Quarter 3 of the Wellbeing Calendar has launched! Building connection is key so we have created the Quarter 3 Pack to help get you started. 

The theme for Quarter 3 is Building Connection, highlighting the following key awareness days: 

• 2 - 9 July - NAIDOC Week
• 7 August - Aged Care Employee Day
• 9 August - International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
• 25 August - Wear it Purple Day
• 4 - 10 September - Women's Health Week
• 10 September - World Suicide Prevention Day
• 14 September - R U OK Day

Download the Quarter 3 Pack - Building Connection
Access the calendar and the Q3 Pack (Poster, Infographic & Activity) via the Employee Login Area - - https://newportwildman.com.au/employees/index.php

Q3 Pack as well as Suggested Training & Services
The calendar along with leader resources and suggested training & services is available via the Employer Login- https://newportwildman.com.au/employers/index.php

If you have any questions, call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204 or reach out to your main contact. As always, our people are here to help support you and your people be their best in life and work.

There is a fascinating book written by the psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist about the differences of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. One of his arguments is that the differences are not so much about what the two hemispheres do, it’s about how they approach the world - the left hemisphere sees the world as something we can make use of, while the right hemisphere sees the world as a place we are part of^[1]. Both views are needed, and when the system works well the way we make use of the world is seen in the context of our place in the wider picture. But, he argues, we are increasingly losing our way, pushing the view of the right hemisphere into the background as we become fascinated with how we can make use of the world, and increasing the power of the human race over the world. We are forgetting that we are an intrinsic part of the planet that we are constantly using.

This view of humankind’s relationship with our planet Earth – that it is a place we are part of rather than simply a place we make use of – is reflected in many indigenous belief systems. August 9^th was the United Nations International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. To quote from the UN website: “There are an estimated 476 million indigenous peoples in the world living across 90 countries… Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment.”

Being curious about these different ways of relating to people and the environment can widen our view on what it means to be human. Without curiosity of others’ views we can become biased that the way we habitually think and the views that we hold are ‘right’, and we can become blinkered to other possibilities, holding on to views that are perhaps lessening the richness of our experience of living.

We are in an era of unprecedented access to the world’s cultures. Through the internet, museums, art galleries, music and dance performances we can experience a huge variety of ways that humans represent their experience of relating to other people and their environment. Being curious about these differences and exploring them might show us different ways of paying attention to the world that makes us question our assumptions – prompts us to ask the question ‘am I sure?’ about a belief or way of being in the world that up till then we have assumed is just the way it is.

So this month we invite you to consider International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples as a reminder – a reminder to take time to explore the different ways indigenous peoples view the world and humanity’s relationship with it. If you come across beliefs that push against your usual ways of thinking, take a moment to ask yourself ‘am I sure?’ and see where that thought leads you.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

^[1] The Master and his Emissary, OUP.

Thursday the 14th of September is R U OK? Day and Newport & Wildman would like to support you and your people to feel confident asking "R U OK?". For the month of September, Newport & Wildman are offering onsite visits and three training packages with online and face-to-face options. 

R U OK? Day is often the busiest day of the year for us here at Newport & Wildman so we encourage you to get in quick. 

• R U OK? Training Packages
• R U OK? Pre-recorded Webinars 
• R U OK? Onsite Clinician

Please reach out to your main contact at Newport & Wildman to discuss or book.

R U OK? Training Packages

.

Please book asap to secure availability, reach out to your main contact. Training must be confirmed three weeks before the delivery date. The cutoff date for R U OK? Day is the 24th of August. 

 Webinars  .

The Essentials and Advanced Webinars are available to purchase separately.

• One month's access to the webinar.
• To access the webinar on R U OK? Day (14th of September), please purchase by the 7th of September.
• Reach out to your main contact to book.

 Onsite Clinician

Please book asap to secure availability, reach out to your main contact.  Requires ten business days' notice before the onsite delivery date.

Please reach out to your main contact at Newport & Wildman to discuss or book.

Cancellation Policy/Delivery Changes: Please speak with your main contact at Newport & Wildman for more information.

