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Social Emotional Learning Lays the Groundwork for Success in Life.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is an important focus for today’s educators to help develop life, social, and career skills which impacts all aspects of a child’s life. Developing these skills in students, families, teachers, and the entire surrounding community benefits everyone.

A Critical Component in the Classroom

Social emotional learning is a critical component of school readiness and later academic and social success. Did you know that high-quality interactions play an essential role in supporting children’s SEL learning? A child’s ability to understand and be in control of their emotions lays the groundwork for their success in the classroom and later in life. This includes actions like feeling empathy, having a sense of identity, building relationships with friends and family, and having flexible thinking. Emotional regulation, stress management, and relationship-building are things that adults use in everyday work and life.

What are the Benefits for Teachers beyond the Classroom?

One could conclude that there are many benefits to teaching SEL to students, but the benefits for teachers should not be underestimated. How does SEL benefit teachers exactly? As teachers deliver SEL lessons, they are witnessing positive change and positive outcomes with their students. These lessons focus on skills and competencies resulting in serious personal and academic growth for students and the teachers who are also learning these skills as they teach them!

It’s estimated between 40–50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. Many say they lose their passion for teaching because they feel undervalued, overworked, and underpaid.

The pressure of having to boost test results to meet achievement benchmarks, feeling unsupported, struggling with technology and behavior problems in the classroom can have a challenging impact on their mental health and wellbeing. That’s why E-Therapy created our new mental health wellness platform eQUIP to support our educational partners. With easy-to-use modules, packed with short videos and resources, everyone can begin using immediately.

“Over the last 3 years we have seen an increase for mental health support not only for students but for staff educators. We know that adult SEL is just as important as the student’s SEL. Our eQUIP wellness platform provides positive mental health strategies for teachers/educators and offers up resources that educators can bring back into their classrooms. When a teacher’s mental health needs are met, they then can build healthy environments for their students, which in turn, creates long lasting academic and social emotional success”.

A Mental Health Platform for Emotional Learning Support

As the leader in teletherapy and Edtech, E-Therapy has elevated the delivery of speech/language, occupational, physical therapy, mental health services and psycho-educational assessments for schools. We are doing this through an innovative and creative approach that delivers fresh, engaging, and motivating sessions. eQUIP is a comprehensive platform that gives educators tools that help them manage stress before it takes hold. Learning to tune-in to their emotions, identify their triggers and learn coping strategies to reduce the risk of becoming overwhelmed. Our platform is designed to bring self-awareness to help teachers prioritize, make positive choices, and recognize when they’re reaching their limits. Whether it’s group wellness sessions, individual “go at your own pace” module learning, and series sessions, the whole school community is supported. There is a component of self-care and overall wellness to support teachers to reach their full potential. A healthy classroom makes teachers want to teach and children learn more.

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/social-emotional-learning-lays-the-groundwork-for-success-in-life/

Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

At E-Therapy, we offer social and counseling teletherapy services to our school partners. Mental health is top of mind as students suffer the isolation brought on by Covid-19 and an uncertain future. We know that social and emotional learning (SEL) is more important than ever before, so in today’s blog, we feature an guest article by SEL expert trainer and coach, Sue Laue.

An Intro to SEL

Empower Guest Blog From Sue Laue, Open Studio Project, Inc.

Now as never before, we as a global community must practice positive social and emotional skills to meet our biggest societal challenges. Educators worldwide are coming to realize that youth need to learn these skills early, alongside academic skills, to take their place as global citizens.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process in which we learn about our emotions:

how to express and manage those emotions in positive ways
how to build relationships with empathy
how to appreciate diversity

Learning SEL skills is foundational for success in school, work and life.

Our global interconnectedness today demands an ability to understand the needs and cultures of diverse peoples to assure equity. Even within one’s own community, equity for all through understanding different perspectives is key to building successful and fair socio-economic strategies and to providing equal distribution and preservation of limited natural resources.

Employer surveys have shown that the skills most desired for employees are those that assist in building positive relationships, sharing, and teamwork. In addition, rewarding personal relationships are developed only with keen social and emotional skills.

