Instructions

Read the background out loud and use the guiding questions to facilitate a group discussion.

After this huddle Staff should know how to:

Develop and implement their own self-care plan.

Background

If you find it difficult to balance the different elements of your life, you’re not alone. The Canadian Mental Health Association reported that 58% of Canadians experience “overload” associated with the obligations of their work, home, family, friends, physical health, and community.

Although a moderate level of stress can improve your efficiency and mental clarity, it is a fine line before that stress becomes harmful to your health. You may have reached that point if you are feeling like you’ve lost control of your life, you feel guilty about neglecting your different roles, you frequently find it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand or you’re always tired.

Practicing self-care (regular activities that support one’s mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing) is one way to support your work-life balance. These activities do not have to be grand gestures — they can be any short, easy act that makes a difference to you.

Guiding questions

• What activities do you do, which you might consider to be self-care? If you can’t think of any, what activities would you like to do?
• What barriers exist that might prevent you from doing your self-care activities? How can you overcome them?

Notes to the huddle leader

• Examples of self-care activities: reading, meditation, taking short breaks from the task at hand, exercising, avoiding screens before bed, leaving some time in the day to focus on yourself.
• Challenge staff to set an achievable self-care goal. For example, schedule a regular activity (3 times a week for 5-10 minutes) or associate self-care with another regularly occurring event (i.e. deep breathing on the morning commute). Consider scheduling a huddle in one week to check-in with staff about how their self-care plan is going, what successes and/or challenges have come up, and how to overcome any barriers.