Hilda Campbell, QNIS Honorary Fellow and CEO for Cope Scotland shares an update on the self-care and wellbeing initiative funded by CHSA.
We have been delighted to work with QNIS and Capacitar Scotland exploring ideas that can help the community nursing profession to look after themselves, so they can continue to look after everyone else. Funded by the COVID-19 Healthcare Support Appeal (CHSA) this is one of many projects seeking to support health and care workers in the UK during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Core to the project is the work we are doing with community nurses. From listening to their lived experience we hope to find tools and resources that they will find helpful in prioritising their own wellbeing. We were delighted to meet with nursing colleagues last month to explore the existing barriers to self-care and what might help overcome these. Following the discussions, some ideas are already underway:
- Development of version one of the resource booklet ‘Wellbeing for Nurses & Midwives’ which contains hints and tips to help support self-care and wellbeing. You can download a copy here or view it online as an interactive flipbook through the Cope Scotland website
- Participants have told us they would find it useful to have a wee exercise they can do alone, or as a team, to help improve wellbeing or just give them a moment’s pause during a busy day. There are many resources available on the Capacitar website
- I have also recognised that people value the wee exercises Cope Scotland offer before a session that allows attendees to be fully in the moment. An introduction that allows them to pause and not be doing what they were previously. This is now available as a recording for people to access as and when suits them. Listen on the Cope Scotland website
And we have just begun to step through the door of progress. There were many more issues and ideas raised at the focus groups that we will be developing going forward. These included:
- the value of lunchtime learning sessions that help to facilitate safe spaces for peer conversation and allow time for wellbeing check-ins where people feel comfortable talking and sharing
- addressing issues around not recognising the need for self-caret
- being unable to create healthy boundaries and make time for yourself without feeling guilty
- lack of leadership advice on balancing busy lives and leading by example. A culture that only celebrates us if we work many more than our contracted hours sadly becomes a culture where any less than that isn’t good enough
- a specific request to look at managerial self-care where you are not only looking after yourself but also looking out for the rest of the team
Updates will continue to appear on the QNIS website as we develop the ideas shared. Our aim is to ensure these reflect what people have told us they need, and where we need to make changes to get that right then we will make those together.
I am very excited to announce that we will also be doing some pieces of specific work with the nursing community in the coming weeks and hope to share this with you later in the month.
Please make time for yourself, you really do matter.
