HLAA Convention 2011 Special: Workshops- Surviving the Stress of Hearing Loss

[Guest guest]

NVRC News - June 28, 2011

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Surviving the Stress of Hearing Loss: What You Can Do

By Marla Dougherty, 6/28/11

I looked forward to attending the interactive workshop led by Ellen Rupert

and Donna Wayner, PhD. Ellen is a self-employed training consultant and

Donna is an audiologist and president & CEO of Hear Again, Inc.

Those of us who contend with hearing loss are well aware of the daily stress

that goes with it. This workshop was intended for individuals who are

hearing impaired and their spouses or family members, to help them identify

individual stressors and then develop a personal action plan.

Donna Wayner gave us a brief overview of stress and emphasized that being

and staying connected was vital. When our hearing is altered it can result

in isolation and withdrawal and it will impact our behavior, emotions and

relationships.

We understand we have extra stress dealing with communication issues so what

can we do different? To start, we were asked to write down our sources of

stress and three things we were already doing to relieve stress. Then we

broke up into groups. Family members with no hearing loss were in one large

group and those of us with hearing loss in several smaller groups.

The different groups brainstormed strategies to reduce stress by comparing

notes and listing three things that relieve stress. From this we developed

our personal action plan to manage stress. Our group agreed that quiet time,

exercising and taking advantage of captioning were good stress busters.

Ellen and Donna brought all the groups back together to review action plans

to help us cope for effectively. The groups with hearing loss shared first:

- Advocate for yourself

- Write, blog, etc.

- Join hearing loss support groups

- Enjoy a massage

- Meditate often

- Get involved in a hobby

- Spend time with pets and go for a walk

The folks with no hearing loss came up with a similar list but they also

included these:

- Exchange ideas about communication strategies

- Name frustrating things, release it and move on

- Remember good times

And my personal favorite which is a technique we practice at home: Whoever

asks the question in the house goes to the other person!

We wrapped up with a short relaxation exercise focusing on our breathing and

doing progressive muscle relaxation.

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Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;

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