dominee over at SelfLoveRainbow to allow yourself some space, call in for support when you need it, and that "it's ok not to be ok".

There are plenty of other good tips over there like your Circle of Control, self-talk scrips for when you are overwhelmed, and a Holiday Recovery Plan

Make space for messy feelings like grief.
Create your own holiday traditions.
Set realistic expectations for yourself and the holiday.
Keep your self- care routine or begin a new one.
Learn to say no without feeling guilty.
Keep your stress levels in check. It's okay to step back or delegate.
Make a plan and try to stick to it. Organization is key
Give yourself permission to let it be a normal day.

___

Stay safe and well
Shelly & Heath

MHW: 7 Types of Rest

Heath Wilder — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 14:26:51 GMT

MENTAL HEALTH HOLIDAY EDITION: ‌

7 types of rest

WHAT?

Rest is important to everyone, but it’s vital for neurodivergent people for a lot of reasons. In a world that is not set up for us, our battery can run down faster, our natural coping mechanisms might be unwelcome, and our support and recovery methods are often not understood.^[1]

In both neurodivergent and chronic illness circles, “spoons” are used as a metaphor for how much energy you have to get through the day vs how much energy is required to complete daily tasks.^[8] Once you have no more spoons (available energy), it can become nearly impossible to complete even simple tasks. I also like to think of it as a big battery that’s gradually depleting as you complete tasks and encounter stressors throughout your day. You might start out your day with a full battery but find yourself nearly drained after that big two-hour meeting.

So how do we refill that battery and get back all our spoons? You might think that a good night's sleep is all you need, but then wake up in the morning feeling more drained than ever. The reason for this could be that you are not resting the part of you that is depleted. If your car’s battery is dead, adding gasoline to the tank isn’t enough to make it go again; likewise, the right kind of rest is needed to fully fuel your day.

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith in her book Sacred Rest explains how when she was experiencing early stages of burnout earlier in her career,

“I got to a place where I really felt like, I can’t sleep any better…[and] I was still tired,” she says. “Honestly, it really was depressing, because it’s like, OK, I’m doing what everybody says I should do to feel energised, and I simply do not… so if sleep is not solving my fatigue, then what kind of fatigue do I have? There’s something else that’s not being identified.”^[4]

Through her research she came to the conclusion that sleep and rest are not synonymous and that humans need seven different types of rest in order to function well and grow:

Physical
Mental
Social
Creative
Emotional
Spiritual
Sensory

WHY? (selfcare)

Taking care of yourself is vital, especially for those of us that put others first. As the Black Dog Institute says:

Self-care is an important part of daily life. It is often the first thing that gets sacrificed when life is busy and stressful, and people often think that taking time for themselves seems indulgent. But looking after your own wellbeing will help you get through challenging times and will help you to better care for others^.^[6]

It may seem a lot easier to give up self-support before helping others but that is a slippery slope. Just like a fire-fighter or medic does their best work when they are fit and well. The same is true for the rest of us that feel guilty about resting when we’d like to help others.

That said, it’s not always easy to recognize when we need self-care. Alexithymia ^[3] is a broad term for having difficulty expressing and identifying your emotions, and it’s fairly common in the Neurodivergent population. That can mean that we miss the signs that we need rest or that we can ignore that need.

HOW? i.e. action steps

So, what can you do to identify and properly address your self-care needs? If you are having trouble identifying where your troubled rest is located, Dr. Dalton-Smith has a rest quiz^[7] that can help you narrow it down.

Additionally, the Black Dog Institute^[6] has a simple pdf that includes two templates to help you identify your needs, review your coping strategies, and remove unhelpful or negative ones and replace them with positive ones.

Template 1 helps you review each of the 7 areas of rest you might want to focus on, evaluate what you are doing now, and make a plan for what to try differently.

Template 2 walks you through creating a personalised self-care plan, including a daily plan, a list of 3 coping mechanisms, and your emergency plan for when things sneak up on you.

And if you are still struggling with ideas about getting rest in that part of your life, check out these great resources: ^[1][2][5]

Rest well, everyone!

