The terms Safe Space and Brave Space have become entrenched in pedagogy at universities and educational institutions over recent decades, but the concepts they describe are also relevant to creating a psychologically safe working environment. The terms are often used interchangeably, but despite the similarity of their definitions, they describe two distinct ideas that should...
Myth 1: The Brain is inactive during sleep The brain is actually very active while we sleep! Sleep is the time in which your brain processes and catalogues information from the previous day and converts this information into long term memory. This is why good sleep is vital for our learning and memory processing. Myth...
This article was adapted from Adam Grant’s There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling article published by the New York Times What is Languishing? Mental health is often considered to exist on a spectrum of depression to flourishing. Depression is the troughs of mental illness; you feel worthless, drained, and hopeless. Flourishing is the height...
Response to Transitions It is first helpful to understand emotional reactions that your employees may experience during periods of transition. A common emotional response may be a fear response. These fears many centre around: Fear of the unknown Fear of rejection Fear of failure Self-doubt Fear due to forgetting that there are other options available to...
Good Stress Bad Stress: Every workplace can prove challenging at times, and while all people respond differently, stress can be a common result of a challenging situation or event. Being under stress is not always a bad thing; it may enhance your drive and energy to complete a task and result in a greater feeling...
If you are concerned about the mental health or wellbeing of a team member, talking to them is an important first step. Having a wellbeing conversation can help you better understand how to support the team member. It is always better to intervene early rather than delay. Showing someone you care and linking them to...
In emotionally charged situations it can be difficult to have an effective conversation. Whether the conversation is with a client or a colleague, an emotional reaction can make it difficult to keep the conversation on track, stay focused on the key issues and challenges, and arrive at a mutually satisfying conclusion. Applying the following 7...
Emotional Responses Angry/Intimidating A person with an angry or intimidating emotional response may become, aggressive, abusive, threatening, loud or insistent. This may result in an instinctive anger or shock reaction in yourself: How dare you? Strategic Response: Bring calm and control to an intense situation Allow person to ventilate Do not interrupt Let them exhaust...
1. Maintaining frequent, transparent, and consistent communication Nearly half of the participants of the survey reported feeling disconnected from their teams and reported that effective communication is critical in working from home arrangements. Effective communication must be frequent, transparent, containing an open dialogue, easy to navigate, and consistent. Frequent. 1 in 10 respondents reported that...
The Covid 19 pandemic has spurred an unprecedented mental health crisis that has seen a rise in psychological distress. In June of 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that one in five Australians experiences high or very high levels of psychological distress and 26% of people surveyed reported that, due to emotional exhaustion: “everything is...
