Latest / Authentic Living / Erika Caspersen, Resiliency Expert

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Erika Caspersen, Resiliency Expert · Authentic Living

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Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we conscious conversations about
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things that really matter in our lives.
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And now here's your host, Roxanne Derhodge.
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Hi, everyone.
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Thanks for for tuning in.
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Again, it's Roxanne from the Atlantic Living with Roxanne.
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Today, I have a special guest, Erica Casperson.
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Hi, Erica.
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How are you?
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Hi, Roxanne.
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How are you?
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I'm wonderful.
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Awesome.
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So Eric and I, knowing each other.
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Goodness.
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I'm gonna think it's almost it's close to 15 years or so when we actually met I think,
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through the health the Niagara Health System, when Erica was, with the with the health system
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at that time.
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So Erica has a unique background, and, I'm gonna read a little bit about her bio, and then
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we're gonna jump into some of her expertise she has a background in in kinesiology and also in,
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qualifying as a psychotherapist and has extensive back background in in health and
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wellness.
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So, Erica's passion and purpose to is is to inspire health, healing, wellness, and
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resilience for those dedicated women and men and women who serve and sacrifice for the
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public good.
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Whether it's health care professionals, armed forces, personnel, EMS, firefighters, police,
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or those in leadership positions.
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These professionals face a variety of demands and intense stress placing them at risk for
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chronic disease, stress related illnesses, post traumatic stress disorder PTSD.
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Compassion fatigue, and burnout.
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She has some scientifically validated techniques, that she uses for self care, self
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expression, wellness and resilience.
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Her hopeful powerful and inspiring programs are custom designed for each group inspiring hope
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Healing, renewed joy for life, and passion for service.
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It solves awesome America.
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Thank you.
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This awesome work.
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So is there anything that, that, wasn't mentioned in the bio that you'd like to to
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mention with people listening or viewing today?
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I think that really summarized it quite well, what I think that feel very grateful for is to
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be able to support those individuals.
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They focus on health care right now, that, again, that really give a lot of themselves to
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body my heart and spirit to the work that they do and, can be adversely impacted by it.
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And so to be able to support well-being for groups, it has such a profound impact on care
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and service to others.
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It's it's quite a It's really cool.
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It's a profound privilege for sure.
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So let's talk a little bit about your path.
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I know when you and I met, I was, with a health and wellness consulting firm and you were with
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a hospital.
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And I know you're also, you've had extensive, expertise working with hospitals.
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And looking at the element of chronic stress, I I think that's the I think that's the pebble
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and the rough that I see.
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Use I see it a lot in my consulting and you've lived in that world in lots of different
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sectors.
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So let's talk a little bit about, kind of chronic stress and kind of what you're seeing
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out there and what kind of things that you find, people should be aware of, or or what are
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you seeing that some of the trends out there?
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Well, you know, the one
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thing that that's important to notice is that, I mean, any workplace, certainly in the world
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that we live today has as challenges, and we know that from the literature, there's certain
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factors that can impact psychological health and safety for sure.
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But also in certain workplaces, like how care workplaces and some of the others that you
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mentioned is another layer.
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There's another element to that.
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So in addition to those things, but we've been talking about for years, the impact of, you
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know, the staffing issues and the workload, which has been sort of mounting for some time
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that impacts you know, health care environments, particularly.
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There's the other layer on top of those environments of factors, which is just the
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nature of the work.
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That being exposed to trauma and suffering has an impact.
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There's a saying sort of in that trauma world from folks I've been learning from that being
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exposed to trauma and suffering and not being impacted.
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It's like being in water and not getting wet.
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That we as human beings will be impacted over a period of time.
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So we have the element of that piece, just the nature of providing care or witnessing these
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kinds of stories, you know, helping others in their most vulnerable time.
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But And also that's layered on top of the environmental factors, the workloads, sometimes
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the politics, the, behaviors that can arise as well.
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Is sort of these things sort of layer on top of each other.
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And, you know, it's interesting that you say that, right?
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Cause, you know, myself kind of having worked in, you know, pretty frontline with acute
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situations, you have to be wired a certain way.
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I don't know if you'd agree with that.
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Like, I know with a lot of police forces or nursing.
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I mean, you've been in the hospital.
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I've been worked a lot with hospitals also.
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Yeah.
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Most of the times, people that are I'm gonna use the word attracted to some degree, a wired
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a certain way and have a certain type of personality to be able to deliver.
