See our 10 Tips for Building Resilience below.

For assistance or more information on our Stress Awareness and Building Resilience Webinars & Training, speak with your Relationship Manager today.

There is a plethora of information available on sleep, it's in the media, dispensed by family and friends and of course at the touch of a link via “Dr Google”! It can be overwhelming sifting through numerous and sometimes conflicting articles. What sleep routine should we follow? How many hours constitutes enough sleep and how much is too much? Here at AccessEAP, our clinical team have put on their myth-busting gear and provided simple, actionable information on getting some important shut-eye.

We all need sleep and it is often the thing that when we are busy we cut down on, however sleep is essential to our wellbeing and to our coping. It enables us to physically and cognitively recover and integrate things that have happened during the day. It helps us recover from daily stress and restore energy, without our recommended 7 to 9 hours sleep (for adults aged 18-64 [1]) over time this can lead to an increase of physical pain, anxiety and depression as well as compromising our immune system and general energy level [2].

A normal sleep cycle is 90 minutes and during this time our body temperature drops, muscles relax and heart rate and breathing slows. The cycle includes dreaming REM (rapid eye movement) that enhances learning, memory and enhances positive emotional health, which are all vital to us functioning to the best of our ability during the workday.

Research by Sleep Health Foundation [3] found that 33-45% of Australian adults are sleep deprived most nights, causing irritability, fatigue and undermines our productivity and relationships. The study found women are more likely than men to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, while men are more likely to be diagnosed with sleep apnoea, where breathing repeatedly stops and starts, causing sleep disturbance. A sleepy fatigued person is accident prone, judgement impaired and more likely to make mistakes and poor decisions [4] whether that’s at home or in the workplace.

Serotonin is released during sleep (not stored in the body) and is a mood regulator for general wellbeing. Also, weight gain can be exacerbated by not getting enough sleep because insulin is produced in the middle of the night which assists in food digestion. If we are tired we tend to overeat to gain energy. Another health implication supporting the benefit of sleep is the release of the hormone melatonin that suppresses the development of tumours and assisting the nervous system against degenerative diseases [5].

- Awareness and education is the key for developing a good understanding of mental health and how to support employees who are at risk. Develop and implement policies that raise awareness of mental health and work towards reducing stigma in the workplace. Leaders and managers talking about mental health openly and honestly goes a long way towards acceptance of mental health in the workplace. This in turn helps to build empathy for co-workers and an acknowledgement that there may be high stress levels in the workplace that impacts on individuals and their wellbeing.

 - A culture of trust and support is a great place to start. It is critical we all work towards reducing the stigma so employees can feel safe to talk about their mental health without fear of consequences and trusting that there will be help and support. The Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance is a national initiative to encourage workplaces to become mentally healthy and is a great source of information for helping employers determine how they can improve workplace mental health.

- Develop a long term mental health strategy, addressing policy and providing mental health resources in order to address areas of bullying, poor decision making, long working hours, inadequate communication and job insecurity.

- Protective factors can be developed and implemented, such as training that is related to leadership, positive morale, collaborate decision making, good communication and team collaboration. The evidence shows that acceptance and good working relationships, especially with managers, are a strong protective factor.

- An integrated approach to wellbeing. There is no one way to improve mental health in the workplace, but an action plan that develops and implements supportive measures to help improve wellbeing, both physical and mental, has been shown to help improve employee productivity, lower absenteeism and promote a positive workplace culture.

International Women's Day is held each year on the 8th of March. This year's theme is #EachforEqual.

An equal world is an enabled world.

Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements.

Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

Imagine that your number one priority is to hire a new recruit at your organisation. 100s of applications land of your desk. You immediately throw away every second CV without looking at it. Why would you disregard half of your potential recruits without even assessing their skills?

If this was 1920, not 2020, you would have been seen as a manager with the right mindset. It would have been common to omit applications based on gender. Only men have the right abilities for the world of business – according to early 20^th century management training. So you ignore half of the potential workforce!

From the 21^st century, this thinking looks archaic. So strange it would almost be funny. So we are better than that now, we want to believe. And yet not always. Women hold 14.1% of chair positions and 26.8% of directorships, and represent 17.1% of CEOs and 31.5% of key management personnel¹. 34.0% of boards and governing bodies have no female directors. By contrast, only 0.9% had no male directors².

With International Women’s Day on the 8^th of March and Each for Equal as the theme. “An equal world is an enabled world. How will you help forge a gender equal world? Celebrate women's achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.” I ask myself “how am I doing as a business leader?”.

Research shows that companies continue to exhibit bias by hiring based on privilege, school, skin colour, postcode, ethnicity and religion. While there is anti-discrimination legislation in place, it is almost impossible to prove that particular candidates were hired over others based on ethnicity, religion or gender. Some female dominated industries are hard for men to break in to, so gender bias runs both ways.

