We’ve all done so well getting this far through this latest lockdown, though many of us are feeling tired. Here’s the second edition where we ask staff members about their stress-busting strategies for supporting their students, colleagues and themselves.
This is the second in our series of stress-busting tips from staff. In part one, Falaniko Tominiko and Jo Thorogood share how they deal with stress and in part three we heard from five staff about recognising their stress signs.
Gil Graham
Lecturer with the School of Healthcare and Social Practice
Wellbeing is an everyday topic for Gil Graham, Lecturer with the School of Healthcare and Social Practice with a focus on interpersonal relationships. Gil lives in a shared house with four other adults, she says the best advice she’s seen is the one; “You are not working from home, you’re at home, during a crisis, trying to work”.
“It’s important to keep an optimistic focus, but in Healthcare it’s also about planning for the worst. You don’t want to be surprised, she says. Some students have a massive stress response to the extra challenges posed by online learning. You need to respond with kindness and empathy, remembering what it’s like to be a student. And the same rules we give the students we should also apply to ourselves. Don’t assume your colleagues are coping or ok. We’re all going to have a stress response.
‘It’s great when teams can have a social catchup at the same time every day or week. We all need to korero, tell jokes, talk, share stress and other feelings.
‘For yourself or your household, you can make a simple activities wheel using post-it notes with ideas for mini breaks. Stick them to the kitchen clock, fridge or noticeboard. Take one note off when having a break and do the activity on the note.
Our flat activities wheel. Some of them are for our 15-minute breaks, some are jobs that we have wanted to do for ages and some include others outside our bubble via Zoom e.g. digital pub quiz.
“Humour is essential; we have a sweepstakes going in our flat on the number of total covid cases and we often discuss our rationale and provide evidence to each other to inform our number. This helps us keep a sense of control and share our naturally morbid healthcare humour.
Here are a few more tips from Gil for helping us get through:
- One stress response is that you need to sleep a lot yet don’t feel rested. Help combat this by grabbing a sunny moment to get outside in the sun. Exercise outside of the house is also a chance to find new things in your neighbourhood, exploring wetlands and boardwalks.
- At a basic level, get dressed, maintain good hygiene, shower, and dress in clean clothes as usual. It’s the same advice we give patients recovering from illness or surgery.
- Where possible, avoid working for longer than 45 minutes at a time because you brain doesn’t process much beyond that.
- Use a Fitbit as a reminder to get up and take a break
- Have a separate, dedicated workplace to make the boundaries more tangible. Sharing a table with others? Create a nameplate with a job title on it to designate your workspace.
- Lacking touch? Rest you hands in hot water with some lavender oil. Apply lotion as a mindfulness practice.
- If you are self-isolating, stand by the window for a period of the day.
- If you have others in the house who are isolating, don’t just rely on digital contact – talk to them through the door, include them in conversation or jokes where possible.
- Avoid over-indulging in stimulants such as coffee as they raise our heart rate.
- Take care of something living, such as a pot plant.
Edgar Rowland
Enrolment Processing, Team Leader
My team of 13 is close-knit in the workplace, and the work we do in enrolment and assessment involves a lot of cross-collaboration with other teams, says Edgar. I think we’re quite good at maintaining the culture that we have when not in lockdown.
“Our weekly team meeting typically has a semi social aspect to it, and there’s also an informal WhatsApp group shared by the team. We maintain morale in lockdown with Friday afternoon get togethers, where we can grab snacks or something to drink, relax and talk about the week. We don’t talk about work, but it’s a bit of fun, chat and banter.
“Everyone in a team and a household will have has different requirements; you might be good one day and flat the next. You need give yourself a regular self-check-in.
“For me it’s about trying to keep myself healthy by bike riding most mornings. I try to enjoy the fresh air, lack of pollution and cycling without so many cars around.
“For the household – It’s hard to get teenagers at all do the same thing at the same time, but when I can I try to get the kids out for a walk or a bike ride.
“For our team – we try to make sure everyone in the team has a buddy who checks up on them. This is not a formal arrangement, we keep it casual, but with everyone checking in on each other.
“I encourage the team to take designated breaks to get away from the screen – even just to walk up and down the driveway, or around the house if it’s raining. Even 2-3 minutes away from the computer can refresh your mind.
“When you finish work it’s good to pack up your things at the end of the day, as if you are leaving the office. I know that’s not always possible with some setups at home, but at the least, closing your computer down and switching off helps.”