Students can learn SEL skills

Research shows that SEL can be taught and students can learn the skills at all ages, academic, and behavioral levels. When a caring teacher, mentor, or parent models and teaches SEL skills, children can learn:

self-understanding
impulse control
bullying prevention
appreciation of diversity
empathy
goal setting
decision-making
self-confidence

When taught in an academic setting, students can achieve up to a 15% increase on standardized achievement tests, according to a meta-analysis by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an international leader in SEL education and research based in Chicago.

Social and emotional learning programs have proven to increase academic success by:

teaching the five key SEL skills: promoting students’ self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making skills
improving student attitudes and beliefs about self, others and school

Many schools and districts in the U.S. and around the world are integrating social and emotional learning standards and skills for students into their school climate improvement and academic curriculum initiatives. Illinois was the first state to mandate that schools teach SEL skills in 2003, and developed SEL Goals and Standards for instruction in all schools PreK-12.

The studies we have access to today show several benefits of SEL and an 11 to 1 return on investing in SEL for schools. Some of the top data points include:

Science Links SEL Instruction to Student Gains (% increase)

Social-emotional skills (23%)
Improved attitudes about self, others, school (9%)
Positive classroom behavior (9%)
Gains on standardized achievement tests (11-15%)

Reduced Risks for Failure (% decrease)

• Conduct problems (9%)
• Emotional distress (10%)

Why Implement SEL in Schools?

Relationships provide a foundation for learning.
Emotions affect how and what we learn.
Social and emotional skills can be taught.
Positive impact on academic performance, health, relationships and citizenship.
Reduction of classroom management problems.
SEL teaches skills and attitudes which are demanded by employers.
SEL coordinates a framework to overcome fragmentation of prevention and positive youth development programs.

SEL helps students feel safe

Most importantly, SEL instruction helps students form positive relationships with adults and other students at school, diminish bullying, stand up for others, feel safe, focus, and achieve in all areas of their lives.

However, in order for lessons to be most impactful, SEL instruction must be delivered to students with fidelity to program and curriculum design and SEL lesson sequence – first teaching self-awareness and self-management, then social awareness and relationship skills and finally decision-making.

CASEL states that high quality SEL instruction must be SAFE, utilizing:

Sequenced activities to develop skills
Active forms of learning & teacher modeling
Focused attention on SEL in the curriculum
Explicit targeting of particular SEL skills for development

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/introduction-to-social-and-emotional-learning-sel/

The Power is in the Right Tools for Your Team

Nearly half of educators, principals, and district leaders—45 percent—said one of the biggest challenges they had encountered was that educators struggle with how to use digital tools effectively. As more and more educators are embracing online learning, there is a growing need to support them in order to avoid burnout and build retention.

E-Therapy understands the power of the right tools.

We help therapists streamline their workflow so they can concentrate on what’s important to them, working with their students, not battling technology! That’s why we created eSMART, the most innovative online teletherapy management platform to ensure top-level support for your student services team. Whether you’re a large public school district or a small private school, virtual or traditional, eSMART has a solution that’s right for you. We train your school-based teams to get virtual sessions up and running with zero frustration. There is no commitment and no caseload limits – use it when you need it.

eSMART is a robust, innovative online teletherapy management platform that supports your whole student services team.

Some of the many benefits include the ability to log in for therapy, anywhere, anytime. It is feature rich with smart scheduling, a comprehensive auditing system and built in compliance. Therapists love our platform because we provide:
• Quick onboarding with one-on-one therapist training, along with on-demand videos and webinars.
• Secure, private online therapy rooms with encrypted login.
• Session tracking and real-time data reports.
• Built-in compliance features.

Another way we are providing online technology solutions for educators is our eQUIP wellness platform.

eQUIP is a new

comprehensive wellness platform that provides mental health solutions for the whole school community. We support students, staff, teachers, and administrators in developing programs to foster a deeper sense of well being. E-Therapy’s eQUIP program addresses the stigma that surrounds mental health.

