In this issue of the newsletter, we will hear from nurses and midwives about the support they offer, provide and receive from each other, highlighting some unique services that are available to provide support to clinicians at all stages of their career.
Support is available and experienced in a variety of ways and there is no right or wrong was to access support. The important factor is nurses, midwives, and students know that it is available and how to access it. We recognise you may need different types of support throughout your career it may include support from colleagues, your manager, nurse/midwife educators, friends, family, your faith, a special interest group, a pet, or professional peak bodies, such as:
Other supports available to nurses, midwives and students include:
- professional mentors
- manager
- nurse/midwife educators
- communities of practice
- social media groups
- special interest groups
- peak bodes
- unions
- friends
- colleagues
- critical incident debriefing
- University student societies
- Employee Assistance programs
- Organisations committed to supporting health and wellbeing
Here are some other services and communities doing incredible work.
Just Listening: a service committed to listening and providing support
In May 2021 Nurse Practitioner and psychotherapist Matt Ball launched Just Listening in South Australia. Just Listening provides a free community space creating connection for those in distress, crisis, or suicidal-needing support.
Yarning circles: Research-backed support for First Peoples’ midwives
Yarning Circles are a traditional part of First Peoples’ culture that have been used for centuries to learn from a collective group, build respectful relationships, provide support and to preserve and pass on cultural knowledge.
In March 2020 research was published outlining the influence of yarning circles on providing support for Australia’s First Peoples’: The Influence of yarning circles: A cultural safety professional development program for midwives.
The research found yarning circles can encourage midwifery academics’ awareness of Cultural Safety. Awareness is the first step towards becoming culturally safe. Yarning provides a safe and supportive space for challenging discussions and reflective learning about racism, white privilege, and difference. Midwifery academics described steps they could take to promote Cultural Safety in the classroom.
Six key themes emerged from the research centred on participants’ Sense of Belonging, Sense of Safety, Sense Knowing, Sense of Support, Sense of Difference, and Sense of Challenge were identified. These concepts were supportive of participants’ developing awareness of Cultural Safety.
The Nurse Break: By nurses for nurses
Recently on the Your Health Matters podcast I spoke to an entrepreneurial and inspiring nurse, Jackson Heilberg, founder of The Nurse Break (TNB). TNB is a peer-to-peer learning and support platform. Check out the episode to hear Jackson talk about how TNB supports nurses, midwives, and students and why he is passionate about supporting early career nurses.
Entrepreneurial nurses and midwives providing support
There are many nurses and midwives supporting their colleagues in innovative and creative ways here are some of them:
If you know another entrepreneurial nurse/midwife, I would love to hear about them!
On June 9th, the weather report for many parts of Victoria including my local region in central Victoria, warned us that there was going to be a once in a 100-year storm.