   For more information on R U OK? Day, see the R U OK? Day Website.

You don’t have to be an expert to support someone going through a tough time. You just need to be able to listen to their concerns without judgment and take the time to follow up with them. If you would like to speak to someone about how to have the conversation or you would like some support for yourself, you can call us on 1800 650 204.

10 Tips on How to Have a Conversation on R U OK? Day

Stress is a natural state which allows our minds and bodies to prepare for the unexpected. Some stress is good: It helps us prepare for a big task and protects against imminent threats. However, a constant state of stress is exhausting and bad for our physical and emotional health.

We show stress in four ways:

• Physically: feeling the rush of adrenaline, headaches, muscle tension.
• Emotionally: becoming snappy or teary with little provocation; losing our confidence and vitality.
• Cognitively: black and white thinking; catastrophising and dwelling on unhealthy thoughts; being indecisive.
• Behaviorally: avoiding people and places; increasing our drinking; eating comfort food or not eating at all; insomnia.

By identifying indicators that we are stressed, we develop self-awareness that allows us to intervene before we feel overwhelmed. 

Download our 10 Tips for Handling Stress here for a reset, or if you are feeling overwhelmed, book an appointment on 1800 650 204.

Where is your attention right now? Part of it will be on these words, and part of it may be elsewhere. Are you thinking about plans for the weekend? Worries about the cost of living? Remembering that wonderful holiday you had last year? Frustrated at the way a recent conversation went?

All this thinking can make us feel emotionally and mentally jumbled, and, if you consider it, rarely leads to anything useful.

Now, try focusing on just one thing. Your breath. Unlike your memories of the past and worries of the future, your breath is real – here and now. Feel into your experience of breathing in, and feel into your experience of breathing out. Please pause and do this, right now, for a few breaths.

You may notice how your attention can be pulled in other directions other than the breath. That’s OK – just bring it back to the experience of your in-breath and out-breath. Practising mindfulness is not about ‘getting it right’; it’s about practising bringing the mind back to where you would like it to be – on something concrete and real - after it has moved on to something else.

So many words have been spoken and written on mindfulness.

A Google search brings up a list of benefits - self-control, objectivity, tolerating difficult emotions, enhanced cognitive flexibility, improved concentration and mental clarity, emotional intelligence, and the ability to relate to others and oneself with kindness, acceptance and compassion.

What can be lost in this shopping list of benefits is that mindfulness, at its core, is not about getting anything. Wanting to get stuff can add to our inner drama and our feeling of pursuing the future.

Consider mindfulness as about leaning into the quality of our awareness, being curious about it, and noticing where our attention is drawn. Doing this while we consciously give our attention to something calming – our breath, a tree, drinking a glass of water – makes this easier. The quality of our awareness (is your awareness currently clouded or clear? busy or quiet?) and what we attend to has a major impact on the life we lead. We see a business opportunity, and our whole life is changed. We notice someone in a crowd, and we have a conversation with them that influences the way we see the world.

An important component in our awareness is the way our emotions colour it. Whether your awareness feels hard or soft, kind or harsh, is largely due to the emotional content.

So, taking a moment now, as you notice your breath, see if you can bring a heartful quality to your noticing. It’s a quality of kindness and inclusivity, nurturing and support. As you do this, notice how your body feels.

This is an emotional quality we can practice and cultivate.  

Mindfulness is not just about focus and clarity. It is also, at the same time, about cultivating a quality of kindness, inclusivity and support.  Bringing both focus and kindness to your daily activities can be life-enhancing – indeed, life-changing.

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

Many of us have heard the statistics in relation to men's mental health, and it can be very confronting. This Men's Health Week on the 12th-18th of June, is an opportune time to check in with yourself and the people in your life. At Newport & Wildman, we often hear from men that they feel pressure to be seen as invulnerable, stoic, and fearless. To challenge the stigma around men's mental health we invite you to think about what it means to be a man.

Take a moment and ask yourself, “what does being a man mean? What attributes do I associate with a man?” To find your answer to this, you might try finishing this statement in as many different ways that occur to you: “A man is….” Just write down or speak out loud whatever immediately comes to you.

