In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, connectRN hosted a Sunday Self-Care Seminar to help spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of mental health in our lives.
This talk, entitled "Finding the Strength to Support: Taking Care of Yourself to Take Care of Others," provides space for nurses and CNAs to feel heard, safe, and supported through this conversation. Catch the replay here.
The guest for this live talk is Christine Michel Carter. She works on the mental health of women, especially working mothers. She has also received a congressional citation from the US Senate for going above and beyond in ensuring that Black moms and moms of color have access to important health information for their children and for their families.
Grounding through Breathing
Christine started the conversation with a grounding exercise:
inhale for four seconds
hold that for seven seconds
and then exhale for eight seconds
The idea of this rhythmic breathing is to ease anxiety and lower blood pressure.
Try to do this twice a day because most of our stress and anxiety actually comes when our body and our breath aren't aligned, and this exercise is one way that you can get them back aligned and create a relaxed breathing pattern.
Overview
Our mental health determines how we handle stress, how we relate to others, and how we make choices. It can be why we're feeling good, why we're feeling bad, or just different altogether. And all of that might be amplified right now from the incredible stress and uncertainty of our lives.
Those people closest to our hearts can help improve our mental health. For Christine, it’s her children who bring her joy and give her purpose, passion, and reason for investing in her mental health.
Mental Health Statistics
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The average delay onset of mental illness symptoms and actual treatment is 11 years, and one in five people will experience a diagnosable mental health condition in their lives.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the US, affecting 40 million adults in the US, 18 and older, or about 18% of the population every year.
Close to half of full-time workers right now are dealing with mental health issues. Many have seen job demands increase or are struggling to balance home and work life. Just 22% of baby boomers and 36% of Gen X have reported their mental health issues, but that's compared to 59% of millennials and 71% of Gen Zers. So, there's definitely a trend in discussing mental health as the demographics are getting younger.
Almost one in 10 workers say that substance abuse or addiction has affected their productivity or caused them to miss work. More than one-third of those with addiction said it had affected their work to a greater extent during the pandemic.
In August 2020, the US census reported that women accounted for three-quarters of full-time, year-round healthcare workers, but healthcare requires a great deal of care and empathy. Compared to men, women show higher signs of emotional responsibility. Nearly two-thirds say their workloads have gotten worse over the last two years, while a quarter report that their employer rarely or never backfills positions left vacant by illness or vacation.
In the COVID era healthcare landscape in the US, there has been a 34% growth of healthcare workers in the past two years, a 37% increase in the uptick among women in healthcare, 28% increase in the uptick among men in healthcare who actually left their roles, and 67% of women healthcare workers who left their roles because of the pandemic.
Working parents who are healthcare workers are suffering, too. 50% of families have had one or both parents leave the workforce to either reduce their hours or take a leave of absence.
We are also still seeing insufficient options for childcare two years into the pandemic, and caregiving driving the attrition. 56% of parents that need childcare still don't have access to full-time, reliable care. As a result, close to half of working parents are leaving due to insufficient compensation, more than likely to cover childcare, because of the booming job market, or the need for more flexibility.
According to the labor department's latest report, 865,000 women left the workforce in September of 2020. Women had to leave due to prioritizing their caregiving responsibilities over their career ambitions. When you dig deeper into the labor department data on women's employment, it uncovers a problematic issue for the healthcare industry as a whole.
The largest decline in female employment lies in the government-industry. These industries are critical public sectors like law enforcement, public education, elected officials, and healthcare.
Social Determinants of Health
According to the Center for Disease Control, social determinants of health determine 50% of a person's health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play.
One of the biggest consequences of a negative social determinant is disconnection or a lack of ambient belonging, which mostly affects many underrepresented groups.
40% of all working parents consider leaving their job, and non-white parents are 28% more likely to do so. Black women self-report that only one in three managers have checked in on them. That's defined as checking in on their status, condition, or well-being. Only 46% of LGBTQ parents feel like they can be themselves at work. They are twice less satisfied with their jobs, compensation, and benefits as a whole.
How to Overcome Mental Health Issues
Have you gone through experiences where mental illness symptoms are already starting, but you still have to go in and be the best nurse or CNA that you can be?
