Why Do We Celebrate?

I want to wish everyone in Canada and the USA

 a very happy and safe holiday celebration this week! 

I am going to the lake for two days of relaxing and then for Canada Day, this Wednesday, I will be at work from noon to 8 pm. We are having a little Canada Day party in the afternoon. Providing programs and celebrations at a personal care home is extremely challenging right now during this time of quarantine, social distancing, and so many other changes and worries. We are trying to gather people in very small groups, and then we try and position people with some distance between them.

Previously our Canada Day Parties at the personal care home have been huge outdoor events for residents and families complete with a hired musician, food, and decorations and lots of FUN. We always had a huge turnout. This year - What to do? We are setting up the patio and decorating in Red and White, but we are handling it like a mini “come and go” open house style event for the residents so that we only have a few people gathered at a time. It is a significant change and challenges our creativity.

This year our usual ways of celebrating have been so overwhelmingly disrupted.  We all want our social contacts to return to what it was before the pandemic, but in the meantime, we still want to share our lives with each other in some way. 

What I am impressed with is how resilient people have been. We are, indeed, finding new ways to celebrate and mark special events. My niece’s husband secretly contacted her Facebook friends and arranged for everyone to drive past and honk. He even surprised her by decorated their front yard.  She was thrilled with this new version of a birthday celebration.  I was pleased to discover that I could attend live-streamed service from my local church this past Easter from my own home.

We are communicating with others and having events on Skype, Zoom or Facetime. People from all over the world are participating in activities in new ways. Some times these changes have been very positive.

I love celebrations!

 I even love those days when unusual celebrations occur and sometimes I try and incorporate them into my home life and into my work life at the personal care home. Just to give one random example- Did you know that today, June 29th, is the International Day of the Tropics, which is sponsored by the United Nations? It is kind of the perfect day to buy a tropical plant, have a sweet beachy drink. Click to learn a bit about the fascinating biodiversity of the tropics. Why do we set up these differnt kinds of events and what is the point of it?

 

What do we celebrate?

We celebrate or commemorate the important markers of our lives. We celebrate our birthdays and commemorate the passing of loved ones. We remember anniversaries. There are special feelings of pride and acknowledgment of your capibilites on the day you get your driver’s licence on the day you graduate from school or when you get that longed-for job or be a winner in that major sports competition.

We celebrate the community acknowledgment of Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Mother’s Day, Fathers Day and many other days with big events or family gatherings.  We sometimes do a lot of consumer purchasing to get the right décor, clothing and treats and even cards to share. 

Each culture has its unique occasions and ways that they celebrate these days.  It might be hoisting a beer stein for Oktoberfest, or it might be watching a dragon dance for Chinese New Year.  These celebrations reflect the history, culture and beliefs and geography of a place and a people. It is a way that a group defines itself and binds itself together as a group. It is a way to remember the past traditions of their people and to teach its youth to be proud of their heritage and to continue it into the future.

These special days and moments are centred around universal human experiences. We all experience loss, sadness, fear, accomplishment, and we all look for love, peace, joy, and success. When we act to notice and mark these events and moments, we find meaning in what is happening to us. The sorrowful and the joyful can be shared and let us gain validation for what has happened and our feelings about it. As a group, we can offer each other solace in difficult times, and we can provide practical support too. We can even create a force for change by acknowledging the importance of what has happened.

Back to why do we celebrate?

We have fun and excitement, and we make special memories

What is life without a little joy and laughter? Human being’s health and well being are dependent on having a bit of fun and expressing ourselves.

We bond with others and become part of a broader community.

People need a community and a sense of culture and identity. We need to have the physical support of others, but we also need to have people to share in who we are and have things in common with us. 

We discover more about our own identity and learn what is important to us.

When you celebrate a rite of passage, it can change who you are and in a very real way how you see yourself.   My granddaughter just graduated from grade 6 this past week. She was a little kid and a member of her old school. When she returns to school next term, it will be a new school. It will no longer be the elementary school where she played during recess. It will be a junior high with new expectations, and there will be new social and extracurricular groups for her. Retirement is a big change too. We often describe ourselves by our jobs and our workplace. After you celebrate your retirement, you will redefine who you are and look at new possibilities.