Whatever you wrote or spoke is indicative of the mindset you hold around ‘maleness’.

When I was around 12 years old, I was playing rugby league at school one afternoon, and during practice, my jaw was hit and pushed up, and to my shock, I was spitting out bits of tooth. I stopped running and looked at the bits of tooth in my hand. The next thing I heard was someone saying, ‘don’t be a sissy!’. Being a ‘sissy’ was clearly not something I was supposed to be.

We all have ideas about what we believe is right/wrong, good/bad, who we are supposed to be/ who we are not supposed to be. These ideas are formed by our upbringing, the society we live in, and our inherited characteristics. In other words, the reasons why we hold certain views is an intricate web of interconnected influences. It can be useful to ask ourselves, ‘do my views support me and the people around me to live a life where I and others move towards a flourishing life?’

‘Flourishing’ is a word used in positive psychology. It’s defined as consisting of 5 elements: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. So, you may want to consider this: does your notion of what it means to be man support you to experience positive emotions, engagement with your work and life, supportive and healthy relationships, a sense of living a meaningful life, and a sense of accomplishment?

This is a big question, which you will probably need some time to consider. You could write your thoughts down about it, you could discuss your ideas with friends and family, and perhaps, out of this, you start to change your mind around what ‘being a man’ means to you.

As always, our counsellors and coaches are here to help. Call us if you would like to talk through your ideas of what ‘being a man’ means to you. Are these ideas helping you to flourish?

We're here to support you, contact Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

The way we view our financial situation can shape our thoughts and feelings more generally. Financial challenges can occur at many times during our lives – buying or selling a home, getting married or separated, illness, reduced work hours or redundancy. Understanding financial concepts can be confusing, but getting your finances in order will help reduce stress and get you back on track. Remember, you are not alone, and there is help available.

Here are some basic tips on reducing finance-related stress:

1) Learn to budget: If your financial situation is causing you stress, it’s vital to create a budget. Record all income and expenditure and know exactly what you spend on non-essential items. Be critical of what you are spending and cut down on any unessential items if necessary.

2) Pay off debt: Review and consolidate loans to help get them under control. Pay off your credit card debt and remember to start with the credit card with the highest interest rate.

3) Review fees: It’s important to review your bank and bank products as your life circumstances change. Compare and contrast bank fees and ensure you have the best products for your individual situation. Your bank manager can help talk you through the best options.

4) Save for a rainy day: Having an emergency or ‘rainy day’ fund can help alleviate financial stress knowing you have something in reserve. Start putting money away every month – even if it’s just a small amount, it all adds up.

5) De-stress: It’s normal to feel worried or anxious when times are hard but consider the impact financial stress is having on your life. Take time to relax and de-stress. Taking the right steps towards getting your finances in control will help ease stress.

How can Newport & Wildman help?

If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed by your financial situation, remember you are not alone. Financial coaching can help you understand and manage money by teaching you financial skills that last a lifetime. Newport & Wildman’s financial coaches will assist you in creating a personalised action plan to manage your debt and provide practical information on your options and rights. Confidential guidance and support, is available, to expertly and respectfully guide you back to financial control.

To find out more about our Financial Coaching services, click here or call us on 1800 650 204.

Friday, June 23rd is this year's Take Your Dog to Work Day. If you are lucky enough to have a well-behaved pup that can come in, make sure you get approval from your employer before you bring your pet in. With many people still working from home, we also encourage you to bring your dog and any other pets to your online meetings (with permission first of course)! 

What should I consider before taking my dog to the office?

It’s important to ensure this does not adversely impact on the health, welfare or working environment of employees, volunteers or visitors to office, or on the health and welfare of the animal or other animals in the office. For tips to make the experience run smoothly check out the RSPCA's Website.

So why bring pets into the office?

If you are an animal person, you are likely to already know that pets can boost your physical and mental health. There are some solid reasons for this.