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Right?
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Like, almost like a dead calm kind of take charge.
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Right?
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Like, so if you're if you're in crisis, you're gonna want your police officers to be really
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too well connected to his feelings when he's coming to your door or somebody that's putting
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on a fire So we have certain expectations of them to deliver, obviously, and they're also
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attracted to some degree with to that kind of, environment, which is fantastic.
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However, to your point, it's the it's the not the short term, but it's a cumulative effect.
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So it's kinda like I can do this.
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I'm very good at this.
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I love doing this.
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I love helping people.
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But how is it that's from your perspective?
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How do people start to notice?
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When it kind of steps into the end of chronic kind of stress.
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Well, I think and I think there's a couple of really good things to build on in terms of what
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you're sharing too.
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Like, first, in terms of, folks that get attractive to this kind of service work, for a
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lot of folks, it's more than a job.
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It's more than career.
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It's a calling, and so people get attracted to these professions because they wanna make a
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difference in some way.
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And and and to really have that impact, whether it's a police officer or whether it's a health
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care provider or a physician or a social worker, people wanna make a difference is
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coming from their heart.
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And, and so there's that aspect of who they are and the difference they really want to make and
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the way they want to make that difference in the world And and then sometimes it's the
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expectation to how certain professions are socialized as well.
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So physicians, for example, in some case, is can be socialized that you need to have that
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sense of, not being completely stoic, but that kind of creating that distance that somehow, if
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I'm feeling the emotional impact of that work, that means that I'm weak in some way, where
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it's quite the opposite that we need to have that compassion in order to be effective in
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that therapeutic relationship.
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And it's not the feeling of the compassion.
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That's the issue for us.
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It's how we're processing and integrating our human experiences.
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And so for some folks, some of the indicator can be that I'm starting to pull back in some
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way.
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Because it can be that comparison of what's going on internally for us with the external we
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see in others.
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And we think that others are doing okay, and they may or may not be.
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And I'm not.
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And and I might feel some some shame around that or a sense that is something wrong with me
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or I'm not good enough, but when it but I'm having a human experience to these things that
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I'm witnessing that that are impacting me, whether it's chronically over a period of time,
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or if there's something that arises that triggering because it reminds me of something.
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Like, we're all very different.
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So one of those indicators can be I'm pulling back.
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I'm isolating myself or I'm not reaching out to help.
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And this is important because for many groups, I mean, physicians are 1, but certainly many
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health care providers those perceived social supports and accessing those social support.
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Not only when we're distressed, but on a regular basis, is one of the most important or
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resiliency factors in these kinds of environments and rate when we need to really
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reach out, kin, acknowledge how we're doing in a real heart centered human heart to heart
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connected way for many folks to actually begin to withdraw isolate, and pull back even within
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themselves and and then it becomes sort of that cumulative effect.
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And so you you're so right.
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Right?
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I'm thinking about I'm listening to you and I think of you know, when I at the time I met
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you, I was consulting.
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So I was so much removed and you, you know, you were still at the hospital and, you know, 20
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fourseven services, right, Ian?
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You know, emergency room nurses.
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Like, they're dealing with stuff all the time.
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Physicians, you know, the police officers, the paramedics that bring in people all the time,
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the critical situations that they see, the firefighters.
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They're they're constantly when they go to work, you know, they're constantly they have to
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be on even if they're not on a call.
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Right?
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They to some degree, I say they vacillate, to, I've heightened, to, I'm hyper vigilant.
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And I think what you're talking about the hyper vigilance is kind of not being able to
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disconnect and be able to focus on on kind of the day to day things, like, you know, my
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partner, my children, my friends, my community, and all those things that you would normally be
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into versus kind of when you're withdrawing.
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Yeah.
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For sure.
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And there's, like, a number of factors that all sort of come together that can have that
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impact.
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I mean, the one fact is just the nature of the environment, and there's a couple aspects of
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the nature of the environment, as mentioned earlier, the nature of the environment can
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include things.
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Like, there's the political factors.
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There's the workload.
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There is, do I have impact on decisions that are important to me?
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Do I feel a sense of reward in the work that that I do, am I seen as a valued contributor,
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but that those high demand, low control, high effort, low reward environments.
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We know that in an in and of self is a risk for psychological safety.
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So the literature supports adverse health outcome.
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So there's a nature of the environment.
