Nurse Wellbeing Mission

It is normal for people to make mistakes and it is also completely normal to feel guilty about it. However, dwelling on the past and excessively thinking about the future effects of what we did wrong will oftentimes make it worse.

It will greatly affect our practice, our overall health, and our relationships.

So, practicing self-forgiveness and self-compassion can provide relief, growth and empower nurses and midwives to move forward with their lives.

In this episode, Nathan Ilman talks about his journey to self-forgiveness and how we can start our journey toward it.

He provides a practical foundation for nurses and midwives in how to start thinking about and practicing self-forgiveness to enhance their wellbeing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

Many people have had an experience of doing something that they feel guilty about or even shame.

Self-forgiveness is something that we can learn about and a choice we can make to be kind to ourselves.

Whilst guilt can help drive positive behaviour, getting stuck in shame often does not, and becomes problematic.

Research literature shows that people who find it easier to forgive themselves tend to have better psychological and physical well-being.

On the other hand, people who find it hard to forgive themselves tend to experience high rates of mental ill health.

Genuine self-forgiveness involves a number of different steps. One is acknowledging our responsibility for the mistakes that have been made. 

Ask yourself this question: By continuing to focus on what you did wrong, what effect is it having on your practice? Is it enabling you to be an effective nurse or midwife? Is it affecting your family life? 

Letting go is a choice we can make and it is very empowering.

Set the intention to forgive yourself.

Self-forgiveness is a process. We can start again each day if we choose to.

When we give ourselves permission to forgive ourselves, it can open us to a range of possibilities. 

Overthinking and being locked into the past keeps people trapped in a lack of self-forgiveness.

Do these three things to start your journey on self-forgiveness:

1. Acknowledge the thing that you’ve been hard on yourself about.

2. Make a verbal or written commitment that you’re going to start forgiving yourself.

3. Try out a self-forgiving pause. 

Nurse Wellbeing Mission run online and in-person workshops for nurses and midwives where we train people in four key skill sets of self-forgiveness. This helps to overcome mistakes, set backs and moral distress. Drop us an email to find out more: [email protected] 

Visit our website at: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.com

Join our free Facebook group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission 

Interested to know more about stress management programs for student nurses? Then you're in the right place.

We talk to Becky Petley in this episode. Becky is finishing her Ph.D. at Winchester University in the UK and was investigating what aspects of wellbeing programs for student nurses actually work.

In this conversation we cover:

• Why it’s important to understand what elements of wellbeing programs are effective and not just whether the whole package ‘worked’.
• The moral imperative of organisations to implement culture change to support student nurses.
• How a flexible, and not a one-size fits all approach is needed to address student nurse stress.
• The context of attrition of student nurses – many (up to 33%!) drop out early from training. We discuss the obligation of organisations to address this.
• Some reasons why student nurses drop out.
• We discuss Becky’s review article and why she looked at stress specifically in student nurses.
• How stress interventions vary a lot. Becky talks us through the types that were most effective, such as those that involve training coping skills and ways of thinking about stress differently.
• Why future work needs to address coping but also helping reduce the actual things that are making students stressed (e.g. high placement demands and academic work, financial pressures)
• How expectations around professional identity clash with student nurses’ personal identity, sometimes leading to deteriorating wellbeing.
• Becky shares her advice for new nurses – to practice self-compassion and be kind to yourself.

Find her article here: “The effectiveness of interventions and behaviour change techniques to reduce stress in student nurses: A systematic review”. 

To find out more about Nurse Wellbeing Mission, visit our website: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.com

To join our community of 250+ nurses and midwives and receive weekly wellbeing resources, join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission 

E-mail us: [email protected] 

There are times when we already know that we should seek help because of the changes that we are noticing in the way we deal with things in our life. The problem is that many barriers stop us from taking action and make us think twice about getting help. However, thinking about the long-term benefits of seeking help now will help us change our mindsets and start to overcome these barriers.

In this episode, Nathan Illman talks about why you may want to access psychological therapy and when might be a good time to do it. He also discusses the barriers to seeking out help, how to overcome them, and some of the practicalities of attending therapy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Even if we’re emotionally intelligent, self-aware, and have good support, sometimes we still need the support of someone outside our support network to help us work through life's challenges.

• An important exercise to know whether or not to seek help is to think about the time when you were functioning at your best and compare it to where you are now.

• You are not alone in what you feel and there is no shame in getting support from someone else. 

• Someday when you get older, you'll look back on your life now and think about what could've happened if you sought out help. 

• You don't necessarily need to let certain people know that you are seeking help. Only share it with people who will surely understand and be supportive.

• We tend to prioritize other people's needs but we have to shift to this mindset of helping ourselves and thinking about how psychological therapy would help us long-term.