• Pets help you to relax. Pets can promote relaxation and mindfulness. Research shows that just patting a pet can ease stress and reduce blood pressure.
• Pets provide company. They can be accepting, loyal, affectionate and even intuitive. Pets can also help feelings of loneliness.
• Pets help you to be social. Well trained pets can be a great way to meet and socialise with people. Pets can also help people who have anxiety around meeting new people and
  are great icebreakers and confidence boosters.
• Pets improve your general fitness. Try a walk and talk meeting or break up the day by getting some fresh air. Physical activity provides a natural mental health and wellbeing lift.

If you don’t own a pet, Take Your Dog to Work Day can be the perfect opportunity to gain these benefits.

Cover Photo by Samson Katt from Pexels

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Psychological safety is an integral part of health and safety at work. While companies may be aware of its importance, the process of creating a psychological safety strategy and putting it into practice can feel daunting.

The first step is understanding what is meant by psychological safety.

What is a psychologically safe workplace?

A psychologically safe workplace is one that protects people from psychological hazards. A psychological hazard is anything that could harm someone’s mental health.

This may include:

• bullying
• unrealistic workload expectations
• traumatic events or material
• conflict or poor work interactions and relationships
• poor change management
• harassment
• aggression or violence

To create a psychologically safe workplace, data is analysed to identify these and other potential psychological risks. Actions are then put in place to manage and reduce them.

Training is provided in key areas, and leaders set the tone through role modelling and managing change.

The goal is to create and nurture a company culture where:

• people feel engaged and comfortable with their work.
• employees are supported to express themselves without fear of negative outcomes.
• jobs are motivating and well-designed, and healthy workloads are maintained.
• respect is fostered between all people in the business, and inclusivity, open communication and equality are the norm.

How leaders can contribute to a psychologically safe workplace

Creating a psychologically safe workplace involves a comprehensive strategy. It requires participation and consultation at all levels of the business.

Leaders play an important role in creating and nurturing a mentally healthy work culture.

Here are some strategies that leaders can apply to achieve this.

• Foster open and positive work culture where employees feel encouraged to express concerns, opinions, and ideas.
• Recognise psychosocial hazards, such as excessive workload, lack of control, poor communication, and inadequate support systems.
• Encourage employee participation in decision-making to create a sense of influence over their work environment.
• Promote work-life balance through reasonable work hours and realistic expectations.
• Encourage utilisation of training and resources for stress management and mental health support, such as targeted learning and development modules and EAP support.
• Ensure workloads are distributed equitably.
• Promote fairness in performance evaluations, promotions, and rewards.
• Lead by example. Model inclusive behaviour by treating all employees with respect, actively listening to their concerns, and valuing their contributions.
• Collaborate with employees to address psychosocial hazards in the workplace and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies.

Integrating as many of these leadership practices as possible will encourage the creation and continuation of a psychologically safe workplace.

Do you need help creating your strategy for a psychologically safe workplace?

This is what we help our customers do. We have a range of learning and development modules and individual and integrated wellbeing services to assist you in managing psychosocial risks.

Reach out to us on 1800 650 204 or speak to your main contact at Newport & Wildman to chat about how we can help.

Shari Walton is a highly skilled senior Organisation Development Consultant committed to helping organisations thrive through creating mentally healthy workplaces. She has extensive experience designing, developing, and implementing a broad range of Leadership Development, Talent Management, and other Learning and Organisation Development interventions that drive change and support individual, team, and business success.

Shari has over 30 years’ experience in the organisation development field across Finance, IT and Higher Education sectors. This experience is complemented with formal qualifications in Human Resources, Learning & Development, Executive Coaching, along with a Graduate Diploma in Communication Management, and a Diploma in Holistic Wellness Coaching.

We often focus on our physical health, but it's important to consider and put effort into our mental health as well. Have a look at our top tips below for a kickstart or reach out to us to discuss how you can boost your wellbeing. 

If you are struggling, please reach out for help. Call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

We are here to support you, whatever the nature of your concerns. For a confidential conversation with one of our experienced clinical professionals, please contact Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

The benefits of diversity and inclusion are all around us.