While it might feel as if 2019  has just wound up, we are already in March of 2020. How did that come around so fast?

This may have felt like a strange, and at times tense, summer in Australia. Some people are coming back to work feeling more exhausted than when they went on holiday. Whether you are a community directly impacted by fires or somewhere kilometres from it all but seeing the impact on the news, it has been the overarching story of the new decade. 

This is a time to get to know your community and to look after each other. Being mutually supportive at this time of year can help us to get back into the swing of life.  As well as being there for colleagues and friends, helping other people is a great technique of self care. We get an emotional boost when we are kind to others and when we offer support to others – it makes us feel connected, and strengthening social bonds allows us to draw on the support from others when we feel personally or professionally overwhelmed.

AccessEAP are part of your professional community. We offer 24-hour phone counselling if you feel that you are in a crisis, as well as providing face to face counselling at a few days notice. The ability to share your worries can help you to gain perspective and find solutions, and as your organisation allows you to have access to multiple sessions with a counsellor each year, we can provide an outlet valve for the stresses that modern workplaces can bring. As many of us try to balance multiple responsibilities including carer roles it is helpful to remember that AccessEAP is part of the network that is here to support you in supporting those around you.

Work stress often starts small – restless nights, feeling uncharacteristically snappy, or blue. Being on the lookout for changes in how you feel before they become significant can make it easier to address problems. Making contact with an AccessEAP counsellor earlier can make returning to normal smoother. And if there are issues that are impacting on your organisation, we also provide training to organisations on a range of issues. We have training which can be delivered to your organisation or by webinar, with topics like Resilience through Change, Managing Challenging Behaviours, and Burnout and Compassion Fatigue. We offer direct support for managers who are holding teams together, by phone and in-person as needed through our Manager Support Hotline.

Harmony Week on the 15th-21st of March, celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Harmony Day which falls on the 21st of March coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

With around 45 per cent of Australians born overseas or with at least one parent who was, Harmony Week has always been a popular way for workplaces to showcase and acknowledge their cultural diversity. Celebrating Harmony Week can take any form you wish – big or small, simple or challenging. Events can be a simple multicultural morning tea or a guest speaker at an all staff meeting. It creates an opportunity to think, talk about and recognise how our differences and our similarities make our workplace stronger.

For more information see the Harmony Week Website.

 At AccessEAP we will be celebrating with a week of lunches where everyone brings a dish on their designated day and shares the background behind it. It is such a wonderful opportunity to learn something new about your colleagues and of course try some amazing food!

Last year I had the pleasure of seeing research professor and social worker Brene Brown when she came to Australia. Her ‘Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.’ approach really resonated and made me think about those all-important but difficult conversations that we all need to have at some point.

Being clear and assertive, in a way that enables you to state your needs or deliver constructive feedback, without attacking or offending the other person can be challenging and confronting, thus often it’s easier to avoid these kinds of conversations. Unfortunately, avoidance doesn’t mean the issue goes away, to use the metaphor of sweeping something under the rug, we end up with a very lumpy rug, that people start tripping over. Related to this is the fear of offending others or hurting their feelings. In a challenging conversation, it’s easy to err on the side of a white lie. How do we weigh up the conflicting ideas of not hurting someone’s feelings with a desire, to be honest?

Unfortunately, the outcome of avoiding or “softening” the issue can drag out the pain, and similarly, we can do more harm than good if we are not clear in our meaning. Sparing someone’s feelings by not saying what we mean leaves the situation unresolved. If we want someone to do something different but don’t clearly state what our needs are, resentment will build when there is no change. We risk veering into passive-aggressive communication styles if we dance around expressing our needs and then become frustrated when our underlying (unspoken!) intent is not acted upon.

I can’t help thinking about the Band-Aid analogy. If a difficult conversation needs to happen, doing it promptly and expressing the situation clearly is, in the long term, less painful than dancing at the edges. If you need to tell an employee that they are underperforming on a task, bring it to their attention sooner rather than later: if you delay, they can reasonably ask why this is suddenly a problem. You waste time and emotional energy for both if you have to back-track and say that the behaviour has been an issue for some time. A reasonable question from the employee could be ‘Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you thought there was a problem?’ Trying to explain that you didn’t want to hurt their feelings is unlikely to help if they are already upset. Saying you hoped that the situation would resolve itself can lead them to ask how they are expected to resolve a situation when they didn’t even know it was a situation. Fair call! And all because you thought you were being kind.

Similarly, your manager might ask you to take on a new project that the organisation has just been given. Hoping that you can accommodate it into your workload – because you want to be seen as pulling your weight, accepting challenges, a team player etc. – can backfire down the track if it turns out you didn’t have the time to fit it in after all. Having to go back to your boss and explain that the new project has fallen over could have been avoided if the less comfortable conversation (‘Sorry, I really can’t fit that in on top of my current workload’) had happened rather than hoping you would somehow make it work.

