Pulse wrap Mentemia now offers courses and a new podcast Mentemia, the College’s mental wellbeing app (all College staff have access to a subscription – email hr@surgeons.org if you don’t have one), has launched a new feature and now offer courses to all subscribers.
1. Finding Calm - Did you know breath is a key part of the stress response? How we breathe can have a profound effect on how we feel. Once you know what to do you’ll be able to use it anywhere, anytime. Fast, shallow breathing = stressed Slower, deep breathing = relaxed brain state This course will help you retrain your diaphragm. 2. Learning to Slow Down - Ever longed to experience life at a slower pace? This course gives practical ways to go slow and enjoy all the wellbeing benefits it brings. A few helpful tips: • Enjoy your shower, use this quiet time to be present in the moment and focus on the water.
The first two courses available now – ‘Finding • When you are having a coffee, put your Calm’ and ‘Learning to Slow Down’ – are short phone away, enjoy the flavour and look at courses and will help you build new positive the view outside. habits into your day to keep you well. • Practice active relaxation, for example, Read on for a sneak peek of what you’ll learn cooking. Try and focus on what ingredients in these brand new courses. you would like and take your time to prepare a meal. • Go on a slow walk and notice your surroundings; you might spot something amazing! Find out more about Mentemia’s courses and how to access them on the mobile app.
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Open Minded – new podcast from Mentemia
How to tackle mental health and wellbeing Sir John Kirwan, an All Black legend, a mental health advocate and co-founder of workplace wellbeing app Mentemia appeared Aquent’s #Digitalks webinar where he presented: How to tackle mental health and wellbeing for you and your team. Joined by his colleague, health psychology specialist Dr Fiona Crichton, he covered his journey from surviving to thriving, shared what tools and techniques kept him at the top of his game today, and how these can help you and your team. Watch the recording.
JK sits down for intimate conversations with incredible and inspiring leaders from all walks of life. He gets in-depth with every guest on their own wellbeing stories, what keeps them well, and how they are prioritising and championing wellbeing in their organisations and communities. Sure to entertain, inspire and provoke ideas, JK tackles mental wellbeing in the only way he can. Listen to episode one, where JK interviews Dr Ashley Bloomfield on resilience, what keeps him well, and how he coped leading NZ’s response to COVID-19. Not sure how to get started with Mentemia? Watch this video for an overview put together by Mentemia co-founder Sir John Kirwan and Clinical Team Lead at Mentemia, Dr Fiona Crichton.
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FLOURISH - Breast cancer awareness month With all the distractions and challenges surrounding this year, it’s important that we draw attention to the fact that more than 19,900 Australians will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. That’s 54 people per day and it means that breast cancer remains the most common cancer diagnosis for Australian women.
One College Transformation: Improving engagement ince its establishment, the One College S Transformation program has been gaining momentum. It was designed to help streamline processes and deliver more reliable data among the College’s many people working and learning across various fields and locations on both sides of the Tasman. John Biviano, Chief Executive Officer, gives us an update on 1CT’s progress. He explains how One College Transformation Program is changing the way Fellows, Trainees and Specialist International Medical Graduates engage with the College. Listen now Listen to all episodes of RACS Post Op podcast
Breast cancer is the most common cancer for Kiwi women and the third most common cancer overall. It affects one in nine New Zealand women over their lifetime. About 70 to 75 per cent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and about 80 per cent of women who die from it are aged 50 years or older. As we look ahead to breast cancer awareness month, we discuss the many services that are available to support not only the person diagnosed with breast cancer but their families as well. Read the full issue of FLOURISH.
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Self-care ideas 32 free ways to look after yourself
13. Spend quality time with a loved one
How to practice regular self-care without spending a cent.
14. Look at the stars
Many people hear the word self-care and think of massages, manicures, and other forms of paid pampering.
16. Create a vision board
These activities are great, but the cost can quickly add up – especially if you want to practice self-care every day or week. Here are some completely free (and easy!) self-care ideas so you can enjoy self-care as often as possible.
15. Pray 17. Watch the sunrise or sunset 18. Get out in the garden 19. Light a candle 20. Go to bed early 21. Call a friend that makes you laugh 22. Stretch
1. Read a book or a magazine
23. Take a nap
2. Walk in nature
24. Go for a swim at your local beach
3. Meditate
25. Start a gratitude journal
4. Sleep in on the weekend
26. Write a bucket list
5. Watch the clouds
27. Watch a comedian on YouTube
6. Unplug from social media
28. Take a bath
7. Colour in, draw, or paint
29. Switch off your smartphone for 24 hours
8. Do yoga
30. Write a list of compliments to yourself
9. Breathe
31. Do a jigsaw puzzle
10. Exercise
32. Declutter your social media
11. Listen to music or a nature soundscape 12. Dance
This article was published for Mentemia’s blog.
