At today's online meetup we talked about work-related stress and how to manage it. One of our members recently shared a fantastic resource about this topic on our online group, so we went through it together.
We started from the basis that - even in the most ideal of employment scenarios - care work always involves a fair deal of pressure. This is due to the nature of the work itself. It is a high-responsibility role which involves supporting unique individuals with the most personal of tasks, so pressure is never far away.
If not well-managed, in-the-moment pressure can lead to even the most competent and experienced of us making poor decisions, undermining how good we usually are at our jobs and potentially impacting on the quality of support we are able to offer.
If we experience in-the-moment pressure as stress too often, this can turn into long-term pressure, or chronic stress, which can have serious implications for our physical and mental health, and lead to great care workers walking away from their jobs.
Putting aside the ways our employers might be able to better support us through policies, procedures, and support, what can we do to manage work-related stress ourselves?
The resource we were looking at is all about building resilience: what resilience is, why it is important, and how to develop it. We noted that our resilience is not set in stone. It is probably higher at the start of a shift than at the end, for example, and might be lower than usual if you have not had a day off in a while.
Pages 13 to 15 provided practical strategies for coping with in-the moment pressure, such as tightening then relaxing your muscles, walking away from the situation for a minute, and recognising what emotions you are feeling so that you can rationalise and accept them, rather than letting them fester and worsen.
A great tip from one of our members was to try to treat each new shift as a fresh start, remembering to take things one day at a time with each person you visit and colleague you work with.
Another member made a key point about empathy - recognising that people around you - colleagues, managers, and those you support - might sometimes react in a way you could find hurtful, but that this is generally a reflection of something stressful happening on their part, rather than something to be taken personally.
There is much more in the full resource about topics such as emotional intelligence, realistic optimism, and tips about how to establish a healthy work-life balance.
It was great to chat through all of the above and more with people who are in the same boat as each other, wanting to do our best for those we support, yet often struggling with the pressures of the role.
The resources we talked through have been added to the Support page of the website, where you can find other sources of third-party support for care workers, too.
If you are homecare worker or you used to be, you are very welcome to sign up and join our free, independent and friendly online group, run by and for homecare workers.
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