Education Sector
Working in Education can be rewarding and extremely satisfying but can also present significant emotional challenges. Funding cuts, increased scrutiny, excessive academic testing and increased pressures on teachers can result in staff feeling overwhelmed, criticized and under-valued. In the school setting, teachers are responsible for supporting children with their emotional worlds and this can place a heavy burden on them.
Teachers (as any care-givers) also absorb many feelings unconsciously from the children especially when they are in difficult circumstances such as having special educational needs, facing deprivation or prejudice. These feelings then often play out in complex ways in the school. Teachers may find it difficult to recognize these feelings and process them resulting in them feeling stressed, anxious or even physically unwell.
The same pressures can also affect staff working in further education. Adolescents often go through a difficult and uncertain time transitioning from childhood to adulthood with many attacks on their sense of safety and identity. Add to this the recent changes in student finance and the pressure to make further education deliver on its significant financial investment. The widening of access has also resulted in an increase in the level of significant mental health challenges experienced by the student population. Support services within universities and colleges are inundated and the fear of suicide and breakdown can negatively effect the organisation.
We have experience of working with schools and universities to help staff better understand and manage the psychological impact and emotional demands of their work. This can increase resilience and productivity as well as enabling staff to better support the students emotionally and practically.
This is what we can offer:
- Group supervision to support people with emotionally difficult cases or situations.
- Psychoeducation so people have the tools and techniques to better manage their resilience including their emotional and mental health.
- Psychoeducation about the psychological and emotional development of children and adolescents.
- Leadership coaching and support to increase individual and organisational resilience (including emotional and mental health) and performance.
- Referral service to pass people safely to clinical professionals for support.
- Strategic consultancy to build a wellbeing and mental health strategy.
- Support and Supervision for Designated Safeguarding Leads offering the opportunity to de-brief and think constructively about the impact of the emotional demands of this challenging role.
Commercial Sector
The working world is becoming more complicated and competitive. Stress and anxiety are increasing in the workplace, due to accelerating levels of change and uncertainty. Globalisation, along with advances in technology and communication, are revolutionising how we work. To effectively lead in these environments and deliver commercial targets, an organisation needs to inspire, motivate and harness the creativity, diversity and potential of its workforce.
In addition to external pressures, organisations consist of individuals; real people who do not leave their emotions at the door. Rather, they bring the struggles and blueprints of their outside lives with them. These get played out in relationships within the organisation. If they are not understood and effectively addressed these can impinge on the performance and productivity in the workplace.
What we can do
- Pyschoeducation workshops to increase the mental and emotional intelligence of your workforce.
- Team workshops to increase the relationship and communication skills of the group.
- Leadership coaching and workshops to create leaders with expertise in Emotional Intelligence.
- Create and implement a mental and emotional health strategy across the life cycle of the employee.
Legal Sector
We have been working with legal professionals in our clinical practices for many years. We are aware that lawyers face certain challenges; as a result of both the content of their work, and the ambitious and competitive nature of the legal profession itself. It is clear that this specific area of work is highly emotionally charged and can consequently be stressful, anxiety provoking and exhausting.
The necessary focus on meticulous detail and large financial rewards is known to attract high achievers and perfectionists. However, whilst they are often ambitious and conscientious, lawyers can find it difficult to navigate making mistakes because so much is at stake. The fierce competition leads to heavy time commitments, placing enormous expectations on the individual from the start of their career. The focus on winning or losing surrounds professionals with negative emotions, as cases require individuals to be critical, judgmental, combative and aggressive. Law teams are expected to cope under huge pressure, working long hours with little respite. Under such conditions, it becomes difficult to admit that you are struggling to cope and need help. Due to the lack of opportunity to take sufficient breaks, stress, anxiety and other difficult feelings are often internalised, subsequently affecting both physical and mental health.
Raconteur magazine has commented that mental health in the workplace is under greater scrutiny than ever and law firms are having to ask tough questions about a corporate culture that promises financial rewards but, too often, at a high personal cost to employees. Statistics revealed by the wellbeing charity LawCare, highlighted that calls from lawyers to its helpline has reached a ‘record high’, with depression and workplace stress cited as the most common causes. Elizabeth Rimmer of LawCare has said that law firms are more receptive to talking about mental illness and many have pioneered their own initiatives. There is an understanding that not only is it the right thing to do, but also there is a business case. Kayleigh Leonie, Law Society council member for junior lawyers, told the Law Gazette: “…The legal profession is at risk of losing some of its best talent if employers do not begin to embrace their employees’ wellbeing as a key asset for their business.”
In the last few years, significant progress has been made in the legal sector, to address the mental health challenge, with the establishment of The Legal Professions Wellbeing Taskforce, and the City Mental Health Alliance gaining momentum and support. Despite senior leaders striving to create a culture of good mental health, stigma around mental health remains so high that people struggle to admit to having difficulties – which compounds the problem further. There is still a long way to go.
What we can do to help you
- Pyschoeducation workshops to increase the mental and emotional intelligence of your workforce.
- Team workshops to increase the relationship and communication skills of the group.
- Skills training for managers to enable them to recognise and be receptive to mental health challenges of their team.
- Leadership coaching and workshops to create leaders with expertise in Emotional Intelligence.
- Create and implement a mental and emotional health strategy across the life cycle of the employee.
Not-For-Profit Sector
We are aware that in the not-for-profit sector, employees often deal with distressing or emotionally difficult situations. Without support employees are more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and burn out leading to illness and sickness.
We have experience of working with not-for-profit organisations to help employees better understand and manage the psychological impact and emotional demands of their work. This can increase resilience, productivity and the quality of service provided to their client base.
This is what we can offer:
- Group supervision to support people with emotionally difficult cases or situations.
- Psychoeducation so people have the tools and techniques to better manage their resilience including their emotional and mental health.
- Leadership coaching and support to increase individual and organisational resilience (including emotional and mental health) and performance.
- Referral service to pass people safely to clinical professionals for support.
- Strategic consultancy to build a wellbeing and mental health strategy.