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Then we layer on top of that.
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Many of these folks work, shift work, and there's a whole kinds of literature on the
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impact of shift work on our circadian rhythm and our sleep, our cortisol levels, etcetera,
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so you now have that extra layer.
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And then even if we were able to address some of those core workloads and many of those are
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long term solutions in these industries.
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In and of itself, we still have the layer of shift work, then we have the layer of trauma
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and suffering and and witnessing on that piece.
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And so you should have the sandwich piece.
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And so then then there's the pizza brought our own individual well-being and the importance of
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of developed arts and resiliency skills But in a non blaming shaming way, it's not saying that
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we are weak.
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If we're not coping with this, it is that the environment will have this impact And yes, it's
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important to address those environmental factors, and it's also important to recognize
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that the self care, the resiliency skills, the intentionality about what needed for the
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individual who is still in that environment to be well is also important.
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So, like, all of these things need to come together.
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So would you say then that, how the environment sees the needs of the employees, are vitally
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important to what kind of support they should offer them.
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So, like, you know, with a firefighter, more than likely, he or she knows that he's gonna go
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out on a fire call, maybe multiple times over a 12 hour shift.
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So if you have, say, a a fire station that's kind of what really well aware and, notices
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differences, or a fire chief they're gonna make sure that, you know, people are generally on
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versus ones that are kind of oblivious.
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It's kind of the thing you do.
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Do you find that that kind of a a big difference in reference to, offering support
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and what's good for for the see the firefighter?
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Well, I mean, that's a really good point.
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And I think that, when we think of such a reports, we wanted to think all of we wanna
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think of those supports along that that continuum.
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So what are all the things we can do proactively?
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What are the things we do react what are the things we do post, you know, so you have that
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sort of whole, whole continuum.
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And so and also, there are things we can do organization and then around the team and the
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leadership styles as well as helping the individual to develop resilience and
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well-being.
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You have to have all of those things in place.
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So for example, certainly we need to have things like employee family assistance programs
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and other forms of support that staff can access in the way that they feel comfortable
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doing so on a regular bracelet, of course, we wanna have debriefing models if crisis happens
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to provide those kinds of supports as well.
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We also want to address culturally, and it can certain around mental health and stigma.
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So that folks feel safe and comfortable one recognizing signs and indicators and then
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reaching out for help.
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We wanna increase the capacity of everybody in the workplace to recognize when we are
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struggling with each other.
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So coworkers are empowered to retail and support coworkers.
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So it really is a multifaceted, and also wanna look at those organizational factors.
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If there are cultural factors, if there are workload factors, if there are ways the staff
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are not fully engaged, then we wanna shift those cultures to one where we address work
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quote.
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We help the staff to be more engaged in decisions that are important to them.
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We help staff to feel valued as their contributors.
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Those are core psychological factors.
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We provide supports during crisis.
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We build strong healthy teams and also help staff really develop core resiliency skills
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that any health care professional needs to have must have in order to to navigate the those
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types of a challenging environment.
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And so when we talk about self care, it needs to be in the context of that bigger picture in
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a non blaming shaming way, Sometimes, care is more than bubble bath and chocolate, and I love
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bubble bath and chocolate.
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Is it some care is, but there you go, sometimes self care means doing things we may not want to
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do, like reaching out for help, like getting cardiovascular exercise 20 minutes, three times
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a week, like making healthy lifestyle changes, those things are also important in terms of
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core skills that we want to develop and have it that we want to incorporate into our healthy
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lifestyles.
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So what are some of the core, psychosocial factors that impact kind of health care
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professionals.
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What are some of the bigger things that people may struggle with with safe, on short term,
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claims?
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Do you know that?
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Well, we certainly know that, you know, long term or claims related to stress are going up.
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And in health care and some of the latest literature, about 54% of, health related
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disability claims are related to mental health related reasons.
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And so that's a higher percent than the general population as a whole.
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It's a number that's doubled from about 20 years ago.
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And, and so it's gonna be a combination of just the nature of the environment and certainly
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individual factors.
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And we know, you know, classically in the health care environment.
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They are high demand environments.
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They are physically demanding, cognitively demanding, emotionally demanding environment.
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Durations, deadlines, as well as the nature of witnessing common sufferings.
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You've got the demands.
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And the workload.
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And often in many opportunities around the culture, the kinds of behaviors that healthcare
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providers may be exposed to, things harassment and violence and those kinds of behaviors from
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patients and families.
