Welcome to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Dedicated Line: part of your EAP, provided by your employer and delivered by Newport & Wildman.

Working With You:

Our Customer Services Team participate in mandatory ongoing cultural competency training and are available to speak with you to facilitate the referral process to one of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Counsellors, Coaches or Mentors. Please call to make an appointment between EST 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday or outside these hours to make a booking.

At Newport & Wildman our Cultural Wellbeing Team includesboth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Counsellors and Culturally Sensitive Counsellors. If appropriate our Cultural Inclusion Co-Ordinator is able to assist any individual circumstances and will work with you to identify the most culturally safe options to support you or your organisation.

Together we find the right way to provide culturally appropriate support that works for you, sharing and caring in a respectful, confidential and safe space. Having a yarn can help with the day to day challenges at home or in the workplace such as;

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Intergenerational
• Trauma
• Sadness
• Loss
• Depression
• Burnout
• Alcohol & Drug
• Financial
• Nutrition
• Family/relationships

"keeping the spirit strong through strengthening social and emotional wellbeing"

This Dedicated Support Line provides a culturally sensitive way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to access social, emotional, mental health and wellbeing support.

How to contact Newport & Wildman
Whatever the nature of your concern please feel free to call the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Dedicated Line on: 1800 861 085

Newport & Wildman employees begin their ongoing journey with cultural capability by completing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competence Training with Reconciliation NSW/Centre for Cultural Competence Australia. We are committed to ensuring the best experience for all our clients.

Newport & Wildman acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Peoples of the lands we live and work on throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, culture, spirituality and community as we pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who connect with this website.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are advised that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have since passed away.

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Emotional intelligence is a key component of effective leadership. Being in tune with your emotions and having sound situational awareness is a powerful tool for leading yourself and teams. Understanding emotional triggers, the power of gratitude, emotional agility, and empathy, are essential ingredients to strong leadership.

Social psychologist Dr Barbara Frederiksen indicates that positive emotions lead to novel, expansive or exploratory behaviours that over time manifest to meaningful long-term social and relationship benefits. Harvard Medical school psychologist Dr Susan David offers unique expertise on cultivating more agile, healthy, resilient, and authentically happy people, families, workplaces, and communities.

To live a rich and purposeful life we need to paint with the full palette of human emotions. Having emotional agility allows us to recognise and understand what emotions we are feeling and be conscious about them rather than being driven by them. It allows you to be more intentional as a leader and to encourage individuals to recognise and feel their emotions. Engagement, creativity, and innovation will flourish under this emotionally agile leadership approach.

How can you lead with emotional agility for yourself and your team? 

1. Show Up

Approach your emotions or feelings with curiosity and acceptance. It may be tempting to ignore the uncomfortable ones but face them anyway. As a leader, listen to others' concerns, acknowledge the range of emotions involved and focus on positive change.

2. Step Out

Enable autonomy over your actions and decisions by detaching from your emotions. See them for what they are, simply emotions, not who you are. Where possible label them as accurately as possible as this will help you to better understand their origins and what you can do about them.

3. Walk Your Why

Recognise your core values and use these to drive you forward. When decision-making, ask yourself whether this decision reflects your core values and long-term goals.

4. Move forward 

Introduce small, purposeful adjustments to align your mindset, motivation, and habits with your core values. Make sure that these tweaks are connected to who you want to be in your life, and as a leader. These value-centred shifts will support ongoing improvements in your life. 

Emotions keep us in tune with our inner and outer world and are an incredibly rich data source. As a leader, help your people to acknowledge their feelings, reassure them that all feelings are valid and encourage the ongoing processes of adopting emotional agility. For more information or support, reach out to your Relationship Manager to arrange a consult with our Organisational Development Team.

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.

Image from Pexels by fauxels.