Let’s start by looking at the natural world. To quote the European Commission: “Biodiversity is the key indicator of the health of an ecosystem. A wide variety of species will cope better with threats than a limited number of them in large populations. Even if certain species are affected by pollution, climate change or human activities, the ecosystem as a whole may adapt and survive.”

It’s not a huge leap to see how this quality of our natural world applies to the world of human communities and the community of ideas that those humans generate. Adapting and surviving applies just as much to individuals, groups, teams and organisations as to an ecosystem.

Start with considering what happens inside your own head. Is your habit to think the same recurring thoughts, reading, listening to, and talking about the same viewpoints all the time? Or do you sometimes entertain ways of looking at the world that are less common for you so you have an opportunity to consider situations from a different perspective?

And when we have a group of people who all come from the same background, with similar life experiences and education, these people will all tend to think the same. This might make coming to agreement a piece of cake, but it also can create shared blind spots. Group-think often occurs in teams and organisations where there is lack of diversity. Decisions don’t get questioned, the overall status quo doesn’t get challenged, and as the external environment changes, as inevitably it will, and different threats and opportunities arise, they may go unnoticed or not seen with sufficient clarity until the opportunity is missed or the threat is too great.

Because we all can have a bias for spending time with (and hiring) people who are ‘like us’, spending time considering the importance of diversity and its implications for teams, organisations and individuals who may get excluded from opportunities, is a vital ingredient in creating a well-functioning group.

Jennifer Brown’s Ally Continuum is useful when thinking where you are on the journey of diversity and inclusion. There are four phases. Phase 1 is Unaware, where you see diversity as not your concern and you don’t need to do anything about it. Phase 2 is Aware, where you realise diversity needs attention, and you are educating yourself on its importance and starting to notice how some people can be excluded because they are perceived as ‘different.’ Phase 3, Active, is when you are starting to take meaningful steps to promote diversity in your workplace and outside it. And Phase 4, Advocate, is where you see diversity as an issue that you are standing up for. If you see someone discriminated against, or you are in a team that lacks diversity, you speak up and use your position to encourage change towards a more equitable and diverse environment.

Where are you on this continuum?

And as you finish reading this article, you might also like to take a moment to consider the patterns in your thinking. Do you always think in the same way, using the same ideas and processes to solve whatever problems come your way? Or do you at times give yourself the freedom to think outside the square, and entertain ideas that are less familiar? Encouraging our own thinking ‘biodiversity’ might help you adapt and survive too. 

If you would like to discuss and reflect upon your thinking patterns, reach out to us and book an appointment. Call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

Image by vectorjuice on Freepik

Stress is a completely normal and useful part of life. Without stress, a muscle grows weak. With the right amount of stress, a muscle grows strong. But too much stress and a muscle can become injured, and then we need time for rest and recovery. Problems arise when there is too much stress. So if we experience no stress at all – there are no challenges in our life – we can become bored and even depressed.

When we face the right amount of stress - a challenge that stretches us and is manageable - that can bring an enormous amount of satisfaction, growth and learning. This keeps our mind healthy. When we face too much stress - a challenge that is overwhelming – that can wear us down. And just like when we overuse a muscle, if we don’t take time to rest and recover, we can experience ongoing pain, and the damage can become worse.

The amount of stress we experience is a result of two things – our external world (what’s happening around us) and our internal world (how we think and feel about what’s happening, as well as our physical wellbeing).  We can’t always make choices about what challenges we face, but we can always consider how we think about what is happening to us and then work at changing that.

Let’s look at a resilience model that has been found to be very helpful in managing stress. It’s called the 3-Ps. It’s designed by one of the founders of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman. The three Ps stand for Personalisation, Permanence, and Pervasiveness. They are the ways we think that increase our stress levels.

Personalisation is when we believe we are the sole source of a problem rather than considering how our circumstances are contributing. For example, if you were more organised, perhaps you could get all your work done. And perhaps your workplace practices share in the responsibility. Talking with your colleagues and manager about how work is distributed may form part of the way forward.