It reflects our growth as people and our changing lives.

Our personal journey is marked by baby showers, births, baptisms, weddings, educational completion and all those other life events. Eventually, there will come the time of our death and commemoration of who we were and of our beliefs.  

Through our lives, we define what kind of person we are, we look at our roles in our communities and families, and where we belong and where we can make a difference. Our special days and events let us mark and confirm what these events mean to us as individuals and as a society.

Lets make this Summer's celebrations fun, thoughtful and meaningful despite the challenges we are facing in our world today.

Have a wonderful Canada Day and a fantastic Fourth of July.

Make some great memories!

My Cute Rock Garden

I want to introduce my little plant friends. Curly, Larry and Moe. They don't care if I water them or not, how good the light is or if the temperature drops below freezing!  We have had very inconsistent weather around here, and last night, we had a couple little, late-planted sprouts freeze to death. It can get kind of discouraging. I thought it would be fun to share this little project today.  That real Aloe plant was safely in my bedroom window last night and just went outside to photobomb the little guys.

The pots I used were just cheap plastic mini pots that we had kicking around in my garage, but it would have been really nice with those tiny terracotta pots that are available at the dollar store. 

•  3 pots
• 3 rocks that can fit in each pot snugly
• 3 shades of green acrylic paint 
• white acrylic paint
• average size paintbrush
• fine tip paintbrush 
• filler for the bottom. I used white play clay from a dollar store.
• sand or small stones or aquarium gravel 
• Googly eyes
• craft glue
•  mod podge (optional)
  

I washed and dried the rocks carefully. Next, I set them up on some newspapers and gave them a coat pf green paint with the bigger brush. It was good with just one coat. I went over the rocks once they base coat dried with the white acrylic paint to create different styles of marks with the small brush. My intention was to suggest they were assorted types of cactus.  When they were fully dry. I attached their eyes and promptly started laughing at them because I thought they were so cute. In a while, I decided that they really did need a glossy finish. I was a bit sloppy and wished later that I had been more careful beside the eyes because I required some very gentle clean up on the plastic eyes.  

I tried to just balance them in the pots initially and decided they needed a little more secure of a resting spot. I added a bit of play clay in the bottom to stabilize them and raise them up a little higher in their pots. The plastic pots have a drainage hole on the bottom so I didn't try sand.  Since I have put stones around my aloe plants I thought these little guys needed a finishing topping of stones as well. I had a small bag of leftover aquarium gravel for that little finishing touch. 

This project would be appropriate for all ages and skills. You can get a lot more detailed painting each cactus if you are up for a challenge or just leave them a  solid colour for an extra easy craft.  Bigger rocks in bigger pots would be a fun accent to an outdoor garden, but you would want to seal them with something more weather resistant than craft strength mod podge.

 

I might use these as a craft program at the personal care home some time. Wouldn't they make cute centrepieces for a Western event or a Cinco De Mayo party?

Cute as can be Curly

Meet Moe

Lovely Larry

The Whole Gang.

Take Good Care of Yourselves

This is a time in our world where so many of us are feeling lost, helpless, and unsure about what we can or should do. We, as individuals, need to find a way to meet our own basic needs before we truly are able to give our best to help heal our society.
People need to take better care of themselves. The question is, how do we do that?

" I don't have time, I am not feeling great right now, I am too busy taking care of everyone else. I don't have the right supplies, I need to work, I need to just spend all my time on my computer or phone". 

The list of reasons used to put your own real needs last is enormous. Have you heard about the procedure of putting your oxygen mask on yourself first during an emergency so that you can help others? We need to do that in our daily life so that we can keep going ourselves and be there to help others be well. I'll be the first to admit that I have in the past and still continue to struggle with taking the time and focusing on what I need at the moment and then to follow through and meet those needs. 

