Robyn Collins

CONSCIOUS CALM MINDFULNESS PROGRAMS

Conscious Calm mindfulness workshops are based on the value of therapeutic alliance between therapist, workers , carers and clients. Conscious Calm Mindfulness Training establishes the nature of transpersonal leadership and building potentiating relationships.

Self-care, the way a person tends to their emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being, becomes foundational to maintaining health and wellness as a human service worker, since it serves to mitigate the occupational hazards relevant within the health profession. Therefore, it needs to be a top priority for both individuals and the profession at large.

Self-care is a ‘precious commodity’, as well as an ethical imperative. According to Health Canada (2009), stress and stress-related symptoms account for 85% of all visits to doctors — stress is therefore a serious population health issue. Specifically, stress and mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, are frequently cited reasons for employee absenteeism, as well as both short and long-term disability claims within the health, human and social services sectors. The demands placed on human service workers in supporting people through challenging circumstances can contribute to high levels of stress and burnout.

Self-care practices implemented regularly may decrease the impact of the high levels of stress while also serving as strategies for coping during particularly stressful times.

Like other helping professions, being human services often taxes our inner resources as we care for people confronted with life’s most challenging circumstances. Work stress abounds. We can react in unhealthy ways, such as by constricting our muscles, ignoring the unpleasant stimuli, or becoming angry at our plight, or we can react in mindfulness. We have a choice. We do not need to be helpless victims of our work stress. Mindfulness practices can be an important form of self-care and facilitates the foundation for continued growth and development.

As our awareness of ourselves and our environment increases, we become more perceptive social workers. We are more able to recognize our own afflictive emotions before they interfere with the client-worker relationship. We are less likely to ignore client problems or warning signs when we recognize them in our own daily relationships. We are more able to interact with distressed clients without becoming dis-tressed ourselves (Kessen,C.).

All Conscious Calm programs are based on the interconnections between contemplative practices, including Mindful Awareness, ACT and Self Inquiry as coping and preventative strategies for self-care practice among human beings.

What is Mindfulness

MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS practices develop the skills to help you live with calm presence, compassion and purpose. Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Since every experience in our lives must pass through our cognitive and emotional filters, enhancing the quality of our awareness has the capacity to transform the quality of our lives.

There is now abundant evidence showing that mindfulness supports real and positive improvements in physical and emotional wellbeing, communication, creativity, resilience to stress, cognitive functioning and job performance.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

• to be fully present, here and now
• to experience unpleasant thoughts and feelings safely
• to become aware of what you're avoiding
• to become more connected to yourself, to others and to the world around you
• to become less judgmental
• to increase self-awareness
• to become less disturbed by and less reactive to unpleasant experiences
• to learn the distinction between you and your thoughts
• to have more direct contact with the world, rather than living through your thoughts
• to learn that everything changes; that thoughts and feelings come and go like the weather
• to have more balance, less emotional volatility
• to experience more calm and peacefulness
• to develop self-acceptance and self-compassion