Permanence is believing that a difficult situation will last forever. When we are in the middle of something that is very difficult or painful, it can feel like it will never end, which makes the whole situation feel worse. But change is constant – and the difficulty will pass. Reminding ourselves to look at how a situation is constantly changing and to see it in a longer-term context can help us to begin to see a way to turn it around.

Pervasiveness is believing that a difficult situation applies to all areas of our life, not just a particular circumstance. A common example is when you say to yourself, “I’m so stupid!” as a piece of DIY falls to pieces. The truth is that perhaps you’re not the world’s greatest handyperson, but you might be fantastic at comforting a friend in need or managing a work project.

Keeping an eye on these three ways of thinking can reduce the amount of stress in your life as well as increase your resilience. Come talk to us about the way you think and how you can change it – you might become less stressed. Call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

Image by pch.vector on Freepik

Quarter 2 of the Wellbeing Calendar has launched! Thriving through change can be difficult so we have created the Quarter 2 Pack to help get you started. 

The theme for Quarter 2 is Thriving Through Change, highlighting the following key awareness days: 

• 22 April - Earth Day
• 28 April - World Day for Safety and Health at Work
• 12 May - International Nurses Day
• 17 May - International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia
• 26 May - National Sorry Day
• June - Pride Month
• 3 June - Mabo Day
• 12-18 June - Men's Health Week

Download the Quarter 2 Pack - Thriving Through Change

Access the calendar and the Q2 Pack (Poster, Infographic & Activity) via the Employee Login Area - https://newportwildman.com.au/employees/index.php

Email Template and Suggested Training & Services
The calendar along with leader resources and suggested training & services is available via the Employer Login- https://newportwildman.com.au/employers/index.php

If you have any questions, call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204 or reach out to your main contact. As always, our people are here to help support you and your people be their best in life and work.

“Yes, I’m stressed and barely sleeping. But that’s reasonable given what’s going on. My mortgage rate keeps going up month after month, I can really see the effect of inflation on how much I’m spending, and now my boss is talking about re-structuring so I’m worried about my job. How could talking with someone about it help? I don’t need a counsellor.”

We recognize that for many people speaking with a counsellor doesn’t seem like a helpful thing to do and it may feel quite daunting. Why would that help? is a very reasonable question. A recent study found that there was one main skill that counselling teaches that makes it helpful – ‘psychological flexibility.’^[1] Psychological flexibility consists of three components – all of which can be built through seeing a counsellor.

• The first is Awareness. This means noticing what is happening in the present moment… What thoughts are you having? What feelings? And what sensations are you noticing in your body?
• The second component is Openness. This means allowing any difficult thoughts and feelings that you notice just to be, without battling them. Interestingly, it’s often the battle with the difficult thoughts and feelings that grows the difficulty.
• The third component is Valued Engagement. This means knowing what matters to you, and taking steps in that direction. It involves being in contact with your goals and your values.

Awareness, Openness, and Valued Engagement can all be learnt and developed. We can change the way we think – counselling is very good at helping us do that. And when we bring these three elements more into our life, we find we have more choice and control. We are more aware of what it is worth putting our energy into.

Let’s return to the person I quoted at the beginning of this article – the person who is experiencing many stresses, and doesn’t see any point in counselling. A friend convinces them to call us, and they arrange some counselling sessions. After their first session they recognise that simply stressing about rising interest rates and cost of living doesn’t help – but action does. So they get some specialist financial counselling from us which helps them lessen their debt levels. They then speak with a nutrition counsellor, they start eating more healthily and exercising more, which in turn helps them sleep more soundly. They also speak with a career counsellor who helps them plan for their next career step.

Above all, they learn they have more say over how they feel and think than they imagined they did. They are more in control of themselves and their life. That’s why you speak with a counsellor!

If you would like to arrange an appointment, call us on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

[1] ">Steven Hayes (2022) – The most important skillset in mental health.

Photo by Negative Space

As a part of our Wellbeing Calendar's Theme of Finding Balance, below is an activity to help you focus on what you can control.

