Page 14 - Retail Pharmacy Assistants September 2020

12 INDUSTRY EDUCATION
A YEAR OF UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE
By Colm Maguire, Group Executive, Member Services and Innovation Group, Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
This year will long be remembered for the major change we’ve had to deal with in our personal and professional lives. But it’s how we deal with this change that’s going to have a lasting impact for most of us.
Change by its very nature can be disruptive and unsettling. The added dynamic of Covid-19 is that many decisions affecting us have been taken out of our hands. No matter how well organised you are and how well you’ve mapped out your life and career,
2020 has thrown all that planning into disarray.
But there’s no reason for the despair of thinking you’ve lost total control
of your lives. Rather it may take a readjustment in how you approach things, and that readjustment also provides opportunities for growth. After all, the one person in control
is you.
Looking after your mental health
is a critical aspect of emerging from this crisis stronger and more resilient than ever. Moreover, it’s a personal responsibility. I often use this reference with my teams around asserting that control to ensure you have the balance you need to stay healthy.
One of the first steps can be to recognise what you can control and what you can’t. This helps you to focus on the achievable. Getting stressed over things that are beyond your control helps no one at all, least of all yourself. But focusing on what you can control or influence can
be empowering.
This approach helps to put major
change into perspective. After all, look at all the change we love: that new car, the new clothes, or the excitement of going somewhere for the first time. Essentially, it’s the loss of control
of this change that’s unsettling, but absolutely normal.
As individuals we may not be
able to stop the spread of Covid-19 internationally, but on a personal level, we can take any number of steps to protect ourselves and those around us. This is empowering and helps
to keep us on a steady path in an uncertain world.
We also have to accept what we cannot change. Recognising that some matters are way beyond our control means we can shed them from our priority list. If we don’t accept what
we can’t change, we tend to keep revisiting and trying to do something about those matters.
So important is the focus on mental health that a pilot scheme has been established in NSW to help pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and pharmacy
staff better understand issues such as suicide, depression, mental illness in men, and trauma.
In your work setting, you can
take steps to help you through this pandemic and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding it.
One of the obvious, but often overlooked, steps is to talk to your fellow pharmacy workers. Talk about your fears and hopes. Talk about how you can support each other. Talk about the tips and tricks each of you are employing to help get through this.
I’m also a great believer in celebrating the positives, even if at first there don’t seem to be any.
Make a fuss of achievements, wins in the pharmacy, your parents’ accomplishments. Taking a positive approach to promoting positives
is a very strong motivator for staff and patients.
I’m reminded of how the Lenox Hill
Hospital in New York adopted this approach when it was overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients.
While the media tended to focus on mortality rates, the hospital decided to take a positive approach, celebrating each time a patient was discharged from the emergency or intensive
care sections.
They did this by piping the song Here
Comes the Sun through the hospital every time a patient was discharged. Soon cheers would be heard all around the hospital when the song was being played. It lifted moods at a dark time.
So, remember to celebrate your achievements, and make a big noise when doing so.
But a word of advice: don’t forget about yourself.
Take the time to look after yourself. Take time out to make sure you’re OK and take steps to keep healthy. Take
a short break or a holiday, even if you don’t think you need one. Often, we don’t realise that we need a break until we take one.
This was brought home to me a few weeks ago when I took some leave. Until I was away from the workplace, I didn’t realise just how badly I needed to rest and recharge my batteries. Having some time off enabled me to reassess my priorities, refocus and regroup, with the result that I returned to work refreshed and invigorated.
It was difficult to take such a break, as the normal holiday or escape seems so different, but it was essentially the ability to shift down a few gears that was crucial. Everyone was a winner.
It’s been so pleasing to see such a major shift in recent times over any stigma related to discussing mental health. We’ve all known someone affected, or have even experienced these challenges personally. Being unafraid to seek help, whether from friends and family, work colleagues or healthcare professionals, is comforting.
We all need the help of others at different times. The strength is knowing when that time is. Working in such an incredible industry with people that truly understand this issue means you have someone at work who will be able to empathise and support you.
RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • SEP 2020