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So violence is also an issue, or response of behaviors that could be injurious to staff, so
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they're exposed to those kinds of things.
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So you have sort of those combinations of the health and safety kinds of things, the the
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psychological, healthy kinds of things.
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And then what happens is the mental health starts to be impacted, and we move to this
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place where we need the social supports, we need that, that cell care and those resiliency
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skills and those kinds of things, but we don't feel like it either.
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And that's the, you know, the double edged sword is, you know, of mental health in those
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times when we most need to take care of ourselves and access those supports are often
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the times when we at least feel like it.
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And so now we have this environment of folks who are their their nervous systems are all the
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balance are autonomic nervous systems are way out of balance and are, you know, that
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sympathetic overdrive is going on all the time, and we're not at our best in that state.
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That's just what happens to us as human beings.
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And so we're less able to feel compassion for ourselves than others were less able to
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regulate that nervous system because of the exposure to the environment.
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So we gotta find some health and balance around that And then that gives people more capacity
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to step back and reflect and, and, you know, do those things to be how possible
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because your mental capacity is a pivotal part of the job.
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So you have to deliver, and like you said, you're you know, you're you're you're
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delivering, you're dealing with the public.
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You know, oftentimes, I know when I walked into an emergency room here in Niagara, Erica, I'm
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expecting, you know, if my son's sick or, you know, whatever, if a family member's sick, I'm
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I'm heightened, and I'm, you know, I know the business And still, I'm but I'm I'm a, you
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know, I'm a consumer.
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And, you know, I'm I'm having certain expectations of the triage person to the nurse
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to the people, you know, the depositions that are saying me or my family, those types of
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things.
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Sorry.
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I can see it from every angle and also having, you know, obviously been an executive with
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various hospitals.
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So the pressure is definite.
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You're so right.
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All those factors, are happening all at once and those health care practitioners, have to be
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on.
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So if they're disconnected, and then they have to go back in for 12 hour shift, and they're
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they're they're, like you said, their nervous system's overtaxed, and they're not recognizing
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it.
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Obviously, that that could be detrimental to them and, obviously, see the organization also.
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Yeah.
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For sure.
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So with, now you talked a little bit about some of you know, self care and, you know, wellness
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and resilience.
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And talk a little bit about the programs that you that you've been involved with that you
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offer, that you know actually helps, you know, health care practitioners considering that they
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have Like you said, they're layered up.
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What is it?
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54%.
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You said, yeah, claims are related to mental health.
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Right?
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So and I often say mental health.
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Is on continuum.
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Right?
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We can be kind of, you know, a little bit out of sorts all the way to I'm managing, but I'm
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kinda holding on run by a by a fine thread.
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And then, you know, the next thing I'm knowing I'm struggling to, you know, sleep properly or
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I'm struggling to you know, get out and see my friends as much or those types of things.
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And, you know, I've I've talked a little bit about this when I was, part of trauma team with
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the police.
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This is going back at the beginning of my career.
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I was a team of 13, and they had done, you know, PTSD assessment on all of us with the
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police because we were first responders to victims of crime.
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And and on that units, all of us showed higher levels you know, or moderate levels of PTS at
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least minimally, which is post traumatic stress.
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And then there was actually one person on the team that was suicidal.
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Right?
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Because again, what were we doing?
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We were constantly on.
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Right?
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And you'd, you know, you'd get we've got massive time off, which which I couldn't fault
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that.
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But of course, then you would go on and you would, you know, my very first call out was
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suicide.
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Right?
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So here I am twenty one years old.
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You know, and and I'm the eager, you know, psychotherapist, you know, 1st job, you know,
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those types of things.
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And it's like, wow.
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This is real.
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You know?
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And then the impact I still remember the call today, like, it happened yesterday, and it
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actually happened 5, 27 years ago.
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So talk a little bit about some of the programs that you offered that you said, you know, is is
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empirically validated and what you know works and what maybe people listening that are
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thinking, you know what?
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They're speaking to me directly.
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What what can they do?
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For sure.
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First, before I talk a little bit about the programs, one of the formulas for self
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transformation.
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I wanted to share that because it forms, a bit of a foundation for the philosophy.
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It's something that I was trained in my, my training isn't, moving into the world of
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psychotherapy in addition to healthy lifestyles and physiology, those kinds of things.
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But the formula is awareness plus acceptance plus action equals transformation.