Through my various health struggles, I have learned that you start with ONE step at a time and build on what you learn and accomplish. I want to try concentrating on one topic or idea a week and try and incorporate it into my life. I know that it can take a long time to truly master some goals. Still, I am sure that even small efforts with thinking, learning and implementing will lead to positive changes. Maybe something that I share will inspire you!

I'm hoping others will join me in this journey so watch for "Take Good Care of Yourself Sundays." See what changes I am making to hopefully increase my ability to cope in such a challenging time and to continue trying to lead a healthy life.

Recreation therapy and other disciples break up our activities and our therapeutic goals into several categories of health that are intended to create a holistic approach to health and wellness. I sometimes use these as labels for my blog posts, and I also want to use them as ways to organize the topics and ideas I plan to investigate and work on.

Physical 

Social

Emotional/ Mental Health

Cognitive/ Intellectual Health

Spiritual Health 

Sometimes also considered are  

Environmental Health 

Occupational Health

Financial Wellness

Do you have any particular challenges you are facing? Do you have favourite ideas for self-care? 

See you this Sunday for the first 

"Take Good Care of Yourself Sunday."

What is on your Fall Bucket List?

September 21st was the first day of Fall and I was having dreams of crisp weather with me on the porch in a nice cuddly sweater. I live in Winnipeg Canada and guess what? It snowed! It only lasted for a couple hours but it sure was a wake-up call that Winter is just around the corner and we need to enjoy Fall while we can.

I love making plans and goal setting because it encourages me to get more done and to do new, different and interesting things. Since I love all sorts of activities it is not a surprise that the Fall bucket lists that are all over the internet absolutely get my imagination racing.

I needed to make a list of the things that I want to try this Fall.

Why would I need a list? When I look at my own list I can remember to try it and I can prioritize my fun and adventures. A list acts as a reminder of all the fun ideas that caught my eye and it also helps me watch for those opportunities when they present themselves. Perhaps I might even need to budget for it. Once I have made that list I start to see coupons, adds and stories about the different fall experiences.  I can make notes of where I can go to do these things or how to do them at home if I don't already know how. It lets me get all those fun materials, ingredients and resources together too.  I might even be able to convince some friends or family to join me!

I must admit I love checking things off lists.

I use the various lists I have found on Pinterest to make my own.  You can find lists for couples, young families or teenagers. There are personal achievement-based lists. There are silly lists. I see lots of bucket list items that appeal to me, but for some of them I do realize that particular ship has sailed. Hike the Trans Canada Trail is SOOO appealing to me but I am barely managing a hike through Wal-Mart these days. Practicality needs to be a part of my plan. A Fall trip to stay in a Bed and Breakfast in Vermont sounds awesome, as does Octoberfest in Germany but  it is certainly not in my budget for this year or next year. Besides all my vacation time was used up as part of my work absence for the Hip Replacement Surgery and recovery. 

Why these Seasonal Lists useful tools for Recreation Professionals?

Recreation Therapists must plan their month long in advance. We have to try and catch the interests and needs of the individual but we also try and carry out many programs as groups  Seasonal Bucket lists are almost like a shopping list of popular ideas. Now that doesn't mean that we are going to set up a tub for 90-year-olds to go bobbing for apples but perhaps seeing that item on a list might make us think of doing a reminiscence activity. Perhaps we can find some vintage pictures of bobbing for apples or other Party activities. Perhaps we will arrange to have some school children have a party with us. 
These lists are especially good for my Girl Guide unit too. So many of these items are perfect for the girls' outings or activities. We are all about fun and these projects are just what the girls need to make plans, show leadership and allow them to choose what is of interest to them!

