Quotes from Clinicians and Medical Staff
“[Patients] feel attended to and cared for when you're focused and listening, and it allows for an interpersonal moment where, you know, if you really feel cared for and attended to it, that moment changes you. It also changes me, changes me as a provider. So that's another thing that I've really taken a deep dive into is the science of caring and what are the things that make people feel held and safe and loved. So I've spent a lot of my time sort of attending to that and thinking about what that means for me as well as the patient.”
“Because what we get in medicine are people that did really, really well in school. They got A’s. That’s how they got into medical school and they developed this aspect of their self that was a lot about understanding and memorizing and doing well on tests and then this whole other piece of them, which is really having good interpersonal skills and tuning into people, but it tends to get thought of as secondary.”
“Being in touch with the fact that mental health is such a big part of what we're taking care of right now. Just doing my own work around that.... And I think even things like, I never did yoga until a few months ago and I'm doing yoga now, and just trying to find all these … ways of taking care of myself and figuring out how to get to the next level as a provider.”
“You just learn, it's almost like you, as you're learning your clinical training, you're learning how to … figure out how to process your medical trauma as a provider and like still function as a provider because you could have the worst delivery ever. And as soon as you finish that delivery and you put her orders in, then you've got to move to the next thing and you can't like, take a moment and be like, ‘Well, that was [horrible].’ And then at the end of the shift, if you're lucky, your attending will be like, ‘So that was pretty [horrible]. Can we talk about it?’ And most of the time they don't because they want to leave. And I do the same thing.”
“I think, certainly I had moments of not acting kind, whether it was hopefully not outward to somebody, but certainly in my mind and maybe how I behaved when I got home. Was it always ideal? So … I think it spills out in other ways, even if you don't take it out right on the patient.”
Mindfulness Practices
Mindful Handwashing Exercise
- Audio Guide through practice of mindful handwashing
- Cue Card of Grounded Handwashing
- Other mindfulness resources coming soon!
Why is Self-care Important?
- It is important because you need to fill your bucket in order to care for others, connect to your patients
- Ideas for self-care practices from your colleagues/our data:
- Yoga, Pelaton, shower, exercise, meditation, reading, CBT (a good therapist), EAP, peer support, checking in with people
“So we, like, we have each other, which I tend to lean on my, my midwives and like, you know, more senior staff who I know have seen like, triple what I've seen. But we also have the employee, EAP, employee assistance program and they're, they're really good. We, we leaned on them quite a bit this winter … I had never used the EAP before and they were really great. Super responsive. Very available. Yeah. They were awesome.”
Peer Support Quotes
“I think talking to friends. I think a lot of my insight came--I have a friend… we walk together, and when I would just tell her about work just she didn’t even need to say anything. Just the look on her face … when I talk to my colleagues, we're all in it together and they're not so horrified because they're used to it.”
“So we, like, we have each other, which I tend to lean on my, my midwives and like, you know, more senior staff who I know have seen like, triple what I've seen.”
Tips for Supporting Peers
Providing Trauma-Informed Care as a Trauma Survivor
For non-survivors:
Be mindful when having conversations about trauma that your colleagues may also be survivors.
For survivors:
It can be hard to think about and be reminded of trauma on a daily basis when doing this work. Make sure to notice your feelings in the room, validate them, and make time to process/make space for them after the visit or workday.some text
- Notice feelings in room ie. This hits close to home.
- Validate feelings ie. Ouch, that was rough.
- Bring your attention to the person in front of you ie. This isn’t the time to open this up, but I’ll put a pin in it for later.
- Make space for your experience when you are in a supportive or secure space to do so. I.e. I’ll talk with my partner about this after dinner tonight. OR I’ll go for a walk this afternoon so that I have some space to process this.
- Know when you need more support. If you’re not sleeping, having trouble coming back to the present moment, find yourself thinking about it over and over again or at times when you don’t want to be, if you’re coping in unhealthy ways, or find yourself trying to avoid reminders. [Links to support services coming soon]