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And so the awareness is a little about what you're talking about is that self awareness
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that we have of ourselves.
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And so tools like you talked about, there's a variety of different tools that we can do to,
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to see how we're doing there's a variety of different ways that we can build that capacity
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for self awareness.
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So we can see ourselves, our own signs and indicators of when are struggling, what does
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that look like for us, what does that feel like for us?
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So we have an understanding of how the environment is impacting us, how our behaviors
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are impacting ourselves and others, and how we're doing.
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So the capacity one to build self awareness.
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The second is the acceptance, and acceptance is another way of staying self compassion as and
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self compassion is an important core practice and philosophy, particularly for healthcare
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providers who often give so much for, to others, and, to the detriment of themselves.
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And self compassion is not only a philosophy.
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There are specific things and practices that we can do to cultivate that sense of self
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compassion with ourselves.
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Acceptance also is helping one to accept the nature of the circumstances.
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Those ask in our lives that we can't control, but are impacting us so we can create some
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space for well-being with that.
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So the awareness puts the acceptance, and the action is in the practical things we begin to
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do, myth by bit, to either shift our perspective, to bring better awareness, to
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build better skills, to build support.
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So there's the practical things that we do.
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So we wanna be able to bring all those 3 things to together the awareness, the acceptance, the
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action as a pro as a Roxanne.
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And then when I work with clients, that might be one on 1 for folks that prefer that one on 1
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where we set mutually or the client sets the goals that they want to work on and we help
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with that individualized plan of well-being.
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There's also a group program to an an interesting and helpful thing about group if
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you have that tend and befriend and the sense that folks in the group understand each other
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and where they're coming from.
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And so different group programs that, allow also the teaching of various skills.
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And so we get to develop some awareness and education.
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We get to support each other, but we also get to practice the different skills because there
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are specific things we can do that do make a difference, learning, you know, deep, breathing
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techniques, learning different visualization, processes, and other real skills that
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cultivate, that sense of, you know, that buffer of protection around ourselves.
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So these are practices that we get to learn and practice together over the period of time.
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So using these group programs, and there's a number of different ways.
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Mindfulness is certainly a core tenant or a foundation for a lot of the work that I teach,
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but one doesn't have to subscribe to any particular in particular ideology.
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They're all into the non secular sort of practical actionable sort of way, so
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individuals and groups.
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So those are the kinds of things that I'm doing out there in the community.
24:44
I'm also privileged to teach a program called the working line for the workplace that I'm in
24:49
right now, and and that's a program from the mental health commission of Canada.
24:52
That's all about bringing awareness to the impact of stigma in the workplace common
24:58
language around mental health and, practical things that we can do in the workplace.
25:03
So in my workplace, I am privileged to be one of the facilitators that gets to deliver that
25:07
to our health care providers.
25:10
So whether it's at one's work, place or whether it's in a group or individual, there's just
25:15
some of the ways that we can access ways of, learning more about ourselves and the skills
25:20
that can help us to be more helpful and well in the in the environment that we are called to be
25:26
in.
25:27
Do you find that, in the health care, environments that the stigma being, knocked
25:35
down.
25:36
Or is it still that people are struggling with it?
25:40
Because I think, you know, you, people will be well intentioned to say I get it.
25:46
Right?
25:47
But when you're out doing these trainings, how how do you find that people are receiving the
25:52
elements of that it's it's kinda part of something that's on the rise, and we have to
25:56
accept that, or I often say, like, you know, our our ancestors used to use their muscles.
26:01
So therefore, they they bruise them and and tarnish them.
26:04
So they they would go off on, you know, things that are physically related.
26:07
Now, you and I, you think of, well, you know, when we met 15, 17 years ago, it was always
26:12
about using our brains, which makes sense, right, that we're gonna overuse that part of
26:17
the muscle.
26:18
So it's not a physical, but it's really a mental, emotional, and psychological muscle.
26:22
For sure.
26:22
I mean, I I know that classes that I've been teaching a number of, especially over the last
26:27
few months in a particular organization I work with.
26:29
The, the conversation about Stigmas, a really important one, and, it's a, a really thoughtful
26:36
one that we have with with the staff, certainly Stigmas traveler because a lot of those beliefs
26:40
are unconscious, and we don't necessarily see them in the same way.
