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Look after yourselves out there…

Written by Alice Ruhe

We are coming to the end of Queensland Mental Health Week for 2022, and as anyone who has seen my posts would know it is something that has been marked with a number of events.

Queensland Mental Health Week: 8- 16 October 2022

As detailed on the QMHW website

“Queensland Mental Health Week (QMHW) is an annual awareness week that aims to shine a spotlight on individual and community mental health and wellbeing.”

The theme for this year’s QMHW is Awareness, Belonging, Connection.

Whilst attending events this week (including those hosted by SMB Advisory) a few thoughts came to mind.

Whilst it is important to have these “weeks” to provide focus on issues such as mental health, it is important that we ensure that we, our workplaces and communities bring an understanding and awareness of mental health issues with us into our every day lives. It is not simply enough to think about it for one week and then move onto the next thing. Also, focusing for a whole week on Mental Health Issues can, quite frankly, be quite draining on one’s mental health! If we increase our “fitness” for these issues by bringing awareness and focus into our everyday lives, then perhaps we might have an increased capability for dealing with such things.

Firstly:

Secondly:

As people in professional services industries, in small business and in so many other vocations, much of the focus and awareness we have around mental health issues is directed at how we can learn and use our understanding of same to assist our team members, colleagues and clients. Especially during the “COVID Affected Years” we have looked particularly closely at what isolation might mean for our team and how business downturn has impacted our clients’ mental health. However, as Julie Richman of Crestpoint Wellbeing Centre pointed out so well in the sessions she presented for the SMB Advisory QMHW Lunches, we cannot fill up others’ cups, if our jugs are in fact empty.

It is super important for Lawyers, Accountants and (dare I say) Insolvency Practitioners to be especially aware of their own mental health, and using the Awareness, Belonging, Connection theme of this year’s QMHW to check in with ourselves to make sure we are ok.

"- Regularly taking time for a period of introspection (for me it’s mediation, for others it might be playing golf, fishing or taking a walk) to check in and see if there is anything bothering us and identifying any nagging feelings or any “glitches” there might be in our system. The simple process of being aware of things that are out of sync can play a big part in feeling better about things.

- Appreciating and understanding the various communities with which we are involved. Whether that be our professional bodies, our social groups, our networking groups or our families –these are the places we belong, to note that we aren’t alone.

- Prioritizing time to connect and communicate with those people that “fill your cup”. Whether it is a regular coffee catch up, lunch date or even going for a walk, or just doing the old fashioned thing of picking up the phone an giving someone a call. The benefit of these positive connections can be such a powerful tonic, especially during stressful and demanding times."

A few things I find can assist in this process include:

So while it is important to keep an eye out for those around us, it is also important to monitor, and nurture, our own mental health, not only for our own benefit, but also for those around us.

Final Word:

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