Work-Life Balance – Barbara Rubel – Compassion Fatigue Keynote Speaker

How Family and Friends Can Support a First Responder’s Mental Health

Barbara Rubel — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 17:55:27 +0000

Synergy

When a first responder eats healthily at home and gets eight hours sleep, and works on their physical health, their job is positively impacted. By the same token, when they are satisfied with their job and feel supported in their role, their family life is positively impacted.

Whether you are a friend or family member, you can help them find synergy in their life and impact their well-being. Synergy is about a connection between work and family and the ability to communicate and collaborate about their well-being whether at work or at home.

Be a Good Listener

Where do you start if you have not learned about the impact of secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma or moral injury? What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Start with the basics.

Make eye contact, especially when your first responder is sharing traumatic material.
Don’t interrupt while they are speaking. Let the conversation take place as slowly as they need it to be.
Don’t overreact or jump to conclusions. Ask questions to clarify what was just said.
Don’t try to fix the problem or probe for details that you may not be able to handle. Leave that to trained peers, online peer support and mental health professionals. You don’t have to find a solution to their problem. Your role is to support them as best you can while they figure out what healthy coping strategies will work best.
Recognize how their well-being has been impacted. There is no magic formula for them to survive and thrive in their job. But there is a powerful bond that takes place when first responders share their vulnerability, anxieties, and fears with a family member or friend who gets it.

Common Problems First Responders Face

Emergency personnel may feel as though they are always on the job and are inadequate outside of their role. Chronic stressors such as disturbed sleep and insomnia take a toll. Add to the mix unhealthy coping and thoughts of suicide. When you understand the mental health challenges they are dealing with, your awareness helps them see that they are not alone, and that help is available.

Community Stressors

While they support the community and deal with trauma, they deal with negative public practices that are sometimes violent confrontations. Law enforcement officers (LEOs), in particular, are dealing with calls for defunding the police and negative media coverage.

Workplace Stressors

First responders may have a supervisor who does not recognize their value, has a poor discipline style, or frequently criticizes or second guesses them. They may be dealing with denied requests for days off, have confidentiality issues, or are being sexually harassed. Their stress levels are influenced by bureaucracy, long work hours, shiftwork, night shift, excessive overtime, and work schedules.

Dangerous situations and the possibility of being injured can weigh heavily on their heart and mind. They may be dealing with traumatic events, critical incidents, serious accidents, and exposure to suffering or failed attempts at resuscitation, which can take a toll.

Family Problems

Family problems include finances, intimacy and sex, child rearing, not spending enough time together due to shift work and long hours, household tasks and communication. They may work on the holidays or have a second job. Long hours may leave little time for family events.

They may miss their child’s sports activities and feel guilty about their lack of presence. It is hard to set a goal to be there for a spouse, children and significant others when a first responder is not even present for themself. Although they show up, something is missing.

The problems at work may match in number the problems at home and can include marital difficulties, being a single parent, being absent from family functions, and last-minute plan cancellation. They may be fearful of the worst happening to them or their family, which causes emotional distress and intensely makes them see how the fragility of life is.

Recognize the impact of work-family conﬂict, which is the pressure between work and family life and how it conﬂicts and interferes in both their personal and professional space.

Useful Coping Strategies

Consider taking a yoga class together or some other physical activity, getting a couple’s massage, praying together, or volunteering on the same committees. It is a gentle process of moving into what a first responder needs without overwhelming them. Work as a team and check in with one another.

Many studies point to the value of mindfulness and peer support programs, so suggest that they reach out to a trained peer, as well. Although you can only do so much when they have anxiety issues, post-traumatic stress, suffer from clinical depression or have thoughts of suicide, you can be the beacon that shines a light on the value of calling 988. This confidential suicide lifeline is there for anyone needing emotional support, whether that is your first responder or yourself.

4 Symptoms of Burnout You Should Be Aware of

Barbara Rubel — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 17:00:51 +0000

You may not be aware that you are suffering from burnout. We have all gone through a traumatic experience dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it burnout? Is it grief? Or are we all just having a really bad hair day?

Now that you are getting back to your usual routine, you may still feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the simplest of tasks. You might get easily angry or frustrated. Self-awareness about your role is key to recognizing physical symptoms of burnout. It might be due to your role at work, your role at home, or both. Life is not easy. So, let’s look at how to recognize burnout symptoms and what your risk of burnout might be.

What is burnout?

According to Psychology Today, burnout is “a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships.” You might be burned out as you navigate your life in a post pandemic world.

Have you heard the term, “work-life integration”? That’s when you can combine your personal life with your work life. It becomes a balancing act that mixes up your job and home life in a way that works for you and those around you. For example, you might have a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day. You may leave work early to go food shopping. You may go into work late due to a parent/teacher conference. Accordingly, you make up the time by working later at night at home or working through lunch the next day. You decide how to integrate work-life. It’s more than balance . . . it’s integration.