The easy to follow framework was aptly named to focus on; Engaging Environments, Quality Connections, Understanding, Interpersonal Interactions, and Personal Care. The platform is packed-full of 6-10 minute modules you can begin using immediately that address the dynamic issues impacting our school classrooms. Some examples of current topics included in our eQUIP platform are: Bullying, De-escalation in the Classroom, Mindfulness, and Understanding and Responding to Trauma. We also provide Solution-Focused Brief therapy which is future-focused, goal-directed, and focuses on solutions rather than problems. Educators also benefit by learning how to handle mental health issues with the students they teach, as well as wellness strategies for their own work and life balance.

As we move into a new year, E-Therapy is working hard to develop new, easy to use technologies and innovative programs to support our schools community. We also know one size does not always fit everyone. That is why we pride ourselves on also being able to tailor a program to meet the unique needs of each school.

Want to learn more about our management and wellness technology platforms? Schedule a free demo online at https://bit.ly/2W8VOom or visit our booth #3448 at FETC for a live demo from one of therapy professionals.

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/the-power-is-in-the-right-tools-for-your-team/

5 Habits of Successful Online Therapists

In this post, Diana Parafiniuk, MS,CCC-SLP, founder and chief marketing officer of E-Therapy, shares 5 telepractice insights from her years of experience. Developing these habits can help school-based speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and guidance counselors that are new to online therapy have a successful telepractice.

Experience Practitioner Shares 5 Habits for Online Therapy

by Diana Parafiniuk

Telepractice has become the service-delivery model of my life’s work. I definitely dedicated sweat and tears—if not my blood—into building my own telepractice since 2008. I believe telepractice offers solutions and enhances the quality of life for underserved students.

Over these years, I learned that telepractice serves as a bridge and relationship-builder between students and clinicians. Many of our students and clients are digital natives, so remote sessions give us a chance to work with them using a form of communication they well understand.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to share what I’ve learned about easing the online therapy process during my dozen years doing telepractice.

Be an excellent communicator

Clear, simple communication is one of the most important habits to develop for successful online therapy. Keep instructions concise, bullet information in emails, and send reminders for upcoming sessions. Keep a log of each communication with parents or colleagues.

If your telepractice platform doesn’t offer direct-communication log tracking, save and file your emails into separate folders for each client or student.

Set expectations at the start

Speech-language pathologists who use telepractice exclusively often make their introductions to families and/or school administrators and teachers initially over the phone. I coach my staff to make those first impressions with confidence, understanding, and a professional demeanor.

Take the time to learn what parents/teachers expect from online sessions. Offer examples of how you might work with their child or student. Let them know if and how they can—or should—participate with intervention, both during sessions and in daily life. Keep the child’s information in front of you so you can confirm with the teacher or parent what you’ll address during sessions.

Create consistent organization

Keep your digital files and hard-copy files organized. I try to keep this process easy to execute. E-Therapy and some other telepractice platforms include a way to create profiles for each client and store data. But you can create a system yourself.

Set up folders in a secure Google drive or cloud storage for your clinical data notes. Save the notes you take during sessions to the client file immediately after each session. You can also include links to activities you used to save time when you set up for your next session.

Schedule for success

Keep your session calendar updated. I find a digital calendar works best, and it is a habit that has served me well while practicing online therapy. It allows reminders and notifications to alert you about an upcoming session in various ways—text, email, pop-up—and with multiple timings. I also use them to send email reminders 24 hours before each session to parents or teachers. And keep your phone nearby in case a parent or teacher can’t get into a session and tries to call. If no one signs on for five minutes after the session is scheduled to begin, call the parent or teacher to minimize lost session time.

Ensure session privacy

Most platforms allow you to assign individual rooms or meeting appointments for each client to maintain privacy. You can adjust this for groups when needed. Assigning each parent or teacher a unique password also keeps sessions secure. Individually assigned rooms can track and digitally time-stamp your sessions as well. This log records what time the client or student arrived for the session, what time the SLP started the session, and how long both parties stayed in the session.

