Open a drawer or cupboard at the average office today and you’ll probably find something like a box-shaped, green or red first aid kit tucked away. Look inside and you’ll find a range of familiar items – fabric plasters, antiseptic wipes – all designed to help heal the inevitable boo-boos we get in everyday life. But what if your colleague is having a panic attack or experiencing burnout? Do you have what they need to address those issues in the way you’d provide the supplies for their cut or scrape?
The answer is, you don’t reach for a plaster. We have a different type of response when it comes to what’s happening under someone’s surface. But you can prepare to offer support. The solution is the Mental Health First Aid Kit, which is nothing more than a toolbox full of psychological tools to promote healthy boundaries and effective communication. For Mental Health Training Courses, contact https://www.tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-training-courses/
First up is a key tool: the Active Listening Shield. We tend to be fixers: when someone presents a problem, we want to jump in with solutions. It feels instinctive to rush to the person’s aid, waving the banner of bright-side optimism or launching into Mr. Fix-It mode. The simple truth is that people are rarely looking for answers; they’re looking for space to tell their story. By being a safe sounding board, you can hold the space for others to pour their hearts out without judgment. You don’t need to have the answers. They just need you to listen.
Listening allows us to hear one another and also allows them to hear themselves better. When your colleague starts tailspinning, they often don’t know where to turn. Their thoughts can become overwhelming. That’s why our next tool is a suite of Grounding Anchors. This might sound a little hippie but grounding is nothing more than bringing someone – or even yourself – back into the present moment. It’s surprisingly helpful for slowing down a racing mind in panic mode.Simply ask them to name five things they can see right now, then four things they can touch or feel; three things they can hear; two things they can smell; and finally one thing they can taste. It works notably well at calming down an anxious mind and costs precisely zero.
Finally, there’s something called the Compassionate Boundary – what we call saying no to being a lifesaver. Sometimes it can be easy to offer your services as a lifesaver to other people, particularly if you have mental health struggles. While this might be driven by a desire to help others, the truth is that you just can’t fill another person’s cup if yours is empty. To avoid becoming a casualty of burnout, you need to create what your role is and what it’s not.
