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New EMHP or CWP? It's an incredibly demanding role. Here's some tips on how to survive and thrive from some of the amazing trainees I've had the pleasure of working with and learning from over the last year @AFNCCF (1/10)
2/10 'When you're burnt out, remember what values drove you to apply. I've needed to give myself a bit more kindness when I get frustrated with myself, so I wrote down some practical tips that the ‘younger me’ would encourage me to follow in times of stress' - R
3/10 'I’ve learnt to look at who’s responsible for progress and a good outcome. Is it all mine? It’s all so systemic… it’s the whole family. Sometimes I do a responsibility pie, looking at who is involved in the young person’s progress - I might only be 25% of that.' -E
4/10 'During sessions, I doubt how things are going… ‘I think they’re bored… this isn’t going well…’ and so on. I’ve learnt to check in more often, for example, asking, ‘are you happy to carry on?’ I know I’ve got a negative mental filter so this helps me rebalance it' -M
5/10 'Don’t work at weekends! I’ve had to try and bracket it and having two days off helps me reset.' -C
'I wasn’t coping with the essays, case studies and work all at once. My supervisor and I agreed the no 1 priority was to pass the course - if I didn’t, nothing else would matter anyway! It was awkward - I don’t like others to think I can’t cope but I'm glad I did' -A
7/10 'I’ve had to learn to let things go… I've spent hours ruminating about sessions , should I have done this or that…. questioning myself. I now have a list of positive self-talk statements and if I notice myself going down that rabbit hole I use them'
8/10 'I always want my young people to make big improvements and it stresses me out when it doesn’t happen. My supervisor told me my main job purpose is instead to do my best to follow the protocols. This really helped....
9/10 ...because obviously lots of other stuff happens in kids’ lives - family stuff, friendships, pandemics(!). We want to help. But we need to unhook ourselves from the expectation we can make everyone better. We just need to follow the approaches as best we can.' -S
10/10 'At the end of each day I visualise a big switch for my working day, and turn it off. Working from home, I’ve realised I talk too much about work stress with my family, - it’s much better to have a 10 min catch-up with a colleague at the end of each day to off-load.' -E
