Managing in Difficult Times

Shirley BriggsPEACe Manager

London Voluntary Service Council

shirley@lvsc.org.uk

020 7832 5880 PEACe

Objectives for the workshop•Developing personal resilience – understanding thoughts and behaviours

•Stress and the personal effects of high demand workplace

“People with highly stressful jobs but little real control over decision

making are running a 23% increased risk of a heart attack, according to research from an

international study reported in the Lancet”

What is stress?

What causes stress?

Stressful events might included;• Bereavement• Moving house• Having a baby• Serious illness• Redundancy• Poverty• Conflict at work

Is stress harmful?

• “fight or flight”

• Adrenaline

• Cortisol

Am I under too much stress?

• How your body reacts

• How you may feel

• How you may behave

Best way to handle pressure?

• Manage your time• Act positively• Accept things you cannot change• How can I learn to relax?• Mindfulness• Physical acivity• Healthy eating

What is resilience?

Stages of a transition

• Initial shock

• Minimising/denial

• Loss of confidence

• Confusion/depression

Stages of a Transition (cont’d)

• Crisis

• Recovery

• Renewed confidence

Resilience Questionnaire

10 steps to help you be more resilient

• Visualise success• Boost your self-esteem• Take control• Become more optimistic• Manage stress

10 steps cont’d

• Improve decision-making• Ask for help• Deal with conflict• Learn• Be yourself

Five stage approach

• Meaningful life (purpose)• Perseverance• Self reliance• Equanimity• Coming home to yourself

Purpose and meaning

• What do I do that others value?• In what ways am I needed every day,

and by whom?• What in my life has most meaning?

Perseverance

• Do I finish what I begin?• How often am I defeated before I even

try?• Do others say I give up too quickly?• Am I able to stay focussed on my goals

or am I easily distracted?

Self reliance

• Am I aware of all the things I do well?• Do others who know me well describe

me as a capable person? • Can I usually think through a problem

and work out a good solution?• Can I do what needs to be done in an

emergency or will I fall apart?

Equanimity

• Do I see glass as half full or half empty?• Do I look back on my life with so many

regrets that I find it difficult to move on?• Do I make catastrophes from even

small things that happen in my life?• Would family and close friends describe

me as an optimist or a pessimist?

Coming home to self

• Am I willing to take a course of action that I know to be right but which is unpopular with my peers?

• As I look back at my life, what sets me apart from everyone else?

• Am I comfortable with whom I have become

Conclusion

Each of us has extraordinary possibilities and strengths

Each has the capacity to get back up and carry on (whether we use it or not)

Resilience mattersImportant to a person’s mental and physical

healthResilience protects and reverses depression,

anxiety, fear and helplessness

Final Note

• “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that

creates the climate.

• I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal.

Final Note cont’d

• In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

• If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

Goethe

Where to find more information

• PEACe www.lvsc.org.uk/workinghours• Acaswww.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1283• Health and Safety Executivewww.hse.gov.uk/stress• The Shaw Trust• www.tacklementalhealth.org.uk

Any questions?

PEACe