Kelly Gannon, Team leader
Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation is a multiservice organisation dedicated to providing better health, education and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in south-west Victoria. In addition to supporting a range of high-risk clients, the small team were experiencing significant shifts in leadership and organisational structure.
‘We were doing the best we could, but we can’t help everyone, and at times we felt overwhelmed,’ explained Kelly. ‘So, we wanted to create a wellness plan for our team members that was practical and something they could relate to.’
Realising the need for a list of small actions that had a big wellbeing impact, the team decided to co-create the ‘Wellbeing checklist’ for team members to use individually, during the week and in formal supervision. Based on the team’s experiences and preferences, and supported by key findings from their PERMAH Wellbeing Survey, the checklist covers 5 focus areas:
- Healthy boundaries – creating and developing rituals to help transition between clients, work and home
- Rest and recovery points – regularly engaging in activities to give the nervous system a chance to recalibrate and recover
- Self-compassion – calming the inner critic with nurturing self-compassion practices to help reduce fatigue and burnout
- Immediate safe actions – recognising and acknowledging there are triggering times, situations, and circumstances that require action to create safety
- Act, access, adjust – reviewing the week and reflecting on areas of success and struggle with regular supervision.
The team found that no matter how busy or overwhelmed they felt, they always benefited from making the time and space to come together for a wellbeing check-in. However, they had to keep it at the forefront of their routines and rituals, as it was easy to let the practices slip when things got busy.
During the weeks where they didn’t do their wellbeing check in and properly connect, the whole team noticed a difference in their ability to cope with challenges arose in their line of work.
Introducing this resource helped Kelly and her team realised the importance of not only prioritising their group wellbeing check-ins, but also the importance of personalising and prioritising their own wellbeing.
‘Everyone has to figure out what suits them because it’s not going to be the same for everyone,’ Kelly explained. ‘It’s about how we can care for ourselves so that we’re not putting it all back on our teams.’
To find out more about setting up and using a ‘Wellbeing checklist’ please watch this short video:
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