How We Care: Episode 18: Acts of Self-Care for Helping Professionals
1h 5m
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How We Care
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Elizabeth and Paul take a lucky dip approach to the card resource '50 Acts of Professional Self-Care developed by Siobhan McLean of Kirwin Mc Lean Associates and Self-Care Psychology and pull out some cards at random to prompt discussion.
More information on this resource is available via Twitter @SelfCarePsy, via facebook @selfcarepsychology or at selfcarepsychology.com
Two exercises mentioned at the end and drawn from the above resource are:
The Equal Breathing Exercise
Equalising breathing can calm the body and mind very effectively, and can be great to do at times of stress. It is taken from the Yoga tradition where it is known as Sama-Vritti, and also backed by scientific observation.
To prepare you can lie down, sit up straight, or stand up straight, then;
- Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4
- Pause
- Exhale for a count of 4
- Repeat for a few minutes, or as long as you feel comfortable.
The Passive Progressive Relaxation Exercise
Used to help people achieve deep relaxation. It can be done at work (e.g. at your desk). For best results it is best to lie flat, however. The best way to experience this is via a recording, and there are may versions of the exercise available free online (e.g. on YouTube) You will be guided through each area of your body, relaxing each as you progress through the exercise.
If you’d like to find our more or obtain a transcript of this episode, contact Elizabeth via www.elizabethturp.co.uk Twitter at @lizahpool or Paul at www.paulgaunt.co uk or email [email protected]
You can also find us on Twitter at @howwecarepod
The episode How We Care: Episode 18: Acts of Self-Care for Helping Professionals from the podcast How We Care has a duration of
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We reflect back on our very first episode 'Being with Emotions in Helping Conversations' which featured examples of what good listening actually is and how we can be more present with difficult feelings when they come up in non-therapy helping interactions.
https://how-we-care.simplecast.com/episodes/how-we-care-no1-being-with-emotions-in-helping-conversations
Also, you might want to check out episodes 3, 5 and 18 of How We Care for self-care for the practitioner and episode 12 for self-awareness for helping professionals. https://how-we-care.simplecast.com/episodes
In the Assembly BBC programme, with a diverse group of people asking the actor/director
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001xyj5/the-assembly
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The powerful ITV drama about the post office scandal discussed in this episode is linked to below;
https://www.itv.com/watch/mr-bates-vs-the-post-office/10a0469/10a0469a0001
A link is made in this episode to a previous episode of the How We Care Episode 'Turning Scars into Service'. We make the point that often people who experience dehumanising treatment, are often strengthened in their resolve to prevent it happening to themselves again, or to others, or strengthened in their empathy and understanding when it does happen.
Timpsons is mentioned as an example of a positive company culture and the link below is an article by their CEO, James Timpson
https://gunnercooke.com/is-culture-really-that-important-with-james-timpson-ceo-of-timpson/
Any thoughts or comments on this episode? Or themes you would like us to cover?
Contact us via LinkedIn
Elizabeth’s Profile
linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-turp-11a90035
Paul's Profile
linkedin.com/in/paul-gaunt-bbb02874
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Ancient Greek Words for Love: https://www.greecehighdefinition.com/blog/9-different-types-of-love-according-to-the-ancient-greeks
James Frey 'A Million Little Pieces' novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Million_Little_Pieces
“At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
The therapeutic relationship as determinant of outcome: https://therapymeetsnumbers.com/the-therapeutic-alliance/
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Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and role transitions from article in the Clinical Psychology Review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4109031/
Previous relevant episodes of How We Care referred to in this episode:
Episodes 3, 5, 18
Episode 8: The Courage of the Person-Centred Approach
with best wishes,
Reshare: Ep1 Being With Emotions in Helping Conversations
Rehare of our first, and second most downloaded, episode
Dr Oliver Jenkin's article Engaging with the emotional content of career guidance can be found at
https://indigo.careers/engaging-with-the-emotional-content-of-career-guidance/
A good explanation of Carl Rogers' Core Conditions of congruence in counselling is here
https://medium.com/achology/carl-rogers-and-the-core-conditions-of-counselling-a87167028905
An article by Charles Handy on the concept of 'Proper Selfishness is at http://spiritualityandjustice.brahmakumaris.org/images/stories/articles/SiP_Article_Proper_Selfishness.pdf
There's an article from Psychology Today on Radical Self-Care here https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peaceful-parents-happy-kids/201401/committing-radical-self-care#:~:text=%20Committing%20to%20Radical%20Self-Care%20%201%20Nurture,to%20you.%20Do%20you%20need%20some...%20More%20
If you’d like to find our more or obtain a transcript of this episode, contact Elizabeth via www.elizabethturp.co.uk Twitter at @lizahpool or Paul at www.paulgaunt.co uk Twitter at @paulgoodwork