Monash Health’s Dr Nathan Alkemade joined our Wellbeing Forum last week to discuss the impact of change and uncertainty in the workplace.
A Senior Clinical Psychologist, Dr Alkemade shared valuable strategies to help reduce emotional intensity and how to implement self-care practices to increase your ability to cope.
Here are some of the key takeaways that Dr Alkemade shared with us.
Identify your emotions
When you find a situation difficult to manage, the first step is to try and understand what your emotional response to the situation is. Then next (very importantly) try not to judge yourself negatively for your emotions. These are often difficult first steps but offer an important reminder that it is okay to have emotional responses to situations.
Investigate your emotions
Individuals are encouraged to investigate the reasons for their emotions. For example, fill in the gap “I feel sad about this because ______”. Often this reason can be explored more easily when written down. Ask yourself if this reason is accurate? Does this sound familiar? Has this type of view been helpful in the past? While it can be helpful to question these reasons, it’s not a good idea to try and force yourself to have a positive view on every situation.
Evaluate your emotional intensity
When investigating your emotions, it is important to evaluate the intensity of them. Emotions are part of life; and we are not trying to remove emotions. The goal is to reduce the intensity of emotions, so they are manageable which helps us cope with situations. It’s easier to cope with disappointment rather than despair, annoyance rather than fury, or concerns rather than fears.
Choose how you respond
When it comes to change and uncertainty, there are often circumstances we can’t control. This doesn’t mean we don’t care; it just means we cannot make the outcomes be the way we want. In these situations, it can be useful to identify what is under our control. Whilst we cannot control all the situations that we find ourselves in, we can choose how we are going to respond to these events. This response can be guided by our personal values which will differ between individuals.
Practice self-care strategies
Using these strategies requires energy, and these coping skills use our coping resources. Our coping resources are increased with the ongoing practice of self-care. Self-care strategies may include engaging in mindfulness approaches, listening to music, exercise, socialising, engaging with art or importantly seeking support if we need it.
It is good to include these strategies proactively as part of our daily, weekly or monthly plans. This helps protect us from running out of the coping resources, the energy, needed to manage the demands of the workplace.
Reach out if you need support
Dr Alkemade is a part of the team that delivers Monash Health’s Be Well Program, a free and confidential service available to support team wellbeing. The Be Well Program facilitates team check‐ins, support following a critical event, promoting mentally healthy teams, and team wellbeing sessions.
To access the program, team leaders are encouraged to contact the Be Well Program to discuss their team’s needs and to book a session.
For further information and resources to support your own and your team’s health and wellbeing, visit the employee wellbeing webpages.
If you missed Dr Alkemade’s presentation, catch up by watching the recording and accessing his presentation slides here.
This initiative is supported by the Victorian Government’s Department of Health Be Well Be Safe Program, providing increased health and wellbeing support for healthcare workers during COVID-19. For further details and to stay informed about the latest initiatives, visit the Be Well Be Safe Program webpage.
Approved by Karen Lowe.