We know that working in health and social services supporting people with complex needs can be taxing. Many people who support vulnerable people have to build up their own mental health capacity in order to continue to support those in need in a person-centred way with heart.
The evidence of ‘lateral violence’ in nursing and care settings remains high. Lateral violence can be understood as bullying or other negative behaviour which can happen as a consequence of the stresses some workers constantly experience. Desharnais et al (2023) indicates workplace trauma is associated with chronic stress associated with the emotional toll on the care team members supporting people in need. These behaviours are often associated with detrimental consequences for the individual, those people being supported, and the greater health care organization. This is also a major factor in impeding person-centredness in action (Sköldunger etal: 2020).
A focus on creating a person-centred workforce is an essential consideration for our future. We know person-centred care starts with self. So, perhaps our approach to resilience, mindfulness and wellbeing should also begin with self. By improving our response to stress and anxiety in the workplace and recognising our feelings and emotions in times of stress we develop coping mechanisms. This ultimately enables better communication and the ability to prevent lateral conflict through productive conflict management and accountability. This creates a positive approach and models human behaviour we wish to see as our norm, improving our own mental health.
I’m certainly not suggesting that we should adopt a confrontational attitude or a conflict-based response. I’m also not saying that we should ’let it go’ in terms of becoming a doormat for bad behaviour. We can’t control other’s behaviour but we can control our behavioural responses to empower peer to peer accountability.
We have bad days, and we have moments where it feels like we are being dumped upon when we are down. Take the example of the donkey and the farmer which is a story often told to teach us how to turn situations around…
One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried loudly for hours, the farmer heard this but decided nothing could be done and it wasn’t worth trying to rectify the situation. He spoke to friends and they agreed despite the donkey’s plight, it was best to leave things as they were as doing something wouldn’t change the outcome. They each grabbed a shovel and began to throw dirt into the well. The donkey realized what was happening and decided that he could accept the circumstances and do nothing or, he could be different and change his way of thinking to resolve the problem. To everyone’s surprise, he quietened down after a few shovelfuls of dirt.
The farmer finally looked down into the well and was amazed at what he saw… with each shovelful of dirt, the donkey was doing something incredible: It was shaking off the dirt and stepping on top of the dirt.
Very soon everyone was surprised to see how the donkey reached the mouth of the well, went over the edge and trotted out…
Here’s the point. Dirt will be thrown at you, all kinds of dirt… there is always a choice, accept it and become buried under the dirt or choose to shake it off and use it to step up. Resilience is facing the problems thrown at us, assessing the situation and choosing to use the circumstances and your resources wisely to step up and out.
We can get out of the deepest holes if we don’t give up and change the group mindset as a result which causes us to take accountability of the situation and make good from it by changing our approach and behaviour. This then leads to greater awareness for us all.
Managing Director, MCM
References
The Donkey in the Pit – A parable on pain and gain – Chabad.org
Desharnais, B., Benton, L., Ramirez, B., Smith, C., DesRoches, S., & Ramirez, C. L. (2023). Healthy Workplaces for Nurses: A Review of Lateral Violence and Evidence-Based Interventions. Journal of Applied Business & Economics, 25(6).
Sköldunger, A., Sandman, P. O., & Backman, A. (2020). Exploring person-centred care in relation to resource utilization, resident quality of life and staff job strain–findings from the SWENIS study. BMC geriatrics, 20, 1-9.