1. On a piece of paper, draw two circles – one inside the other.

2. The inner circle is the Circle of Influence where you write worries you can control.

3. The outer circle is the Circle of Concern where you write worries you cannot control.

4. The points in your Circle of Influence are where we can make proactive change in our lives by calling on our connections and strengths for a positive result. The more we focus on our Circle of Influence, the happier and more in control of our lives we will feel.

Download the Activity Flyer and other tools here.

Would you like additional support identifying what you can influence and making positive changes in your life? Contact Newport & Wildman for a confidential chat and to help you find balance. Call us on 1800 650 204.

From time to time we all encounter situations where we need to have a constructive conversation with someone. It may be that your job requires you to have these conversations with people on a regular basis. A common myth is that raising the issue might make things worse. However, a carefully constructed conversation might save things from getting worse.

Here are some tips for initiating a potentially difficult conversation:

1. Be Confident with your Concerns

It can be easy to stop ourselves from raising concerns by minimising their importance. For example, we may tell ourselves we are “just being silly” or we are “being too sensitive” or “it’s not such a big deal really”. If it is impacting on you or someone else negatively, it is important. Be clear with yourself about the reasons why you are initiating the conversation.

2. Focus on the Behaviour

Let the person know that it is their behaviour which is upsetting or concerning to you. 

3. Be Clear and Specific

Anxiety about how someone might react can lead to messages being “watered-down”. We may give a lot of positive feedback in amongst the negative, or we might talk generally to a group about behaviour that bothers us without speaking directly to the person involved. The risk is that your message will not be heard by them.

4. Listen

This can sometimes be the hard part because people can be defensive or angry after hearing your concerns and your feedback. They may attack. They may deny that there’s an issue. Let them talk. Don’t interrupt, explain, justify or defend. First, listen. There will be time to respond later.

5. Respond Calmly

Depending on how the person has reacted to your concerns remaining calm can be tricky, however, focus on clarifying the factual accuracies of what the person has said. Their feelings are subjective and you can’t change these. Confidently re-state your concerns. If you can, come to a resolution or compromise. You may need some time to think about what each other has said.

Constructive conversations are about more than winning an argument or getting your point across. They are about deepening understanding and building ways forward. For more information or to arrange an appointment to assist you with a conversation, call us on 1800 650 204.

If you are reading this, you probably work in an organisation, and if you work in an organisation you almost certainly are very aware of the passing of time as measured by a clock. On my computer screen I see the clock on the bottom right-hand corner. It’s telling me I have an hour until I need to stop writing this article so I can be somewhere else.

We arrive at meetings at agreed clock times, we catch planes, trains, buses and meet with our friends in restaurants all at agreed clock times. So it can seem that a clock and time are the same thing.

But different cultures have different ideas about time. Some cultures are more clock-time oriented, and others more activity or event-time oriented. The first looks to the clock to measure how long a task should take – it’s a more mechanical approach. The second is more focused on the group sense of how long an event takes – it's focused on how the community feels about the event and the changing environment in which the event takes place (for example, the changes as the sun rises and sets).

And then there are other time senses that we have. We all experience biological rhythms – like sleeping and waking, appetite changes, fluctuations in our body temperature, and the menstrual cycle.

Then there’s our subjective experience of time. When we are bored, time can feel like it’s dragging, and a task will never end. And then, when we are racing to complete a task it can feel like time has sped up. And when we are emersed in something we love doing, it can feel like time stops, and when we finish what we’re doing we realise hours have past.

There is much more to time than the clock. Living solely by clock time may lead to us to trying to override our biological rhythms, for example, our sleep/wake cycles. It may mean ignoring our preference for different sorts of work at different times of the day - perhaps the time you most easily think about planning is mid-afternoon. Focusing solely on clock time and our schedule may mean we don’t notice what those around us want to do at particular times, and thinking that clock-time is the only way of organising time may lead to cultural clashes and misunderstandings.

So as you move through 2023, you might want to see if you can refine your sense of time to include your own biological rhythms and preferences, the way our subjective experience of time can change depending on the task, and how a group’s sense of how long a task takes might differ from a pre-prepared schedule.

