Curious to learn what was noticed by the 2020 Graduates of The Care Professional's Resilience program, I spent some looking over the feedback.  I am so excited for our graduates, their awareness and commitment to taking moments, facilitating new actions to thrive, sustain care, and be the best they can be at what they love - caring for others.  To all the 2020 graduates - Thanks for sharing 'What was noticed'.   

Such a pleasure to take a moment to reflect on what stood out for our 2020 graduates of The Care Professional's Resilience Program. 

I have seen in many organisations when we invest in our people, they feel valued, choose to stay, collaborate more and support each other, strengthening your organisations capacity and sustainability. 

I'd love to share how you can make a massive impact in 2021 in your organisation and invite you to connect.

When you commence a journey to make a massive difference, it takes time, motivation, a little madness, great people on your team, your network and always keeping the end goal present.   

Highlights of feedback from 2020 graduates of The Care Professional's Resilience Program 'What was learned'. 

So proud of all the 2020 graduates for their effort to grow with us and commitment to thrive and sustain care.  All of these people are making a massive difference.

Enjoy.

A journey to make a massive difference supported by the power of a pause.

Just over 5 years ago, excited after completing a dissertation and a Masters, to uncover the empirical evidence relating to best practice interventions that alleviate and risk manage rising stress, compassion fatigue (also known as secondary trauma) and burnout among care professionals, I left my senior executive role and formed Elegrow with a vision to make a massive difference in the lives of all who care for others and their organisations.

From the evidence of best practices captured in the dissertation, I developed a combined intervention/professional development program to alleviate and risk manage rising stress, compassion fatigue and burnout. Once developed, I proceeded with a pilot study of the program with pre- and post-assessment to validate the efficacy. The analysis of the variance between the pre- and post-assessments occurred independently and revealed statistically significant outcomes. I was...

Looking at photographs and reflecting on precious moments, I smile and recall some moments with joy, some with sadness, others with regret.  How quickly each moment comes and goes, be it joyful, sad, challenging or other.  The moment is the moment, sometimes we are in it and sometimes not.  

I recall a horse riding lesson some years ago now with my horse Esperanza - In the lesson, the riding coach (Jose Mendez) pointed out that I was ahead of the horse and needed to be with her, in the moment and not ahead of her.  A wise observation and important lesson.

 At the time, I was curious.... How could I not be with her and be ahead of her while we are together?  Reflecting after the lesson, I noticed I was ahead and although we were together, my mind was cluttered with many thoughts.  I was always rushing, always thinking, always looking ahead and many times missing the joy of being in the moment.  

With...

Spring is a great time to bring fresh thinking and new experiences into life. Of course you don't have to wait until spring for our friends in other time zones, every day brings an opportunity for a fresh approach to what we think, feel and experience in life.

What we think consciously or unconsciously effects our mind and body. It effects how we perceive, feel, behave and experience life. Most of this is unconscious and automatic. Yet, it doesn't have to be this way.

When we make time to be more aware of our experiences, get curious and become more present to our automatic thoughts, we can take charge and choose to keep or let go of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that may be getting in the way of experiencing fully in ways desired.

Many of our thoughts are unconscious and come from our automatic mode which is informed by our beliefs, environment and experiences. This means we are automatically drawing from what we have learned in a past tense.

When we think differently and...

Meeting with care organisations, I am frequently informed of the limited budgets, resources and concerns for retaining people.

Capacity is key to sustaining care, factors internal and external impact capacity. Internally, the culture, how people engage, case load and intensity as well as how people are supported has a positive or negative relationship with turnover and can contribute to loss in capacity and cost. Externally, pre COVID-19 care professionals were already stretched with increasing demand and high staff turnover. Now this is amplified at a whole new level.

With the high volume of the population requiring care, many care organisations are struggling with capacity as well as being able to address core issues of the rising stress, compassion fatigue and burnout.

This increases the domino effect and leads to greater pressure on care professionals, organisations and an increase risk, unplanned absence, dissatisfaction, accidents, diminished behaviours, interactions and more....

Follow the 3 Steps and find your equilibrium.

Sometimes after a busy day, caring for others, you might notice a feeling of restlessness, a shift in mood, fatigue, an inability to rest, thoughts from experiences in the day not going away or a sense of fogginess in your mind. 

This often occurs from rushing throughout the day and without our awareness, our automatic mode taking over. Our mind and bodies are hard wired to keep us safe so when we are rushing, exposed to traumatic or stressful events, our mind/body unconsciously initiates a fight, flight, or freeze response.

When this is noticed, you can take charge, take action and find your equilibrium.

Follow these 3 quick steps with a curious mind, in sequence, 30 seconds for each step:

1. Notice the feelings and sensations in your body while you breath naturally
2. Continue breathe naturally, begin to feel your feet on the floor, notice your breath,
3. On each outward breath, notice your stomach soften. 

Enjoy taking moments...