These fundamentals should help you set a sound foundation for your telepractice. Incorporating these tips into your practice also instills confidence in the parents and educators. When team members request items such as clinical data notes, contact log information, and proof of session attendance, these telepractice protocols can easily and effectively save time, show your professionalism, and support your practice.

5 Habits of Successful Online Therapists

A version of this article first appeared on Leader Live, ASHA’s blog, https://blog.asha.org/do/10.1044/2020-0429-telepractice-tips/full/

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/5-habits-of-successful-online-therapy/

On Trend Must-Haves For Your Teletherapy Office

Since March, educators have been working from home. In the quick transition to remote learning, therapists did not have a chance to create the space of their dreams. In fact, the closest anyone probably got was perusing Pinterest while collapsed on the couch. Now that summer break has at last arrived, we’ve had time to think about must-haves for our teletherapy home office.

There are a few things you absolutely MUST have in your office for successful sessions – computer, internet, privacy. These are essential to doing your job as a teletherapist. But here are also a few “must-haves” that make being a teletherapist even more fun!

5 fun essentials for your teletherapy home office

Fan or Heater

One of the big perks of working from home is that YOU get to control the temp. No more sweating in a stuffy therapy room aka broom closet, or freezing in a too cold school. You get to decide if you want it warm and toasty or cool and crisp. Have a heater or fan as needed in your office to help you get that ideal temp you dream of.

Tip: Search for Electric Vintage Desk Fans on your favorite handmade marketplace.

Comfy Chair or Two

Get comfy and get supported! No more plastic school chairs or worn out swivel chairs. You get to decide exactly what chair you work from (keeping it professional of course – no couches for sessions), so you can get that ultra-chic chair or that extra back support. And while you’re at it, you might even get a comfy lounger or chair to slip into when you sneak in a coffee break or type up some reports.

Tip: Search for Ergonomic Office Chair on your favorite furniture site.

Candle or Essential Oils

One of the best things – you can make your office smell cozy or energizing or refreshing – however you want it to be to help you get the most out of your day. No worries about co-workers or student’s allergies or rules against candle flames. Pick a scent, light a candle, diffuse some essential oils or heat up some wax melts and enjoy the aromas of your choice.

Tip: Search for handmade soy candle shop on Etsy.

Coaster for Your Coffee – or a full on coffee station!

One of the best parts about working from your own home is the access to yummy coffee, water, snacks, etc. Since you are bound to be using your favorite mug for your daily cup (or 5) of motivation, make sure to have a place in your office to leave it.

Get a coaster for your desk to keep it nice and nearby, or better yet, get a full on drink station out of sight! And remember to hydrate with some water nearby as well 🙂

Tip: Search locally for Artisian Coffee and support a small business.

Inspiration on Display

Since it is your office, fill it with things that inspire you and keep you motivated and connected to the work you are doing. Hang up some inspirational posters or create a vision board. Have pics of your family on your desk or hanging on your walls. Or even have some of your favorite quotes and sayings displayed. And if your license and certification fill you with pride, display those as well. Just remember, if they aren’t something that should be included for your sessions and students, make sure to keep them in your eyeline and off camera.

Tip: Ask your students to send you a picture they drew themselves.

Have fun with creating your home office and make it one that inspires you to continue the amazing work you do for your students each and every day.

Want to learn even more about teletherapy? Reach out to us here: Become an E-Therapist

6 Essential Steps To Set Up Teletherapy For Your School

Wondering How Long it Takes to Set Up Teletherapy Services in Your School? REALLY QUICKLY!

by Diana Parafiniuk

At E-Therapy, one of our core tenets is to go “Above and Beyond” in how we deliver teletherapy. We embrace this tenet for our partners, our students, and our therapists. Your in-house therapists will be set up on our STAR Teletherapy Platform quickly by completing our unique, 6 step school-focused onboarding process. It’s designed to eliminate the sticking points and have your special education program online. This is very useful if your school goes to a hybrid model of teaching or experiences a quick closure and therapy sessions need to move to distance learning without missing a beat.

