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Building Resilience
…how to stay healthy at work
1
Developed by Robyn Bradey
Understanding Our Brains
Stress activates our fear centreThis turns down our immune systemOperates from our right emotional
brainSidelines our executive functionAnd triggers fight or flight
2Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
This happens to Zebras too...
But their stress response only lasts about 3 minutes, which is the time it takes to run away from a lion!
Once the lion catches a fellow zebra or they escape, the zebras stress response is quickly turned off.
Turning the immune system and soothing mechanisms back on.
3Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
But in humans...
The fear response can stay on for hours, days, weeks, months or even years because we ruminate.
We analyse what went wrongGo over and over it in our minds And worry about what will happen
next.
4Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
So
This effectively means we keep re-traumatising ourselves by our thoughts and worries long after the event and even before it!!
All this time our immune system is compromised, and trauma chemicals are chugging around our brains and bodies.
From Robert Sapolsky, 1994 5Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
The result is...
SicknessFatigueSleep disturbanceWeight loss or gainGeneralised anxietyPoor decision makingRelationship issues
6Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
Continued
Memory problemsOver reactionsAvoidanceLoss of empathy and intuition Increased stressful situations arising
from poor judgementCynicism
7Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012
Continued
A feeling of futilityDisparaging workmates, clients and
othersBlame and shameLoss of confidence.
8Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012
Chapter 2When You Smile, The World Smiles With You
No Laughing Matter
In 1962 in Tanzania an epidemic of laughing spread through many villages resulting in the closing of several schoolsThis was a “mass psychogenic illness” – also known as “epidemic hysteria” and was traced to three teenage girls
Photo by Casey Lehman Photo by Federia Olivieri Photo by k-girl, Flikr
No Laughing Matter
“Emotional Stampedes” are common. Did you ever feel sick after a friend complained of a stomach ache from the dinner you both ate?
Photo by Angelo Juan Ramos Photo from Nokes, Flikr
The Importance of Emotions
Emotions coordinate group activity by:
• Communicating information
• Facilitating interpersonal bonds
• Synchronizing behavior
• Preceded language as a form of communicationExample: mother-infant pair
bonding
Photo by Rebeka Ireland
Stop Mimicking Me!
Emotional Contagion spreads for two reasons:1. We are biologically hardwired to outwardly mimic
others2. We benefit from adopting the inward state of othersFacial Feedback Theory: people imitate others’ facial expressions and come to feel as they do (the path of signals is from the muscles of the face to the brain)
Mirror Neuron: one system in the human brain possibly responsible for the “catching of emotions”
Photo by Jennifer Morton
Emotional Contagion• Most prevalent in networks with high transitivity • Physical Proximity and face-to-face interactions are
important (Facial Feedback Theory)• Women are affected in MPI epidemics more often
• more inclined to discuss symptoms• better sense of smell (smell and emotion are both regulated by the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain)
Photos by Gontzal Garcia del Cano and Diego Cupolo
Family Feelings
Experiment using beepers to record and track the emotional states of family members• The strongest path was from daughters to parents• Parents had little affect on daughters• Fathers had a significant affect on wives and sons
What this means…when a father returns grumpy from work the whole household
soon becomes miserable
Photos by Mike Carroll and Squiddles, Flikr
If You Wanna Be Happy
• Happy and unhappy people cluster among themselves
• Unhappy people are on periphery of the network
Our friends and their friends and their friends affect our happiness! (Three Degrees of Influence Rule)
Photo by Annika Bischof
If You Wanna Be Happy
• A person is 15% more likely to be happy if directly connected to a happy person (1 degree)
• At 2 degrees 10% more likely to be happy• At 3 degrees 6% more likely to be happy• Each unhappy friend deceases the likelihood of happiness 7%
If You Wanna Be Happy
An increase of $10,000 of income per year yields only a 2% increase chance in happiness. Compare that to a 15% chance from a happy friend and a 6-10% from someone you may have never met, but to whom you are indirectly tied!
