Topics & Training
Education & Consulting for Helping Professionals
Advanced Topics
Key Learnings
- Recognize the signs of hypervigilance, numbing out, and the “zealot phase.”
- Identify internal conflicts that lead to overwork and exhaustion.
- Develop protective strategies to build confidence and competence for a healthy, fulfilling career.
How Challenging Work Changes Us
Sustaining compassion and purpose over our careers
Overview
Full workdays, trauma exposure, and administrative roadblocks can leave us feeling drained and, at times, disillusioned. Yet, we may remember a time when we felt inspired and energized by our career choice. How do we recapture our sense of satisfaction and fulfilment? What can we learn from those in our fields who seem to stay well no matter the circumstance?
Research has shown that by engaging in career-sustaining behaviours, we can stay compassionate and present throughout our careers. This training provides a deeper look into how the “necessary evils” of our work can impact our well-being. It also provides strategies to incorporate career sustaining behaviours into our work and lives.
This topic is also available as an on-demand course on the TEND Toolkit.
Key Learnings
- Recognize the difference between moral dilemmas and moral distress.
- Understand the consequences of unresolved moral distress.
- Learn strategies to recognize and address moral distress from an individual, team, and organizational perspective.
First, Do No Harm
Recognizing and addressing moral distress
Overview
We are being asked to do more with less while navigating systems that are more complex than ever before. Sometimes, we are unable to provide the resources or support that an individual requires due to rules, policies, laws, or gaps in resources. Over time, this internal struggle can lead to frustration, contempt, ethical erosion, and emotional fatigue.
This is known as moral distress and can happen when we know the “right thing” to do, but we are unable to act on it. This training provides strategies and resources to recognize and address moral distress.
Key Learnings
- Understand the difference between resilience and post-traumatic growth.
- Recognize the dangers of going too fast, or the “flight into health.”
- Learn strategies to foster post-traumatic growth and well-being.
Post-Traumatic Growth
Cultivating well-being in the wake of potentially traumatic events
Overview
Post-traumatic growth describes the positive change that some people experience in the wake of trauma. However, post-traumatic growth is often misunderstood. When used incorrectly, this term can lead to harmful messages of shame and blame, particularly when others do not cope well after a crisis. How do we assist our teams through a difficult event with kindness and compassion?
This training explores post-traumatic growth from an individual and organizational perspective. It provides strategies to foster well-being in the wake of a potentially traumatic event.
Key Learnings
- Understand the impact of our mindset and perspective when working with intractable problems.
- Learn tools and strategies to enhance our sense of control and agency when faced with intractable problems.
- Understand how supervisors and managers can effectively support their teams.
Navigating Intractable Problems
Staying well in the face of shortages, resource limitations, and increasing complexity
Some challenges at work can feel impossible to fix: staffing shortages, long wait times, and resource limitations. In high-stress, trauma-exposed workplaces, these barriers are more than just frustrating; they can create moral distress and emotional suffering. How do we stay connected to our values and the organizational mission in the face of such complex challenges?
Intractable problems refer to situations that are chronically challenging, feel impossible to resolve, or beyond our control. Though the problems may not be solvable now, we can still make choices about how we respond. By shaping our mindset, we can protect our well-being, stay creative, and keep problem-solving. This training explores tools and strategies for staying well within work environments that are constricted or impacted by intractable problems.
Key Learnings
- Understand the connection between moral distress and moral courage.
- Learn what moral courage is – and what it is not.
- Explore six evidence-informed strategies to cultivate moral courage in your work.
Between What’s Right & What’s Possible
Acting with moral courage in the face of ethical complexity
Overview
In many helping professions, workers face moments where they know what should be done, but systemic barriers, conflicting policies, or power dynamics make it difficult or impossible to act. This internal struggle, known as moral distress, can lead to frustration, ethical erosion, and emotional fatigue over time.
At the same time, cultivating moral courage, the ability to act with integrity even under pressure, can be a powerful protective factor. It helps professionals navigate ethical complexity without losing sight of their core values. This training offers practical tools to cultivate the moral courage needed to act with integrity in complex systems.
Contact us to book your training today.
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