Tried and tested coping

Tips (2)

Professional

Physical

Psychological

Actions that ensure you can do your job well and correctly.

  • Regularly take breaks
  • Attend regular debriefings
  • Be strict with boundaries between clients
  • Attend professional development programs

Ensuring you remain physically healthy and happy to have a good work-life social life.

  • Healthy sleep routine
  • healthy diet and eating times
  • Take lunch breaks/coffee breaks
  • No work on down-time
  • Stretch/swim/walk or run, etc.

Actions that keep your mind sharp and ensure it can function well:

  • Engage with personal hobby. 
  • Turn off your email and work phone outside of work hours. 
  • Emotional self-care through introspection
  • Allowing yourself to safely experience your full range of emotions.
  • Surround self with supportive friends and family
 

Talk to friends about how you are coping with work and life demands.                        

Spiritual

Relationship

Your view beyond the day-to-day life 

  • Engage in reflective practices like meditation
  • Go to church/mosque/temple/nature
  • Reflect with a close friend for support

Maintaining your relationships

  • Prioritise close relationships in your life
  • Attend the special events of your family and friends.
  • Prioritising home over work

The following checklist has been adapted from Saakvitne, Pearlman, & Staff of TSI/CAAP Short Course Trauma Support And Counselling. Hospivision.  Andre de la Porte and Trauma Team

But...I don't have time!
If you have ...

2 Minutes

5 Minutes

  • Breathe
  • Stretch
  • Daydream
  • Laugh
  • Doodle
  • Acknowledge one of your achievements
  • Say NO to a new responsibility
  • Look out the window
  • Spend time with your pet
  • Share a favourite joke
  • Listen to music
  • Have a cleansing cry
  • Chat with a co-worker
  • Sing out loud
  • Jot down dreams
  • Step outside for fresh air
  • Enjoy a snack or make some coffee/tea

10 Minutes

30 Minutes

  • Evaluate your day
  • Write a journal
  • Call a friend
  • meditate
  • Tidy your work area
  • Draw a picture
  • Dance
  • Listen to soothing sounds
  • Surf the web
  • Read a magazine
  • Get a massage
  • Exercise
  • Eat lunch with a co-worker
  • Take a bubble bath
  • Read non-work related literature
  • Spend time in nature
  • Go shopping
  • Practice yoga
  • Watch your favourite tv show 

(Volk, Guarino, Grandin, & Clervil, 2008)