26:44
And sometimes I think the challenge is that as a society, we're learning to language things
26:49
differently, whether it's stigma with mental health or discrimination that impacts a number
26:53
of different groups of people.
26:55
You know, a lot of folks are now getting the courage to say that, you know, these kinds of
26:59
language or these kinds of, you know, these kinds of behaviors have been having this
27:04
impact.
27:05
That folks might not have recognized was an impact.
27:08
So we're talking a lot of a lot about it.
27:10
We're much more, I think, open these days with these conversations through social media and
27:15
other, you know, campaigns and awareness campaigns, but it means that we're in this
27:19
interesting time offer for some folks.
27:22
It's it's like the courage is there to come forward.
27:25
Other folks are, yeah, this is a great conversation.
27:28
And we always know for any group, we're we're talking about stigma discrimination.
27:32
The learning, the new language for some groups is challenging.
27:35
It's because it's like, what, you know, are you saying this used to be okay?
27:39
And now I can't say this anymore.
27:41
And and so there's kind of this relearning.
27:43
And and the way that I, you know, I broach the conversation is to say it's really important
27:47
that it's a non blaming shaming conversation as we learn together about the impact that
27:53
language can have and how to simply in the work place be more kind, to be more present with the
28:02
impact that can have.
28:04
And and learn together about how to go forward in a way that helps to bring more awareness and
28:11
more kindness and more compassion to, to all of us, as we're learning, you know, the impact of
28:16
stigma, stuff that we might not even thought was an impact unless we have lived experience.
28:20
And so, really facilitating that conversation and not blaming standing way has, has, has gone
28:25
over pretty well.
28:27
But, you know, to your to your point, yeah, certainly.
28:29
It it's still there because it's unconscious.
28:32
You know, and and I I would think that and I I think of, when I consult also that elements
28:38
about equipping managers with the knowledge, to be able to to deal with mental health related
28:45
concerns in a de delicate way so that they are not missing vital things.
28:50
Right?
28:51
It's not, you know, Roxanne's not, you know, performing because she doesn't want to, but how
28:57
to kind of intervene in a kind, gentler, respectful way if you're recognizing
29:01
something's going on with someone else.
29:03
Right?
29:03
So it's it's, you know, those core those core core or Valley, you know, soft skills are so,
29:09
so very key because, you know, gone are the days where it's kinda like, you know, just do
29:14
your job.
29:15
If if I'm not following through, okay, it's about having that deep, strategic conversation
29:21
to figure out, really, what what is going on?
29:22
Am I struggling because of Am I struggling because of the culture?
29:26
Am I struggling because I'm having a tough time on the team?
29:29
Is it struggling because, you know, I'm have a sick child at home, or there's so many
29:33
variables but, you know, like you said, destigmatizing it to say, we all can we all can
29:38
get there.
29:39
We all can get there.
29:40
Right?
29:40
Yeah.
29:42
To recognize that, you know, I think a kindness and gentleness like it to your point that
29:47
compassion as human beings, makes it a little bit easy for us to relate.
29:51
Yeah, for sure.
29:52
And this is a, that's a really important conversation that, I've been having regularly
29:57
with the folks that have been participating in the programs, and it can be as simple as if you
30:01
notice that I was your coworker and I was struggling, that you could say, hey, you know,
30:05
you know, Erica, you just don't seem like yourself these days.
30:07
You know, how you doing?
30:09
And it's not that we have to be each other's counselors.
30:11
We don't need to offer advice.
30:13
We don't need to solve problems.
30:14
It's just like, hey, I see you, and and you don't quite seem like yourself, you know, If
30:18
you wanna go for a walk, you need a bit of a break, have you thought about talking to your
30:22
manager so we can make suggestions with resources about telling folks what to do, but
30:27
it really is a key that we notice that we're struggling, and that sense of team support is
30:33
one of the most important buffers that is tective against occupational stress is that
30:38
support of the team.
30:39
And the team will often see things in each other that we don't see in ourselves that can
30:44
be and helpful opportunity to bring the awareness of the need for support.
30:50
And, you know, the other reality that if we're not doing well in the work particularly a
30:55
health care workplace or any workplaces where our decisions have real impact on the work
31:00
we're doing others and and health it's a it's a pretty profound impact.
31:04
If we start to make some mistakes or errors, those mistakes have a far reaching
31:09
implications, so we wanna be able to step in and passionate clear way to protect the
31:14
reputation of the person that's struggling to help that ripple effect to be minimized and to
31:20
help the person to get the support that they need early, so they can get back to doing the
31:25
good work that they're that they wanna do.