The Mission Statement for R U OK? is to inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them and support anyone struggling with their life circumstances. R U OK? has resources to help create the skills for great conversations that are a normal part of your everyday check-ins with colleagues and friends. It was started by Gavin Larkin, whose father committed suicide in 1995. In 2009, Gavin chose to champion just one question - “are you OK?” - to honour his father and to try to protect other families from the pain of suicide. Working with Janina Nearn, the R U OK? movement was born.

Asking R U OK? is not just for R U OK? Day (held each year, nationally, in early September). It’s a habit for all of us to cultivate every day of the year. Checking in on someone when we notice they might not be OK assists people to feel connected, supported and hopefully prevents them from spiralling downwards.

In addition to us as individuals checking in on the people around us, we can help create an R U OK? workplace culture. An R U OK culture means that you feel comfortable asking your colleagues how they are every day - and mean it! Be ready to have a chat if they say they’re not ok – take the time to be with them to listen. Trust your gut instinct if you sense someone isn’t OK – reach out to them and have a chat.  It’s a workplace culture where leaders role model caring behaviours towards others, taking time to listen. An R U OK? culture is having time for each other and asking someone if they’re ok if you sense that they aren’t.

What are you doing to contribute to the creation of that sort of culture?

It might be that a colleague’s behaviour changes in some way. They may seem withdrawn, not their usual chatty self, they may have taken a few days off work unexpectedly, or seem irritable, and this change in behaviour continues for a week or two. It’s important to be aware that if these signs continue to be present for more than a couple of weeks it is advisable that someone see their GP or make contact with a counsellor (perhaps through their EAP program).

Asking someone R U OK? might just change a life.

For more information on how to have an R U OK? conversation, click here or to arrange an appointment for yourself, please call 1800 650 204.

There are many different personal boundaries at work that, when acknowledged and respected, make for a fairer more equitable work environment. Here, we focus on the importance of respecting workload boundaries - an issue we are hearing more of.

What is a boundary? The dictionary definition is “a line which marks the limits of an area; a dividing line”. So inherent in the word boundary is knowing our own and other people’s limits.

Let’s look at two examples.

• After Jim said ‘yes, sure, I’ll take care of that’ to the sixth person that day, he realised he had a problem. How was he going to get all this done? There was still his own work to do, and he’d promised to help all these other people. Another late night…
• Sarah was great at strategy and planning – came as second nature to her. She had risen up the ranks fast. She liked working long hours, and expected others to do the same. It wasn’t unusual to receive an email from Sarah that had been sent after midnight asking for work to be completed that same day, regardless of the other work the person had planned.

While there are many differences in their behaviours, one thing that is similar between these two people is their lack of acknowledgment of and respect for workload boundaries.  In Jim’s case, it’s lack of acknowledgement of his own boundaries. There is a saying that any strength, when taken to extremes, becomes a weakness. Jim’s wish to help others is commendable – we all like it when a colleague offers to assist us with something. But in Jim’s case, he is helping so much that his own work is suffering – and it’s quite possibly negatively affecting his own wellbeing.

In Sarah’s case, again, the ability to work long hours and bring others along for the ride can certainly help boost productivity and produce great results – but taken to extremes, it leads to others burning out, and perhaps becoming resentful that their own priorities are not being acknowledged.

Do you relate to either of these two examples?

At Newport & Wildman we counsel many people who feel pushed to do more and more, and feel it is in some ways their own failing that they can’t get all the work done. “If only I were better at time management” they say, or “If only I could be more efficient,” where the truth is that they are constantly overstepping their own boundaries, taking on more than they can handle. The other side of this is wanting others to be more resilient so they can do more. Again, absolutely nothing wrong with building a resilient team. But, acknowledging that building resilience can go hand-in-hand with looking at systemic ways that work is handled more effectively and efficiently, plus acknowledging that people have limits that if crossed impacts on their health and wellbeing, will help create a healthier organisation.

Working together to design healthy, sustainable work practices, especially as we get used to the post-lockdown combination of working from home and the office, is important so that we an all find our balance, and, in the words of positive psychology, find ways to thrive.