Take the time…

Would you like additional support to handle your time either at work or at home? Contact Newport & Wildman for a confidential chat. We have qualified experts that can help you thrive. Call us on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, Manager Clinical Consulting

 Image by Freepik

Newport & Wildman is your Employee Assistance Program (EAP), your proactive mental health and wellbeing service here to support you. Confidential and free for staff, we offer access to counselling, coaching and training. Utilising EAP has become even more important in recent times, with people facing long wait times for counselling appointments through their GP and with the reduction of the Medicare-funded psychology sessions occurring at the end of this year.

During the pandemic, the government increased the number of Medicare-funded psychology sessions each year from 10 to 20, recognising the impact the pandemic was having on the mental health of Australians. In the 2021-22 financial year alone, 1,023,241 additional sessions were provided by psychologists¹, highlighting the real need for support. This increase will end on the 31st of December 2022, reverting to 10 sessions.

The decision to reduce the number of Medicare sessions was based on a study from the University of Melbourne. The study suggested the current system was not providing equitable access for lower socio-economic groups and those living in regional areas. The government will convene a forum of experts and people with lived experience of mental illness early next year to assess the recommendations of the University of Melbourne report.

The danger of reducing the Medicare-funded sessions before that review is completed is increased anxiety in the community and more barriers for those with mental health concerns to receive adequate support. At Newport & Wildman, we acknowledge that people may be concerned and recognise that this change may affect you or people within your organisation. With the reduction of sessions, we encourage the use of EAPs to help bridge the gap with long wait times and to add another layer of support.

We are here ready to support you. Contact Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Marcela Slepica

Director, Clinical Services

¹ Australian Psychology Society

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

A key building block of positive psychology and wellbeing is character strengths. These 24 positive traits were determined in a 3-year research project involving 55 scientists and are manifested behaviourally, cognitively, and emotionally. They form part of the Engagement pillar of Professor Martin Seligman’s wellbeing model, and everybody has experienced at one time or other getting lost in an activity because it is so engaging. This is often referred to as “being in the zone” or in a state of “flow”, a theory introduced by Hungarian-born researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s. During this optimal flow experience, individuals feel strong, alert, in effortless control and at the peak of their abilities.

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Research proposes that everyone has 24 character strengths. These are personality qualities like creativity, honesty, humour, and perseverance. What makes everyone unique, is that some strengths come more naturally to them than they do for others.

When you complete the free scientific VIA Character Strengths Survey, your results will reveal which strengths rank highest and lowest for you. Understanding and applying your strengths will help you increase happiness levels, boost confidence, strengthen relationships and improve work performance. For leaders, they can provide greater insights into individual styles, team dynamics and contribute to developing a high-performing, effective team.

Three reasons why understanding individual strengths is a pathway to greater well-being:

1. Your highest strengths are natural happiness boosters.
   • Research refers to your top strengths as signature strengths. They are so essential to your identity that they are like your fingerprint or written signature. People notice these strengths in you, and it feels good for you to use them.
2. Lesser Strengths are not Weaknesses
   • Humans have a natural negativity bias but lesser strengths are not weaknesses, they are qualities that don’t come as easily to you as some of the other strengths in your profile.
3. Finding your Just Right in Self
   • Once you become more conscious of your strengths, you will notice you are more inclined to overuse or underuse certain strengths depending on preferences. Understanding these dynamics can help you recognise when your strengths are out of balance, and you can adjust for better outcomes, which can lead to many positive wellbeing and overall happiness.

For more information, reach out to the Newport & Wildman Team to arrange a consult with our Organisational Development Team. To arrange a counselling appointment, call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Shari Walton is an enthusiastic solution focused senior Organisation Development Consultant with extensive experience designing, developing, and implementing a broad range of Leadership Development, Talent Management, and other Learning and Organisation Development interventions that drive change and support individual, team, and business success.

Shari has over 30 years’ experience in the organisation development field across Finance, IT and Higher Education sectors. This experience is complemented with formal qualifications in Human Resources, Learning & Development, Executive Coaching, along with a Graduation Diploma in Communication Management, and a Diploma in Holistic Wellness Coaching.