SARCC Self Care Week

My holiday season was dietarily difficult. Going into December I was three points away from my target weight. Today I a m nine pounds away. Worse, I shrank all my clothes in the refrigerator. Let's be honest. Nutrition can be a difficult piece of our self-care due to all the cultural messages we face about the shape of our bodies and the strong connection between food, our emotions, and our brain's reward system. So let's do this. For one day, we aren't going to worry about the scales. We're simply going to focus on the effect that our diet has on our emotional health (Check out this article from Harvard University entitled Nutritional Psychiatry .) After reading that, grab a healthy snack and take the following challenges... Explore! Test your basic nutritional knowledge with this simple quiz . Mind! Ok, this "Five Whys" exercise isn't food related, unless food for thought counts. Try this simple method of challenging your own thinking.

Stress is part of life and it's not always a bad one. Stress motivates us to overcome challenges that lie ahead. However, when we live in a chronic state of stress, we begin to break down. NIMH has a brilliant article that lists five things you need to know about stress. It's a five minute read at most. Today's challenges are designed to help you combat the stress you face each day. Check them out! Explore! Take the Stress Management Scale to see how well you have already managed tension. Mind! On Monday you were introduced to some basic breathing exercises. We're going to circle back to that with a little more detail. Body! Let go of  stress by allowing yourself be silly by exploring the bottoms of your feet . App! Download the Nike Fitness Club App on your iPhone or Android. Design workouts at your fitness level that require little to no equipment. Enter! Tell us which challenges you completed and be entered into the daily drawing. With each entry

The connection between the mind and body is real, but we slow to reflect that truth in our daily lives. Our diets can make us feel more sluggish or energetic. Mediation can center us. A quick walk outdoors can renew. 20 minutes in the gym releases endorphines that increase our sense of well being . We know these things. We also know that lasting change is built step by step. So today, give yourself permission to not attempt radical changes all at once. Just take one meaningful step in the right direction. Here are today's challenges. Again, do what suits you and discard the rest. Explore!: Take the Caregiver Assessment to assess how well you are renewing yourself. Mind!: This quick, fun activity should relax you in a hurry. Body! Walk this  way for a good, cleansing laugh. App: Download "Stop, Breathe, and Think" on your smartphone. It's filled with mindfulness exercises that you can do anywhere. Enter the Drawing: Click here to enter the daily

Welcome the first day of SARCC's Self-Care week. The fact that you are on this website , looking at this page, affirms that you know that you matter, and that this rewarding work can be draining. If you find yourself a little weary, you aren't alone. Compassion fatigue is an occupational hazard for those of us in the helping profession. The good news is that diligent self-care effectively combats cynicism and depletion. This week is designed to expose you to new options to help you in your self-care endeavors. Try an exercise and see if it benefits you. Steal a play from Marie Kondo: If you try an exercise and it brings you joy, add it to your self-care arsenal. If you try something, and it feels awkward or if it's just not you, toss it. The spirit of this week is exploration.  Here are four options for you to try today.  Explore!: Take a survey to help you understand your quality of life and the impact that compassion fatigue may have already taken on you. 

Hello, Next week our agency-wide Self-Care Week launches. If you’ve worked here for any length of time you know that the work is rewarding, but that vicarious trauma is a real occupational hazard. No one is immune from the negative emotional impact of being surrounded by our client’s trauma. Fortunately, there is a simple antidote—self-care. Starting Monday, we are going to collectively renew our commitment to renew ourselves. Every campus will have a Self-Care Central table waiting for you (Ask your campus’s director for the location and the hours it will be open).  Each day you’ll be invited to try up to four self-care experience. There will be a quick self-assessment you can take, two simple mindfulness activities, and self-care app that you can download onto your phone. With each experience you complete, you earn one chance to win a daily gift basket/gift certificate drawing. The CORE Team has gathered wonderful give baskets of gourmet food, wine, beer, oil changes, m