To arrange an appointment, please call Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Stephen Malloch, AccessEAP Senior Clinician

Photo by RODNAE Productions.

#WomensHealthWeek 5-11 September 2022

With the stress COVID has placed on everyone's lives, along with other challenges faced in 2022, it’s now more important than ever to look after your overall health and wellbeing. This September, Women’s Health Week will be a great reminder to take time out to check in on your health and to keep making positive changes that can last a lifetime.

For more information and resources visit the Jean Hailes' Women's Health Week Website. It's time to put your health first.

With so many competing demands and expectations, the struggle to keep up with both work and home commitments can be extremely stressful. When stress persists to a point that a person feels they aren’t coping, it can affect the functioning of their day-to-day life as well as their overall wellbeing. The stressors of too much ‘juggling’ together with trying to do things well and be ‘good’ at everything is impacting women and their ability to sleep, think clearly and make decisions.

If you would like to arrange an appointment for yourself call us on 1800 650 204. Find out more about our counselling service here.

It’s ok not to be ok. It’s even more ok than ever to not be ok through our current pandemic. When you find yourself consistently challenged in ways you’ve never really experienced before, over an extended period of time, it’s easy to feel drained. We are in a period of time that we can say is unique for most of us as our lives change and evolve in response to the pandemic. At the moment that you find yourself reading this take a pause and acknowledge that in spite of all the challenges you have done the best you can do, and that’s more than can be expected. Remember, “It’s ok not to be ok”.

If you need to prioritise your self-care download our Personal Tool for Keeping Mentally Healthy.

Support is available. Reach out to us here at Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Please be advised that the Self-Service Booking Portal is currently experiencing difficulties and is unable to take appointments due to a technical issue. 

To arrange an appointment, please call the Newport & Wildman 24-hour line: 1800 650 204.

Requests can also be made via email at: .

We apologise for the inconvenience and assure you we are working with our supplier to return the booking portal to operation as soon as possible.

Life is always unpredictable and to some degree, confusing. And for many of us, this is one of those times. With the ongoing pandemic, natural disasters and personal changes in our lives, it can be hard to find a way of being that doesn’t draw us into feelings of anxiety and uncertainty.

And this is where Positive Psychology comes in.

Positive Psychology is not about pretending that everything is OK, and it’s not “look on the bright side!” That sort of ‘positivity’ is not helpful and can be upsetting in certain situations. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of what helps us to flourish. And when we flourish, we are much more likely to be more creative and be better at solving complex problems and meeting adversity. The term ‘flourish’ is often used in positive psychology. It means more than just managing and getting through life. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, talks about flourishing as finding fulfilment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level.

These are ways of living that we can pursue, whatever is happening around us. Ways to move towards flourishing are summed up in the PERMAH model. You can read about PERMAH and other ways of living that help us live a full and meaningful life in our Positive Psychology tip sheet (access through the AccessMyEAP App).

Along with cultivating flourishing, it is also important to be kind to ourselves. All of us will, at times, face adversity. By cultivating self-kindness, self-forgiveness, and self-compassion, we are better able to handle and recover from adversity, and we are better able to practice kindness, forgiveness and compassion towards others. These, together with pursuing a flourishing life, can create a sturdy raft on which we can navigate unpredictable and confusing times.

WIN News 17th August 2022

Newport & Wildman Director Melita Griffin and Clinical Services Manager Dorienne Spennato spoke with WIN News yesterday. Discussing R U OK? Day, with the message to check in with those around you and to keep having ongoing meaningful conversations.

Watch the video here.

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Professor Martin Seligman, one of the world’s leading researchers in positive psychology identified that leaders who role-model positive psychology encourage a flourishing workplace, where scientific research is translated into improved leadership, better mental health, increased wellbeing and higher performance and satisfaction for individuals, improved employee engagement and retention and higher overall organisational effectiveness.

The way we work has shifted dramatically recently with hybrid working, remote teams and virtual interactions making positive workplaces more important than ever before. The ability of leaders to focus on strengths is crucial to achieving wellbeing.

