When You Care Too Much: Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation

Jennafer Vande Vegte, MSPT, BCB-PMD, PRPC began her career as a physical therapist at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI. Since 2002 Jen has focused her professional attention on treating women, men, and children with pelvic health disorders. She has been faculty for Herman and Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute since 2009 and loves to inspire other rehab professionals treating pelvic floor dysfunction. She is an author of the chapter, “Manual Therapy for the Pelvic Floor” which was published in the book, “Healing in Urology.” Jen was a contributing writer for the Pelvic Floor Capstone curriculum and also co-authored the continuing education course, “Boundaries, Self-Care and Meditation” with Nari Clemons. 

Do you ever feel like you put more care into treating your patients than do for themselves?

Do you often have patients reaching out to you via phone or email outside of their appointment times?

Do you feel alternatively burdened by patient care/documentation and proud of the way you give 100% to your work?

Do you often give your all to your patients and come home depleted and even grumpy with the people you love?

As rehab professionals, we had to work really hard, and strive even, to get really good grades in high school and college to be accepted into our rigorous and demanding training programs.  We developed strong work ethics and were praised for our success.  During those years, self-care may not have been a priority.  Maybe we were single, childless with significantly fewer responsibilities.  We could put the pedal to the proverbial metal and keep on going. 

Did anyone in school teach us about energy preservation?  Offer up the idea that if we continued to work that hard, and give that much it would lead to job DISsatisfaction, compromise our relationships and our health and lead to burnout. 

Probably NOT.

So we kept working and striving in our jobs, even though now our LIVES were getting more complicated.  Maybe we found a life partner.  Perhaps we bought a home.  We found pets to care for.  Maybe we had children.  And we found ourselves utterly exhausted. 

If this story sounds familiar to you, Nari Clemons and I would love to invite you to a different way to practice.  A different way to live.  We designed our class “Boundaries, Self-Care and Meditation” for YOU to find joy in work-life balance.  To love what you do, but leave work with energy for all the things you love OUTSIDE of work. 

Using a shared responsibility model, you will gain skills in allowing patients to own the responsibility for their recovery.  You will illuminate where you are losing energy and develop the skillfulness to shift.  Meditation and mindfulness will become a means to a healthier, more balanced nervous system for yourself as well as for your patients. 

In short, this class can be LIFE-CHANGING.  For both you and your relationships with your patients and the people in your life. 

We invite you into a new way.  Come join us this fall.

Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation Part 1 - September 9, 2023
Price: $400

Experience Level: Beginner
Contact Hours: 12.5

Description: This course is a two-part series intended to be completed in order. Participants should register for Part 1 and Part 2 at the same time, or complete Part 1 and wait to complete Part 2 at a later date. This course was developed by Nari Clemons, PT, PRPC, and Jennafer Vande Vegte, PT, PRPC, and was "born out of our own personal and professional struggles and our journey to having a life and a practice that we love and can sustain." The intention of this class is deep, personal, and professional transformation through evidence-based information and practices.

The instructors recommend completing this series in two parts to allow time to process and implement one leg of the journey before undertaking the next. Both Part One and Part Two have a significant amount of pre-work to digest and practice before meeting via Zoom. Please plan for up to 12 hours of pre-course work. This sets the stage for you to find your path to experiencing more joy, energy, and balance.

In Part One. participants begin their process of study, meditation, and self-reflection in the weeks prior to the start of the class. Pre-work includes a focus on the neuroscience of pain, trauma, PTSD, and meditation. Participants will learn about the powerful influence both negative and positive experiences have on our nervous system’s structure and function. Personal meditation practice and instruction will create changes in the participant's own nervous system. Participants will also learn how to prescribe meditation for various patient personalities and needs, as well as analyze yourself through inventories on coping, self-care, empathy, burnout, and values as well as track how you spend your time. Commitment to pre-work will facilitate rich discussion as we put what you have learned into practice around building a shared responsibility model of patient care, language to support difficult patients, and both visualizing and planning steps to create new, healthier patterns in your life and in your practice.

Boundaries, Self-Care, and Meditation Part 2 - November 4, 2023
Price: $400

Experience Level: Beginner
Contact Hours: 13

Description: This course is a two-part series intended to be completed in order. Participants should register for Part 1 and Part 2 at the same time, or complete Part 1 and wait to complete Part 2 at a later date. This course was developed by Nari Clemons, PT, PRPC, and Jennafer Vande Vegte, PT, PRPC, and was "born out of our own personal and professional struggles and our journey to having a life and a practice that we love and can sustain." The intention of this class is deep, personal and professional transformation through evidence-based information and practices.

The instructors recommend completing this series in two parts to allow time to process and implement one leg of the journey before undertaking the next. Both Part One and Part Two have a significant amount of pre-work to digest and practice before meeting via Zoom. Per the instructors "This sets the stage for you to find your path to experiencing more joy, energy, and balance."

Part Two continues the focus on personal and professional growth for the participant, with a deeper dive into meditation and self-care practices. Yoga is introduced as a means of mindful movement and energy balance. Participants will learn to identify unhealthy relational patterns in patients and others and skills on how to use language and boundaries to create shifts that keep the clinician grounded and prevent excessive energic and emotional disruptions. There is a lecture on using essential oils for self-care and possibly patient care. Learning new strategies to preserve energy, wellness, and passion while practicing appropriate self-care and boundaries will lead to helpful relationships with complex patients. This course also includes a discussion of energetic relationships with others as well as the concept of a "Higher Power". Discussion will also include refining life purpose, mission, and joy potential, unique to the individual participant. The goal is that the participating clinician will walk away from this experience equipped with strategies to address both oneself and one's patients with a mind, body, and spirit approach.