My Top 25 Bucket List Ideas

• I plan on going for a drive in the country
• Taking fall pictures in the country
• Visit a corn maze with Girl Guides 
• Harvest herbs
• Plant bulbs for spring flowers
• Sow wildflower seeds
• Decorate the house with mums  and Fall touches.
• Crochet an orange scarf
• Make scarecrow crafts
• Buy Fall candles
• Make a Thanksgiving centrepiece
• Go to a paint night with my daughters
• Sell Chocolate Mint Cookes with my Girl Guide Unit
• Leathercraft leaf project
• Give myself a fall coloured manicure
• Buy new shirts for fall
• Pumpkin pies
• Pumpkin dip
• Leaf shaped cookies
• Crockpot apple cider
• Hot chocolate by the fireplace at the lake
• Make smores
• Apple crisp
• Cook some banana, pumpkin and carrot cake loaves for sharing
• Purchase a pumpkin spice "something or others" at a coffee shop

I will try and report back about some of these items and we will see how many of these I actually manage to do! Maybe I will take advantage of other fun opportunities that we come across. List are a great framework but spontienaty is where some so the excitement comes from.

Do you have plans for any Fall projects or adventures?

Hot Chocolate 101

My daughter Alicia is going to Guest Blog for me today.

I work at a day program for adults with cognitive and physical disabilities.

Today the lady I was supporting hosted a Valentine Party for a bunch of her friends and wanted to give them Hot Chocolate because chocolate and Valentines go together. She wanted to give them something to drink.  This a drink we had figured out a recipe for around Christmas time. She had wanted to figure out an alternative to coffee for a diabetic friend.  They both said they had not had hot chocolate for many years.

  We put all of our ingredients into a large cooking pot. We used  one and a third cup of instant skim milk powder or enough to make up a liter of milk. We used a third cup of cocoa and half a cup of Splenda.  We stirred up all the dry ingredients, poured in the 5 cups of water, stirred it thoroughly again and put the pot on the stove on low so it could slowly heat up and be ready for when her friends arrived.

People were so excited to have the drink. Her guests and my coworkers told her how much they loved it and commented on how good it smelled in the house! They even asked her for her recipe. We wrote the recipe out for a few of them and titled it Hot Chocolate 101 so that is where the name comes from.

My coworkers had a cup and then wanted seconds. They were used to drinking powdered hot chocolate mix and most had never tried hot chocolate made from scratch before. They commented on how different it tasted. For a lot of the disabled individuals it had been a long time since they had hot chocolate of any kind. This was a really nice recipe because it allows us to control the sodium, sugar and fat content making it accessible for different diets including heart friendly and diabetic diets and so allowed everyone to share in the treat.

Hot Chocolate 101

1  1/3 cup Skim Milk Powder
1/3 cup     Cocoa 
1/2 cup     Splenda 
5 cups      Water.

1. Place dry ingredients into a large pot.
2. Mix ingredients with a large spoon
3. add water and stir again.
4. put on a low heat on a stovetop and stir occasionally.
5. Serve using a ladle.
6. Enjoy!

Serves about 6 

Note  from Linda:
I think I will test this out with a slow cooker next week and then try it out at work. I am always looking for a nice treat that people on special diets can share.

Santa Bob

Santa volunteered at the Sam (Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba) Christmas Dinner yesterday, carefully listening to so many wishes and reassuring people that they are indeed on the Nice list, at least for the moment. 😊. Santa passed out oranges and candy canes and posed for about a 100 pictures.

Ho Ho Ho

Santa Bob will be at several events around Winnipeg this season and this is going to be one busy week! Tomorrow he will be doing pictures at one Personal Care Home and on Thursday will be at another for the morning as a special guest for a holiday party.  He is brightening the lives of many seniors this week.

Simple Fudge

Chocolate Fudge and Mini Oreo Fudge

I like to do a variety of activities with the grandkids. I also like to make them seasonal and interactive and this past week the plan was fudge.

I have taken on the job of supporting my oldest grandchild in learning school skills so I do a lot of things like double the amounts in a recipe, or half them, and then we can basically show an applied use for our math skills. We are covering organization skills and what order steps should be taken and I often get him to type out the recipe, preferably in his own words, but I take what I can get. Next I try to get him to take pictures or I take pics of him and we insert it into the document.
We eat or send home treats or meals and we try and do a critical discussion about what was good about making it, best about eating it and if we would ever make that again.

