A Supporter's Toolbox with Stacy L. Nonnemacher, PhD: Recent Episodes
MyODP Podcast
Dr. Stacy Nonnemacher translates what we know about natural human experiences and the world of behavioral science into strategies, tips, and interventions for supporters. Families, direct support professionals, and other supporters are encouraged to follow this podcast to gain additional tools to use tomorrow and beyond as you strive to provide the best supports to people with disabilities.
Most of us think that IQ is the primary predictor of success, but researchers and real life experience tells us that practical intelligence may be just as or more important. We will talk about ways to bolster practical intelligence.
Thriving is not about avoiding the difficulties of life – it’s about confronting and dealing with life in a resilient, optimistic, and hopeful way. We will talk about ways to help someone develop the attitude, characteristics, and potential to thrive despite circumstances that may be thrown their way.
Working on prosocial behaviors like helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperating, have so many benefits. We will talk about ways you can help someone hone their prosocial behaviors – simple things that you may already be doing to teach someone to do their laundry or cook a meal.
Having meaning or purpose in life is connected to overall health, happiness, and life satisfaction - it can make ANY life worth living. We will talk about ways to support someone to discover their meaning to make even those bad days more bearable.
Did you know that doing hard things helps us learn to do other hard things? We will talk about building industrious skills and the effects that these skills show in people when doing hard things now and in the future.
Sometimes we all need a little nudge to get things done and stay on track. We will talk about a simple strategy that you can use for yourself and support others that is all about not “breaking the chain.”
Finding your spark or something that drives you, teaches you how to learn, builds a sense of self, and finds places where you feel successful. As supporters, its part of our role to help someone find that spark – we will talk about ways to do that.
If we don’t have the skills to engage in places we live, work, or play, we won’t want to show up because we don’t feel successful or we try our hardest to show up in the best way we know how despite not having the skills or tools. We will talk about ways to support someone to learn skills like social skills and coping skills so people feel more successful, included, and motivated.
Our sense of self is often shaped for us when we are young. But, the good news is we can change and shape our identities giving us purpose and meaning in our lives.
We throw the words "quality of life" around a lot in our field. We will talk about putting those words, or this concept, into action through small everyday changes and through understanding happiness behaviors.
When we think about stress, we usually think of it as something to avoid. We will talk about finding how much stress is the right amount for peak performance.
We all set goals for ourselves – it’s a natural human experience. We will talk about the benefits of goals and how to support someone to set goals that motivate them and keep them on track.
Finding something that puts us in a state of flow, or a state where one is fully immersed and enjoying an activity, helps us minimize unpleasant things in our lives, makes us more productive, and generally makes us happier. We will talk about how we can support someone to intentionally find more flow in their lives.
As supporters, people may rely on us, but that doesn't mean they always need to agree with us. We will talk about how we can balance our relationships by teaching and encouraging people to object or disagree.
Sometimes we could use a little help making changes that we don't want to make although we know we should. We will talk about using behavioral contracting to change our own behaviors and actions as well as supporting others to do the same.
How do we balance keeping someone safe and protecting their autonomy while experiencing the consequences of their choices? We will talk about helping someone learn to make good choices while acknowledging they may fail or be wrong.
Uncertainty, worry, stress, and anxiety make our brains do crazy things. We will talk about how being connected and having a purpose outside ourselves can change that.
We give quitting and making mistakes a bad rap. We'll talk about finding the opportunities when you feel like you should throw in the towel or when things aren't going the way you planned.
Empathy is a skill that can be cultivated and practiced. We will talk about strategies that build this skill and how empathy creates a positive impact on those around us.
We know that an optimistic outlook can have an impact on others. We will talk about ways that supporters can work on creating a more positive perspective.
It is critical to take advantage of all your brain has to offer by engaging in things that help to build new neurons and brain pathways. We will talk about ways we can create and optimize opportunities to support brain flexibility.
For many, our jobs give us meaning and purpose. We often focus on building skills to ensure people are ready to work. As supporters, by shifting our focus to building social capital, we create a stronger gateway to employment.
We need to let go of the concept of being perfect and embrace that we are all a work in progress. We will talk about how supporters can set the stage to ensure that people have a growth mindset to meet their fullest potential.
Communication is complicated and our role as supporters require listening to more than just words. We will scratch the surface by talking about how we can better do that.
We look back at the past year reflecting on the science of psychology shared in the first 24 episodes. Thanks for being along for the ride or just joining the journey as we challenge one another to get better as supporters and humans, in general.
We can talk until we are blue in the face or provide all the rewards in the world and we still may not be able to change how someone shows up - if they decide to show up. We will talk about the importance of a good relationship and understanding people's core values in influencing people's behaviors.
Those of you who love to be in the outdoors already know, without the research to support it, nature does a body good. We urge you to find ways for yourself and those you support to reap those benefits. Here is link to a resource mentioned in this episode: https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/sdg-programme/sdg3/mental-health-research
As supporters, we tend to use incentives to reward people for their accomplishments. Instead of using rewards for everything and in every situation, we will focus on when we should or should not use them.
Some of us have self-defeating thoughts about who we are and what we can do. We are going to talk about the importance of having a growth mindset, and how you can support others to have one, too. Visit MyODP.org > Communications > Podcast to view the resource mentioned in the episode.
People in our lives serve as important resources for getting jobs, engaging in recreational opportunities, feeling socially connected, and overall well-being. We will talk about the importance of investing in social capital in your role as a supporter.
Chances are, you or someone you support has gotten stuck with unproductive or negative thoughts. We are going to talk through some strategies to increase mindfulness even when someone may feel inadequate or without purpose or direction.
Our field talks a lot about making accommodations in school and on the job site. We don't often talk as much about making accommodations when building skills to make it possible for people to engage more fully in their home and community. This episode is a reminder to do just that by setting high expectations to open a world of possibilities for the people you support.
Autonomy and self-determination are important for anyone to feel in control of their life. As supporters, we tend to think about ways we can help create a "choice rich" life for someone. But does having more choice and making all your decisions make you happier?
We have already talked about the importance of supporting someone to find their purpose or meaning. Taking it a step further, we will talk about how to help people develop what sparked their interest and to continue to support nurturing and deepening of that passion.
Greek mythology and psychology urges us to think about how our expectations of others influence how they show up in this world. We will talk about how our values and thoughts guide our actions and ultimately the support we provide.