Ayesha Jagirdar

Joining a network of professionals is a good way of learning from others who have mastered the skills and techniques of patient advocacy. Learning the art of storytelling from other peers and mentors is an excellent way to brush up on your patient advocacy skills. Besides, practicing the art of effective communication with other team members and patients while advocating for them at clinical meetings and courts and setting goals for daily living can be done by joining a professional network of peer support workers. It's a good opportunity to attend conferences like last year's front-line workers' conference, which was hosted in Gold Coast, Australia. The conference showcased many trainings, challenges, and supports for front-line workers.

Peer support also includes shared story telling through sharing bits of our stories that can validate and normalise the experiences of the peers we interact with. The peer consultants can ask for permission before sprinkling bits of their own story, helping to create bonding and connection between peers. Through story telling the peer consultant also builds hope during moments of hopelessness among peers, hence their role is of a role model of recovery, through building trust, human connection, supporting with building of resilience amongst peers without taking responsibility for their journeys towards recovery by knowing the limitations of their roles.

In my opinion, burnout should not be viewed as a personal failure or a performance issue by employers if the employees open up and share their problems with their managers or workmates. Instead they should be offered some time off work with paid leave for wellness. The peers must also be non judgmental, kind and empathetic in order for shared information among peers. When employees are judged and perceived as weak for raising their concerns with their managers, the issues of burnout remains hidden and masked by employees due to fear of being seen as weak hence this issue is to be dealt at the organisational level. Often times on call employees experience burnout due to being overworked and working longer hours than permanent staff.

Involving the families and the patients support persons is another way of advocating for their healthcare. This can be done through involving the families in the treatment plan of the patients and through supporting the patients in their clinical meetings, collaboration with the stakeholders in the patients treatment plan, putting the plan to use by also involving the patients in their treatment plan, providing them additional resources for future care and speaking on their behalf while dealing with their clinical teams and law enforcement agencies.

In my experience attending the front line mental health conference in Australia, Gold Coast was a great way of networking and connecting with other front line workers in the industry. Besides, through a common writing ✍️ platform through Linked in I have been able to connect with other professionals in the industry. We can share our experiences through this platform and learn from each other’s journeys, our trials and tribulations while facing some of the challenges in the industry. I have learned from my mentors and other senior colleagues to practice radical detachment, become aware of transference and counter transference, staying non judgmental while supporting the clients. Knowing our limits while supporting the clients.

Some ways of teaching the right communication skills to young adults is by role modelling the communication skills for the younger generation. This can be done through active listening, communicating with respect, empathy and compassion, building connections through storytelling, and building on their leadership skills through teaching them empathic leadership towards teammates and subordinates, building network of likeminded intellectual persons who can build on their personal development, provide opportunities for positive feedback after performance thus allowing time for self reflections.