Burnout has been happening more lately as employees are working remotely from home, making it hard to draw a line between the two. Therefore, rather than drawing the line, integrate the line, so you have enough time for your personal/family life while you get your job done. As a result, your professional quality of life and job satisfaction are both increased while you mitigate burnout.

4 Symptoms or Signs of Burnout

Exhaustion

Exhaustion or fatigue is one of the foremost signals that you might be suffering from burnout, especially when coupled with one or more of the other symptoms that I have listed below. Wanting to sleep all the time is one of the symptoms of depression, but it can also be because of fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic stress, sleep apnea or a thyroid disorder, just to name a few. However, if you are exhausted, have no energy, or find that normal tasks take longer to finish, you might be burned out.

Dissatisfaction or Apathy with Work

We all have days when we don’t really feel like working, but when that happens every day and becomes the norm, then there is a problem. Feelings of wondering what’s the point, not enjoying the work, or just a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the overall job can indicate that it might be time for a change. Rather than suffer through organizational challenges and a stressful job which has been shown to affect mental health and increase job burnout, you can focus on what is in your power to change.

Tension Headaches

We have all had a headache in our lives. They can really hurt whether they are from hormones, noise, food sensitivities, posture, or even the glare from a computer screen. However, recognize that burnout at work can cause a tension headache. If you are suffering from bad headaches on a regular basis, it could be because of chronic workplace stress due to your boss, coworkers, job tasks, or dealing with others in the workplace. For job satisfaction, you need to be a good fit for your job, have a trusted supervisor, and be accomplishing your goals. Lack of job satisfaction is a headache in and of itself.

Not Sleeping or Eating Well

Burnout can cause changes in your sleep patterns and how well you sleep. It can also cause some people to stop eating a healthy diet. If you are burned out, then you may be too exhausted to stand at the stove and cook a healthy meal. Is there a correlation between bringing home fast food and burnout? Probably!

These are the main symptoms of burnout, so if you are having an issue with one or several, you should take a close look to see if burnout is causing your issues. Talking with a therapist can also help. Our next post will help you with ways to recover from burnout.

Work-Life Balance

Barbara Rubel — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 13:38:09 +0000

Achieve balance between work and your personal life

How in the world do you achieve work-life balance after the world changed due to the pandemic? Your assumptive world has been shattered and professional life has changed. For that matter, so has your personal life. For many, the workplace has moved to the kitchen table. For others, the hours spent in the actual workplace have increased, limiting time spent appreciating one’s nonwork life. Metaphorically, you need to navigate the new workplace landscape, without falling into the crevice caused by the pandemic. Your sands have shifted. Move cautiously to achieve work-life balance as you climb over the sand dune or drown in quicksand.

Reflection

Some professionals know that they are drowning in quicksand when they experience stomach aches, headaches, eat too much, or abuse alcohol or drugs. How would you know if you are drowning in quicksand?

Finding the proper balance and maintaining it is easier said than done

No matter what industry you are involved with, it is extremely important to find and maintain a healthy equilibrium in your life. Of course, finding the proper balance and maintaining it is easier said than done. We all have stresses pulling on us from every direction, including stress from home, work, family, co-workers, and more. Normally, you are able to balance this tug of war without too much trouble, but during periods of high stress, things can unravel.

When Two Worlds Collide

Your world revolves around life at work. A workplace functions as roles and responsibilities spin into each other. Job content is where you have control over your job performance and autonomy, which helps you do your job well. On the other hand, job context is where the organization has the control, such as being responsible for working conditions and salary. Working arrangements are in place as well as employment relationships. The world also revolves around nonwork life, home, family, and friends. If you do not have work life balance, job performance will suffer. In the perfect world, you are engaged in work life and nonwork life with minimal conflict between your role at home and at work. However, this is often not the case. The stress of two worlds colliding can be overwhelming.

Work-life balance is:

a concept that focuses on calculating time working with what you need to accomplish in your personal life, without sacrificing the quality of your job performance.
achieved when organizations create flexible work arrangements for their employees.
a personal preference that helps you make the balancing act of work and home life more manageable.

Remote Working and Flexible Working Schedule

Remote working is where the employee works at home or another place that is not considered the usual place to do one’s job. There has been an increase in remote working. For many, their job is no longer a traditional fixed place. This detaches many employees from an organizational workplace to a remote working environment, usually one’s home. This shift is linked to a commitment to one’s job, more job satisfaction, and job‐related well‐being. Work flexibility is a family-friendly policy that offers control over working time duration and location of work. It departs from the customary time and place of the job and is not about reducing working time. Work flexibility offers time variation to work, place to work, and job share.

Reflection

If your organization offered work flexibility, how would you put it into practice?

An Experienced Life Balance Speaker

The right work life balance speaker can help provide valuable insight to those who need it most. Discover new and inventive ways to handle the everyday stresses of life. Build resiliency so that you feel motivated and excited, not overwhelmed.

Stress can be a real positive in your life if you know how to channel it correctly, and a smart life balance speaker like Barbara Rubel can provide the tools you and your staff need to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue and regain a positive and productive outlook on life.

