I think the hardest part of being an activity director, is that we can't make eveyone happy.  There are always people who don't like the events that you put all your heart and soul into and you think are great.  Sometimes that hurts your pride.  Its learning not to take things personally, that is a huge life lesson of this job.  How does everyone else do it?

Great ideas

If you haven't checked it out yet, head on to Pinterest.  There are so many great ideas on this website, and it lets you save them onto your own pinboards that you can catagorize anyway you want.  I have found lots of great craft project ideas on it.  There are so many things to sort through though, you can get lost in it! 

World of the internet

Most of our residents are not familiar with computers and with the internet.  They are amazed at what can be found on-line.  One of my favorite groups to run is  "google time."  We set the LCD projector up and have the residents tell us things we would like to google.  Google earth is great, and amazing to them to see their own house or street views of their old towns etc.  This is a free, easy to run activity!  Try it this month.

craft ideas

 I think I am pretty crafty.  but I do run out of appropriate ideas for my residents at times.  Something that many of us struggle with is a project that is simple enough not to frustrate our residents and one they can do without much assistance, and a project that is not too childish.  One website that I like is Kaboose.com.  It is a website for children's crafts, but I have found many of them that I can use in my facility with small adaptations.
I also love Pinterest.  If you don't check it out, you should. there are literally thousands of ideas.  Crafts, organization, design, and many more.  There are so many projects that you can use and adapt.  Its a great starting point.  Don't sit down to the site though if you don't have lots of time!  It can be consuming!

Volunteers

Having great volunteers can be invaluable to your organization.  But where do you find the really good, dependable volunteers?  I have found that most of the time, those volunteers find me.  When I spend time and attempt to recruit volunteers, I usually don't get the best ones.  My facility has been around a long time and has a good reputation.  The people that come to me because they really want to volunteer are often the ones that stay the longest.   It is a special person who chooses a nursing home to volunteer with.  Working with the elderly is not everyone's first choice.  It certainly isn't a glamorous place, and it is not where many young people will choose to work in the future, so why volunteer here?  Volunteers can be a lot of work, or an invaluable asset.  You have to be able to set limits and say no.  Remember you are the boss and if a group is too big, an an inconvenient time or a student is too hard to train, you can send them of their way.  I often find myself wanting to help the volunteer, at the extend of not getting my own work done.  I am trying to limit the volunteer groups we take and learn to set my own limits on what I expect. 

Calendar planning

After planning months and months of calendars, we all need some inspiration.  Check out the website holidayinsights.com.  This is a helpful website with special days to celebrate for each month.    I find it useful when I get in a slump and can't think of any new fun events for the upcoming months. 

Book Club

I recently started a book club at our facility in which we are reading an entire book over several weeks. (This is aimed more at our higher functioning residents, as our reading groups which we read short stories are more for our early dementia folks.)
 Our first book is Tuesdays with Morrie, and it has been well received.  I am wondering if anyone has suggestions for books that would appeal to seniors, both men and women and aren't too long or complex?  Any ideas?  Thank for sharing!

Join a List serve

If anyone reading this is a CTRS, please join the ATRA list serve!  Go to the ATRA website for more information.  It is a valuable assets to communicating with others and getting information about conferences, job postings, and answers to professional questions. 
If you don't belong yet, join a yahoo group or other on-line group for activity and recreation professionals.  you can get some great ideas and get answers to some of your tough questions!
If you are on Facebook, friend request Therapeutic Recreation Services.   She posts lots of great ideas and has a big following to draw ideas from! 
Who knows of other resources they want to share?

Balance

I know everyone in this profession will agree that you can't make everyone happy all the time, though we do try really hard.  But unfortunately the squeaky wheel often gets the grease.  How do you balance the complainers who want everything to be for them, and the needs of the other 100+ people in your facility and still make things "person centered?"  That is the question.  It is one of the issues I am constantly struggling with.  How do others handle it?

Rehab. Patients

Any facility with short term rehab patients, probably struggles with what to do to reach them with activities.   I have also always found this to be a challenge.  Our rehab unit is 40 beds, and generally they are not here more than 1 month, and often don't want to do groups with the long term care residents.  I feel that it is OK to care plan that they are focused on therapy, and do not wish to participate in activity groups at this time.  If you visit, offer supplies for independent activities etc., then you are meeting their needs.  We also do a DVD cart (all rehab patients have TVs with DVD players in their room), and well as an afternoon coffee cart.  This helps increase our visits, and is an easy way to check on people without being intrusive.  We have also found that rehab patients are more likely to participate in evening groups than any other time of the day.  What is everyone else doing?