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Our mental health and stress levels have been difficult to manage during the past few years, but it’s essential that we take time to engage in self-reflection. Whether you have three minutes or an hour, leverage these resources to manage your stress levels and strengthen your mental and emotional well-being.
Programming is available at no cost to all PTs, PTAs, and physical therapy students, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors.
Video (31 min.)
Join Core instructors Devon Pipars, Angelica Wilson, and Nikki Niestemski through a guided meditation to build your resilience. In the app, find four additional meditation tracks devoted to APTA's rehabilitation professionals specific to expanding your resilience.
Podcast (59:15 mins.)
Join Janet R Bezner, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and professor within the Department of Physical Therapy at Texas State University, as she discusses simple, actionable items related to your personal and professional well-being as a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant.
Video APTA Social (39 min.)
Join Monica Jain, PT, DPT, author and mindfulness practitioner, as she explores gratitude practice for health care providers and how to apply these principles to your personal and clinical life.
App
This mindfulness training was developed at Yale University School of Medicine by Judson Brewer MD-PhD. The training principles are based on ancient wisdom traditions that date back thousands of years and have been translated for modern-day use through programs such as mindfulness-based stress reduction. Gain 90 days of access using this code: APTA2022.
Article (4 min.)
Have you ever gotten into your car after a rough day at work, turned on your stereo system, and the perfect song for your mood came on? It seems to happen serendipitously at times, and, well, it feels powerful in the moment. Learn how to use music to facilitate self-awareness with this simple exercise.
Video (83 min.)
Christy Weber is joined by five fellow PT practitioners from the Pivot PT family to discuss various aspects of mental health, wellness, and resiliency with regards to their careers.
Article (7 min.)
It's one thing to have a positive mindset when there's no turmoil and life is chugging along at the status quo. But when something like a health crisis sweeps the nation, threatening your practice, patients' health, and basic sources of happiness, it's a lot harder to dredge up positive emotions and feelings. And guess what? That's OK. So the question is, how can you cultivate a resilient mindset to help get you through tough times in a healthy and constructive way, and turn stress into strength on the other side?
Meditation
Find 10 meditation links specific to rehabilitation professionals within the Core Studio. Discover resources to help cultivate sustainable resilience and become more self-aware.
Course (2 hrs.)
Well-being is important to performance and satisfaction in the workplace. High well-being among physical therapists protects against career burnout, and promotes high quality of care for patients. To better equip both new and experienced supervisors, this presentation will draw on relevant research to provide an overview of well-being, explain how the workplace environment and leadership influence employee well-being. Details: Some states place time limits on completion of CEU courses; check with your state's CEU requirements.
Podcast (29 min.)
In this episode, Allison Kellish, PT, DPT, PhD, MPH, answers questions related to her recent study, "Moral Injury Signified by Levels of Moral Distress and Burnout in Health Science Clinical Educators." She defines moral injury and how it relates to burnout, and more specifically how both experiences affect physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who serve as clinical instructors. She takes a deep look at why this is happening, and what managers, therapists, and students can do to address the current situation.
Video (33 min.)
Physical therapy is a relationship-driven field. We know the power the therapist-patient relationship has in driving successful patient outcomes. What we don't frequently talk about is how those same relationships help us as providers. This video covers the basics of therapeutic alliance and how that alliance helps both patient and therapist, and provides strategies to achieve a positive relationship that helps us fight burnout and emotional exhaustion.
Podcast (7 min.)
Join Erin O'Donnell, PTA, as she compares the resiliency characteristics of becoming a runner and pushing through a distance run with the resiliency characteristics it takes to push through the physical therapy career burn out.
Perspective (15 min.)
In this interview-style blog post, Jessie Podolak, PT, DPT, and Regina Landrus, PT, DPT, both fellows of pain science, discuss bringing mental health awareness to the forefront of a multi-clinic system in rural America. In addition, they share a tool kit, which includes a brief overview of the program provided to the system, screening tools, and other mental health resources to begin building a baseline level of knowledge needed for integrative behavioral health for rehab providers.
Podcast (21 min.)
Discover the surprising trends and prevention strategies to minimize burnout. In this podcast, Kristi Link, PT, DPT, EdD, senior clinic manager at CORA Physical Therapy, goes into detail about her research into the impact of burnout, trends, and prevention solutions to help the physical therapy profession identify the signs and take action.
