I self-referred onto a University Health Board course at the start of March, a one-day training updating Emotional Resilience. They defined this within the program as bounce-back ability. An analogy I found particularly useful was when the trainer compared resilience to 4 bodies of water. In each scenario there's a casualty, yet the outcomes are vastly different:
1. The sea casualty may drown. They will need specialized rescue services. These will cost money, time and relationships and recovery may be problematic.
2. The estuary casualty could easily be swept away to sea and then endure greater hazard. They are easier to find and save but at great risk.
3. The river casualty is certainly easier to find. They could possibly shout for help. While a river is dangerous the scale of a rescue operation is smaller.
4. The stream casualty can probably paddle back to safety. They can shout for help and raise an alarm.
This analogy works better with visuals or in a group where you can reason out any idiosyncrasies and get the big picture (or perhaps that's just my brain).
Causes
This half day course was filled with practical, teachable moments. There were delegates there for any number of reasons, from self-care, chronic pain, illness, caring duties, work related issues, mental illness, employment sector and I could go on. We were given an icebreaker that explained this with reference to celebrities and what mental illnesses they suffered with. There was an emphasis on their coping skills and achievement. We learned how to notice positive and negative emotions.
Developing actions to build resilience & safety plans
We found out how to develop actions to build resilience, activities to start, stop, and continue. These were our own ideas based on our group brainstorming session. We each had to fill in one sentence in each column, to try and make emotional progress immediately. This led into an action plan we could follow in times of greater need. The actions for the plan were broken down further into interior actions, exterior actions and asking for help. There was the opportunity to make a safety plan utilizing these contrasting methods of addressing our needs. Ideally, a safety plan would blend interior actions, for example priming mood with positive words, or gentle self-talk, with external actions, like going for a walk or writing a journal, with an asking for help action, that might be confessing a negative emotion and asking for listening support from a colleague.
Lists were handed out of places to go for help, and we discussed at which point, stream, river, estuary or ocean, we would need to request assistance from friends, family, medical professionals or similar connections that may help revive us.
3 pluses to take away
There were three main elements I enjoyed about this course. The first was the teacher. There were two providers and one of the ladies talked at length about her experiences of caring for mental illness. This took stigma away from the groupwork and led people to be open and positive. The second element, leading on from this, was the authenticity of the group, facilitated by the leaders and modeled by the students. This helped me to apply the simple guidelines effectively because there was trust in the room.
Lastly, the advice was clear and simple, easy to follow when agitated or in flight, freeze or fight. This is important because if there is too distracting fluff then the main point is lost and the behavior change is not going to happen.
My recommendation
This course recognised how hard emotional change can be and gave a simple evaluation tool for when it is necessary, as well as pointers toward setting a process in motion where this could seem feasible.
Hand out materials reassured us that quality of life was important and this was a factor we could influence if not control. This is important as people often refer to these courses because they don't find the same joy in their life that they used to.
I would commend this 'Connecting With People' program to anyone navigating life change. It was a half day well spent.
[The Emotional Resilience training in the following course includes a definition of 'wellbeing' as a desirable set of emotions that we can progress towards: http://www.connectingwithpeople.org/courses]
1. The sea casualty may drown. They will need specialized rescue services. These will cost money, time and relationships and recovery may be problematic.
2. The estuary casualty could easily be swept away to sea and then endure greater hazard. They are easier to find and save but at great risk.
3. The river casualty is certainly easier to find. They could possibly shout for help. While a river is dangerous the scale of a rescue operation is smaller.
4. The stream casualty can probably paddle back to safety. They can shout for help and raise an alarm.
This analogy works better with visuals or in a group where you can reason out any idiosyncrasies and get the big picture (or perhaps that's just my brain).
Causes
This half day course was filled with practical, teachable moments. There were delegates there for any number of reasons, from self-care, chronic pain, illness, caring duties, work related issues, mental illness, employment sector and I could go on. We were given an icebreaker that explained this with reference to celebrities and what mental illnesses they suffered with. There was an emphasis on their coping skills and achievement. We learned how to notice positive and negative emotions.
Developing actions to build resilience & safety plans
We found out how to develop actions to build resilience, activities to start, stop, and continue. These were our own ideas based on our group brainstorming session. We each had to fill in one sentence in each column, to try and make emotional progress immediately. This led into an action plan we could follow in times of greater need. The actions for the plan were broken down further into interior actions, exterior actions and asking for help. There was the opportunity to make a safety plan utilizing these contrasting methods of addressing our needs. Ideally, a safety plan would blend interior actions, for example priming mood with positive words, or gentle self-talk, with external actions, like going for a walk or writing a journal, with an asking for help action, that might be confessing a negative emotion and asking for listening support from a colleague.
Lists were handed out of places to go for help, and we discussed at which point, stream, river, estuary or ocean, we would need to request assistance from friends, family, medical professionals or similar connections that may help revive us.
3 pluses to take away
There were three main elements I enjoyed about this course. The first was the teacher. There were two providers and one of the ladies talked at length about her experiences of caring for mental illness. This took stigma away from the groupwork and led people to be open and positive. The second element, leading on from this, was the authenticity of the group, facilitated by the leaders and modeled by the students. This helped me to apply the simple guidelines effectively because there was trust in the room.
Lastly, the advice was clear and simple, easy to follow when agitated or in flight, freeze or fight. This is important because if there is too distracting fluff then the main point is lost and the behavior change is not going to happen.
My recommendation
This course recognised how hard emotional change can be and gave a simple evaluation tool for when it is necessary, as well as pointers toward setting a process in motion where this could seem feasible.
Hand out materials reassured us that quality of life was important and this was a factor we could influence if not control. This is important as people often refer to these courses because they don't find the same joy in their life that they used to.
I would commend this 'Connecting With People' program to anyone navigating life change. It was a half day well spent.
[The Emotional Resilience training in the following course includes a definition of 'wellbeing' as a desirable set of emotions that we can progress towards: http://www.connectingwithpeople.org/courses]
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