• The time that therapy will cost you now will pay dividends in the future.

• Explore and know where to access support.

• It's okay to ask and understand the qualifications of experts to see if they are the right fit for you and your particular situation.

• Public services have limitations. It is important to think about making room and investing your money in your mental health.

• The first therapist that you see may not be the right person for you and it's alright. You don’t need to completely give up on accessing mental health services. You may give it another go or find the right person for you.

• Spend a little time looking at your options for the kind of therapy that might best suit you.

To find out more about Nurse Wellbeing Mission, visit our website: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.com

To join our. community of 250+ nurses and midwives and receive weekly wellbeing resources, join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission 

E-mail us: [email protected] 

Tiffany Hood is an Associate Professor of nursing at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She has a highly varied nursing background and in the latter stages of her career has focused more on research. In this episode we talk about her research examining student nurses’ responses to critical incidents at work, to better understand their psychological reactions and help guide more effective preparation and post-event support. 

We discuss:

• The kinds of critical incidents student nurses may be exposed to at work (e.g. death, violence, severe injury and disability).
• How there is currently a lack of adequate preparation for student nurses to inform them of the realities of what they may witness.
• How many student nurses enter training with unrealistic expectations about critical events due to popular culture such as what is seen on TV or movies.
• Why providing student nurses with a space to reflect on a stressful or critical event is absolutely crucial.
• Why it’s important to factor in a student nurses’ life experience, such as prior trauma and mental health difficulties, when preparing them for rotations and clinical work.
• How student nurses’ reactions to critical incidents were completely varied, and why it should be stressed to other students that this is completely normal.
• Why staff and faculty should aim to build a trusting relationship with students, and how this benefits psychological coping in the event of a critical incident.
• Why it’s important to consider a number of processes and factors in understanding student nurses’ experiences and later adjustment or not, to a critical event. 
• Some tools and strategies for helping better prepare student nurses, which Tiffany currently working on.

You can find the article we discussed here: “Student Nurses' Experiences of Critical Events in the Clinical Setting: A Grounded Theory”

Our website:

www.nursewellbeingmission.com

If you’re a nurse or midwife interested in further resources and conversations from us, join our Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission

Professional quality of life greatly affects the overall well-being and work performance of healthcare workers. It is important to address the factors that negatively affect this and form habits through brief interventions.

In this episode, Darcy Copeland, a Professor of Nursing and Nurse Scientist, talks about the study she conducted on brief workplace interventions to address burnout, compassion fatigue, and teamwork in nurses.

Listen and learn in this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• The more burnout providers have the worse their teamwork is, the better their teamwork is, and the less burnout they have.    

• The particular model of professional quality of life differentiates the quality of life on two things: compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue.

• Secondary traumatic stress is the emotional burden of repeatedly being in contact with humans who are suffering.

• Burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress are work-related injuries and if we think about them as work-related, we'll determine who can help prevent them. 

Brief Interventions Darcy explored to address burnouts and compassion fatigue:

Each of these were conducted with nurses for only 10 minutes per day over a number of weeks. Nurses were given one activity to do:

1. Journaling

Journal Prompts:

-How would a patient, visitor, or colleague describe a particular situation?

-The best thing that happened today.

-What would I have done differently if I could...

-This situation was unexpected and what I did.

-The situation that touched me the most today.

-Would you believe this happened?

-The way I got through this.

1. Meditation

Meditation using a phone-based app.

1. Spending time outdoors

Spend time outside without cellphones or pagers to just observe nature.

1. Practicing Gratitude

Thank and recognize at least three people every day.

Results of the study:

Darcy found in this pilot study encouraging evidence that indeed, only 10 minutes per day of self-care was effective in enhancing nurses' wellbeing. When nurses were given an opportunity and encouragement to ring-fence 10 mins of shift time for self-care, highly positive feedback was received.

The conclusion - nurse managers out there should look to make this time available and actively encourage staff to choose an activity each day.

Today’s Guest:

Darcy Copeland is a Nursing Professor at The University of Northern Colorado and a Nurse Scientist.

The Study:

Brief Workplace Interventions Addressing Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Teamwork

Find more about Darcy Copeland here:

https://www.unco.edu/nhs/nursing/about-us/faculty/copeland-darcy.aspx 

Our Website: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.co.uk

Join our Facebook Group for more wellbeing resources and find out about our events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission 

In today’s episode, I talk with Professor Narinder Kapur, visiting professor of neuropsychology at UCL in London. 

Narinder is not a nurse, but has done incredible work to support nurses after his own harrowing experience of unfair dismissal within healthcare.

Narinder suffered an extremely stressful unfair dismissal earlier in his career and fought for justice as a result.