31:28
And, so we can be each other's eyes and ears and supports.
31:31
For sure.
31:32
So for anybody listening that, They know they're kinda struggling, you know, and, you
31:37
know, and they're thinking, what are some things that I little things that I can start
31:42
doing, say this week, Erica?
31:44
Let's say I work in kind of, you know, 20 fourseven service, you know, and, I recognize I
31:50
am isolating a bit What kind of what what what are some many steps that you might suggest that
31:55
somebody like that could do?
31:57
For sure.
31:57
And, you know, one of the most important things is still support.
32:00
So it's perceived social supports and accessing the social supports.
32:04
And with health care providers, particularly, there's something about this supported the
32:08
team, again, that's really protective because when we share what's going on with each other,
32:13
we get it in a way that family and friends don't because they don't live the life of a
32:18
trauma nurse or, even a transcriptionist who is at home and and reading the story or a place
32:26
officer.
32:26
So the peers understand things in a way that our families don't.
32:29
Our families are wonderful can be wonderful support, sources of support as well, it's just
32:37
that in the workplace, you want to connect with each other, and so one very simple practice is
32:42
a reflective narrative practice, which means it might be saying, Hey, you know Roxanne, I had a
32:46
really, tough experience at the day.
32:49
Can you meet for a cup of tea?
32:50
And I want to be able share what's going on.
32:52
And then I share with you in a very specific way, and it's not like you're gonna give me
32:56
advice or, you know, try to solve the problem for me, but I might come with my story, and
33:05
you're just gonna be your active witness at witness, and I just share that story, and it's
33:10
not like I'm, you know, you know, venting or gossiping with that sort of thing.
33:14
I'm just saying, Hey, that was a really hard day when that patient family members were
33:18
yelling at me, and I felt really overwhelmed, and I felt like I was experiencing a sense of,
33:21
you know, disrespect and at least feeling came up for me.
33:25
So I'm using my eye language and telling my story because what that does, it takes it out
33:30
of my nervous system, and it brings it out here where it can be integrated in the hole.
33:34
And some of the research shows that when I share with my colleague who I have that heart
33:38
to heart connection with, there isn't that experience of like, of vicarious trauma there
33:43
is, when we witness something.
33:45
There's there's a protective effect with our peers that get it.
33:48
So one of the most important thing is build your social support and connect with each other
33:53
in a real way more often.
33:56
Another simple thing is just throughout the day, do what you can to bring a little bit of
34:00
relaxation to the body, that's a few deep breaths.
34:04
There's a cool practice.
34:05
I just, I they've learned recently called wet noodle.
34:07
He just nads in your wet noodle.
34:09
You know, they might be the hundred times today.
34:11
Like, my son used to do when he was like, it's not wanting to do when he was like,
34:15
It looks like that.
34:16
Your kid, like, they just had it, you know, flops on the floor.
34:19
You might not flops on the floor.
34:23
That kind of idea because whether it's a quick body scan in in the moment and take a breath if
34:29
it's just that that wet noodle.
34:31
We're trying to, or the aim is to regulate that autonomic nervous system because it's hard to
34:36
anchor trauma physically in the body when the body's relaxed.
34:40
You can't have stress and relax bodies.
34:42
So that ongoing practice of taking a breath of, of, you know, those quick wet and visual
34:49
practices to bring a little relaxation in a moment, of course, reaching out for social
34:53
support and expressing how we're doing in a very intentional way.
34:56
You don't have someone yet.
34:58
You feel comfortable doing so.
34:59
The journal it, write it out.
35:01
Because that helps to reduce the cortisol and the stress hormones, cardiovascular exercise.
35:07
That's one of the things that's critical play important, and it doesn't have to be like a
35:12
spinning class, and, you know, unless you love spinning, that's not my thing.
35:15
A little bit too hard for me, but if you love spinning, that's great, but it could be going
35:19
for a walk three times a week for 20 minutes.
35:22
That's really important dance or, you know, that kind of thing, whatever it is that gets
35:26
you moving, So those kinds of things, get home at the end of the day and put on a funny movie,
35:31
finding reasons to laugh again is really important.
35:35
So those are some of those key things.
35:37
There's other things we can do, but connecting with our team, our social support, getting for
35:44
those walks, fresh air and sunshine connecting with nature, and some are, you know, some of
35:48
the areas that have been working with also have some creative things.