Humans are hardwired to pay attention to negative experiences, and we have a propensity to learn from and use negative information more than positive information. Individuals may be unaware of what influences happiness in their life from one day to the next. At the heart of positive psychology lies the belief that people can lead happier, more meaningful, and fulfilling lives by moving their focus away from the negatives toward a more balanced perspective.

Many positive psychology exercises, such as gratitude journaling, lead to positive outcomes and the below exercise will help leaders find meaning and value from their own experiences by exploring their strengths and how they can utilise them to achieve desired goals and develop a sense of meaning and fulfilment.

Write the story of your past:

1. Describe the challenges you have overcome
2. Outline the personal strengths that helped you.

Describe your life and who you are right now:

1. How do you differ from your past self?
2. What are your strengths now?
3. How have your strengths evolved?
4. What challenges are you facing?
5. How can you use your strengths to overcome these challenges?

Write about your ideal future: 

1. How will your life be different than it is now?
2. How can you use your strengths to achieve this ideal future?
3. How will your strengths grow?
4. What kind of person do you hope to become?
5. Finally, how can you go about achieving these things?

Discovering and nurturing a strengths-based approach will help to shift negative outlooks to positives. Creating meaning through work will encourage motivation, high engagement, and a sense of thriving as well as build strong interpersonal relationships and resilience. For more information or support, reach out to your Relationship Manager to arrange a consult with our Organisational Development Team.

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.

Image from Pexels by fauxels.

Creating Psychologically Safe Workplaces

Thursday, 8^th September is R U OK? Day and Newport & Wildman would like to support you and your people to feel confident asking “R U OK?” and give you the tools to keep the conversation going. The ongoing pandemic, natural disasters and tragic events over the last year have been challenging for everyone, and this September we are focused on helping people have these conversations and feel confident to respond if someone says they are not OK.

R U OK? Day is often the busiest day of the year for us here at Newport & Wildman. Given the challenges we are facing, we expect this year to be the same. Training sessions sell out quickly. 

To book in any of these options or if you have any questions contact the Newport & Wildman Team today.

R U OK? Onsite Clinician

We know that R U OK? conversations throughout September and into Mental Health Month in October can raise difficult emotions for your people. Arranging an R U OK? Onsite provides a proactive setting for your people to access one on one support or in a group. A clinician onsite can provide a timely reminder to your people about their access to EAP and help increase engagement and trust in the service. They can also help to reduce the stigma in accessing an EAP service or can be used in response to a particular concern around a work situation. 

Details:

• • Half Day or Full Day Onsite. Contact the Newport & Wildman Team for a quote.
  • Five business days’ notice prior to the onsite delivery is required to arrange this service.
  • Delivery - Onsite support can be arranged virtually or Face to Face (F/F) if a COVID-Safe environment is available for the clinician and attendees. If you need to change your R U OK? Onsite from F/F to Zoom, please refer to our Cancellation Policy^[i]  to provide adequate notice.

R U OK? Check-in's

R U OK? Check-in’s proactively offer your people an opportunity to debrief and gain support to positively impact their wellbeing and improve their resilience and coping strategies. They are delivered by an experienced clinician over the phone and are 30 or 60 minutes in duration. The session gives your people the chance to speak with an objective professional, be listened to in a non-judgemental way and assist them in identifying any strategies for coping. A follow-up session can be organised by utilising individual's EAP sessions.

Details:

• • 30 minute or 60 minute pro-active wellbeing check-ins – via the phone.
  • Contact the Newport & Wildman Team for a quote.
  • Available across September, October & November.
  • Ten business days’ notice prior to first check-in is required to arrange this service.

R U OK? Zoom Training

We are excited to offer a 1-hour Live Zoom Training Session that brings together the 4 steps of an R U OK? conversation, how to improve your emotional intelligence and what to do in the event you become an "accidental counsellor". 

