Peterborough

Communica1on Support Systems

EMPLOYEE SELF-CARE
Shae-Lynne Anthony & Mackenzie McCarthy
Preceptor: Natasha Langley
Peterborough Communication Support Systems

Take Home Message

Peterborough Communication Support Systems (PCSS) is a non-profit agency that supports individuals within the Peterborough region over the age of 18 who have a developmental
disability and are either deaf, non-verbal or hard of hearing.

Burnout: is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion

caused by long-term exposure to demanding work situations. Burnout
is the cumulative result of stress. (Canadian Mental Health Association, n.d.)

Project Goal
Our goal is to educate PCSS staff by providing knowledge on concepts of
self-care to promote good health, reduce stress and create a positive work
environment. This will ultimately decrease rates of staff burnout.

Population Served
Our project serves the employees of Peterborough Communication
Support Systems. We are serving the employees by educating them about
the importance of self-care to prevent burnout. Educating the employees
will provide them with the information they need to live a healthier life and
help create a healthier and a more positive work environment. A better
work environment will benefit the clients of the organization as well.

PCSS consists of occupational programs, supported Independent living and group living
The day program offers clients opportunities for recreation, leisure, literacy, and communication activities, as well as social skills. Clients have the opportunity to work and volunteer at
various local businesses and organizations in the community. PCSS works alongside the Employment Supports or Alternatives program to find clients employment or volunteer
placements.
PCSS also offers a Green Shop where clients can make a number of different items to sell including jewelry, quilts, scarves, soaps etc. at the local farmers market and in their Green
Shop store.
Their Goal: To ensure that manual language users in all of Ontario have equal opportunity for access to specialized developmental services that respect their individuality,
rights, and unique communication requirements. (PCSS, n.d.)

Burnout can affect anyone however, people in the service sector are
more susceptible to it. It is vitally important for individuals to know
how to prevent it.
To overcome or prevent burnout proper self-care is essential.
Self-Care is defined as intentional actions you take to care for your
physical, mental and emotional health. (Hayes, 2015)
Socialization, sleep, physical activity, nutrition, sunlight exposure, time
management, relaxation techniques, positive attitudes and workplace
environments are all important for effective self-care.

Their Mission Statement: In our capacity as a provincial resource, PCSS provides sign language based environments and a community which facilitates the development
of life and communication skills in order to promote the social inclusion of non-verbal adults who have intellectual disabilities into mainstream society (PCSS, n.d.)

Methods
Our self-care project has been implemented at PCSS to support employees and volunteers dealing with stress and burn-out. Our project will provide employees and volunteers with the
information they need to live a healthier and stress free life.
We formed a survey for employees to fill out regarding their current health, self-care and burnout.
Questions on the survey included: how many hours of sleep do you get on average each night?, How many hours of sunlight do you think you get each day?, How many
hours do you work in a day? And In a week?, What about work makes you stressed?, What do you think would make you more relaxed?.
In the survey we also asked the employees what they would like to learn or see in our presentation. Some of the responses to this question included: How to cope with stress, inexpensive
self-care tips, relaxation techniques, the power of positivity in the workplace and where and when to seek help.
We received 37 completed surveys back. When we were given back the surveys we used the information to guide research for our presentation. We spent the next few weeks researching
information for our self-care presentation.
A few weeks into our project we decided to develop weekly health bulletins. Our bulletin topics included: Nutrition, Sleep, Physical Activity, The Flu, Stress, Sunlight, Office Stretches,
Work Environment and Winter Safety. Each Bulletin included visuals, quick tips and facts, and brief information regarding the topic.
We also developed an informational pamphlet on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that will be distributed to staff. The pamphlet includes a brief description of what SAD is, symptoms,
warning signs, vulnerable populations , therapeutic treatment alternatives and light therapy.

Outcomes
Short Term
Staff have new knowledge on ways to care for themselves outside of work.
Staff have new knowledge on ways to care for themselves within the work place.

Next Steps
We hope there will be an increased awareness of self-care following
our project and continuing after we finish our clinical placement.

Inter-Term

We have provided our preceptor with information regarding light boxes

in a booklet we formed on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Possible
next steps may include the organization purchasing a light box, and
having employees take turns working beside it.

Decreased levels of staff stress or burnout.

Better work environment for staff.
Better environment for clients.
More positive work place.

We hope that all our work will help create a less stressful and more
positive work environment.

Long Term
Increased productivity.
Lower rate of staff burn out.

Thank You..
We want to take this opportunity to thank the employees and volunteers at Peterborough Communication Support Systems for making us feel welcome and supporting our project ideas.
We graphed the data we received from the survey questions, this
enabled us to determine what areas to focus our presentation on.

References
Canadian Mental Health Association. (n.d.). Job Burnout. Retrieved from http://wmhp.cmhaontario.ca/
workplace-mental-health-core-concepts-issues/issues-in-the-workplace-that-affect-employee-mentalhealth/job-burnout
Hayes, A. (2015). 5 Ways to Practice Self-Care and Self-Kindess in 15-Minutes a Day. Retrieved from
http://kindnessblog.com/2015/03/03/5-ways-to-practice-self-care-and-self-kindness-in-15-minutes-a-day/
Peterborough Communication Support Systems (PCSS). (n.d.). Mission Statement.
Retrieved from http://www.pcssonline.ca/index.asp