Self-care stories: Staying connected to others

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2018-06-01

2:27

4.5 MB

Samir:

In my job as an emergency nurse I regularly deal with people displaying challenging behaviours. I had an incident the other week that really affected me - more than similar incidents have done in the past. I think it was because the person who abused me said really cruel things about my ethnic background. These people don't even know me and I'm trying to help them! For some reason this incident made me feel really worthless, not to mention angry.

After it happened, I just had to get out of there. I had to have a break and calm down. Maria, my colleague, who had seen it all, called me after my shift. At first, I didn't want to take her call; I just didn't want to talk about it. However, she was actually really great; she said that she totally understood that I might not want to talk about it right now, but that she would be available to listen if ever I needed.

My manager also gave me a call to see how I was going. He let me know I can take time off if I need. He also encouraged me to spend time with my friends and family, especially over the next few days. He told me that it was really important to spend time with people who care about me.

I spent the weekend with my family; we just went to the park and had a BBQ. When we were alone, my sister asked me about work and it felt like a relief to be able to tell her what happened. I also called Maria back and we had a chat about it. We talked about how we all find this part of the job really tough, and that I wasn't alone. She told me that everyone was looking forward to me coming back to work when I was ready.

A big part of me really didn't feel like be social or 'going on' about the incident by talking about it. But, I have to say, it really helped to just be with people after this horrible thing happened and being able to talk if I wanted to. Feeling supported at home and at work was really valuable to helping me get back on track.

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Self-care stories: Staying connected to others

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