Heath and Shelly

_________________

RESOURCES

_{[1] Rest is a fine medicine | The Art of Autism Martine Mussies, the Art of Autism (2023)}

_{[2] Why You're Always Exhausted Jess Massey, Hussle Safely (Sept 23)}

_{[3] Alexithymia: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments Healthline, Kristeen Cherney, PhD (2021)}

_{[4] Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith}

_{[5] How This Rest Expert Gets a Good Night's Sleep, Sets Boundaries, and Stays Healthy Healthline, Jesse Sposato, PhD (2021)}

_{[6] Importance of self-care planning | Black Dog Institute Black Dog Institute,}

_{[7] Rest Quiz Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith (2023)}

_{[8] Spoon Theory for Autism and ADHD Megan Ann Neff, Neurodivergent Insights (2022)}

MHM Quick Bite - Seasonal Depression

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 17:43:08 GMT

Mental Health Monday - Quick Bites!

If you're anything like me, these short days and long nights are no fun! Add freezing cold into the mix and the demands of the holiday season and you've got a recipe for Seasonal Depression, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (or by it's highly on-the-nose acronym-- SAD).

And even if you are in the Southern Hemisphere soaking up the sun, you may be one of the 10% of SAD-sufferers who feel crummy in the summer.

Beat the winter (or summer) blues with the below tips from @thefabstory:

Mental Health Monday: Holiday Planners

Heath Wilder — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:26:41 GMT

Mental Health Monday:

Holiday Planners

The Holiday period is the time when I have to become some multiskilled, multitasking machine. Each year I tell myself I need to buy multiple thoughtful gifts and mail some of them early (just in case), order others whilst they have a chance to arrive, wrap them all before it looks like I was panic wrapping in the car, plan an office party and get ready to show friends from another hemisphere where the best beach/museum/gallery/cannoli is located. It’s all a bit overwhelming!

That is until you grab some free holiday planners in your free Trello account (or use them as inspiration in your software of choice).

Trello is a project management tool much like Asana, Monday, Microsoft Planner, Notion etc. They are places where you can order your tasks and be reminded what you have to do and when - often in the simple To-Do, Doing, Done format called a kanban, A Japanese term meaning “visual signal”. The best ones come with apps so that you can take your planner with you and drop ideas and notes wherever you are. They also have templates to help you get started.

Today's Mental Health Monday focuses on some of Trellos holiday themed templates designed to make life a little bit easier around the holiday months. You’ll find simple Planners for present buying, hosting out of town guests and organising an office party.

Hopefully these will keep you on track.

Happy Holidays,

Shelly and Heath

What’s the price limit for Secret Santa? How many desserts do we have for the potluck? How many Mariah Carey holiday mixes are too many? What time is Santa coming?

________________

References

_{[1] Kanban - A brief introduction | Atlassian Dan Radigan, Atlassian.com}

_{[2] The Ultimate Trello Holiday Planning Roundup Trello Team, Trello.com}

Mental Health Monday: Autumn Self-Care

Heath Wilder — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 05:08:30 GMT

Mental Health Monday

For Northern Hemisphere folk that are deep in the holiday season here are some reminders when you are deep in the festivities to look after yourself

For those of us in the South the need remains

AUTUMN SELF-CARE

Make time for yourself!

Try out a new hobby

Bake with apples!

Slow down and savor the moment

JAM

Go on a nature walk

Enjoy warm socks & pjs

Enjoy a cup of tea

Embrace hygge

Drink spiced cider.

Make a soup or stew

Write down what you want to let go of.

Go to a Farmer's Market

Decorate pumpkins or make pumpkin bread

_{Created by: BlessingManifesting.com}

Mental Health Monday: Quick Bites

Heath Wilder — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 05:01:57 GMT

Mental Health Monday

For all you northern Hemisphere folk that are deep in the holiday season here are some reminders when you are deep in the festivities to look after yourself

For those of us in the South the need remains

AUTUMN SELF-CARE

Make time for yourself!

Try out a new hobby

Bake with apples!

Slow down and savor the moment

JAM

Go on a nature walk

Enjoy warm socks & pjs

Enjoy a cup of tea

Embrace hygge

Drink spiced cider.

Make a soup or stew

Write down what you want to let go of.

Go to a Farmer's Market

Decorate pumpkins or make pumpkin bread

For more ideas: BlessingManifesting.com

Mental Health Monday: A No-BS Guide to Self-Reflection in the Workplace

Heath Wilder — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:19:12 GMT

Self-Reflection in the Workplace

(Insights From Over 20 Marketers and Founders)

It seems like peak busy season keeps getting longer. Not only that, when the slow times of year come about we're trying to catch up on all the things we put aside. It seems like a tough task to keep up with the To-Do list some days.