When it comes to choosing the right work life balance speaker, you want to choose someone who has the life experiences and the proven track record of performance that Barbara Rubel does. The productivity of your workforce is too important and too fragile to risk on a speaker that doesn’t know how to connect with and motivate an audience.

You should look for a person that uses a blend of honest life experience, humor, and touching insight to connect on an honest and forthright level with those that need it most. With a signature individualized experience for all participants, Barbara Rubel is a humorous speaker that is ready to help your participants realize their true potential. Barbara customizes her programs and is the right speaker on issues related to stress management, burnout, compassion fatigue prevention and resiliency in the workplace.

Book Barbara Rubel

How to Achieve Balance with Life and Work

Barbara Rubel — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 18:37:11 +0000

A balance between work and nonwork life is essential for job engagement. A flexible working schedule allows for more time with children. Job flexibility involves career breaks (e.g., maternity or paternity leaves). Moreover, part-time employees need flexibility in scheduling, length of work, and location.

Studies show that more women request flexible work than men. Although men consider flexible working to develop their organizational commitment, women consider it a way to improve and achieve work-life balance. Currently, it seems to be a better fit for women than men. However, as gender norms change, more men will probably use it.

Correlation between work-life balance and performance

There is a correlation between work-life balance and work performance, no matter type of relationship, size of family, or number of children. Findings of studies show that there is a direct positive correlation between flexible working and improved mental health, stress reduction, greater work performance, and increased general life satisfaction. Work-life balance helps to alleviate some stress, as it offers more control over time. Research suggests that those who have work-life difficulties have higher stress than those who are not given the opportunity to balance life and work obligations.

Reflection

If work-life balance gives you more control over your time, what would you do with your time?

Organizational Policies

Organizational policies need to be in place to manage work-life balance and prevent job burnout. Burnout is a work-related syndrome characterized by a having no energy, being mentally distant from those at work, being cynical, less professional efficacy, and brings about negative outcomes for those you support. Burnout is caused by not feeling supported, excessive workload, long hours, work pressure, and workplace culture. Burnout is related to poor work-life balance when hours are increased, being midcareer, and decreased time to being awake at home. On an organizational level, policies and practices need to focus on establishing criteria for hiring and placement. Leadership and supervisor training can focus on strategies for effective communication and job discussion among all levels of the workforce on health education and career counseling.

Reflection

Do you think that you are experiencing burnout?

What supervisors can do

Organizations can incorporate strategies to reduce psychological morbidity and enhance resilience by implementing wellness strategies.

Supervisors can consider upgrading work-life balance initiatives and offer organizational support and development to all staff. Supportive policies can be developed and written into employee handbooks. Topics can focus on self-care and wellbeing (e.g., hobbies, healthy diet, vacation time, fair compensation). Topics will enhance employee friendly high performance work practices.
Supervisors can demonstrate ways to show their employees that they are valued.
Supervisors need effective communication skills to create a better working environment and ensure high levels of work engagement, lower levels of work-related stress, and improve wellbeing.

8 Tips to Balance Work and Life

Barbara Rubel — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 21:59:13 +0000

As you pursue work and personal interests, be mindful that work-life balance means different things to different people. Prioritize what is important. Put energy into those things that mean something to you.

Here are eight simple ways to manage the stress of work-life balance:

Start the day with a healthy breakfast and take a scheduled lunch, as diet management is important for your overall health.
Begin work on time and end on time.
Exchange services with friends, such as gardening or babysitting.
Create a to-do list with three tasks that you complete at the start of the day.
Schedule time with a friend or family member without interruptions (e.g., put phone away).
Consider recreational activities, back packing, sky diving, swimming, bowling, or tennis.
Consider leisure activities, such as strength training, making art, dancing, play video games.
Get 7 hours sleep, avoid using sleeping pills, and reduce exposure to light before bedtime.

8 Elements of Resilience

Using the acronym FABULOUS, here are eight elements of resilience:

Flexibility: reframe the way you think about how you manage work and nonwork time.

Attitude: maintain a positive attitude as you adapt healthy life strategies (e.g., diet, exercise).

Boundaries: set and communicate boundaries and know when they have been crossed

United: maintain and nurture relationships that are work and non-work related.

Laughter: keep your sense of humor, as it is a trait that helps you to manage stress.

Optimism: while being realistic, maintain hope, and have a positive point of view.

Understand job satisfaction: focus on why you do your job and how it fulfills you.

Self-compassion: when you fail, don’t blow it out of proportion.

Eight elements of the FABULOUS framework help you to build personal resilience. Without resilience, wellbeing will suffer. Work-life balance is associated with wellbeing. The working environment needs to promote wellbeing. If you are achieving wellbeing than you are achieving work-life balance. Performance is enhanced as job satisfaction is increased.

Bottom line is that when personal life decreases stress and increases a sense of achievement while improving work performance, then you have work-life balance. Enjoy family, friends, or a favorite hobby, and strike a balance between work and nonwork life.

Reflection

Have you struck a balance between work and nonwork life?