From time to time we all encounter situations where we dislike a person’s behaviour and we feel we need to say something. 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.

Constructive Conversations Training - Wellbeing Calendar Hot Topic

To arrange a training session for your organisation, please speak to your Relationship Manager.

Here are some tips for initiating a potentially difficult conversation:

Start the year off well, with our tips for self motivation.

1. Revisit your New Year’s resolutions

2. Think of undesirable tasks as a means to an end

3. Think about all the ways in which your job benefits others

4. Set goals

Chances are, at some time in your life, you've made New Year Resolutions and then broken them only to repeat the cycle the following year. It is common for people to get caught up in a pattern of resolving to make important changes across life and then not following through. This year, keeping these few simple tips in mind may help to increase your chances of success.

Pick Realistic Goals

The surest way to fall short of your new year’s resolution is to set your goals too high. Remember to keep your goals realistic, small and achievable.

Define Those Goals

A common pitfall for people is that they are too vague about what they want to achieve. Spending time developing a specific, concrete action plan with the details of each small step will help increase your chances of success.

• What's the most important thing to you? 
• What were your highlights for 2019?
• What would you like this year to look like?
• If you could only make one change, what would it be?
• What do you want to do more of? 
• What would you like to change? 
• What obstacles do you need to overcome? 

The most amazing miracle of every New Year is this: In the New Year, great things will always happen to us! Here, the New Year makes us taste this wonderful feeling, and this feeling gives us power!― Mehmet Murat ildan

As a trusted partner your EAP is here to help: Remind your employees about their confidential EAP service and let us help you support your people. For further guidance call our Manager Support Hotline on 1800 818 728.

We are constantly faced with numerous distractions, but making a conscious effort to “be present” for your children has been identified as an important part of parenting. Our undivided attention is often at a premium but setting aside time to connect with your child is like anything; it gets easier with practice and improves on each occasion.

If you’re not sure where to start, see if our tips can help you out.  

1. Slow down.

Rushing often leads to miscommunication. Slowing down helps to allow time to think things through and react less. Children thrive when parents are consistent in the messages they give around discipline, values and the child’s important place in the family. Dedicating time together, without a particular plan or agenda allows for the things that your children want or need to tell you, surface. 

2. Smell the roses.

Stopping to smell the roses is one way of slowing down and appreciating the little things. Mindfulness practice takes this concept and runs with it. Notice the aroma of your coffee in the morning or the kid’s warm chocolate milk, the laughter or singing of children and the silly things they say, the texture of a pet’s fur under your touch. Noticing sensory experiences can help to keep you in the present moment. It can also help to recognise and acknowledge happy moments by saying them out loud, kids will feel it but when it is said out loud it is powerfully reinforced.

3. Single-task.

Despite popular thinking, none of us are made for multi-tasking [1]. Undivided attention is just that and it can be incredibly rewarding to be single-minded in your approach to time with your children. It allows the subtle nuances of a situation to be recognised and celebrated and curiosity and creativity to flourish.

As we approach the December period and prepare for the festivities, it’s easy to become distracted with long ‘to-do’ lists; calendars booked up with extra social events and perhaps finalising work in preparation for a well-earned break. These distractions can impact on our relationships with the people we care about most, so here are some tips for maintaining positive relationships during the festive season.

1. Take Time to be Present

2. Give Hugs

3. Acknowledge Feelings First

4. Give Compliments

5. Re-connect

6. Find Common Ground

7. Be Inclusive

8. Respond don’t React

9. Connect to Values

10. Add Humour

For the full tips, download our Postcard: 10 Tips for Staying Calm & Connected

AccessEAP wishes you all the best for the Festive Season. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you and look forward to another great year creating mentally healthy workplaces in 2020.

Please be assured our counselling and onsite services are available 24/7, 365 days a year however our other business functions observe the Australian public holidays and a short break from 25th December to 2nd January 2020.

Humans are naturally social creatures, and contact is necessary for wellbeing. While the holiday season is painted as a joyous, busy time with gift-giving, parties and holidays, for some people the festive season can be a time of sadness and loneliness.

There is pressure to have fun, spend time with family and loved ones but for many people, this time of the year reminds them of those they may have lost or who are ill and struggling. Often the message we receive is that everyone is happy but it’s the time of the year where sad feelings become magnified.

December is usually a month for an increase in the number of people seeking professional counselling services for depression and suicidal ideation. Lifeline is expecting more than 28,000 Australians to reach out to Lifeline’s helpline over the Christmas period.

If you are heading into the holiday season feeling lonely, recognise that many of us suffer from loneliness, especially if we have been through a bereavement, a relationship breakdown, are estranged from family or suffer from physical or mental health challenges. It’s easy for our minds to get caught up in what we do not have as opposed to what we do.