So, you’ll be unsurprised that stress levels have been going up according to Gallup’s 2021 State of the Global Workplace Report^[2]. And for those of you that like some graph-p*rn:

Gallup’s 2021 State of the Global Workplace Report ^[2]

Serendipitously we reread a great quick article from the product management folks at Sunsama^[1]. They had us at :

Ever felt completely daunted by your to-do list?.

But the good news is we can do something about it. Research shows that 15 minutes of self reflection at the end of the day has a measurable impact (23% measurable to be exact). Self reflection allows us to make intentional choices about the work we want to do - to get us away from reacting to daily spot fires, and planning where we need to be.

Self reflection can take the form of an afternoon walk or journaling. It can be really simple, and in truth should be as uncluttered as possible.

“Reflecting on the day, staying curious about any feelings that come up, and noting them down helps me approach my work from a more intentional and non-judgemental perspective.”

— Camille Hogg, Freelance HR Tech Content Writer

The Sunsama team cover a variety of ways to quickly reflect on your day. But don’t take our word for it. Check out the short article here.

Shelly and Heath,

_________________________

Summary

[1] A No-BS Guide to Self-Reflection in the Workplace (Insights From Over 20 Marketers and Founders) - Sunsama Blog Team Sunsama, November 11 2022

[2] Gallup’s 2021 State of the Global Workplace Report Gallup.com November, 2023

DEAI Forum Post: Tips for preventing burnout in your guest facing and guest engaging teammates

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 16:01:36 GMT

Hey All,

I wanted to plug this great discussion over on the DEAI forum about preventing burnout for your frontline staff:

https://community.tessituranetwork.com/tessitura_software_forums/f/diversity-equity-accessibility-and-inclusion/34339/tips-for-preventing-burnout-in-your-guest-facing-and-guest-engaging-teammates

There are some great ideas and tips shared on the thread.

MHM: Shower Meditation Part 2: Is wellness a dish best served cold?

Heath Wilder — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 14:25:27 GMT

We were chatting at the Neurodiversity and Mental Wellness lunch at TLCC Melbourne last week and the topic of whole-body cryotherapy came up. “What’s that?” Using cold showers or winter swimming to beat depression and anxiety is not a new idea ^[1][2]. There was even a Seinfeld episode where “Kramer joins the local Polar Bears”. Rather than jumping in the East River it may be a little more practical to use our shower and the meditation practice for a much easier way to beat the blues.

Luckily Filipe Bastos and the folks at MindOwl have laid out the process fairly simply ^[3]. They say:

One of the quickest ways to bring our mind into focus on the present moment is through the sensory experience of cold water on our skin.

Whilst that is true you may want to work your way up to it. Starting with 30 seconds and making your way up from there is what most people I’ve talked to have found effective. And not all your showers need to be cold - you can warm up with a more suitable temperature once you have that dopamine blast from the cold immersion. And it does get easier.

If that’s really not your style, there are alternative shower meditation rituals like morning showers that they spell out as well.

Ice of you to drop by!

Shelly and Heath

_________________________

Summary

[1] Adapted cold shower as a potential treatment for depression Nikolai A Shevchuk November 13, 2007

[2] Efficacy of the Whole-Body Cryotherapy as Add-on Therapy to Pharmacological Treatment of Depression—A Randomised Controlled Trial - PMC J Rymaszewska, K. M. Lion, L. Pawlik-Sobecka, T. Pawłowski, D. Szcześniak, E. Trypka, J. E. Rymaszewska, A. Zabłocka, and B. Stanczykiewicz June 9 2020

[3] https://mindowl.org/meditation-in-the-shower/ Filipe Bastos, Mindowl February 18, 2022

Mental Health Monday - Shower Meditation

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 18:19:28 GMT

It's that time of the year–summer is over and the holidays are on fast approach– and we could all do with a little bit of calm amidst the chaos. When you are super busy, taking a shower can feel somewhere between a chore and an indulgence (and this time of year a little creepy– cue violins!). But instead of letting your mind running along with your inner "Psycho," use these Shower Meditation tips to help you find your inner peace:

How To Meditate In The Shower: A Quick And Easy Guide[1] is an entertaining entry point to a surprisingly fecund field. The idea is pitched to preoccupied parents praying for a pause, stressed students struggling for some slumber, wired workers wanting to unwind. Ok I’ll knock it off with the rhyming - but the idea of multitasking your self-care is not a bad one.