Face to Face Option (F/F): This session can be run F/F if COVID-19 restrictions are not in place and a COVID-Safe environment is available for the trainer and attendees. If you need to change your training from F/F delivery to a Zoom session, please refer to our Cancellation Policy^[i] to provide adequate notice. 

Details:

• Contact the Newport & Wildman Team for a quote.
• Due to high demand, training for the 8th of September is full but please reach out to the Newport & Wildman Team to discuss later dates.

DOWNLOAD TRAINING OUTLINE HERE

R U OK? Recorded Webinar

Asking R U OK? is important every day. With this recorded Webinar, you can share this important message throughout September and beyond. This Webinar focuses on the important steps in having the R U OK? conversation and how to approach someone if they say they are not OK. 

Details:

• • 30 Minutes. Available from the 1st of September. Unlimited views.
  • To access the webinar on R U OK? Day, purchase by the 6^th of September.
  • This can be purchased for only $300 + GST or 2 TFF hours from your pre-purchased allotment.

DOWNLOAD WEBINAR OUTLINE HERE

To book in any of these options contact the Newport & Wildman Team today.

 ^[i] Cancellation Policy:

Training- Newport & Wildman awareness and training sessions are facilitated by qualified Newport & Wildman professionals who dedicate time in addition to their counselling responsibilities to develop, design and deliver training which will meet your Organisation’s specific needs. Therefore, cancellation / re-scheduling or change in delivery mode of planned sessions with less than 72 hours’ notice will incur a fee of 50% of total fee; notification less than 48 hours’ will be charged at between 50% and 100% of the total fee and notification with less than 24* hours’ business hours’ will be charged at 100% of total fee. These fees are designed to protect Newport & Wildman against loss of revenue that would otherwise be earned with adequate time to re-book the Facilitator and make the relevant and required changes. * excludes weekends

Onsite Clinician- Newport & Wildman onsites are facilitated by qualified Newport & Wildman professionals who dedicate time in addition to their counselling responsibilities. Therefore, cancellation / re-scheduling or change in delivery mode of planned onsites with less than 72 hours’ notice will incur a fee of 50% of total fee; notification less than 48 hours’ will be charged at between 50% and 100% of the total fee and notification with less than 24* hours’ business hours’ will be charged at 100% of total fee. These fees are designed to protect Newport & Wildman against loss of revenue that would otherwise be earned with adequate time to re-book the clinician and make the relevant and required changes. * excludes weekends

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

We know we need sleep but how do we get a good night's sleep? 

It's important to have sufficient, regular, good quality sleep so we can function effectively in our busy lives and help to maintain strong, robust immune systems. Nine hours a day is the standard health professionals suggest while realising that for many people, because of multiple competing demands, this is often difficult to achieve. The importance of short “nana naps” cannot be underestimated, as well as short, still “zone out times” during the day to help us to refresh our brains and bodies. If we review our sleep pattern there are probably some small things we can do to make our routine healthier – and we’re likely to then be surprised by the difference they make.

Some Useful Tips

• Aim to go to bed at a similar time as often as you can so you can have enough hours to help repair and heal the body from the stressors of the previous day.
• Spend a quiet period immediately prior to turning in to help your body and mind settle.
• A warm bath or shower before bed can trick the body into calming down, loosening.
• Get to know your body and the effects of alcohol, spicy food and other stimulants too close to your bedtime.
• It is preferable to keep your bedroom as distraction-free zones - no phones, TVs, iPads etc.
• Darkening the room so your body automatically prepares itself for rest can be helpful.
• If listening to music, keep the volume low enough and the type of music soothing enough, so you are likely to drift off.
• If you regularly wake up during the night and have difficulty falling back to sleep, remember that it may help to get up, have some water or a soothing tea, sit and quietly breathe, rather than lying in bed tense and frustrated that you are awake. Once we notice you are feeling more soothed and settled return to bed.
• Some people find it helps to read for a while or have a shower before trying again. It is to do with interrupting the pattern of tension and trying something different that may help to soothe your mind and body.

