Tools for wellbeing in human services work

Facilitator: Alison Krusec

Every work place has its stressors, especially professions that support others such as human services and education. Whether you work directly with clients or students, or are located primarily in an office, you will be aware of the toll your work can take on your personal and professional lives. Working within a team or hierarchy is an added dynamic that can sometimes be stressful.

Simply going to your place of employment can have a profound effect upon you and those around you, not to mention the cost to the industry of reactive measures put into place after an employee becomes unwell and even unable to remain in their job. While the concept of wellbeing is by no means new, measures to maintain a healthy workforce are often ad hoc, left to the individual or focussed solely on non-work related activities.

This highly-interactive workshop will use a range of methods to delve deeply into what it takes to maintain workplace wellbeing. Together, we will explore not only the ‘tried and true’ ways of staying ok, but look a little further into how powerful self-care strategies can be found within the work we do.

 

AUDIENCE

This workshop is for child, youth and family workers, counsellors, teachers, psychologists, parenting educators, foster carers, psychologists, youth workers, life coaches, mentors and anyone who works with children, youth, adults, families and communities.

 

CONTENT ELEMENTS

This workshop will explore:

  • the differences between stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma
  • the balance between empathy, self-awareness, social connectedness and workplace wellbeing
  • how ‘emotional literacy’—the ability to articulate the links between body signals, feelings, thoughts and actions— can open the door to effective, sustainable wellbeing conversations
  • a range of resources that foster conversations on wellbeing and support the development of self-care plans
  • why and how a team approach to wellbeing works
  • some simple techniques to manage anxiety and worry
  • how organisational wellbeing cultures can be developed and maintained
  • how to use practice reflection as a wellbeing activity
  • the beginnings of your new wellbeing plan.

 

PRACTICE KNOWLEDGE

This workshop is grounded in over 25 years of working with human services organisations to develop strengths-based practice. It is also informed by other knowledge platforms including solution-focussed practice, Brief Therapy, Appreciative Inquiry, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Choice Theory, circles approaches to teams, mindfulness, positive psychology and narrative approaches.

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