In a New York Times article called How to be Mindful While Taking a Shower[2], they lay out a couple of great reasons to use your shower time for a tiny bit of R&R. For a start it’s reasonably likely that you will have time to yourself. The white noise from the running water is a decent sound insulator and the running water can be a stimmy (soothing for the neurotypicals out there) way to focus your thoughts inwards.

There is a great range of options from aromatherapy, a variety of breathing techniques, visualisations and mindfulness. They even look at scheduling.

You might not be able to add another hour to your shower routine, but squeezing in a few minutes of self care into your busy day can be a good thing, and a great way of getting a little bit of yourself back when you need it.

Happy Halloween

Shelly and Heath

_________________________

Summary

[1] https://mindfulnessbox.com/how-to-meditate-in-the-shower/ Ryan Kane August 15, 2023

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/well/mind/how-to-be-mindful-while-taking-a-shower.html David Gelles March 2017

TLCC Melbourne Meetup!

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:24:24 GMT

TLCC Melbourne is right around the corner!

For those of you attending, there will be a Neurodiversity & Mental Wellness lunch meetup on Friday 3 November from 1:30-2:30pm. This is a great opportunity for our group to connect (and hopefully welcome some new people to the group) and talk about neurodivergence, mental health, what we think about the food they've been serving at lunch, and any other topics that come into our brains!

Note: All affinity groups will be meeting at this time, so it's totally ok if you want to table hop and connect with other groups at the same time.

We look forward to welcoming you at TLCC Melbourne!

--Heath (who will be there in person) and Shelly (who will be there in spirit)

Mental Health Monday Mini - ND Love Languages

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:28:29 GMT

Mental Health Monday: Accountability Buddy #2: Co-work, Body Doubling & some neurodivergent applications

Heath Wilder — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 01:04:44 GMT

Mental Health Monday:

Accountability Buddy #2

Co-work, Body Doubling & some neurodivergent applications

We talked about Accountability buddies last week. They are a good way of getting something done by outsourcing your check-ins to a friend or colleague. Having a buddy there to remind you to do something is not only good for forgetting - it also adds in a social motivator to do what you promised. That’s great for anyone but it’s especially great for those of us that have troubles with follow through for a variety of reasons. The ADHD coaching team at inflow^[1] wrote an article that breaks down the hows and whys of accountability partners a little further.

In her article Katie Barrick describes the similarities and differences between Accountability buddies, co-work sessions, and body doubles, and how they work to get you on track.

The Affinity group Women in Tech have regular Pomodoro coworking sessions. With Co-work you work with other people virtually, live or hybrid and have regular breaks and the occasional check-in. The Pomodoro timer method, named after the tomato shaped kitchen timer that inspired it, is used to set work sprints of between 20 mins and 1 hour (typically). For a lot of us it’s a lot easier to focus on a task when there are a bunch of folks following the same manageable structure. That relates to a phenomenon called the Hawthore effect^[2] which basically states that a person's behaviour changes when they feel that they are being watched. A bit like a Copenhagen interpretation for humans[3], much like subatomic particles, the act of observing fundamentally changes what is happening.

Body doubling on the other hand is working with another person around you. Now the person doubling with you doesn't have to be strictly doing a working session like you are; they could be sitting in the same room with you playing on their phone while you clean or video call with you virtually while you work on your computer. We (Shelly and Heath) do body doubling remote work moderately often, from either side of the globe. Work is interspersed by the occasional fun fact, chortle or question about something that we are working on, but after that goes back to the task at hand. Usually there are 2 people in a body double session (hence the name).

Accountability buddies, as we talked about last week, can help us realise our goals by planning with us and regularly checking in on us with motivation and encouragement. They are largely independent work sessions and often reciprocal. Those goals could include (to name a few):

Work-life balance
Professional growth and development
Self-care: nutrition, sleep, exercise, and rest days
Making time for family and friends
Spiritual foundation

There are many ways, and resources for productivity. Love to hear your favourite ones.

Shelly & Heath

Resources

[1] Katie Barrick (2022) ADHD accountability buddy: How to find one and why you need one inflow.com April, 2022.
[2] Hawthorne effect Catalog of Bias, Nunan D, Heneghan C, 2023
[3] Josh Clark (2023) The Copenhagen Interpretation | HowStuffWorks How stuff works, March 2023

Mental Health Monday: Accountability Partners

Heath Wilder — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 02:27:35 GMT

Mental Health Monday:

Accountability Partners

Accountability Partners have been around for sometime^[7]. Some universities even have formal accountability partner programs^[1]. If you have a goal that you really want to maintain but are worried that you might be inclined to ignore your own best wishes or get forgetful, finding a trusted friend or colleague that you can ask to keep you on track can add just the sticking power that you are missing^[3]. Research shows that publicly declaring your goal can increase your likelihood of completion by 65% (using internal accountability) and by using a specific accountability partner (external accountability) that turns into a success of 95%^[4]

Accountability partners can help in a variety of ways by keeping your expectations manageable, your ethics consistent, and your behaviour and motivation where you want them to be. A good accountability partner is one that you trust and respect and that you know will challenge you when your motivation is low and be annoyingly persistent within reason^[2].