APTA Video (36:37)
Join Core Senior Instructors Devon Pipars and Shundo David Haye, and Head of Core by Hyperice, Sarah McDevitt to learn meditation techniques and how you can use meditation practices to build resilience to stress, as well as a complete guided meditation exercise.
Course (2 hrs.)
Mindfulness and self-compassion are two evidence-based psychological skills that can effectively address overcoming an obstacle. Learn the importance, effectiveness, and research supporting mindfulness and self-compassion, identify common barriers faced when using psychological skills with clients, and apply simple, practical strategies to incorporate mindfulness and self-compassion into a physical therapy session. Details: Some states place time limits on completion of CEU courses; check with your state’s CEU requirements.
Article (4 min.)
Anyone who lived through the pandemic has been practicing resilience: the world we were used to living in got turned upside down, and mostly, we managed. Through meditation and mindfulness, we give ourselves space to be curious about what it is that we are experiencing, and the space to be able to respond rather than simply react. Learn about some of the different ways you can grow and support your own resilience.
Podcast (32 min.)
Whether it’s a true syndrome or just part of being human, the dictionary defines "imposter syndrome" as self-doubt due to consistently undervaluing your competence and attributing your successes to luck or other outside forces. In this episode, we talk to Cruz Romero as he shares with us the range of emotions he experienced while going through DPT school, what he now knows is called imposter syndrome.
Article (2 min.)
Whether it's self-care or work-life balance, everyone's talking about stress reduction. And as a physical therapist, you have the added pressure of being a caregiver on top of your regular life. So how can you deal with stress? Start by understanding what it is, and how it shows up in your brain and the body.
Video (2 min.)
Try something new with Michael Gervais, PhD, sports and performance psychologist, mindset expert, and Hyperice performance advisor. Your body wakes up each morning, but what about your mind? Start each day off well using this routine to enhance your morning mindset.
Video (54 min.)
Hear from Kevin Wilk, PT, DPT, FAPTA, and Clinical & Sports Psychologist Bhrett McCabe, PhD, to get tools and resources to help you improve your mental and emotional well-being as you navigate your personal and professional life.
Article (5 min. read)
Caring for patients is rewarding. But it’s also stressful! While these two things can balance out, sometimes the stress gets out of control. The result: detrimental effects on your productivity and well-being. Thankfully there are simple ways to reduce stress that everyone can practice.
Podcast (34 min.)
Physical therapists are determined to excel in their work. Heather Jennings, PT, DPT, a board-certified clinical specialist in neurologic physical therapy, describes why "you" time is just as important, if not more. In this PT Pintcast, she describes the difference between FOMO (fear of missing out) versus JIMO (joy in missing out) and explains how unscheduled time is scheduled time.
Article (10 min. read)
Learn simple things you can do at work, either while treating or between patients, to better manage your stress. This article also outlines universal strategies to handle stress in healthier, more productive ways.
CEU Course (0.2 CEUs / 2 hours)
Physical therapy is a demanding profession, both physically and mentally. This is one of four courses targeted at well-being for the PT and PTA. In this course, instructors give you an overview of well-being, mindfulness, and self-compassion, and offer practical ways to incorporate these strategies into your daily life. Details: Some states place time limits on completion of CEU courses; check with your state’s CEU requirements.
Article (5 min. read)
Understanding how to build your resilience is critical to preventing feelings of being overwhelmed or burned out, which reduces your enthusiasm and passion for caring for others at home and at work. The term "resilience" has been tossed around a lot over the course of the pandemic and after, but it is also applicable for those early in their career or at key transition times, often recognized at 5-7 years and 10 years into a career.
Video (2 min.)
How do you balance stress and recovery throughout your day? Join Michael Gervais, PhD, sports and performance psychologist, mindset expert, and Hyperice performance advisor, in trying something new: "thin slicing" your recovery.
Video (4 min.)
We are all working hard, but that also means that we need to recover well to stay more balanced. Join Michael Gervais, PhD, sports and performance psychologist, mindset expert, and Hyperice performance advisor, to try something new: "thinking well" as a resource you can leverage.
This program is available at no cost to all PTs, PTAs, and physical therapy students, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors.
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