It is worth formulating your own list of practical, healthy, accessible, common sense ways to soothe your body and mind, so you can get optimised times of rest and rejuvenation.

We all know it's essential to prioritise eating well, exercise and relaxation in this incredibly stressful year but it can be a little easier said than done. Looking after yourself requires a multi-layered approach so below are some tips to help get you back on track.

Exercise 

• Exercise provides a mood boost and a more energised outlook on life thanks to the release of endorphins. Exercise can help to lift low mood.
• Exercising with a buddy, or as part of a team, provides a sense of belonging through the sharing of common interest. It also helps motivate and keep you on track toward your health goal.
• Participating in a sport or reaching a personal physical goal promotes a sense of mastery, accomplishment and increases self–esteem. Set yourself a physical goal no matter what your current fitness level is. Remember tackling small ‘chunks’ of a larger goal will see you mastering your chosen activity in no time! For example, commit to a 20-minute power walk each morning and increase this by 10 min increments each week until you are walking an hour a day.
• Exercise improves cognitive function. It has been proven decision-making and problem-solving ability improves after exercise. We all know the feeling of going out for a walk and coming back with a ‘clear’ mind. Some may even choose to use their lunch break as an hour to hit the gym, go for a jog, walk or train in a group.

Sleep

• A good night's sleep helps foster both mental and emotional resilience. Chronic sleep disruptions set the stage for negative thinking, depression, anxiety and emotional vulnerability. Being physically active throughout the day can help you get a restful sleep. See here for more tips to sleep well. 

Nutrition

• There is a growing body of evidence to demonstrate that the food we eat affects our mental health. For example, dietary changes have been successfully trialled in the treatment of clinical depression. The positive effects of good gut health also extend to improved mental performance, something to think about!
• Newport & Wildman offers the opportunity to receive a consultation with a nutritionist for advice about dietary changes to better support wellbeing. One nutrition consultation is part of your EAP session entitlement.

Water

• An adult can lose up to 2.5 litres of water daily through the lungs as water vapour, through the skin as perspiration, and through the kidneys as urine. If you do not drink enough fluids to replace this loss you will get the symptoms of dehydration, including irritability, loss of concentration and reduced mental functioning. Replace fluid with drinks such as water and non-caffeinated herbal teas. Aim for about 2.0 litres each day, and increase water consumption on very hot days or when you have been exercising.

Alcohol

• Alcohol has a depressant effect on the brain and can result in rapid worsening of your mood. Also, the body uses important nutrients to process alcohol; those who consume alcohol excessively may suffer from vitamin deficiencies, which can in turn impact mood and overall health. Limit your alcohol to special occasions and drink moderately, avoid binge drinking altogether.

For more information or to arrange an appointment, please contact Newport & Wildman on 1800 650 204.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

We’re kind to friends and our colleagues. We encourage our children to be kind. So why is it hard to turn that lens of kindness back onto ourselves? Are we are being selfish, wasting time with self-care? We know how hard it can be, especially during a pandemic, to be nice to ourselves but if we drive ourselves on relentlessly, something will give.

At Newport & Wildman, we talk to a lot of people about their ‘stress signature’. How do you know if you’re stressed? Stress shows up in our bodies (headaches, racing heart, insomnia), in our thoughts (excessive worry and catastrophising), behaviours (drinking to relax, not sleeping well) and relationships (being snappy with people, reactive to situations that normally slide right past us). 

Stress can be pretty awful, but it has reasons for putting us on edge. That surge of adrenaline when we are in danger tells our heart to pump blood to our limbs. Non-essential systems like digestion shut down (hence that sinking feeling in our gut when we are scared). This allows us to fight our way out of danger, or flee. Which is good when confronted with something dangerous but not so useful in our day-to-day lives. If we are constantly on edge, our fight or flight status leaves us exhausted. The stress hormone, cortisol, is key to this defence system but long-term it plays havoc with our bodies – blood sugar and blood pressure skyrocket, memory is affected, higher levels at night create insomnia.