Try to avoid the hype, acknowledge that it’s a hard time of the year. Think about activities and things you can do to help you get through this time.

In November we highlight the very important topic of Domestic and Family Violence. We were disappointed to hear that White Ribbon Australia have made the difficult decision to close their doors, and at AccessEAP we are committed to continuing to stand against this pressing and prevalent issue in society. The 25th of November marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and we will continue to speak out against violence in our society. We will continue to raise awareness and support you, our customers, via training and organisational consultancy.

Domestic & Family Violence is often referred to as the “hidden crime”. The statistics indicate that women are the main victims of Domestic Violence in 70% of the cases. One in three women experiences physical violence and almost one in five experience sexual violence in their lifetime, most often from an intimate partner. One woman in Australia is killed per week as a result of Domestic Violence. We do acknowledge same-sex violence and other forms of family violence and we encourage all workplaces to join us in focusing on this important social issue.  

Violence against women results in major health, social and economic consequences for individual women, their families, organisations and society. It has significant effects on women’s physical and mental health as well as their material and financial stability. There are also considerable economic costs to individuals affected, employers and society.

While these statistics are sobering and deeply concerning, you may be wondering why this is a workplace issue. The statistics tell us that a significant number of women experience violence in their workplace from known colleagues and peers; more than 60 per cent of women report experiencing some form of violence at work and 75 per cent report experiencing unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour at work. However, the actual prevalence may be higher because there is evidence that many women do not seek help or report violence when it occurs. 

Domestic & Family Violence does have implications for organisations, including an increase in staff turnover, absenteeism (an employee’s time away from work due to illness) and presenteeism (an employee who is physically at work but not extremely productive).  It also often decreases work performance due to its impact on mental health and wellbeing and may extend to staff morale if it occurs in the form of sexual harassment. This can extend to an organisation’s reputation.

Following on from our CEO Feature, Domestic Violence, A Workplace Issue.

A key component of creating a zero-tolerance to violence in the workplace is to develop and/or review workplace policies and procedures that address gender equity and violence against women. The next step is to develop strategies to promote a more inclusive, respectful workplace that explicitly values staff experiences, such as a code of conduct, training on communication and decision making, and democratic conflict resolution processes.

In addition, training and raising awareness can go a long way to create the kind of culture that is required. Investing in this sends a powerful message to employees and other organisations, that you care and take this seriously.

It can be confronting when someone tells you they’ve experienced harassment and violence. You’ll probably have feelings of your own to deal with and might not think there’s much you can do to help. The good news is that your colleague/employee trusts you enough to talk about their experience, and there are many things you can do to support them. The most important ones would be to:

Listen: Hear what they say and try not to interrupt. Let them talk at their own pace. Show them you are listening by making eye contact and nodding. Don’t worry if they stop talking for a while – silences are OK.

There are many things which can get in the way of prioritising ourselves and our own wellbeing on a daily basis. Whether it be dependent family members, a demanding job, or both, at the end of the working day it may seem that there is little time or energy for looking after ourselves. Eventually however the costs of not prioritising our own wellbeing can be significant.

Here are some tips for creating and maintaining a self-care routine:

1.  Recognise that not prioritising self care is a common reaction during times of stress or in emotionally demanding jobs, and learn from your peers about different ways of building resilience.

2.  Look for the good in people and situations.

3.  Allow time for healthy distractions away from work e.g. a “feel good” movie, listening to comedy, hobbies, sports, and social outings.

This November it's time to talk about Men's Health. The Movember Foundation is taking a stand to Tackle Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer, Mental Health And Suicide Prevention. To challenge the stigma of Mental Health they encourage everyone to Talk, Ask, Listen, Encourage Action and Check In.

We often hear from men that they feel pressure to be seen as invulnerable, stoic, and fearless. This can lead to unrealistic expectations that as a man you should be able to cope no matter what, and “get on with it”. Emotions become synonymous with weakness and powerlessness. Men may also dismiss their feelings as unimportant and worry about burdening other people with their concerns.

Men experience emotions just as much as women do, however the pressure not to show emotion or vulnerability means that emotions will build-up and result in what appear to be random and unexpected behaviour. Reluctance to talk about or acknowledge emotion can manifest in all sorts of unhelpful ways including:

• Excessive alcohol use
• Addiction to gambling or betting
• Ending relationships prematurely
• Resigning suddenly from their job
• Stopping activities of interest e.g. sports
• Neglecting friends and family
• Working longer hours
• Communication only via emails or text messages
• Aggression or violence
• Excessive time watching fantasy, films, or gaming

Click here for more information about Movember and how to get involved.

For more information or to book an appointment, call us on 1800 818 728 or visit our website, www.accesseap.com.au