oh yeah, this sounds really plausible. Thanks for that. I wonder how much tech drives more hyper-individualisation-- the idea we know that we're more connected than ever, but actually more disconnected... we might be in a shared space, but all staring at our phones...
best wishes & thanks
YES agree 💯
Ward colleagues don’t need me pointing out the obvious, they just want our psychology service to offer the time & listening they can't. But we don’t have capacity either. It's like everyone knows the distress is there, but there's just not the time or capacity & it increases the stress all round 2/2
Very hard to be an inpatient in hospital- staff are doing their absolute best but have limited time, patients wait ages & understandably get fed up, end up getting referred for psychology input. But for me, what’s missing is basic compassionate care, decent communication, warmth, comfort 1/2
If you've been in survival mode for ages, this lends itself to ways of thinking & patterns of behaviours- habits that help you survive.
Later, if the need for survival goes away, habits can remain- habits that were once helpful can become unhelpful. Important to notice this & be kind to yourself.
I love it, thanks. You are still you, still a person, with interests. Wow, who knew 'carer' was such a narrow exclusive 'identity'.
wow that's an amazing thing, thanks for sharing that. Had a similar conversation today & we got as far as "what do you need?" and then it just seemed to be left hanging. maybe it was enough to raise the question then... Good on you, what you're doing, & always glad to be in touch🖐️
Remember to ask carers "how are you?" too. Only needs to take a moment or two. The amount of times you see carers becoming emotional just being asked how they are. It's such a tough role & services need to extend a bit of care & respect to carers too.
I wonder if the 'parent' is mother earth, who has been so battered & depleted, but may suddenly react in the form of some massive natural disaster...
Aww that's lovely Sarah thank you, & yes your puffin always raises a smile too🤗
Ah cool. I'll try & catch the recordings. I like the look of the first session today...
I think the style of the event is helpful. Uncomplicated, lots of space for Q&A. A smaller number of high quality, highly relevant sessions, very engaged audience. Felt progressive to me.
Oh that's fascinating isn't it. I didn't see that bit, I was watching online. So- some stronger sense of individual accountability/conscience/integrity? Dame Lynn Owens wasn't it. I thought it was a very high quality, focused event.
Definitely. In my own Trust rn there's a strong wish from staff for exec to speak openly/honestly (rather than presenting big changes as all +ve). Senior leaders expressing some of the challenges/anxieties they face wouldn't be some confession of incapability, it'd be actively helpful & more human.
It's good news if someone makes a medical recovery or gets the all clear, but this doesnt cancel out what a person may have been through & there still may need to be a period of psychologically coming to terms with everything that's happened & maybe a different sense of the future. This matters too.
Oh definitely, this is an absolute classic. It's a brilliant tedtalk, think it's the first one I ever saw actually. In fact I might watch it again😃thanks
yeah definitely (it was mainly there where i met people, & many of those links continue here, with some new ones too😊). sending warm wishes to you
There's people i've met on this app, who i've never met in person & am maybe never likely to, but whose names pop up on my screen & it gives me a real feeling of community & connection, & that continues to be worth a lot.
I wish more senior healthcare leaders spoke honestly & openly about what it's like & how it feels to bear such massive responsibility, & to constantly have to work through tensions & trade offs. Far from looking 'weak' or indecisive, I think it'd offer a really refreshing, human style of leadership.
Hey👋hope all well your end.
We have a big merger of two hospital trusts & it's on everyone's minds, as well as very stretched admin/management support, as well as national/international news. It's all a bit much🤷♂️so easy in acute hospitals to just get swept along with the firefighting/rushing... bw
Hi David, it saddens me there's this fear. There's ++change in our local hospitals atm, lots of 'Town Hall' events. I think it'd go a long way with staff to hear execs say something more open & honest about the struggles/anxieties involved. But it's all presented as so 'positive', feels unreal. Bw
Refreshing to hear Thea Stein CEO of Nuffield Trust explicitly naming moral distress in senior healthcare leaders. There's something vulnerable & human in this which we dont often see. Thea emphasised the importance of emotional intelligence & the central importance of psychological safety #NTSummit
Thinking about space to reflect in hospital settings amid these crazy, unsettling times, so much going on. You can feel the vibe of “there’s just no time for that", or “we just need to get our heads down & crack on”. Surely now is when we need to commit *even more* to slowing down & taking a breath.
There's such a proliferation of therapy, coaching, self-help materials, forms of professional transactional help. And ofc there's a place for all these...
But i wonder if a missing piece for many of us, esp since covid, is just hanging out with a good friend & all the wholesome goodness this brings
Image of text that says: We need to stop trying to design the solution, and instead design for the conditions that enable the emergence of many solutions. Fostering more, quality and trusted relationships is a critical enabler of that emergence. For the catalysers of complex system change (often government), that means starting to value relationships as a key outcome.
I've shared this blog recently by Bill Bannear i think in response to the understandable appetite there is for solutions rn
But we risk lurching from one quick fix to another
Instead how can we invest in relational conditions for multiple (better) solutions to emerge?
medium.com/@bill.bannea...
Hey Sarah yeah that sounds a simular thing- solutionising combined with commodified solutions... when actually freeing up being human is what we need more of. Feel like there's a real craving for human authenticity atm- in all it's imperfect, I'll-get-it-wrong-but-i'm-trying wholesomeness😃
Seems to me like we're being pushed towards examples like 1) all the time. Quick solutions that SEEM appealing & cut out a need for care or thoughtfulness, which may be seen as time consuming. But surely there are times when the caring thoughtful process matters just as much as the end product? /end
And 2) offering some prompts for reflection re what a colleague may have been through, with gentle guidance on an approach to communication.
~This is an attempt to guide a more thoughtful, authentic human process. May take bit longer & doesnt give a 'right' solution. May be received as more human.
~This offers a quick solution, & may be tempting for busy colleagues. It 'solves the problem' though may not require much care or thoughtfulness. May be received by the person as a bit generic. May even feel robotic or 'AI-generated'.
**A request comes in to help managers to communicate in a supportive way when colleagues have been through distressing workplace incidents. Clearly a tough, emotional time.**
Can you spot the difference between:
1) offering a ready-made, copy-&-paste template for what to say to sound supportive...
You can't just go & destroy things & expect those people left to rebuild something better. The destruction has incalculable human cost- widespread trauma & grief, wounds & scars that will last generations.