To avoid roadblocks from the back office, we simplified our contract process to be quick and seamless. Your staff could be trained within a day or two!

If your school is short on therapists and you need services; we have therapists in every state – trained and ready to go! E-Therapy’s energetic, experienced team will be dedicated to your school, and ready to get started when you need them.

Whether you need therapists or a secure teletherapy platform that you can trust, keep E-Therapy in your backpocket. Whatever your school needs will be in the Fall, E-Therapy has a quick onboarding system to make this happen.

How do we do this? We have 6 simple steps:

Job #1: Understanding your school’s special education needs

First, we spend time to understand your specific needs for your unique students. We ask questions that help us understand important things such as “What are your communication needs?” or “What are your reporting needs, formats and deadlines?” With this information, we can set up the STAR Teletherapy Platform for your school’s special education program, quickly and effectively. Or we can provide therapists, get them assigned, and ready to contact your school.

2. Simplify your contract for a quick start

Your contract is set up quickly so that whenever you are ready to go, E-Therapy is also ready. The contract can be set up in a way that enables you to hit “go” when needed and is managed completely by our E-Therapy team.

Alternatively, if you don’t need services right away, we can get your contract done and your data in our system so that when the light turns green for services, you have no wait times.

3. Ready your school team for teletherapy

At the same time your contract is finalized, your team is set up. If you require staffing help, we hand pick from our expert therapists based on what we heard from you in our first engagement meeting. If your school-based therapists will be transitioning online, our onboarding team readies themselves to train your school on the STAR Teletherapy Platform.

Part of the on-boarding process that will delight your team is the introduction of your E-Therapy Account Manager. This person is your go-to expert at E-Therapy that guarantees your school, your therapists, and your students get outstanding services in the most effective way possible.

4. Student profiles uploaded

As engagement begins, our Operations Team jumps in to upload your student’s pertinent data in the STAR Platform which enables your therapists to schedule meetings when the time is right. Even before the first therapy session happens, your student profiles are ready to go for your in-house therapists.

If we are providing services, our expert teletherapists start planning for sessions based on the particulars of the student’s needs!

5. Set your school’s teletherapy start date with your team

Now that the contract is complete and your student profiles are ready, your E-Therapy account manager together with your school’s team lead will set a start date. Once the start date is in our system, your therapists can schedule training sessions almost immediately to ensure students experience no delay in getting services.

6. Training! Training and more training!

Schools licensing E-Therapy’s STAR Teletherapy Platform will have live training sessions with a platform expert. Your team’s confidence will grow as they transform into teletherapy pros with astonishing speed. They will learn how to use the powerful STAR tools and utilize the platform to best suit their needs.

In addition to live training sessions, E-Therapy offers several ways for individuals to familiarize themselves with the platform on their own time. Video tutorials and webinar content are always available, so no matter what your team’s schedule looks like, we have you covered.

Let’s talk about your needs

At E-Therapy, we are here to answer your questions and help you better understand the benefits of working with our team. To learn more, schedule a demo and a chat today.

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/6-essential-steps-set-up-online-teletherapy-school/

Google Scratch Art Jamboards For Teletherapy And Distance Learning

Remember using wooden sticks or toothpicks with black scratch art paper to draw pictures? Now your students can create scratch art virtually with the Scratch Art Jamboards! These are fun activities to do with distance learning students, to set up as a center in your classroom, or as part of a teletherapy session (E-Therapy’s SLPs love it!). Use these erase-and-reveal activities to promote the following goal areas:

Letter formation
Spelling
Intentional communication skills
Turn-taking
Verbal descriptions skills
Oral communication skills
Reinforcers for skill practice, work completion, and participation
Artistic expression
Stress reduction
Messages of caring

Check out our tutoral that walks you through creating your own virtual scratch art using Google Jamboard. https://youtu.be/5hqLzBp9wc8

Follow these directions to make a copy of our Scratch Art Jamboards.

