My journey with emotional well-being in the workplace

For 20 years, I had what you might call a ‘regular career’, working as a mental health nurse in the NHS. Maybe surprisingly, working in the mental health sector did not always mean that my own mental health, and that of my colleagues, was afforded the attention it deserved. While I enjoyed a lot of my work, I was still subject to the same pressures and stresses that many people experience in their jobs- meeting deadlines, juggling multiple tasks, getting overwhelmed, trying to maintain an emphasis on quality and sometimes feeling personally responsible for things outside of my control. While these pressures eventually prompted me to move on from the NHS, and seek pastures anew, they also sparked an ongoing interest in me in emotional well-being in the workplace.

My experiences in the world of work have led me to believe that it’s in everyone’s interest to promote greater emotional intelligence and prioritise emotional well-being within the workplace. Simply put, a happy workplace is an effective and productive workplace- and there’s a wealth of occupational research to support this. Given that the average person spends one third of their life at work, I believe we owe it to ourselves to invest in ourselves in this way.

My work with work-based teams focusses on three core areas:

Emotional regulation

Being able to regulate your own emotional state involves identifying and acknowledging what you’re feeling, understanding how you become emotionally aroused or ‘triggered’, and slowing yourself down and decreasing your reactivity. This is a mindful process of ‘retraining’ your emotional reactions so that you’re in a more optimal state of mind to make the best decisions you can in any given situation.

Communication

Clear communication is essential in maintaining healthy relationships. It’s a fundamental aspect of how we navigate our social worlds. Being equipped with such skills as knowing how to ask for what you want, being confident in saying ‘no’, asserting your boundaries, and speaking in a way that is less likely to ‘trigger’ others will help you to get the most out your working relationships.

Group cohesion

Group cohesion is essentially about everyone working with a shared set of values and aims. The characteristics of a cohesive team include mutual support among team members, openness and transparency in your dealings with each other and everyone being valued for their unique contributions. Nurturing and sustaining each of these elements can create the kind of working environment you look forward to stepping into each day.

Services offered and fees

Group sessions for workplace teams: Group sessions are 2-6 hours in length with a group size of 2-8 members. The cost of group sessions is £80-£100 per hour depending on group size.

Individual coaching for managers, £70 per hour

Individual mentoring for team members £50 per hour

If you are interested in bespoke training sessions for your business around emotional well-being in the workplace, please contact me for an initial discussion.