12 Scheduling Group Protocol

Group Focus: Managing a Schedule

Education Objectives: This session’s objective is intended to provide individuals with tools to foster a better understanding of the level of control in their life and awareness of the activities they perform daily. Individuals will be provided with a planner to fill out the activities that they performed within the day and options for activities they hope to attend in the future. The session will provide individuals with an opportunity to see beyond the immediate crisis they might be in and how to build a better future for themselves through engagement in meaningful activities.

Content Goal: The participants will…

• Identify two strategies for managing their schedules whether it is using paper or digital.
• Recognize an understanding in the importance of maintaining a schedule.

Supplies needed: Paper calendar, paper of local events (use visitomaha.com), daily schedule, pen/pencil.

Group Guidelines: The purpose of today’s group is to review the importance of managing your schedule. We are going to look at various options available to manage your schedule to identify what will work best for you but most importantly identify why it matters to keep track of your schedule.

Each of you will be provided with a paper calendar to fill out the events that matter most to you.

• We’ll review those events and how attending them can make you feel more included in the community.

We will also be reviewing the importance of a daily planner.

• Many people express a lack of understanding of what they do day to day and are unsure of where the time goes. This activity will provide you with the autonomy to understand what time you must work and how to better schedule your time for activities such as self-care and leisure.

I am hopeful that this group has a healthy discussion regarding how the management of your schedule and time can assist you in your recovery, however; if someone has too much to share or is off-topic, I may have to redirect the conversation to allow other people to talk and to meet the objectives of this group. Please remain respectful to other group members as they talk and feel free to share or not share based on your comfort level.

Ice Breaker (5 minutes): What is your name and the first concert you attended? If you have never been to a concert, then what was the biggest event you attended?

Lesson (5 minutes):

• How are you currently managing your schedule?
• What have you tried to do in the past to manage your schedule?
• How would you say your mental health impacts your ability to manage a schedule?

Activity (20 minutes):

• Daily Planner
  • The first activity will be about recognizing the patterns of structure versus unstructured time in our daily life. Have the participants write down when they wake up and what they have done with their day up to this point.
    • What does a typical day look like for you?
    • Do you ever find yourself having big gaps within your day?
    • How do you notice your mental health is when you have increased gaps in your day? Verses when you have less gaps in your day?
  • Next, write have the participants write down what they want to do with the rest of their day.
    • What were some of the things you want to do to fill up the rest of your day?
    • Giving yourself grace if you write something down and don’t get around to it.
    • Beneficial to write things down, increases likelihood of completing task and can increase the parts of our brain that seek reward stimuli when we finish something we set out to do.
    • Our brains naturally crave structure and by planning or structuring our day, this helps curb the crave for structure.
• Calendar, Events in Omaha, and Already Scheduled Events.
  • First, I want you to look through the list of dates/events on this piece of paper and write them into your planner. There are events you have already confirmed to.
  • Next, I want you to take some time and look through the list of events that are going on in Omaha locally. I want you to find one or two that pique your interest and add them to your calendar.
    • What event were you most excited to attend?
    • Have you ever attended events like this in the past?
    • Do you know how to look up events like this?
    • What are some barriers to identifying and carrying out these types of events?
    • How does filling your month with events impact your mental health?
• Digital options
  • Calendar app: allows reminders, you can invite people to it, will notify when you need to leave can label them for different events.
  • Setting alarms/alerts to remind you when there is something you want/need to do.
  • Easier to keep track of. If you need any help with this, please contact me after class and I can walk you through how to set those things up!

Discussion (10 minutes):

• How do you feel these skills can help you once you are out of here?
• How can they help you while you are here?
• What do you find most important to keep track of?

Closing Reflection (5 minutes):

Thank you all for your work and commitment to the activity. My hope is that you were able to see the areas in your life where you have some control and potential for excitement. While there may be limitations on what you can do, hopefully, a better understanding of your schedule will help you see potential opportunities rather than focusing on these limitations.