Click here to make a copy of the Jamboard template. (give it a minute)
Open the Jamboard and select the eraser tool from the toolbar on the left.
Move the mouse over the blank page to reveal the colorful background as you draw or write words. If you have an iPad or computer touchscreen, you can also draw with your finger.

Each slide has an image uploaded into the background. The black cover “paper” was created by coloring over the entire slide with the black marker tool. And yes, it took a chunk of time to marker over the entire slide, which is why these Jamboards take longer to load.

Once the students have their drawing completed, each slide drawing can be saved as an individual image. You can print them to display or include them in a portfolio of work.

If you plan on using the activity more than once, it is recommended that you make and save several unused copies in your Google Drive.

Want more activities?

Subscribe to E-Therapy’s YouTube channel and press the bell to be notified of our latest videos. We hsare new sctivities every week!

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/google-scratch-art-jamboards-for-teletherapy-and-distance-learning/

Check Out Our New E-Therapy Hot Topics Forum!

When you are working and living in a “virtual” world, there can be a lot of benefits. More flexibility, less commute, able to work with people from all over globe, and even less exposure to illnesses and germs. As wonderful as it is, there can often be a feeling that connections are lost or that you don’t have a co-worker, colleague or other community member to reach out to with questions.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, thanks to the E-Therapy Hot Topics Forum.

E-Therapy is taking the big step towards helping people within the teletherapy setting find more connection, whether you are a therapist, educator, school admin, or parent, via the Hot Topics Forum. This forum is designed to help you get and stay connected, providing all the resources and community that you need, within the virtual, online world.

What is the E-Therapy Hot Topics Forum and how can I take advantage of it?

E-Therapy’s forum is a community space for educators, therapists, parents and administrators to share ideas, learn best practices, ask questions, and get answers about teletherapy and special education related services.

In the forum, you’ll find categories full of topics that you might have questions about or answers to. You can ask new questions in the forum, share your expertise, or simply make a connection with others by sharing a useful piece of information, a tool or a resource. It is designed to be your go-to for answers to the questions you have about resources, activities, how to hold meetings or sessions, how to deal with emergency situations and closures, etc.

You can use it as your “go-to” place when you are in need or when you have something useful to share. You can also use it as a daily “check-in” to see what the latest news is, how others are using teletherapy, and share any new information you might have. In essence, it’s a community.

In the words of E-Therapy founder, Diana Parafiniuk…

“The possibilities for information sharing, raising awareness and access to therapy tools, and best practices within the teletherapy field are infinite with this new community forum! E-Therapy’s Hot Topics Forum is social media platform that is independent from data monetization, and is 100% ad free. This allows broader participation and inclusion, and allows our members to see only the content they want.”

How can I access E-Therapy’s forum?

The E-Therapy Hot Topics Forum is open to anyone in the therapy field or educational community. Educators, therapists, school admins, and parents are all welcome to come to the forum! You’ll find that many topics are shared by all, and there are also many that are specific to each of you. No matter who you are, you’ll find your place within the forum.

Ready to check it out? Click below to see the topics that are trending now, and join the conversation by posting a question or a comment on someone else’s question!

Have more questions? Check out our E-Therapy Hot Topics Forum FAQs to learn more!

Want to talk to someone about ensuring your compliance?

Contact us to learn more and get started!

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/check-out-our-new-e-therapy-hot-topics-forum/

January Activity Roundup

Happy New Year! We hope you are returning from your winter break refreshed and rejuvenated. To help ease you back into your therapy routine, we’ve prepared several winter-themed activities to keep your sessions hot even on those cold January days.

January Calendar of Activities

A new year and a new month means another monthly activity calendar for you. Check out our January “National Day” Activity Calendar which is filled with 31 days of activity links for you to use in your therapy sessions or in your classroom. Links may lead to hands-on activities, online games, online stories and websites that revolve around the “national day”.

Winter Dress Up Pets!

Brrrrrrrr! Dress Up Pets are ready for winter! Dress up Cat, Puppy, and Sloth in coats, hats, mittens, sweaters, and boots. And don’t forget the hot cocoa! This drag and drop Jamboard activity promotes expressive language skills and can be used for teletherapy and onsite settings. Be sure to snag this adorable Winter Dress Up Pets! activity today!

