‘Professionals must be given the opportunity to look after themselves holistically in order to fulfil their roles looking after and being responsible for others’

In this episode Kate is in conversation with Dr. Shan Hussain author of  ‘The Big Prescription’ a book which shares the same ethos of the Thrive program, taking a common-sense approach to looking after your mental health.

They discuss the alarming statistics surrounding the rates of suicide amongst those in the medical profession and how understanding our own mental health and how we manage stress is key to good mental health.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Why do you feel within the medical profession the rate of suicide is so high?

• Medical professionals may have concerns around highlighting issues around mental health, worrying that their own competency may be called into question
• We do need to place an emphasis on practitioner wellbeing because if we can’t look after ourselves it’s very challenging to effectively look after others.
• There can be a stacking effect created across a medical practitioner’s day through the complex and often upsetting situations that they deal with.
• It's important to have self-care and self-passion spending time at the end of the day unwinding and decompressing from the things dealt with and the emotions you have had to cope with.

Are things changing?

• Conversations are beginning to take place. It's at an early stage and we need to do what we can to progress these conversations and at the same time acknowledge that the problem lies with the increasing amount of work doctors are required to do.
• Demand is rising, expectations are rising, complaints are rising and in the midst of this are practitioners who have not had any real increase in remuneration in real terms for 15 years coupled with a loss of 20% of the front-line workforce
• It's not about unlearning what we already know it's about getting some balance and understanding as to where the stress is arising from and what we can do about it
• There are only 3 types of stress;
• Physical stress on the body
• Emotional and mental stress
• Social stress coming from the environment
• We can’t fix an emotional problem with a physical solution and we must streamline our approaches according to what the source of the problem is.

BEST MOMENTS

‘People are now more comfortable talking about mental health and we are seeing more empathy towards others’

‘Learning to change how we perceive the environment and doing our best to manage it in a healthier way’

‘Whatever makes you feel relaxed do that activity on a regular basis’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Mental Health Revolution Podcast

Enduring Health podcast

The Big Prescription book by Dr. Shan Hussain

ABOUT THE GUEST

Dr. Shan Hussain is an author, general practitioner, health coach, wellness advisor and ambassador to the World Health Innovation Summit. He is also the host of the Enduring Health podcast. For more information go to www.thehealthstudio.net.

ABOUT THE HOST

Kate Ashley-Norman is creator of Positive Mind Management, the host of The Mental Health Revolution podcast, and a passionate speaker and trainer about our emotional wellbeing. She is seeking to change the nature and tone of the conversation around mental health for business owners, their workplaces and ultimately in their personal lives.

Kate has spent the last 25+ years running her own businesses, initially working running a six figure PR consultancy agency, then building a multi-million pound international property portfolio. Latterly she has dedicated her time to studying emotional mastery and positive psychology, while bringing up four children, and has used her experience and knowledge to create the Positive Mind Management programme specifically for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

The knowledge Kate has collated will help you to not only better understand your emotions, it will help you both improve it, and supercharge it during those more challenging times when emotional wellbeing can be compromised. Fear, procrastination, overwhelm, powerlessness, self worth – empire building is a hugely challenging process in its own right. The more power you hold within your own emotions, the more you can harness the power of those emotions, good and bad, to the benefit of your business and life in general.

Hugely practical and applicable, this revolutionary approach to mental health is putting the power back into the hands of each and every individual.

Kate Ashley-Norman

You can support The Mental Health Revolution, and contribute to the conversation in the following closed Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/238516643507943/

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You can also support the movement through our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=12852819

Kate can be contacted anytime via her email: [email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media