Helping Our Healers Heal: Addressing The Mental Health and Well-Being of Healthcare Workers
Caring for others requires that you also care for yourself. You are not alone.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented repercussions on the well-being and mental health of healthcare workers. Healthcare workers have been increasingly overworked while striving towards continued delivery of quality care. Working under these circumstances for prolonged periods with minimal recovery time is a risk factor for burnout.
However, help-seeking behaviour may not be forthcoming as healthcare workers are often perceived to be invincible and resilient. Healthcare workers are looked up to as helpers and healers, which may make it more challenging to express the help that they may need themselves.
If you or someone you know is a healthcare professional, these are some signs and symptoms of burnout to watch out for:
Frequent headaches, colds, fatigue
Reduced tolerance to pain
Frequent use of sick days
Moodiness, crying more easily
Sleep disturbances
Escape fantasies
Less empathy
Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, dread
Healthcare institutions provide staff with staff helplines, counselling services, and peer support programmes. However, healthcare workers often harbour fears of being deemed incompetent if they share their mental health concerns. It is therefore imperative that mental health stigma among healthcare workers is addressed and healthcare professionals are empowered with self-care strategies.
Self-care strategies
Take mini breaks: Work with your colleagues to take mini breaks. It is essential to fuel our bodies with adequate hydration and nutrition. Research has shown that when you haven’t been drinking adequate water, your body triggers different areas of the brain that make you feel more anxious and heighten other negative emotions. Staying hydrated can prevent the intensity of those feelings. Even a brief 10-minute break during your shift can be calming and energising.
Hold space for yourself: As challenging as it may be, the best way to manage difficult emotions is to embrace them. It is important to allow yourself to cry when you feel like it. Ensure you do not rush this process, and find a comfortable and safe space to cry if you need to. Pause to ask, “What do I need right now?” It may be solitude and at another time it may be social support.
Find non-work related outlets: It is crucial to maintain a life outside of work. We hear it all the time, but it is necessary to have regular engagements with loved ones, creative endeavours, and hobbies. When we have something to look forward to outside of work, it can push us through a tough period on the official clock. In fact, it may be a good idea to come up with an activity when you’re going through a challenging time at work so you have something to look forward to at the end of a long week or day. This could be something as simple as having dinner with friends and family or catching up on your favourite shows.
Leverage on your network: Seek opportunities to connect with other healthcare workers and share your experiences. Having a group of like-minded peers who share similar experiences may equip you with sound advice and support.
Establish boundaries: Some days it’s something personal; other days, it’s all work; and many days, it’s a combination of both. What do you want to prioritize? Know the requests you want to say “yes” to and what you don’t have space for. Sometimes despite your best intentions, it’s just not possible to do all the things you want to commit to at the same time. If you can’t say no to something but you also truly don’t have the time to do it, ask for help.
Reflect: A regular practice of reflection ensures that you’re attending to what matters to you. This practice can be done weekly or at any other frequency. Reflecting enables you to take the “driver’s seat” in observing and evaluating your emotions, professional challenges, the overall experience of your shifts, and your emotional responses over time. It may also highlight aspects of your work experience that you can control. The key is to look at what you planned to do, what you actually did and what you will do differently moving forward.
Practising self-care is important for all healthcare workers, especially during this pandemic that is filled with uncertainties and higher demands. As a community, we must also improve the way we regard mental health concerns among healthcare professionals. We need to understand that healthcare workers are human beings too, and mental health is a human right for them too.
Further reading
Burnout and associated factors among health care workers in Singapore during the Covid-19 pandemic
It is time to stop stigmatizing mental health among healthcare workers
The Big Read: Frontline healthcare workers pushed to limits by non-stop, never-ending COVID-19 fight