Here are things that can be done.
1. Practice active listening
A good active listener puts everything aside and gives complete attention to the person talking. They ask open-ended questions to get more details and understand the conversation clearly.
2. Don’t compare
It’s okay to share similar experiences, but be careful not to compare because it can make someone feel like their pain isn't valid. Focus on what you did to cope with the situation without sharing feelings of loss or loneliness. Offer to join them.
3. Ask what you can do
When somebody is going through a time of sadness or uncertainty, their emotions can take over and leave them feeling paralyzed and unable to take care of themselves. So if you offer to take care of some of their responsibilities, it can actually help them feel a sense of accomplishment and lift their spirits.
4. Keep your word
If you've offered your support to someone and told them that you would do something, it's so important to keep your word for that person.
Imposter Syndrome, Summit Syndrome, and Burnout
Imposter syndrome, summit syndrome, and burnout are related to each other and all contribute to mental health issues.
The Effects of Imposter Syndrome & Summit Syndrome
Imposter syndrome is a nagging feeling that you don't belong. 70% of the population has experienced it from time to time, but those are usually high achievers who are unable to internalize or accept their success and often attribute their accomplishments to luck rather than the ability, and fear that others will eventually see them as frauds.
When imposter syndrome is unacknowledged, it leads to summit syndrome or the act of chasing an unattainable high. Summit syndrome can bring self-destructive behavior to your mental health, thus resulting in burnout, which is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
Burnout & Mental Health
Since March of 2020, the US has led the Google daily search trend of the phrase, “what is burnout syndrome?” Related topics include psychological stress and major depressive disorder.
3 Aspects of Burnout
1. Physical exhaustion
2. Feeling disconnected from other people or your work
3. Feeling unproductive or how you’re responding to your environment
Things We Can Do to Take Care of Ourselves
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Summit Syndrome
Acknowledge imposter syndrome as a form of fear and worry.
A study found that 85% of what we worry about will never actually happen, and for the 15% of the time when something does happen, the majority of people found that it didn't happen in the way they thought it would.
Social media is one of the factors that contributes to imposter syndrome and summit syndrome.
62% of people say social media sites make them feel inadequate about their own life or their achievements. If you put this data into perspective, that means that at any given time, at least six out of 10 of your friends, family, or colleagues are going through adjectives associated with imposter syndrome or summit syndrome. The best way to overcome these mental health issues is to stop comparisons to colleagues and friends and where they are in their mental health journey.
Overcoming Burnout
It’s okay to say no; no is a complete sentence
Leverage the power of your senses; find something to look at every day that brings you joy
Be a caregiver at home and stop multitasking. Focus on one specific activity that you know that you can get done
Schedule tasks based on your energy level and destress
Take time to work on a skill or a hobby that you're interested in
Be a caregiver to your own career - working on your professional development is also caring for your mental health
Be a caregiver to others at work by getting to know people and pay close attention to their words and ideas to help you
Show your team that you trust them
Work smarter, not harder
Be an ally to your colleagues at work, take notice and support them, amplify their voices, and invite them to speak and share their expertise
Be a caregiver by managing upward - communicate challenges that you're having, both personal and professional. Share any problems or issues with your manager straight away before they escalate
Communicate how to get the best performance from you - it's a good sign when managers ask their subordinates how to be managed, but it's an even better sign when you tell them how you'd like to be managed
Push back - communicate, speak for yourself, and develop that sense of belonging. Sometimes you have to be proactive about that
Communicate and demonstrate your skills
Be a team player and a cross-functional problem solver
Understand your manager's key drivers and motivators
The Emotion Wheel
The emotion wheel was created by psychologist Robert Plutchik, to identify basic emotions. He believes that the emotion wheel can be used in the workplace to help employees harness their emotions rather than suppress them. If that energy is channeled effectively, then employees will have better morale and productivity rates.
Anyone can examine their own emotions for less than three minutes by taking an emotional wheel break. Doing this can help us slow down, think more clearly and more objectively, and be more self-aware, focused, diplomatic, and emotionally intelligent.
To learn more, catch the replay of this Sunday Self-Care Seminar.