Sometimes the hardest part of Rehabilitation is getting started. No one chooses to have to go for short term rehab. It is usually an accident or illness that completely upends their life and slams a big emergency brake on the train of life.
Some people are self motivators and are ready to get moving. Most times the initial feeling is sadness and a need for grieving. One of my challenges as a therapist is to help get through the grieving process quickly so we can push hard to get the job done. It’s hard to know right away what will do it but being a listener definitely helps.
The self motivators
These are the easiest to get started but can actually sometimes be more difficult than you expect. It’s not so easy to from 0 to 60 and maintain that from the beginning. Often the self motivated residents need your help to slow it down a little bit and take some rests. Even a professional athlete needs recovery time.
This can be especially true for someone with some memory problems. We need to be careful with pushing forward without regard for safety. Sometimes we need to back up a bit and try to slow things down. We need to “crawl before we walk”.
The Grieving…
More often than not it takes a sure hand and a listening ear to try and help the grief to move on physically. It can be very emotional and debilitating to go from being home to needing help with something as simple as going to the bathroom and moving in bed. It is alot on someone to go from independence to dependent on caregivers.
Some get mad, while others get sad. Either way the more compassion and empathy you can project can be huge in getting over the initial bump. Some of the best medicine I can give someone is to just let them air it out at me. It is amazing how it can quickly turn around and become motivation if you stick it through. Sometimes it is hard but you have to remember they are not mad a you…..it’s the situation.
We are all in this together
If you can get them started in the routine and establish a relationship that they trust they will work harder for you. It just takes time and listening. You will both be better for it. As I said earlier… you don’t know what you can do until you try.
