Peer Heart Math

Running Head: Peer Heart Math 1

Peer Heart Math

Courtney McLaughlin

Recreational Therapy Methods

Western Carolina University

Courtney McLaughlin

Recreational Therapy Methods

Paige Dagenhard 2

During the entire Heart Math experience, Hunter was able to control her coherence pretty well, and after I got over my nerves I think I ran it well also. Hunter got into the blue section right away; she easily got up to 30 percent, bouncing between blue and red. Hunter had a little struggle, getting in to the high coherence alone, but once we stared using the breathing techniques, playing music, and using some of the games to raise her coherence, she made it to high coherence even if it did not last long. First I asked hunter her favorite music and started to play it, I had her close her eyes, and lean back. Music boosted her all the way to 100 in high coherence, but slowly dropped to 50, and then no green at all. We then tried some games for a while, although the worked for a little while, the seemed to anger her when she saw the color change. Lastly we tried using some breathing techniques, I had her breathe in for five seconds, hold for two, and exhale for five, this made her coherence go up as well, but not as much as music did.

Hunter’s pre-test results, were all in the mid to high range, but there was still some issues that could be improved upon. The pre-test, showed me that Hunter may need help dealing with her anxiety, although her rating in this section was not too low, rated at a 6, when compared to her other scores it can be improved. The test also revealed that she does have a strong social connectedness that can be very helpful in dealing with anxiety. This test really showed me, how important these assessments can be, both before and after an intervention, it allows you see where someone is having trouble and where they are strong which could help in their treatment.

In Hunter’s posttest, there was no recorded change in her answers from the pre test. I believe that the main reasoned her pre and post-tests were the same, was because it was only one session. I hope and believe that with more session we could see her anxiety score improve.

At the end of my session with Hunter, I gave her some material on the breathing techniques I had her do during our session. The materials had numerous techniques that Peer Heart Math 3

Hunter to possibly use in other Heat Math sessions, or when she is having problems with her anxiety. One of the techniques we used that were on the handout was Breath

Counting. For breath counting one should Sit in a comfortable position and close their eyes. To begin the exercise, count one to yourself as you exhale, the next time you exhale, count two, and so on up to five, and then begin a new cycle, this should last 10 minutes. This exercises seemed to help Hunter a lot during the session, and I can see it working for her, during times of anxiety.

When I was staring to use Heart Math on Hunter, I was nervous. I hate to be in a leadership position with people my own age, especially my good friends. I personally feel that I did awful at explain what it was were doing, since Hunter had already done her parts, I felt like I did not need to explain a lot of the steps, but then I also felt that I was leaving out some important information as well. I think this problem was situational since

Hunter knew what was going on, I do not see myself having problems with this, later one with actual clients. I enjoyed using Heart Math on someone else, rather than on myself. I was actually able to how it was actually supposed to work on someone, and also see how the different techniques work, without it stressing me out. I can now see myself using this with clients now, and see how useful it can be helpful to clients. 4

PRETEST Name Hunter Atchley

Heart Math Personal Tracker, Used with permission of Heart Math

Instructions: select the number that best represents your current state of feelings for each item below:

Physical Vitality Low Energy (frail, fatigued)           High Energy (strong, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 energetic) 0 Emotional Vitality Negative Feelings (sad,           Positive Feelings (happy, anxious, angry) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 calm, joyful) 0 Social Connectedness Disconnected (lonely,           Connected (loved and cared conflicted) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 for) 0 Spiritual Connectedness Disconnected (hopeless,           Connected (inspired, purposeless) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 purposeful) 0 Overall Well-Being Life is Hard (stressed           Life is Good (fully thriving, in out/overwhelmed) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 the flow) 0

DAPS RT Instrument To Identify Patient Perceptions of Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Stress Developed by H, Laurie Reddick and Peg Connolly

Instructions: select the number that best represents you current feelings for the statements below.

Depression Extremely depressed,           Extremely happy, joyful unhappy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Anxiety Highly anxious, interferes           Calm, content, functioning with all life function 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 well 0 Pain Intense pain           Free of pain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Stress Peer Heart Math 5

Extremely stressed,           Extremely relaxed, high cannot function 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 level functioning 0

POSTTEST

Heart Math Personal Tracker, Used with permission of Heart Math

Instructions: select the number that best represents your current state of feelings for each item below:

Physical Vitality Low Energy (frail,           High Energy (strong, fatigued) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 energetic) 0 Emotional Vitality Negative Feelings (sad,           Positive Feelings (happy, anxious, angry) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 calm, joyful) 0 Social Connectedness Disconnected (lonely,           Connected (loved and conflicted) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 cared for) 0 Spiritual Connectedness Disconnected (hopeless,           Connected (inspired, purposeless) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 purposeful) 0 Overall Well-Being Life is Hard (stressed           Life is Good (fully thriving, out/overwhelmed) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 in the flow) 0

DAPS RT Instrument To Identify Patient Perceptions of Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Stress Developed by H, Laurie Reddick and Peg Connolly

Instructions: select the number that best represents you current feelings for the statements below.

Depression Extremely depressed,           Extremely happy, joyful unhappy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 6

Anxiety Highly anxious,           Calm, content, functioning interferes with all life 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 well function 0 Pain Intense pain           Free of pain 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Stress Extremely stressed,           Extremely relaxed, high cannot function 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 level functioning 0