Photo by Andy Perkins Photo by Minoria Hinds
Happiness, It’s in the Genes
We have a “set point” for personal happiness strongly influenced by our genes
Long term happiness is affected by:• 50% genes• 10% circumstance (i.e. quality
of life)• 40% attitude (what you think
and do)
Photo by Emily Faulk
Photo by Duncan Hull
Alone in the Crowd
Loneliness is a discrepancy between desire for connection and actual connections--spreads according to the three degrees rule
Each extra friend reduces the frequency of loneliness by 2 days per year (the average person feels lonely 48 days per year)
Photo by Tom Woodward
Basic Human Instincts
Loss aversionEmotion before reasonFirst impressions to classifyGossipConfidence before realismEmpathy and mind readingContest & displayCommunityHierarchy & status
Source: Andrew O’Keefe, 2011, Hardwired Humans22Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012
First Impressions to classify
….. leading to the importance of the first 7 words which must be:
Specific Plain Truthful Single concept Emotional Without jargon Contain the future narrative
23Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
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What is a “team”?
... a set of interpersonal relationships structured to achieve established goals.
.... a group of people ... with a common
purpose (which is understood by all members) who play assigned roles... using
their individual skills and talents to best advantage ... to accentuate the strengths
and minimise the weaknesses, and achieve the common goal.
Shields, In the Tiger’s Mouth
Does this definition fit your workplace?
Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
25
Qualities of a well functioning work group
Belonging and valuing Being clear about the task Creating safety Listening and consulting Respecting diversity and
uniqueness Being aware of oppression and
discrimination Being committed to conflict
resolution Encouraging and supporting
leadershipBuilding Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
Continued…
Training and development skills Sharing visions and encouraging
each other's dreams Making room for fun and humour
26Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
27
What went wrong.... & why?
communication
planning
listening
personality
clarity of roles & tasks
supervision
agenda
Stress
Stress
bullying
Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
28
What is resilience ?
…..buoyancy….
…..an ability to cope with stress and adversity, ….to recover quickly from stressful situations,
illness, change, or misfortune
Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
29
Strengthening your Resilience
Interpersonal competence
Personal vision Flexible
Proactive
Organised
Problem solver
Socially connected
Self-assurance
How do you rate yourself in these areas?Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012
Vicarious Trauma
This happens when our fear centre is activated by what has happened to another person.
One of the executive functions that we have that zebras don’t, is empathy.
The capacity to imagine what it must be like for the other triggers fear in us.
Ironically if this happens our executive function in the cortex is compromised and fear takes over.
30Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
If our work brings us into the suffering of others..
Then we are triggering into a fear response on a daily basis
The better our empathy, the more likely this is
This has serious implications for both our work practices and our health.
This kind of stress accumulatesSo that means experienced staff are
more at risk of this31Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
The workplace can help by...
Allowing opportunities for staff to connect with “big picture” activities such as:
Writing policyLobbying government on behalf of
client groupBeing on inter-agency working
partiesChanging the outcomes for the client
group as a whole (Charles Figley, 1995)
32Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012
Workplace Health & Safety measures
Employers need to recognise the condition and validate it
Provide a safe working environmentProvide orientation and ongoing
trainingProvide supervision and mentoringRotation of dutiesRegular leave
33Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -August 2012
WHS Continued..
Tools to do the jobRespect in the workplace (Including
dealing decisively with bullying and harassment)
Performance appraisalPeer review
34Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
WHS Continued...
The employer should provide access to EAP services.
Defusing and debriefing after stressful incidents
Follow –up counselling for those who need it.
35Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
You can help yourself by...
ExercisingMeditating (or using a relaxation
technique)YogaAromatherapyStretchingSweatingEating well
36Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012
HolidaysTraining and professional
development A sense of humourExit PlanQuit!
Building Resilience – Robyn BradeyAugust 2012 37