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RACS in the media ur surgeons do amazing work everyday. O Their achievements are often unseen but sometimes the media picks up on their advocacy for the community. Dr Maxine Ronald, chair of the Indigenous Health Committee, spoke on behalf of RACS, joining calls for the Government to lower the age for bowel cancer screening for Māori, saying the national programme does not provide the same level of health gains for Māori as it does for non-Māori. Read the coverage by stuff.co.nz and voxy.co.nz.
Why do we need culture change in surgery? This is a four-part podcast series on the theme of culture change, developed by the Royal College of Surgeons in England in collaboration with RACS. Episode one considers the question: Why do we need culture change in surgery?
Dr Peter Pockney spoke to radio outlets on the need for health providers who conduct elective cancer surgery must look to protect cancer surgery patients from harm by investing in dedicated COVID-19 free hospital areas. Read more. Here are more highlights from the past week: • Leading surgeon Phil Bagshaw calls for ministry intervention at Southern District Health Board • Phil Bagshaw says cash injection will not fix Canterbury’s long term funding issues • Dr Matthew Peters, Plastic & Reconstructive surgeon: “Social media is a powerful tool, and we need to be aware that it can contribute to body image and expectations of what is normal.”
It examines the impact of uncivil behaviours on patient outcomes. The podcast will help you evaluate in terms of both patient care and professional wellbeing, the impact of discrimination, bullying and harassment, with a view towards better assessing the state of professional culture in surgical working environments. Dr Rhea Liang, General and Breast surgeon and Chair, Operating with Respect Committee, shares her views. Here’s a snippet of what Dr Liang shares in the podcast: “There’s that saying, ‘Oh, terrible bedside manner, but they’re a good surgeon’. And I think we have to challenge that. Because actually, the evidence shows that the competencies that don’t relate to your actual technical ability do affect the outcomes for your patients. So it’s not possible to say that you’re a good surgeon when you have bad bedside manner.” Listen now
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Meet Chris Monteagle What do you do for fun? I ride my motorbike. I also play guitar. I try to avoid doing both at the same time. What’s a good book or movie you enjoy? Where to begin? I have too many to list but the most recent book I really enjoyed was Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I also learned to love Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – but that took some work. If you were down to your last $10, what would you spend it on? How many Redskins lollies can you buy for $10? Chris Monteagle has been working as a project manager for the better part of two decades. He’s worked across government and private sectors back and forth between Melbourne and Brisbane. He started in IT after seven years of part-time university and full-time work – an educated decision based on ambition and a blissful ignorance of the workload. Since then, he has built up a solid resume of project delivery in both applications and infrastructure. Chris has been brought on board to assist with the Data Centre and the Magento projects and is very happy to be here. If you moved to the city you now live in, what sparked your decision? In 1998 I made a New Year’s resolution to do things that scared me. So, when I later got a job offer that involved packing up my life and leaving everyone to go live in a city I’d never seen… well, I had no choice. In 1999 my resolution was to just exercise more.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? Every car fuel gauge has a little triangle showing you on which side the fuel tank door is located. Seriously – I didn’t know this for a very long time. If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all of your human needs – such as food and water – were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you? A laptop and a decent Wi-fi connection.
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Show us what you’ve been up to!
Email us and send a photo of whatever you’re doing during this time: RACS.Communications@surgeons.org Karen Gordon-Clark, Prevocational Coordinator, JDocs, shares her adventures in home learning, or as she’s coined the role: ‘Senior parent remote learning supervision specialist’. “My newly acquired ‘stage 4 lockdown’ skill was not one that I willingly chose and one that I was grossly underqualified for - senior parent remote learning supervision specialist. The seriousness of this role is comparable to the length of the self-appointed title. “All Victorian parents with school aged children received this title with a mixed bag of reactions. My son really likes school so my husband and I divided the house tasks so that we could all play to our strengths. I supervised the remote learning and he did the cooking. “Through engagement in this new role I have developed a far greater level of patience and flexibility of thought than I ever thought possible. Especially the patience… Despite the amazing resources provided by his school, trying to calmly reason with and motivate a nine-year-old boy to complete tasks is something that I didn’t always succeed at but improved at over time. “To the other RACS senior parent remote learning supervision specialists in Australia and New Zealand, especially parents whose children require additional support: I see you and I salute you. “There have been many wonderful moments that I would never have otherwise experienced and I am extremely grateful for this BUT Ripley and I cannot wait for face to face learning to resume. “I am grateful for RACS’ flexible work arrangements during this time so I could also manage to ‘go to work’ in the afternoons. For me, having my job to focus on has been incredibly beneficial for my mental wellbeing. I also set up the Mentemia app to send me a positive message at the start of my work day to help transition me to a more focused space. “I am curious to see how these lockdown acquired skills manifest on the other side of these restrictions. I’ll keep you posted.”