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* Supportive * Curious * Welcoming * Encouraging * Straightforward *
We are Garrett Learning.
Inside this month’s issue:
- Wearing a few hats whilst preventing burnout
- How we can support others with their mental health
- Upcoming events
What’s been happening?
The first month of the year has flown by! (Again, I need to get the January edition of the newsletter out and here we are on the last day typing frantically – but you all know me by now! This is how I roll!)
How has your first month of 2024 treated you? What I do know, is whether we are employed or self-employed, we are all wearing a few different hats and juggling our fair share of balls. We may be working on simultaneous projects, growing our business or developing our career as well as supporting others.
It’s also the end of January – did we put pressure on ourselves to work on some ‘New Year, New Me’ initiative or perhaps we started a new year resolution and failed. I really hope you’re not giving yourself a hard time! It’s ok you know!
In this month’s newsletter I wanted to share some practical tools to help prevent burnout and ways we can help support our own mental health and help others too.
Firstly, what is the phrase ‘burnout’?
The NHS, highlight that we can feel burnout when we experience severe stress:
“Stress is the body’s reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure. Too much stress can affect our mood, our body and our relationships – especially when it feels out of our control. It can make us feel anxious and irritable, and affect our self-esteem. Experiencing long-term stress or severe stress can lead to feeling physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, often called burnout”.
Here’s a snippet of my friend’s life from the month of January 2024. Let’s call her Janine. She has a New Year resolution to get fit and healthy. A fitness plan has been created as well as a nutritional food plan which requires a lot of planning and preparation. Plus Janine wants to grow her business and has some extremely big plans (there is nothing wrong with this) and she also has two young children aged between 4 and 7. All was going to plan, however a close family member became ill and Janine added hospital visits into the daily routine whilst training to maintain ALL the new habits and look after her family and business. There is just too much going on and eventually the balls begin to drop. Some of this sound familiar?
Stress has a physical and mental impact on our bodies:
- Our mood changes
- We feel anxious, hopeless, worried
- Perhaps it’s difficult to make decisions, there is a lot going on, we could feel overwhelmed
- We could feel sick, dizzy, and experience stress headaches
- Skin stress rashes may present itself
- We behave differently – we might eat more or eat less / exercise more or less / could use alcohol, smoking, drugs to cope /start to withdraw from friends, family and society
Recognising the signs of stress/burnout in others and identifying this in ourselves is the first step in initiating some much needed TLC (tender loving care), self-compassion and applying new helpful strategies.
I’m going to share some resources/tools. I appreciate we will all have different budgets within our organisation and/or community therefore, some are for free and some you will need to pay for.
If professional support is required, talk to your GP or visit www.hubofhope.co.uk for local mental health support services and charities. You can also self refer to NHS Talking Therapies to access counseling or therapy.
Check out what your workplace offers and/or your partner’s workplace – family members are sometimes covered on the policy.
- Do they have an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) in place that offers help and support in all aspects of life? A common misconception is that the EAP will report the discussion back to the HR team. This is not correct. It will be a confidential conversation.
- Do they have private medical insurance to enable you to engage with private services within a matter of days?
- Is there a workplace wellbeing or mental health policy? – Take a look at how you could be supported.
- Is there a Mental Health First Aider you could talk to?
Identify what is in your ‘Stress Container’ . Watch the video.
- Identify what is causing you stress
- Identify what you can control
- Identify the stress you can’t control, does it need to be holding space in your container?
- Can you ask for help?
- Can you reframe your thoughts about what is in the container?
- Identify how you are managing the stress – is it helpful or unhelpful?
Use of apps – Headspace, Insight Timer, Calm, Buddhify to find a way to relax, cope or meditate.
Getting out in nature. Going for a walk, doing some gardening, cycling, a walk and talking with a friend.
Taking a break from it all. It could be an afternoon off work, visit the cinema/theatre, taking a digital detox, booking a spa day, enjoy a weekend away to a new city or escape to the countryside, or really take a good long break by taking a couple of weeks, perhaps visit a destination you’ve wanted to see.
Leave the work laptop and phone at home. We need to let our body recharge. We don’t let our mobile phones go to 5% without plugging it in, we need to charge our own body and mind with the stuff that makes us feel good.
Meet friends and enjoy their company. Why don’t you also try something new together? I recently went Axe Throwing with my best friend! It was fun!
Download the app, Action for Happiness, their mission is to create a happier and kinder world together. They provide monthly calendars to promote happiness activities, you can join a local online group and engage with the various speakers who share their story and inspiration throughout the month.
Let me know your thoughts. Have you implemented any of these initiatives, what has been helpful, do you have your own success stories? We’d love to hear them. Please tag and share this with Garrett Learning and we can spread your message with others and make a bigger impact.
What’s coming up?
2024 is exciting! We have lots of upcoming events:
- Become a Mental Health First Aider: Open MHFA First Aid – 7th & 14th February
- Move your business forward with the Garrett Learning Connect & Learn Live! Business Development Day – 12th March
You’ll have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of our four diverse experts
- Learn how to be more visible and make an impact!
- Have time and the headspace to work ON your business rather than IN it!
- Takeaway tips and tools to progress your business forward
- Connect and network with like-minded people
Very early bird tickets are £99 per person, available until 31st January 2024.
Early bird tickets are at £119 per person, available until 16th February 2024.
Regular priced tickets after 17th February 2024 will be £139 per person.
- Our next retreat will enable you to experience the headspace to grow and develop your business, get creative and connect with like minded people. Find out more about The Work Retreat – 11th-13th June Want to clarify your why, purpose and direction or excel the growth of your business, join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1039672280699848
- View the website for more details and other retreats https://www.garrettlearning.co.uk/work-retreat/
> Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th June 2024. Stanton House Hotel, Cotswolds. (Limited to 8 places)
> Tuesday 19th to Friday 22nd November 2024. The Cottage at Temple Guiting, Cotswolds. (Limited to 6 places)
Take advantage of the early bird offer!
What’s new?
The start of February is exciting! I’m back in the classroom delivering Mental Health First Aid to a full cohort of 16. I love delivery online, however there is something exciting and special about the classroom sessions.
I’ve also joined The Business Builder Club Check it out! I’m looking forward to the challenges and connection with other people and growing Garrett Learning.
Have a great February everyone!
Want some help?
Garrett Learning creates welcoming, memorable, and learner-focused learning experiences to reach individual and business goals. Book a discovery call with us to see how Garrett Learning ( www.garrettlearning.co.uk ) can help:
- Lunch and learn workshops
- Leadership and development sessions
- MHFA England Programmes Open courses
- Bespoke training
- 1:1 mentoring
- The Work Retreat
Book a chat with Wendy here: https://calendly.com/garrettlearning/cuppa-and-chat-with-wendy
We (Wendy and her growing team!) are here for you when you need us. We are here to hear you! We are kind in nature and open to hearing everyone’s point of view. Our training and overall learning experiences are built to ensure you feel comfortable and can be yourself.
If you want to discuss your future plans, I’d love to hear them! Get in touch!
m: 07859 878 599
c: https://calendly.com/garrettlearning/cuppa-and-chat-with-wendy
l: www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-garrett-7522bb50/
f: www.facebook.com/GarrettLearning
i: www.instagram.com/garrettlearning