35:52
There's an organization called PAW pause for wellness, the therapy dogs.
35:56
And so, in our wellness program, they bring the therapy dogs to the staff.
36:01
And the staff love them because anything that makes us go, it actually releases oxytocin in
36:10
our body that feel good and So really connecting with our pets and our kids and our
36:15
children and, and you know, the therapy dogs is something that I know the staff where I really
36:20
enjoy as well.
36:21
So it doesn't have to be like, okay, I'm gonna have to do all of these things, and I don't
36:25
have time for it.
36:26
Social supports, take a breath, drink a little bit more water, that flashes cortisol out of
36:31
the body.
36:33
And there's another form that allows that a colleague of mine taught when we're
36:37
overwhelmed, the formula, again, it's WTF WTF moments are walk talk slash moments.
36:46
And that
36:47
was mean particularly for something else.
36:49
I'm learning it.
36:49
Oh, yeah.
36:50
I know.
36:50
I really think you took it out.
36:52
Okay.
36:54
And flush with just water.
36:56
Oh, wow.
36:57
Wow.
36:58
Especially after within 24 hours of a a chronic or, or sort of, an event that's very stressful
37:04
and overwhelming day or something traumatic, talk it out with someone that you trust go for
37:09
a walk, even if it's 20, 25 minutes, get that cortisol out of the body, drink a little bit of
37:13
extra water.
37:14
You don't have to go to town on the water, but get your eight glasses.
37:17
That is flushing out cortisol in the body because we wanna regulate that nervous system
37:22
that helps to reduce the impact of the trauma and the stress on the body.
37:26
So those are a few things we can implement right away.
37:29
Those are those are amazing tips.
37:30
Right?
37:31
It's like I think even if you're not in a, you know, a a health care setting, just with
37:36
workplaces being that much more stressful and, the expectations being on the rise with most
37:41
employees having to do more or you know, whatever role you're in just to be able, you
37:45
know, to to take a little bit of time.
37:47
And I think, unfortunately, most people believes it's it's a spinning class or a
37:51
pilates class or whatever, but it really could be little snippets of things that,
37:55
you
37:55
know, you can do often throughout the day for a minute or 2 that helps you, like you said,
37:59
reconnect to your body So your mind and body gets in alignment again, so the body doesn't
38:04
carry the weight of of all all the tension, like you said, in the cortisol that, comes with
38:09
it.
38:10
Erica, this has been, been very, fascinating as usual.
38:14
I know you and I can talk for hours, about things.
38:17
So for people that might want to reach out to you, work with you, tell them where they can
38:22
reach you.
38:22
And, you know, if if they wanted to do some one to one or if they're I know you do some group
38:28
coaching programs where where they can reach you.
38:32
Yeah.
38:32
They could reach me, Eric, the cast for send dotorg.
38:37
The Erica Casper send dotorg is my, my website.
38:44
A lot of that may be updated coming soon, but you'll still find me, there.
38:47
Now, that'll be a place that you can reach me in terms a little bit more information,
38:51
specifically in health care world, work that I'm doing there, and, there's a contact info,
38:56
though, contact info there folks would like some more information.
39:00
Awesome.
39:01
So I, again, you know, there's so much that I gained today.
39:05
And, obviously, this is my world around talking about resilience.
39:09
And, the one that I'm gonna remember is walk talk flush.
39:14
I'm gonna remember that.
39:15
You know, if if people can implement that, just in any way you find yourself getting stressed,
39:21
you know, it helps to put the prefrontal cortex back on.
39:24
Like Erica says, you can't see, the brain doesn't know the difference when the event is
39:29
done, and the only person to do that is you by connection, you know, peer support, talking,
39:35
writing, watching something funny.
39:38
So to to really think about implementing something, even if it's something small one or
39:42
two times a day.
39:43
So, again, thank you for tuning in.
39:45
If you're needing any information on myself, I'm Roxanne Derhodge with authentic living with
39:50
Roxanne.
39:51
And you can reach me atwalksandurhodge.com.
39:54
So take care, everyone, and we will chat again with you soon.
39:58
Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive
40:03
healthy change.
40:04
Roxanne is a keynote speaker psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne.
40:10
Visit rocksandurhaj.com/blueprint.
40:15
We'll see you next time on authentic living with Roxanne.