Sometimes we try out things that I want to do at Work or at the Stroke Recovery Association because I am much more comfortable having previously done an activity myself. I feel more confident that I have everything I need and I can review were there might be problems before I find myself disappointing a group of people. This was one occasion where I am really glad we did our test run.

Emily, the boys and I used a recipe for chocolate fudge off of Pinterest and it never set hard enough to cut. It actually seemed more like a pretty good filling for something like truffles. We figured out what we did wrong. The recipe called for fewer than usual chocolate chips plus sweetened condensed milk and the kind we bought was LOW FAT sweetened condensed mild. We did not even notice until we started to figure out what went wrong. The kids and I will try it out again this weekend.

Wednesday was Fudge Day at Stroke Recovery Association and I was smarter this time, played it safe and used the recipe right on the Eagle Brand Condensed Milk label. We had nothing but fun and success with lots of added in candy, sprinkles.



1-2-3 Fudge

3 cups chocolate chips.
1 can Evaporated Condensed Milk
1 tsp vanilla.
 around a cup of fun things to add in.

• Prepare a pan by greasing the sides and ideally put a lining of parchments paper to make it easier to lift out later.

• Measure the chocolate chips into a large glass measuring bowl and still in the condensed milk.

• Heat in a microwave,  stir and make sure it is smooth.

• Remove from the microwave and add vanilla

• Now is the time to stir in your add ins. They can be chopped up candies, glazed cherries, mini marshmallows dried fruits. nuts, cereals. You should avoid wet ingredients but other than that be creative and make it your own. 

• Pour your warm fudge into the prepared pans. A spatula makes this easier to transfer and smooth your surface. you might want to add a few more of the fun things to be a decorative topping. 

• Cool for a couple hours, then check for firmness, cut into pieces and enjoy.

Centerpieces Made at Art Group

We  had a guest come to the Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba Art Group this week to show us how to make centerpieces.  Teresa, is the wife of a Stroke Survivor and she was happy to share her talents with us. Her family had a flower shop when she was a girl and she still really enjoys working with fresh greens. She came with everything needed fur us to make our own centerpieces. She spent many hours gathering supplies and preparing by wrapping picks onto pinecones and a few artificial berries to be used as picks in the arrangements we were creating. Trimming the greens and making bows were difficult for a few of our group members but we all supported each other and we all wound up with georgous arrangements.




You start with a small bowl and a piece of green Oasis floral foam and n you push a candle into the center. Next we trimmed some pieces of pine greenery into manageable pieces and pushed it into the Oasis all around the arrangement. Our top layer was pieces of cedar. The two kinds of greenery gave a  much  greater depth and variety of color and shape that was very attractive. Next we added the trims.. pinecones, artificial berries, mistletoe, holly and we made or were given ribbons on a wire that can be poked into the Oasis foam. A few people even added a cute artificial bird!








My daughter Emily came along to art this week to give a helping hand. Its always nice to have her with me. We made one centerpiece together, that we now have on our coffee table.  Teresa said we can expect the centerpieces to last all the way into January.

 I want to thank everyone who came out for this event. I especially want to thank Teresa but I also want to give a big thanks out to the volunteers and family members that assisted in making this workshop such a success

.

ART- Trip to the Park

My Art Group from the Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba wanted to try a few things this summer that we can't do very easily in the winter. One of the activities we picked was a trip to a the beautiful Leo Mol Sculpture Garden located in the Assiniboine Park.

The nine of us took a quick walk through the English Gardens and then we went into the sculpture garden. Most of our group had never seen this part of the park before and were surprised at  how big and beautiful it was. We all appreciated the benches and beautiful views located along the way. The park staff was just starting setting up for this evening's huge fundraiser Garden Party and it was interesting to see the place change for this very fancy party as the staff set up tables and displays. I wish I could have afforded to go in the evening and enjoy
the final product!

