Resilience

…how to stay healthy at work

Developed by Robyn Bradey

1

 

  

Stress activates our fear centre This turns down our immune system Operates from our right emotional brain Sidelines our executive function And triggers fight or flight

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

2







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. Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

3



 



The fear response can stay on for hours, days, weeks, months or even years because we ruminate. We analyse what went wrong Go over and over it in our minds And worry about what will happen next.

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

4

This effectively means we keep retraumatising 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 

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

5

 

  

 

Sickness Fatigue Sleep disturbance Weight loss or gain Generalised anxiety Poor decision making Relationship issues

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

6

 

   

Memory problems Over reactions Avoidance Loss of empathy and intuition Increased stressful situations arising from poor judgement Cynicism

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012

7

 

 

A feeling of futility Disparaging workmates, clients and others Blame and shame Loss of confidence.

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012

8

Chapter 2 When 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 schools This 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 communication Photo by Rebeka Ireland

Example: mother-infant pair bonding

Stop Mimicking Me! Emotional Contagion spreads for two reasons: 1. We are biologically hardwired to outwardly mimic others 2. We benefit from adopting the inward state of others

Facial 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

Photos by Mike Carroll and Squiddles, Flikr

What this means…when a father returns grumpy from work the whole household soon becomes miserable

If You Wanna Be Happy Our friends and their friends and their friends affect our happiness! (Three Degrees of Influence Rule) • Happy and unhappy people cluster among themselves • Unhappy people are on periphery of the network

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 Duncan Hull

Photo by Emily Faulk

Alone in the Crowd Loneliness is a discrepancy between desire for connection and actual connections--spreads according to the three degrees rule

Photo by Tom Woodward

Each extra friend reduces the frequency of loneliness by 2 days per year (the average person feels lonely 48 days per year)

 

      

Loss aversion Emotion before reason First impressions to classify Gossip Confidence before realism Empathy and mind reading Contest & display Community Hierarchy & status Source: Andrew O’Keefe, 2011, Hardwired Humans Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012

22

….. leading to the importance of the first 7 words which must be:  Specific  Plain  Truthful  Single concept  Emotional  Without jargon  Contain the future narrative Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

23

... 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

24

       

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 leadership Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012

25

  

Training and development skills Sharing visions and encouraging each other's dreams Making room for fun and humour

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012

26

What went wrong.... & why? Stress

listening supervision planning

clarity of roles & tasks

agenda

bullying

personality

communication Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012

27

…..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

28

Personal vision Self-assurance

Flexible

Proactive

Organised

Socially connected Problem solver

Interpersonal competence

How do you rate yourself in these areas? Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - Legal Aid NSW – August 2012

29



  

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. Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

30



   

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 accumulates So that means experienced staff are more at risk of this Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

31



 

 

Allowing opportunities for staff to connect with “big picture” activities such as: Writing policy Lobbying government on behalf of client group Being on inter-agency working parties Changing the outcomes for the client group as a whole (Charles Figley, 1995) Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -– August 2012

32



  

 

Employers need to recognise the condition and validate it Provide a safe working environment Provide orientation and ongoing training Provide supervision and mentoring Rotation of duties Regular leave

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey -August 2012

33

   

Tools to do the job Respect in the workplace (Including dealing decisively with bullying and harassment) Performance appraisal Peer review

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

34



 

The employer should provide access to EAP services. Defusing and debriefing after stressful incidents Follow –up counselling for those who need it.

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

35

 

  

 

Exercising Meditating (or using a relaxation technique) Yoga Aromatherapy Stretching Sweating Eating well

Building Resilience – Robyn Bradey - August 2012

36

 

  

Holidays Training and professional development A sense of humour Exit Plan Quit!

Building Resilience – Robyn BradeyAugust 2012

37