As a recent graduate whose career was thrown off course by COVID-19, I was immensely grateful to Helen Patterson for recruiting me to be her HR Assistant for the summer. I know that I am not alone in having to reorient myself in the midst of this crisis, and since I suspect that many of you may also be feeling overwhelmed and unsure about the future, I want to share some knowledge and advice I received while participating in the Life Works Well Wisdom Mentor Circle Series.

I found these sessions extremely helpful especially while coping with the various challenges that have presented themselves in recent months. In addition to serving as a wonderful opportunity to discuss the pressures and challenges we are all experiencing, these sessions have helped me to find ways to adapt and thrive in these difficult circumstances.

With May being CMHA’s Mental Wellness Month, and many of us dealing with mental health challenges because of the ongoing crisis, it seemed fitting that the first session I attended was focused on mindfulness and wellness. While these may seem like abstract concepts, this session helped to show me that they can be extremely powerful tools in helping us to cope with the many stressors in our lives. We are all dealing with new issues, whether as a result of working from home, or from the seemingly endless onslaught of unwelcome news.

This discussion also helped me to understand the key role which leaders can play to ensure that mental health is a priority in the workplace. Leaders are responsible for ensuring the well-being of their employees, but usually let their own wellness take a back seat. While leaders need to be the best that they can be, they must be well taken care of in order to achieve this. During this session, self-care tips, breathing exercises, and well-being checklists were shared for leaders to use and mentees to reference.

We are all leaders and can lead in different ways, and having these discussions is the first step. I regularly make use of the meditation tips that Jenna Smith shared during this session to improve my own wellness.

Staying Productive and Positive

Another notable session I attended focused on the topic of working from home and the common challenges of remaining productive during this time. Work-life balance and integration, and how best to manage them, are of immense value to us all. Now more than ever, workers must embrace chaos and acknowledge that we are more resilient than our work personas may let on.

This session featured guest speaker Clare Kumar, who engaged with participants on how to support one another. Clare shared some insights on how to best lead in the workplace, and offered three key areas in which leaders should be accountable for – motivation, compassion and communication. Clare also highlighted the importance of ensuring that employees feel comfortable communicating their needs and desires to their leaders and are confident that their voices will be heard.

Similarly, another session in the series led by Kristen Harcourt highlighted the importance of giving ourselves permission to feel. We are multifaceted beings and should allow ourselves to express our emotions without fear of judgment. Kristen discussed the importance of emotional intelligence and shared strategies on how we can increase our emotional resilience. By understanding our strengths and gaps in emotional intelligence, we can become more mindful and increase the compassion and empathy we have towards others. Meaningful change takes time, but acknowledging our need for improvement is the first step.

Many of us are looking for support and connection, especially while we are working from home. This Mentor Circle series offers a fantastic way to bring people together and share experiences through mentorship and interactive discussion and coaching. While I have only touched on a few of the sessions, there are a variety of themed sessions that apply to leaders, coaches and mentees. It has been a truly liberating experience to be able to engage in these open and vulnerable conversations with a diverse group of talented people, and to realize that we truly are all in this together.

If you ever have any questions, or simply need someone to talk to reach out to us. We are here to help you and your teams stay healthy, mind, body and soul.

A Mentee's Perspective, by Nicole Hunter

Staying Productive and Positive