Polar Friends Spot the Difference

Our E-Therapy Polar Friends Spot the Difference visual perception activity can be used in all therapy settings. In a remote setting, screenshare the activity from Jamboard. While sharing in Jamboard, use the shape tool to circle the student’s responses or if your teletherapy platform allows, share remote keyboard access and allow your students to circle their responses using the shape tool. In a brick and mortar setting, print paper copies of the activity and complete with your students. Use the answer key provided to double check that your students found all 10 differences. Get your E-Therapy Spot the Difference fun now!

Snowman Virtual Sticker Scene

Build a snowman and add all of his winter friends in the newest E-Therapy sticker scene. Your students will love using Jamboard’s drag and drop feature to place the virtual snowman stickers in this winter wonderland scene. Our E-Therapy virtual sticker scenes are perfect for remote or in-person therapy sessions to target a large variety of goals or can be used as a reinforcing activity. Get your copy of the Snowman Virtual Sticker Scene here!

Bitmoji Yoga Cards

In the new year, we thought it would be fun to shake up our Bitmoji style a bit. We present Bitmoji Yoga Cards! These open-ended cards are perfect for remote or brick and mortar physical therapy sessions or can even be used as a fun tool for the classroom. Our yoga cards offer simple depicted yoga poses that can be used for no-prep gross motor activity or can be integrated into the classroom for brain breaks, morning routine, or for a quick distraction while students wait in line. Bring the zen energy to your sessions or classroom today with our yoga cards!

Get monthly activities to use in your online therapy sessions

Check out our monthly Activity Round-ups for even more fun online games and activities that can easily be used in your online teletherapy sessions.

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/january-activity-roundup/

Ten Tips to Keep You From Falling Apart This School Year

“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

As the school year continues, Covid-19 still looms large, and teachers and students sometimes feel overcome with all the uncertainty they face. Educators are dealing with a multitude of changes, new protocols, and fears. This added stress and confusion creates anxiety that leads to a sense of feeling swamped, defeated, depressed, and worried about how to get it all done.

How then do we show up and do the job required of us without falling apart? E-Therapy’s resident life coach, Cathy Hartenstein, shares ten mental health tips for teachers and therapists that will help you keep your head on straight and your sanity intact.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/4vaF6OrdcKw?feature=oembed&controls=1&autoplay=1&enablejsapi=1&rel=1

1. Breathe

When we get stressed and feel overwhelmed one of the best tools we have is to just simply breathe. That moment of taking a deep breath and letting out a slow exhale allows us to refocus, remain calm, and reconnect to ourselves. Take deep breaths to sync up your heart rate and your breath, release endorphins, and bring yourself into a serene and relaxed state. Deep breaths bring more oxygen to your brain which combats that foggy, unfocused, on-edge feeling.

How does it help?
Deep breathing allows us to slow down, catch our breath, and find a clarity that improves both our energy and mental focus.

2. Break Things Down

Oftentimes overwhelm creeps in because we are focused on the multitude of tasks in front of us. We look at our long list of things to do and think we will never get it all done. The best way to combat this is to break your responsibilities down into small tasks. The best way to break down projects is to start by defining your milestones (when do things need to be completed by), figure out what tasks are needed to reach the milestones, and finally put the tasks in the right order. This helps to clarify your goals and understand what your timeframe and daily workload will look like.

How does it help?
By breaking down big projects into doable steps it helps combat the sense of doom that the long list of responsibilities triggers.

3. Make a List

The next step is to make a To Do List. List making is very powerful in that it gives you concrete focus about how to actually accomplish your work. The trick to successful list making is to keep it short. Once your list explodes and has too many items, you burn out quickly and find yourself feeling completely overwhelmed. Once you have completed a task be sure to cross it off.

How does it help?
List making helps to combat overwhelm as you begin to see all that you have completed and that you can get your work done.