By identifying our personal stress signatures, we can try and intervene to minimise the short and long term impacts on our lives. This can be as simple as taking a lunch break (not working while you eat), or making sure you have a real weekend with people you care with (not always checking emails). We all know the concept of self-care; eat well, exercise, relax, social connection, get enough sleep. It’s hard to fit what feels like downtime into our busy lives, but the benefit is huge in terms of our health, sanity, quality time with family and friends, and increased clear thinking, which means higher productivity.

For more tips on Self-care and managing stress during the pandemic, click here.

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Conflict is a continuum. Not enough can lead to apathy, artificial harmony, individuals suppressing their wants and needs and too much can lead to loss of self-confidence, disengagement, depression, break-down of work relationships or lack of productivity.

As a leader, how you manage smaller conflicts will impact how many escalate into serious conflicts such as severe employee relations issues, staff turnover, low employee engagement, and even legal claims.

Conflict may arise due to a range of factors including miscommunication, lack of information, conflicting goals, different values or unequal power and access to resources. Whilst conflict is a natural workplace phenomenon, if managed well it can be beneficial for an organisation as it can stimulate diversity of thought, development of more mature and meaningful interpersonal relationships and contribute to innovation.

Consider a recent conflict you may have found yourself in and self-evaluate your response using this checklist:

We each have a preferred, or default, way of dealing with issues of conflict and although this can serve us well in certain types of situations, we may need to consciously adjust our style and draw on the skills associated with a different conflict style at times. Developing a broader range of interpersonal skills will help improve your ability as a leader to effectively resolve conflicts. Consider adopting some of the ideas identified in the above checklist and proactively look for opportunities to bring these into your future interactions.

For more information or support, reach out to the Newport & Wildman Team to arrange a consult with our Organisational Development Team.

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 of 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.

Our counselling services are conducted in an inclusive and non-judgemental space utilising the specialisations of our counsellors, psychologists, and social workers to the very best advantage. Our LGBTQIA+ Support Line is answered by trained and supportive consultants. We will be using pronouns to identify ourselves and we’ll be asking our clients how they would like to be addressed. We go a step further as Newport & Wildman will also provide ACON’s Pride in Health + Wellbeing Program training and support for all of our people, to ensure that communications, policy, documents and procedures are in line with best practice.

Those calling the Support Line will be offered counsellors that we have verified as being trained and/or have experience working with the LGBTQIA+ community, not only for issues related to gender and sexuality but also a broad understanding of the barriers, obstacles and generally different issues that LGBTQIA+ community experiences. Please feel free to make specific requests in order for us to find the most suitable counsellor. Our Customer Services Consultants will work hard to use culturally appropriate language and we welcome feedback to continually learn and improve our service.

We want people to feel they can be who they are and feel they belong.

Call the LGBTQIA+ Support Line on 1300 349 950

It’s another NAIDOC week celebration. The theme for this year – 2022 is as depicted in the above poster. It is a fitting theme as it encourages everyone that believes in what NAIDOC stands for to embrace just that, to GET UP! STAND UP! AND SHOW UP! on all that we have decided to achieve for our people and our communities. The fact is we cannot afford to rely on others to bring about much needed changes we so desire. Any desired achievements lie squarely on our shoulders, both old, and young emerging leaders of our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people. As the theme calls us to do, Let us all - Get Up, Stand Up and Show Up where and when it matters most.

Now is the time to consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, organisations and community on the services and resources that best meet the needs of our people.

The tides are slowly moving and as the slogan says, we must be prepared to Get UP! Stand Up, and Show Up for without a united front we will remain standing where we find ourselves today.

 Lydia Gah, Holistic Counsellor and Coach

Traumatic events disrupt lives physically and psychologically, creating intense emotional distress for individuals, families and whole communities. Organisations play a vital and valuable role in assisting and supporting their employees and their families in the immediate aftermath and in the days, weeks and months following tragic events.

