Packing Slip 
item |
Spirituality and Self-Care |
contact |
Barbara Shovers (Chandler-Gilbert Community College) barbara.shovers@cgcmail.maricopa.edu |
college(s) |
Chandler-Gilbert Community College |
discipline(s) |
Wellness & Counseling |
summary |
This project involved attendance at a national Spiritual Activism Conference, completion of a Hypnotherapy Foundations course, and research about optimal self-care behaviors and attitudes conducted with holistic healthcare professionals. |
details |
I had three personal and professional goals for my summer project. Goal #1 was to attend a Spiritual Activism Conference in Washington, D.C. from May 17-20, 2006. As a result of the conference, I have started a local group of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, which I facilitate monthly. Goal #2 was to attend a Hypnotherapy Foundations course at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts from June 6-20, 2006, which I completed. I now have skills in the use of hypnotherapy for life coaching and use in my holistic health classes. Goal #3 was to conduct a research project to identify optimal self-care behaviors for holistic healthcare practitioners and design strategies for implementing them. From June 5-30, I developed a self-care questionnaire, surveyed 10 professionals, and conducted interviews with them concerning their own self-care and how they might better educate their clients and patients about the importance of self-care in healing. Most of the holistic professionals I interviewed are practicing optimal self-care behaviors (with the exception of nurses) and believe that they must “walk the talk” in order to be credible with those they serve. ------------------------------------------------------------ Outcomes: In a paragraph or two describe what worked well. Did you accomplish your objective(s)? Were you able to complete your summer project as written? If not, what did you modify and why? What did not go as well as expected, if anything? Were there any surprises? Note: Use the questions as guides for your outcomes. Do not include detailed list of workshops attended, speakers who presented, or a list of items you have seen, heard, or read. ------------------------------------------------------------ I was able to complete my summer project in a most satisfactory way. The Spiritual Activism Conference lit a fire under me to get involved in my community and country to facilitate change. I haven’t felt this hopeful about the possibility of espousing a “new bottom line” in America since I was a college student in the 60’s. The conference was life-changing for me. Through the hypnotherapy course, I realized the importance of the “unconscious” mind in expressing our reality, and that we can change deep-seated negative beliefs through accessing it. I plan to use the skills I gained in my Wellness classes and with life coaching. It was affirming to discover that the holistic healthcare practitioners I surveyed and interviewed are practicing what they preach in terms of self-care attitudes and behaviors. The strategy they all stressed was for students to discover who they are and their life purpose. To be optimal practitioners, they need to work through their own issues, be true to themselves, be truthful, and be healthy themselves in body, mind, and spirit. ------------------------------------------------------------ Professional Growth: Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, your college, and possibly other colleagues. How did project affect you professionally? What skills did you learn? What environments were you working in and how might your summer project influence your teaching or other responsibilities? Did you gain a different perspective? Was it professionally valuable for you? ------------------------------------------------------------ The professional and personal growth I experienced as a result of the summer project was profound. My co-teacher and I in our Spirituality and Meditation learning community are implementing a service learning project based on what I experienced at the Spiritual Activism Conference. We can take spiritual principles out into the community in a meaningful way. I am utilizing hypnotherapy scripts from the course I took in my Self-Care class to help change “unconscious” negative beliefs about self. In addition to using the self-care questionnaire with holistic healthcare practitioners, it is also being used as a pre and post assessment of student self-care attitudes and behaviors in some Wellness classes at CGCC. In addition, I can now say with a degree of certainty to my massage therapy students that it’s necessary to develop and practice optimal self-care attitudes and behaviors in order to be a successful holistic healthcare professional. ------------------------------------------------------------ Dissemination: How will you share this information with your colleagues, department, students, or college? ------------------------------------------------------------ I’ve formed a local Network of Spiritual Progressives group which is working on a project to encourage city and state governments to enact the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Control to curb global warming. I’ve been able to share my enthusiasm for bringing spiritual principles into social action by designing a service learning project for students in the Spirituality and Meditation learning community which I co-teach. Both students and colleagues in the MCCCD have been invited to participate in the Network group. I’ve incorporated visualization into my Wellness classes as a way of accessing the unconscious mind. I also use it in life coaching, which I offer students in my Self-Care class. I plan to report on the results of the research I conducted with holistic healthcare professionals to members of the MCCCD Wellness community and the Arizona Consortium on Complementary Health Organization. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fpg/ |
shareback |
A "Shareback" cites the places on the web that mention, reference, or use this MLX package, and "shares" that information back here (more about shareback...) Sharebacks can be generated automatically by weblog tools. |
extra |
Last modified: Sep-26-2006 Date created: Sep-24-2006 Visitor count: 2327 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Faculty Professional Growth Summer Project Reports special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=1882