4. Prioritize

In order to keep that list short, you need to prioritize. There are many strategies for prioritizing your work, but things to keep in mind when doing so include:

separating urgent tasks from important tasks
scheduling things that don’t need to get done right away
delegating whenever possible
and most importantly, figuring out what you can cut

Once you have gone through this process, assess which tasks have the most value to doing your job and how much effort it takes to get the task done. Now you can figure out the top 3-5 tasks you must complete and put them on your list.

How does it help?
Prioritizing means figuring out which tasks need to be done first to keep your workload from getting away from you.

5. One Step at a Time

There is a famous Chinese proverb that says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. This is good to remember when we see that long list of things that need to be done in a short period of time. Sometimes we take one look at that long list and start to freak out – “How am I ever going to get all that done?!”

But if we just start with the first step and build on that incrementally, we slowly but surely find that our list gets shorter and shorter. If you start small you see that your workload starts to diminish rapidly. It is much easier to do something incrementally than all at once.

How does it help?
The benefit of doing something incrementally is that the strategy sets you up for success instead of failure and gives you many small accomplishments along the way to feel good about, which only encourages you to continue.

6. Simplify

This is to remind you to not get too caught up in the nitty gritty. This means returning to the basics, finding the easiest way to get something done, and doing less whenever possible. Trust your instincts and don’t reinvent the wheel. When in doubt throw the task out – eliminate whatever is not essential to your work. Learn to say no!

How does it help?
When we feel overwhelmed it is best to do just what needs to get done.

7. Focus on What’s Right in Front of You

We often find during our work day there are many moving pieces and lots of demand for our time and attention. We are constantly being pulled in many directions at once. When this happens, it is best to just focus on what’s right in front of you. Deal with the task at hand and then move onto the next one. If you do get interrupted, address it and then quickly shift your attention back to what you were doing.

How does it help?
Focusing on what’s in front of you keeps you from getting ahead of yourself and thinking about the multitude of tasks ahead of you.

8. Take a Break

It is important to remember to take a break and treat yourself to down time. Great ways to take a break include indulging in fun distractions, stepping outside and experiencing nature, letting yourself daydream, eating a tasty healthy snack, or exercising.

How does it help?
Taking a break gives you a chance to refresh, refocus, and realign your energy and makes it possible to take good care of yourself in the midst of all your daily stress.

9. Let Go of Perfectionism

So often when we feel out of control or overwhelmed, we tend to focus on what we do have power over. We set very high expectations for ourselves and try to micromanage every detail. We want everything to be perfect to the point where we actually create more stress for ourselves. The best way to let go of perfectionism is to let go of unrealistic expectations, stay present, and focus on what is working. Remember, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

How does it help?
Letting go of the need to be perfect frees us from unrealistic expectations that cause extra work and stress. You are good at what you do, and 99.9% of the time, your work is more than good enough. Trust yourself!

10. Remember to Have Fun

When we are having fun it automatically helps to dissipate stress and overwhelm. So often when our responsibilities loom large, we forget that we love what we do.

When you are feeling stressed, take a moment and refocus your energy on a key aspect about your work that you really enjoy.
Practice gratitude and let yourself be creative in accomplishing your tasks.
Make a positive, inspiring work space with reminders of self-care and joyful messages.
If you are collaborating, see if you can engage in fun brainstorming activities or have happiness boosting breaks throughout the day which can include sharing fun, uplifting emails, texts, or videos with each other.

How does it help?
When you are feeling stressed, taking a moment to have some fun will help you remember that you love what you are doing!

Overall, remember that while you may feel overwhelmed by all the current shifts and changes happening each day, you are great at your job and even in the middle of everything, what you contribute is truly remarkable.

Sound off in the comments below about how you combat overwhelm in your daily work.

Learn more:
5 Tips For Practicing Presence
Reflecting on the Positive: Signs That You Love Teletherapy
The Power of Setting Good Intentions
Practicing Gratitude Goes A Long Way In Beating Stress

This blog was first posted on: https://www.electronic-therapy.com/blog/ten-tips-to-keep-you-from-falling-apart-this-school-year/