His plight, inspired by Gandhian principles, led him to uncover structural issues with racism, unfairness, and inequality when addressing disciplinary procedures and investigations of whistleblowing in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

In this episode, Narinder talks candidly about his own experience and how that led him to support other healthcare staff, including nurses, who subsequently went through similar things. 

He talks in-depth about nurse Amin Abdullah, a nurse who died of suicide following the shame he experienced as a result of what turned out to be unfair treatment and dismissal by his employer.

In this moving conversation, Narinder outlines:

>Current issues with bias and racism in healthcare

>Shortcomings of disciplinary procedures

>Problems with managerial structures in the NHS and how to change them

>The key features of his roadmap to create a fairer system to support whistleblowers and those who are undergoing investigation.

>The issues surrounding the case of Amin Abdullah, and what he and Amin’s partner did to campaign for change

>What the key learning and lessons are from Amin’s suicide, and how to prevent further ones in the future. 

>His advice for people going through disciplinary procedures: Get independent advice and do what you can to take care of your own wellbeing.

To find out more about Narinder’s work and the recommendations he makes, see:

https://www.abetternhs.com/

A moving video explaining more about the case of Amin Abdullah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0_f2KtK914&t=433s&ab_channel=NarinderKapur

RCN Foundation and link to the Amin Abdullah Award: https://rcnfoundation.rcn.org.uk/

Our website:

www.nursewellbeingmission.com

If you’re a nurse or midwife interested in further resources and conversations from us, join our Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission

Nurses and midwives have a huge responsibility of taking care of different kinds of patients. A number of factors specific to nursing and midwifery lead to increased stress, which can negatively impact wellbeing. Much is known about preventative measures that can reduce the unnecessary burden of stress.

In this solo episode the Nurse Wellbeing Mission podcast, Nathan Illman talks all about what preventive mental health is and what it looks like.

It also talks about the problems and barriers that are inherent in the nursing profession and the things that contribute to someone flourishing at work and having an optimized sense of well-being.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Mental health is something that we all have. It's not just something someone with a mental health problem has.

• One definition of well-being is when someone is "contented, comfortable, and happy."

• When we think about preventative mental health, we think of the factors and conditions that might make someone at risk of developing mental health conditions and intervene with them before the person struggles with mental health difficulties.

• Several occupational factors lead the nursing work to have increased stress and increased stress most likely leads to burnout and other psychological difficulties.   

• Removing or reducing occupational hazards is important. People need to go to work feeling that they're safe.

• Supervisory or management relationships that are founded on trust, compassion, and respect are crucial.

• A clear job description is important, but an opportunity for employees to express themselves and to be more flexible with their roles contributes to job satisfaction and well-being. 

• Understanding the role of compassion, self-compassion, and emotional intelligence for nurses will help you flourish in your work and prevent the deterioration in mental health.

• There's a psychological role of being compensated financially as well.

• Having enough time and resources to do the job is also extremely important.

• Social support is one of the biggest protective factors of people's mental health and well-being.

• Culture is the underlying principles and beliefs that guide behavior and actions within a team, a department, or an organization.

• Well-being strategy is not about a single band-aid approach, it is about taking a broad look at the particular healthcare system, the organization, or the community and thinking about the particular needs of those individuals and ways their well-being can be supported over a long period.

• Early intervention helps prevent more serious issues.

The Factors to Consider in Preventative Mental Health:

-Nurses and midwifes self-identifying their own vulnerabilities before they start or during their training

-Proper funding for healthcare at the government level

-Building the right culture in the organization

-Having enough staff and resources in the workplace

-Meeting the employees’ basic needs

-Having the right conditions and environment

-Having social support

-Lifestyle interventions contributing to health (sleep, exercise, diet)

-Taking personal responsibility to enhance wellbeing in one's personal life

VISIT OUR WEBSITE OR JOIN THE NURSE WELLBEING MISSION FACEBOOK GROUP FOR EXCLUSIVE WELLBEING RESOURCES:

Website: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.com

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission 

Welcome to the introduction to the Nurse Wellbeing Mission podcast! In this introductory episode, your host, Dr. Nathan lllman (Clinical Psychologist), discusses his professional journey with supporting nurses and other healthcare staff and how his personal experiences led him to commit to helping the nursing and midwifery workforce.

The podcast is designed to support the well-being of nurses and midwives through:

• Conversations with industry leaders and researchers who specialize in nurse/midwife wellbeing.

• Practical, how-to episodes from Nathan, covering a range of mental health and wellbeing topics.

• Inspiring stories from nurses and midwives about their own personal wellbeing challenges and journeys.

If you’re a nurse or midwife interested in joining our Nurse Wellbeing Mission community, head over to our website and Facebook group:

Website: https://www.nursewellbeingmission.com

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nursewellbeingmission