It was perfect weather, warm, sunny, with a bit of a breeze. and we just enjoyed the lovely displays during these last lovely summer days. We followed up by returning to the restaurant located nearby. The wait for the restaurant was the worst thing about the outing. It was over an hour before we got seated at a table and we had worries about getting to eat before the pick up times for some of our people who use our local handi transit system. It all turned out but if we do this kind of an outing next year I think we should bring a picnic lunch!

It was nice to be outside and see such beautiful plants and art. It was a pleasure to spent the day with our group. 

Special Thanks to my husband Bob for coming along and supporting us.

Cinco de Mayo Themed Guiding Event

Last night  my daughter and I attended our Girl Guide Area Annual General Meeting at a local community center. It is an event open to the adult volunteer Guiders in our local section of Manitoba. Last year our Grand Pines Area membership was over 3300 women and girls.













I had an awesome time. They had a great Cinco de Mayo theme for the event and they carried it through from the decorations, food to music and even more. The organizers had us shout out answers to Mexican themed trivia questions to choose the order in which tables of guests went up to the buffet .

We got festive drinks,  pulled strings on piñatas and enjoyed a great taco dinner.

 There were door prize draws and my daughter got one of them. There is an outing at a trampoline facility in her future.

I have been to lots of general meetings for volunteer organizations over the years but it is always feels  so different at Guiding ones. You can feel the passion, energy, and yes- fun in the room. We are part of the largest association in the world for girls and women and we have so much to be proud of. The annual report is a joy to read because of the great ideas and experiences shared in the reports and as you look at it you can see the impact that our organization has on our members and those we come in contact with.

There were lots of awards given to members and we heard about some wonderful achievements that happened in the past year of Guiding in the Grand Pines Area.  I got a chance to visit with people I don't see too often and it felt like a family reunion. It is great to be part of the sisterhood of Guiding!

#GrandPinesFiesta

Creating Art

This past week we had an Art Show for the Art Group I coordinate at the Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba.

We get together every Wednesday morning at the Stroke Recovery center. We put out lots of different art supplies and participants are able to work on anything they want to. This is certainly not an art class but an opportunity for self expression. Some enjoy the details and work on the same project for a period of weeks while others might produce several pieces in a morning.  I try to offer a new idea, technique or medium each month and encourage participants to give it a try. You never know when something new might turn out to be an activity you will love doing. The creative arts have a special role in helping us find joy and well being in our lives.

The group was originally organized by an Art Therapist and focused on a psychological therapeutic model. When she left the group continued on as a social and peer support group that enjoyed creating art. Eventually I began to help with the group. As a Recreation Therapist I try to support the social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs of the group members but always... enjoyment and fun need to be the priorities at our art mornings.

I try to encourage participants to try new things and engage in learning new skills.  We try to use weaker hands and eyes to gain improved control and strength and we try to work on any left neglect issues that might have occured with strokes.

Decision making, focusing attention, spatial processing, sequencing and planning as well as other cognitive skills can begin to improve as we work on creating art. We assist individuals in trying new tricks and adaptive methods to reach their goals. Something as simple as using painters tape can keep the art paper from sliding away and a Masonite board can increase options for supporting the paper at different, more comfortable angles, kind of like a clipboard. That painters tape can even result in an attractive border strip around a painting!

We share our friendship. We express ourselves through conversation and also with our art. We create. We share our accomplishments and we feel proud of what we achieve.

P.S. One of the ladies at the art show said I needed a picture of me at the art show. I was trying to get pictures of my artists but had not even thought of getting a picture of myself. The picture above was Vera's first attempt to take a picture with a phone and I think it is wonderful!

Fish Fry for the Seniors

Yesterday we did an interesting program at work. We had a fish fry lunch!

My co-worker, on this Fathers Day weekend shift, is a man who has a lot of past experience in leading  youth camping and other outdoor programming and he suggested that we go out on our patio and use an old fashioned Colman camp stove to cook up a fish fry! I thought that was pretty brilliant. With my camping experience we were on the same page about what a good experience this could be and how to do it!

My co-worker, D, took care of all the food aspects and I was supposed to do a few fishing games, fishing reminiscence and jokes but we didn't get all those extras fit in. I wound up spending my time inviting residents to join us for lunch and then transporting them to the patio.  I think they couldn't believe I was serious that we were having a cookout.

