self-care - WKTV Journal

Self-Care Day, offered by The Healing Nest of Western Michigan, is intended to help cancer patients find rejuvenation of both mind and body (Courtesy, pxhere.com)

By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org

Self-Care Day will offer alternative therapies by trained and certified volunteers (Courtesy, pxhere.com)

A day of renewal and pampering for women receiving cancer treatment will take place at Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids on Friday, Oct.13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Offered by The Healing Nest of Western Michigan and with collaboration with Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, the free Self-Care Day event will include a variety of self-care opportunities. Massages, Healing Touch, Reiki, yoga, and meditation will be available options.

Attendees are welcome to join one or all of the relaxing offerings.

Benefits of self-care

Founded by Reiki Master Laurel Williamson, The Healing Nest is a group of volunteers with specialized training and certification in the above listed alternative therapies.

“People just need a lot of love when [they are] struggling with [cancer],” said Williamson. “You’re vulnerable, you’re scared, you don’t feel good, and you’re worried about the next test or the test results. It’s a constant strain mentally and emotionally. The things we are offering just help take you out of that space and into a place of relaxation, peace, and less anxiety.”

A partnership that was meant to be

Laurel Williamson hopes to continue offering self-care events in West Michigan (Courtesy, Laurel Williamson)

Williamson had grown up watching actress and comedian Gilda Radner with her mother and sisters and knew she had died from cancer.

“I’d heard of the organization that Gene Wilder put together in her honor and memory, and my son-in-law mentioned that I give them a call,” said Williamson.

Needing a place that would allow her to host The Healing Nest event, Williamson visited the renovated farmhouse accommodating Gilda’s Clubhouse (1806 Bridge St. NW, Grand Rapids).

“It’s an incredible place,” said Williamson. “It was taken down to the studs and [they] invited the community in and asked them if they would write their prayers and intentions on the studs before they put the drywall over. It’s just full of prayers and intentions for healing.

“You can feel the love in the building, you can feel the love on the grounds, and you know their doors are open for anyone affected by cancer in any possible way,” Williamson continued. “Their doors are open to anyone experiencing grief. I’m honored that they would like to work with us.”

Gilda’s Club provides a variety of free opportunities for local cancer patients (Courtesy Photo)

Director of Program Operations of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, Lindsay Jousma, said the Club’s desire is to provide a multitude of free service opportunities for local cancer patients.

“Cancer can take a toll on one’s emotional and physical wellbeing,” said Jousma. “By partnering with Laurel and the volunteers at The Healing Nest of Western Michigan for Self-Care Day, we hope to give women living with cancer a special day to care for themselves and their emotional wellbeing.”

How to help someone who is struggling

Williamson said that simply giving a cancer patient a ride to the event is helpful.

“If they were feeling sick from the effects of the chemotherapy…it [takes] a lot for them just to get up and put lipstick on that day,” said Williamson.

She continued to say that help and encouragement can become a matter of “just holding space for them with this pure intention of nothing more than love and helping them.”

Slowing down mental chatter, unwinding the nervous system

Self Care Day is intended to provide relaxing, peaceful effects of slowing down mental chatter, breathing deeply, and allowing the nervous system to unwind.

Reiki, one of the event offerings, is intended to help slow mental chatter (Courtesy, pxhere.com)

“Yoga and meditation and Reiki and healing touch all kind of go about it in the same way,” said Williamson of the event’s offerings. “And that is to bring all of the mental chatter to a place of stillness. It’s slowing everything down so that person can be inside their body for a moment, feel their heart beat, and concentrate.

“As a volunteer at The Healing Nest of Mid-Michigan, I saw how its healing resources can rejuvenate a person’s mental outlook,” Williamson continued. “That’s the idea of The Healing Nest, to bring people in and allow them to take that deep breath, sigh, and just be. Now, local women living with cancer have a peaceful place where they can visit and receive free services that target their mind, body and spirit.”

Looking ahead

The Healing Nest is looking for local volunteers (Courtesy Photo)

It is Williamson’s intention to host self-care events regularly. Many of her volunteers, however, travel from the east side of the state to help put on the events.

Because of this, Williamson said they will begin by offering self-care days quarterly.

“I would love to offer it much more often, so I am open to local volunteers,” said Williamson, explaining that volunteers would need to be licensed or certified in their field.

Register for Self-Care Day services

Slots for services are still available for Self-Care Day. Interested participants can register by contacting The Healing Nest by phone: 248-762-2883, or email: laurel@healingnestwest.com.

More information can be found online at www.healingnestwest.com.

For more information about Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids and their services, visit gildasclubgr.org.

The Healing Nest and Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids would like to thank Meijer for sponsoring the food and water for Self-Care Day.

By Kylie Rymanowicz, Michigan State University Extension

Raising young children can be stressful and from time to time it can take its toll on parents and other caregivers. Self-care is a crucial way to ensure adults caring for young children are prepared to invest the time and energy they need to be the best caregivers they can be. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, you may not have much left to give your children.

Michigan State University Extension has some suggestions for making sure parents and caregivers take the time for self-care.

Make sure your basic needs are met. In the hustle of trying to take care of young children, the needs of parents and caregivers often get overlooked. Think about the energy you invest in making sure your child’s needs are met. You make sure they get enough to drink and eat, provide enough time for them to get the restful sleep they need as well as the exercise and time to play—do you do the same for yourself?

Make it a routine. Just like you develop routines for your child, make self-care part of your daily routine. Come up with simple routines you can do to help you relax and unwind and take care of yourself. Maybe it’s taking a quick walk by yourself a few days a week or making time to bake if that’s a hobby you enjoy.

Start small. Big changes can seem intimidating, so don’t think of increasing your self-care as something big you have to do overnight. Break up the task into small pieces and find something small to start with, like challenging yourself to drinking less caffeine to help you sleep better at night. Try writing down your goals and keeping track of your efforts—this can help motivate you to keep going and is a great way to see your progress. Once you have incorporated that change, try making another small change.

Model self-care for your child. Let your child know what you’re doing and why self-care is so important. You can tell them, “This is Daddy’s time to himself. When I go for a walk alone it gives me time to think and helps me feel calm and relaxed.” Children learn from watching us and when we show them we value self-care, they learn to value it too.

Investing in your own well-being is a way to invest in your child’s well-being. Take the time to nurture yourself so you have the energy and motivation to nurture your child.

For more articles on child development, academic success, parenting and life skill development, please visit the Michigan State University Extension website.

To learn about the positive impact children and families experience due to MSU Extension programs, read our 2017 impact report. Additional impact reports, highlighting even more ways Michigan 4-H and MSU Extension positively impacted individuals and communities in 2017, can be downloaded from the Michigan 4-H website.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).