April was a busy month for Australians and New Zealanders with Easter, school holidays and the commemoration of our fallen ANZACs.
At Specialised Health, whilst most people take the opportunity to relax and unwind we know rehab and recovery doesn’t take a holiday! Or if it does, it takes 2 steps backwards..
So we’ve kept rolling on!
Feature Articles
Attempting to assist clients with staying on track during holidays, we provided a summary of Motivational Interviewing in Rehab. Part 1 came out recently. You can subscribe here, or click the below image to read the article.
And stay tuned for Part 2 of our series where we focus more on the practicalities of taking an MI approach.
For an example of a unique way to set out goals and make a plan with your client (or use it yourself!) see our Linked In post here!
Staff Spotlight this Month – Melbourne EP Mr James Danos
Revisit the article and get to know James here
This Month in Social Media
Favourite Social Media Posts
The most popular posts across the platforms were:
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First Place: Behaviour Change, Instagram post April 18th
Behaviour Change I.e. altering your daily routine, is not always so easy.
A helpful first step is to figure out where you/your client is at on the Stages of Behaviour Change cycle/staircase➡️ Contemplation: May require further education and motivational interviewing, weighing up the benefits of the change
➡️ Preparation: Good time to go through some goal setting (more on goal setting later), sourcing support network and external rewards
➡️ Action: May be more reliant on support and external rewards. Good time to iron out Routine development in order to support the next phase and not go backwards* (more on Routine next week)
➡️ Maintenance: Behaviour is now a habit, takes less effort to perform. * “Backwards” /Relapse is normal and not the end of the world! Address the barriers and keep at it!
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Runner Up: Motivation vs Habit, Instagram post, April 24th
A big part of behaviour change towards any desired outcome is Habit or Routine
You can make helpful ones and break unhelpful ones to suit your goal.
HABITS
Makes “doing”, easier
BY
👍 Decreasing decision fatigue
👍 Decreasing reliance on motivation
👍 Increasing self-efficacy/confidence in the task
👍Decrease risk of going backwards when hitting a road block (or at least lessening the impact)
TIPS TO BUILD HABIT
💪 Commit to a consistent and regular time (preferably daily)
💪 Start with easier tasks and build up
💪 Use your social support 💪 Remember your “WHY” (your personal reasons, for you)
💪 Don’t expect immediate perfection
💪 Replace with healhiter alternatives (rather than going cold🦃 on unhealthy choices)
💪 Remove temptation
💪 Acknowledge a reward – whether that’s small and internal or larger and external
💪 Create triggers and behaviour patterns
Vote by following us, liking and commenting on our posts.
Focus Areas for April
Each week via our Team Meetings and Roundtables, we discuss what the biggest areas are which we’re going to focus on and improve as a company. This month we looked at:
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Prioritise in-depth conversations with Case Managers and Rehab Providers prior to contacting new clients and booking in Initial Assessments. Why?
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Ensure consistent goals
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Build trust with the client (by knowing the history)
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Fully prepare for the pending Initial Assessment
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In all of our reporting, we also want to be specific about the exact barriers to the Return to Work or Return To Life goals. Our recommendations should then act to specifically address these barriers.
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We always want to sharpen our timeframes so completing Initial Assessments within 5 business days of a referral continues to be our gold standard with reports being sent out within 2 days of the assessment is our aim.
Program Updates
We are still kicking along with our Reconnect program with OnePath customers which has been awesome.
Reconnect is a 4 week program for mental health client’s to kick start their rehab process, focusing on the 4 pillars of health:
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Exercise/activity
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Nutrition
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Sleep
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Stress Management
Another case has been finalised, this time by our QLD EP, Renee Trevarthen, achieving an 89% improvement in wellbeing!
If you have any queries about this program, or interested in something similar, contact our Director Brad Domek brad@specialisedhealth.com.au
Some Healthy Competition!
EP Tess Nielsen shared an online typing test with the team, that can be used to test typing capacity for our clients returning to office-based jobs. So naturally, we all had a go.
And the winner is…
EP, Jennifer Smallridge!
Brad shouted her 10 pack coffee voucher, just to see if its possible to type any faster!!
Staff Updates
Goodbye, but not forever
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Tessa Thurston (Adelaide) had her last full month with us for a while, taking maternity leave in a few weeks time! All the best Tessa!
See you all (digitally at least) in May!