We have a small but  nicely treed fenced patio that is surprisingly pleasant oasis to have in our downtown facility surrounded by large buildings.  We set up a cooking station and had a picnic table set up with an old green Colman Stove. Our  menu consisted of  batter dipped cod fish fillets, bannock or fry bread and baked beans.  One fun aspect was that D. found some nice divided take out containers that we used as disposable dishes. They were perfect for our outdoor lunch. People loved sitting out on this beautiful day, listening to a favorite CD of country music, watching the camp cooking and eating such a rare style of cooking for a Personal Care Home. 

I was exhausted by 1 pm. so I was really glad we had planned an easy afternoon. My co-worker set up the dining room for watching a movie and put on a Three Stooges marathon DVD. Whoever wanted to watch it could.  This was a good choice because it is a series of very short films and on a day like Fathers Day there is a lot of coming and going of visitors, so it made it easy for people to join in at any point in the program or even for people to come and share a laugh with their loved ones.

Let's Draw Recreation Therapy-- Video

I love this little video. It explains in under 3 minutes what I do at work!

One thing the video does not make clear is that we need to make the activities fit the needs of the individuals. My seniors would not be suited to doing a ropes course for a social activity but they do love singing along with an entertainer or having a discussion group and coffee party!

Therapeutic Recreation is not all about fun and games... We look at the person's current abilities and needs as well as their interests, their past hobbies, work history and what new things they might like to try. We use that information to help a person with recovery or to maintain their current skills.

Our main objective is to help people achieve a good quality of life.

Music and Brain Injury

Last night I was reading a post on a Facebook board for Therapeutic Recreation directors asking about how best to use music to help people who have had traumatic brain injuries. I actually got kind of worked up reading the responses. I felt that people might not be recognizing the difference between the needs of people experiencing dementia and those with TBI. 

I wrote a short answer to that post but really I have a lot to say on the topic. Music is so much more than entertainment. It is part of who we are, a part of our experiences and what we remember. It is what some of us marched to, what we danced to at our weddings, and what we sang as we rocked our babies.

I have always loved music and grew up with it around me. My dad played piano and I started piano lessons when I was in grade two. I was always singing and I even met my husband when we were both members of our high school choir. Our four children all took music lessons and I can't begin to add up the hours of lessons, and concerts we took part in.

After I had the brain injury I developed a love / hate relationship with sound. Music and sounds had a horrible effect on me. I was very easily overwhelmed by movement and noise. The sound of music made me nauseous and dizzy and any kind of beat seemed to kick that constant headache I was feeling into high gear.  The more the music, the less I was able to focus and the more disjointed my memory and thinking became. I cried because I was missing music that had loved and I cried because music had the ability to incapacitate me even  further than I already was.

As time went by my physical and occupational therapists started to do things like adding sound and music to sessions and trying to get me to tolerate the music. A lot of therapy for dizziness is in the category of .. " You are not going to like this.. but we are going to take you to the point of being dizzy and then back it down a bit so we can build up your tolerance. Don't worry I will jump out of the way when you start to throw up!". Yes it is absolutely that horrible and you have to keep going back over and over for more torture, also called VRT or Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy, if you want any chance of having a life outside your bedroom.

Gradually music, in small doses, became one of  my greatest therapy helps. I started guitar lessons and I am sure I would not have regained such full use of my hand if I had not worked so very hard to get my hand moving on that guitar.  What I did not realize at the time was what a big impact the music was having on helping me recover some of my cognitive skills, especially my memory and sequencing of tasks.

My husband and I joined a community choir and there I was - out of the house doing something new and something other than therapy sessions. It was social, it was a new kind of learning and it felt encouragingly like a normal person kind of thing to do.

 

As I began my journey toward becoming a Recreation Therapist it was arranged that I would volunteer at the Misericordia Hospital. One volunteer position was helping with the spiritual care, mainly transporting people, handing out music and singing my little heart out with the residents during services. The other main job was assisting in a group program led by a music therapist who came weekly to the attached personal care home. The music was so powerful in both programs and what joy it brought to the residents!

