What a week! I’m still chatting with and receiving emails from individuals and teams who are feeling exhausted and treated poorly at times by patients and at times by colleagues. They describe the constant pressure as frustrating and relentless. I respect we will always be here to serve whoever turns up at our HHS for care whenever they present. It’s paradoxically one of the most amazing things about living in Australia yet the current pressure on us and our HHS (and so many others) is huge.

We are also continuing to do everything we can (which I know at times feels like nowhere near enough) to create a physically and psychologically safe place to work. Our NOT ON MY SHIFT strategy is gaining momentum as we ask everyone to consider how we achieve our Chief Executive Shaun Drummond’s vision for us to be the biggest, best and nicest. It will be impossible to be the best without being the nicest. We will continue to work on our systems, leadership, teams and our culture of being a truly safe, connected and caring place to work.

In terms of coping personally with the ongoing pressures of life at work and at home, last week I shared a couple of my strategies that I use for taking care of me. I use these among many others to be sure I can fill up my resilience reservoir. When I feel myself struggling with our at times crazy world where the pressures and systems and people don’t make any sense to me I will re-read the paradoxical commandments, I’ll sit quietly alone to hear my own voice as opposed to everyone else’s, I’ll go walking or running, ideally I will sit with my wife and chat and share life without any distractions except for maybe a good glass of wine! It’s the five per cent increments… little moments in time that only we can make happen that make over time a significant difference in refilling up our reserves.

When we are being so stretched, I know it can be hard to prioritise taking care of yourself when you’re spending all your time taking care of others. We’re rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine, managing hotel quarantine, our facilities are still seeing increased demand. There’s so much happening. But a moment for you isn’t impossible. That’s the beauty of it. It’s a small manageable change that you are in charge of and that won’t take too much time but will pay you back in reclaiming your ability to see a challenge and think ‘I’ve got this’ instead of ‘I can’t take another thing’.

So, my question is, what’s your strategy for reclaiming and replenishing you? Is it exercise, doing something fun, a creative hobby? What helps fill your cup and your resilience reserve? Please let me know and I’ll share (anonymously) your answers next week so they might be helpful to someone else. Please email me at MNChiefWellbeingOffice with your great ideas.

If exercise is your thing (or you want it to be) please will you vote for your favorite fitness facilities by clicking here?  It’s exciting to be able to finally launch Fitness Passport here at Metro North (we had to wait for Metro South to be established before we got our turn!) after receiving so many requests for this service for our teams and their families. In short, Fitness Passport opens up a range of facilities close to work or home and at a typically cheap rate per week. The survey is the first phase of developing the program and will give Fitness Passport the data to tailor the program to the services and facilities staff are keen to access. Once the survey is complete, Fitness Passport will start building the program and then we should be able to start using it in a couple of months.

In closing, if you’ve seen me in person, you’ll know that I am fond of a loud shirt. It’s my version of a uniform and a way to have some fun every day even if it’s just through my clothes. We’ve seen a lot of fun on Fridays but I’ve received a few emails from our teams that don’t work Fridays so what about the people working Saturday to Thursday who always miss out on fun shirt Fridays? So, in March, I’m inviting you to celebrate Wacky Shirt Wednesdays. And don’t keep it to yourself – please send us a photo!

Please take care.

Kindest regards,

Bruce Sullivan
Chief Wellbeing Officer