The immediate focus is to ensure that everyone is safe. At this present time, particularly with intense media coverage and access to information on the internet, it’s important to acknowledge that this is a heightened state of emotion for everyone involved. It’s important to be aware that everyone will respond differently and everyone’s needs will be different, initially and over time. Being prepared to provide initial and long term support for people will enhance and promote their own personal coping strategies and resilience.

What your people will need right now is (download pdf version here):

• If needed, allow additional time at home to spend time with family and friends - this helps them to feel safe and connected, and reassure others of their safety.
• Make sure your people have access to support information and numbers - specifically the EAP and any other services you may have in place.
• Give people assurance that affected families will be supported in some form or another.

Over the coming days, and in time, what your people will need is for you to provide simple and accurate information on how to access services, specifically encourage, and make it easy to speak with a professional counsellor. Most people will not want to speak to a counsellor in the initial days or weeks as they support each other. It is in the long term when people need support from a counsellor or their Employee Assistance Program.

Create an environment that allows people to talk amongst themselves about fears and hopes related to the tragic events. Openly sharing with others has been known to promote personal recovery. There is also comfort in a shared community supporting one another.

Be mindful and respectful of individual needs. Some people may feel uncomfortable or scared of sharing their feelings. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel.

There may be feelings of anger and hopelessness; there will intense feelings of anxiety and fear.

• Establish an open-door policy that allows people to seek the appropriate care when needed.
• If possible and when appropriate try to establish normal routines as soon as possible.
• Encourage people to communicate their needs, rather than assume you know what their needs may be.
• Maintain communication if an employee is away for any length of time.

An incident of this nature has the power to entirely consume those involved, especially when it has an impact on one’s feeling of safety and one’s family. As leaders and managers, it is within our control to provide support, reassurance and caring. For further guidance download the pdf or call our Manager Support Hotline on 1800 650 204.

Productive conversations take time. They contain personal reflection and emotional self-management, perhaps also preparation. They certainly utilise active listening, a desire to be clear, to collaborate and to follow-up. Rushing is the enemy of a constructive conversation.

Yet conversational skills are almost never taught in schools, and are actively being eroded with the ever increasing modalities available to us to communicate in short-hand – texting, emailing, instant chat (often with auto-suggest). Actively building your conversational skills, and taking time with others to have these conversations, takes effort. But it’s effort well spent. It says ‘I want to understand you and build ideas and ways forward with you, it’s important to me, and I’m willing to invest the time to do it.’ As a leader, the way you converse with those around you lets people know the degree to which you value them (or not).

There are important elements in a constructive conversation. Here are some of our top tips-

Most important is the ability to listen. Listening is not just something we do as we impatiently wait our turn to speak next. Active listening is something that feeds our understanding of the other person and the situation they are describing. We listen with our ears and eyes – not jumping to conclusions, and not being busy in our mind creating the next thing we are going to say. We are curious and patient. As the saying goes, active listening is not listening to respond. It’s listening to understand.

Empathy and compassion are important. Empathy is our ability to take the perspective and feel the emotions of another – to stand in another’s shoes. Compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. A constructive conversation has within it the wish to help the other person express themselves clearly. Perhaps we ask questions to help this process, perhaps we check our understanding of what the other person is saying and feeling – for example, “it sounds like you are disappointed because...”, or perhaps we simply stay silent and listen without judgement.

Don’t over-talk. If you have explained what you want to say, stop. There is no need to say the same thing in three different ways just to fill the space (unless the other person asks for clarification). Over explaining can deaden a conversation.

Be genuine. Ulterior motives are often felt before they are heard. It puts people on guard and diminishes trust. Trust is built when the emotions you express are authentic, and your actions are in harmony with your words.

All these elements in a constructive conversation become even more important when there is conflict – actual or potential. To find out information about constructive conversations when there is conflict, you can refer to our tip sheet “Conversations that help us move through conflict.” (This resource can be accessed via the AccessMyEAP App or Login Areas)

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

Cover Image - Pexels Photo  by Ketut Subiyanto