They can help you out in general goals - like studying more or eating healthier - to quite specific goals like getting to the gym 3 times a week, and self care to avoid burnout^[5]. Leon Ho, founder of Lifehack, takes it further by pointing out that having an accountability partner can do more than motivate you to your goal^[6]. Check-ins are a good way to maintain constant improvement, valuable support and advice, and provide honest feedback. Leon unpacks the nuances and potential pitfalls of this special relationship, in that article.

Here at the Neurodiversity and Mental Wellness head office we’ve started an experiment using our accountability buddy system (Account-a-Buddy^tm) to improve sleep outcomes. In order to have enough spoons to initiate the end of day shutdown the Account-a-Buddy will give the order to start your go-to-bed routine at a consistent time. Friends are harder to ignore than alarms or willpower and it can turn teenage peer pressure flashbacks to good use. Added bonus: your account-a-buddy can have fun finding new ways to motivate you to get to bed.

Thanks all,
Shelly & Heath

PS: if you need more sleep advice there is a new article in ADDitude with 10 tips in case you can sleep. There is plenty in there for everyone but some added focus for ADHDers including tips on medication and sleep^[8]

References

Griffith University (2023) Accountability Buddy Program Griffith Uni, Sports and Recreation
L. Gowland (2018) ; How to be a Good Accountability Buddy Forbes, (Apr 2018)
T. Parker-Pope (2021) To Create a Healthy Habit, Find an Accountability Buddy The New York Times (Jan 2021)
Benjamin Hardy, PhDAccountability Partners Are Great. But “Success” Partners Will Change Your Life Medium Jan (2019)
Haley Dalphon (2019). "Self-care techniques for social workers: Achieving an ethical harmony between work and well-being". Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2019 Vol 29, No. 1
Leon Ho (2023) How to Find An Accountability Partner to Help You Build Habits LifeHack, Feb 2023
Evelyn Kreiger(2018) Do You Need An Accountability Partner? Author Blog, May 2018
N. Ratey (2023) I Can't Sleep! How to Quiet a Buzzing ADHD Brain Additude (Sep 2023)

Women and Neurodiversity Meeting Recap

Shelly Binkley (she/her) — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 15:51:13 GMT

On September 12, our group had the pleasure of being joined by Women in Tech and guest speaker Anna Wessely for a discussion about the workplace challenges of neurodivergent women.

Anna shared some of her favorite tips for overcoming time blindness, working through emotional dysregulation, and combatting the societal perception that women who speak directly are being rude.

We did not record the session for privacy reasons, but if you would like a copy of the meeting notes, please let me know in the comments below.

And if you would like connect with Anna to keep the conversation going, you may find her LinkedIn account here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-e-wessely/

Thanks again to Anna and everyone who helped make our first crossover meetup a big success!

--Shelly

Mental Health Monday: Master your to-do list like a D&D character

Heath Wilder — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:30:06 GMT

Here at ND&MW headquarters we are no strangers to the art and hobby that is Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, we've run TLCC-D&D since 2019 (nerd flex).

Ginny Di is a professional Dungeons and Dragons player, musician and ADHDer. In her Social Media vlog she spells out* some truths about productivity and goal setting using Dungeons and Dragons as a reference point. Some of those are

Small achievable to-do lists are more likely to get finished, than long unachievable ones ^[1]
Humans suck at multitasking - for the majority of people doing multiple tasks at once increased the cognitive load, and that practising didn't make it better or easier ^[2]
Getting things done can be achieved with simple planning at the start of the day, being realistic and not overwhelming yourself with too many tasks.

What’s your style when it comes to productivity and to-do lists?

Have a great week

Shelly & Heath

*no puns were harmed in the producing of this article

_References

_{[1] Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals; E J Masicampo 1, Roy F Baumeister, (2011) J Pers Soc Psychol}
_{[2] The Myth of Multitasking; Karen Hopkin (2009) Scientific American}

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