I must admit that I personally don't do that much with music when I am at work at the personal care home. I have lots of opportunity when I could choose to run a music programs, but I rarely do. I think I value the role of music so much that I don't think I can live up to my own standards for this kind of program. This issue is apparently something I currently need to work on. I either better get to be a better musician or get over my perfectionist tendencies when it comes to the topic. I will have to report back about my progress in the future.

 I wrote in a previous post about singing a karaoke song at an event at the Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba. That incident was very powerful for me in terms of mental and emotional health. The song I picked from the list of choices was the Beetles song, Blackbird. I was really scared to sing publically but I did it and felt so brave. When I finished there was no missing that I had an impact on the other people there. At first I thought they didn't like my singing or that the song was a bit too much. No, what happened is I had hit on a common emotion and wish for the group. It was what brought us together. We were all longing for the freedom of  having our broken wings fly again. We wanted our broken eyes to see again. To be free.

 

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life- You were only waiting for this moment to arise

 

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life- You were only waiting for this moment to be free

 

The power of music. 

 

 

 

Please note

 I was unable to find copyright info for the pictures this time. If there is a problem please let me know and I will gladly give credit or remove the pictures.

 

The Power of Baking

I have such strong memories of baking with my mom when I was little. Christmas was a massive push to produce huge quantities of cookies, tarts, Christmas cakes and wonderful bars and treats.  I really don't know why we needed so much when the only ones sharing goodies over the holidays were my mom, dad and me plus an uncle and aunt. I loved the excitement of baking and holiday cooking and I loved that special time with my busy working mom.

My Mother-in-law was famous for her baking. Her style was to produce tons of stuff all year round and always had the freezer stuffed. Company over? She just pulled some margarine container of cookies from the freezer. Come Christmas time she dipped into all the containers and produced lovely trays to put on her dining room table or to take to the various charity groups she supported.

When our kids were growing up we tried to bring all of the above into our traditions and added in treats and baking that were particular to our family. I took courses in making fancy cakes and I considered baking to be my hobby. I collected cookbooks, and I have more shapes of baking pans and fun tools than one would believe possible. They make me smile.

This week I feel a desperate urge to bake everything. I want to bake with my family and pass down the recipes. I want to share treats and give gifts of goodies to friends. Sometimes it is fun and sometimes it feels more like work and the cost of ingredients can get away on you.  Sometimes all the dirty baking dishes can get away on you!
 I am really busy and over committed right now and I don't have the energy for it.  I sure don't need all the calories that those lovely chocolaty treats come with. Common sense tells me the grocery store\s bakery has it covered. My daughters say lets make this favorite food or that favorite cookie. My Grandkids usually make gingerbread house with me however I haven't visited with them in weeks. Despite all this I still want to be baking!


For a while there I was physically unable to do much baking and cooking and it shot right up to the top of my rehab priorities. I worked with my occupational therapist on regaining my cooking skills and in fact I still have the goal sheets where we worked out what I wanted to accomplish and brought it down to my SMART goals.

 It was absolutely the right goal for me at the time and it worked on all those damaged skills.. hand control, planning, order of operation for activities and it even worked on my stamina! It was a useful skill. It was familiar. It was part of having a normal life. What I have recently come to understand is how complicated the idea of a "relevant" goal is.

The ladies and gentlemen in the personal care homes always enjoy the baking programs we do. For most people it is not about trying to get back skills like I was doing in rehab, but it is indeed about regaining a little bit of their former life.
Baking programs are a fun social event shared with others. The smell of the  ingredients, the act of stirring and pouring all have this sense of connecting us with a different time. The smell of the food baking and the taste of the food is evocative of the past. It is a sensory joy.
It brings us memories of shared times with family and a pride in producing and sharing something of value.  It is connecting our now with our past and giving us a sense of continuity.

When we bake we share our stories and tell about who we are.