Events

The Self Awareness Skills Training workshops were developed for medical students and doctors to increase self-awareness and emotional intelligence skills to better cope with stress.

The workshop content focuses on values, emotional intelligence, and using mindfulness as a tool to maximise productivity and strengthen one’s internal locus of control. Participants work through the COMPASS reflection tool to elicit their most important values and articulate “their why”. Reviewing emotional intelligence concepts invite self-reflection to gain insight into how they are currently relating to difficult emotions, and to improve current coping strategies to better deal with the vicissitudes of life.

Anita presented the Self Awareness Skills Training workshops to a cohort of 24 GPs in Canberra, at the launch of the RACGP Future Leaders Program 2023 and to executive staff and clinicians at Derbal Yerrigan in Perth. The workshops inspired much discussion among participants about managing stress and fatigue in work and all aspects of life. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, stating the content was valuable in helping them assess current coping strategies and to develop future goals around this. One third of this cohort admitted to currently suffering burnout symptoms, and one participant expressed that they were inspired to see their GP and discuss their mental health upon returning home.

Similarly, the content was presented to a small group of students from the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA), including Vice President Angie Frentiu and the Chair of Mental health, Elizabeth Middleton. Their feedback included:

“It was useful being involved in discussion surrounding values, personal experiences in such a supportive space. In medicine, discussions surrounding wellbeing are not always supported, nurtured, or supported but feared at times. Especialy due to the issues of mandatory reporting. It was really great to work through the COMPASS tool and see what my values were (this surprised me) and how they will innately shape my emotions,reactions, and influence wellbeing”.

"We are taught that mindfulness and wellbeing are important in med school, but we rarely taught techniques, or have the chance to work through them together in a small group. Doing this allowed open discussion, which was an excellent experience. I found it very helpful having the time to talk to the others in the group and hear their thoughts and interpretations as well, I think the small size of the group made a very safe environment for discussion. I also really liked the mix of presentations and learning about the science behind mental health and emotional responses and having discussions in a group".

Such feedback demonstrates the importance of becoming proficient in self awareness skills, when individuals are in good health, rather than trying to adopt new skills when they are stressed. The workshops aim to help participants learn to identify their stress responses early and actively manage stress when only mildly or moderately unwell. Hopefully this will contribute to early action on their part, preventing individuals from spiralling into burnout.

Recent research into burnout in high performing professionals, including surgeons and medical specialists (“Beating Burnout and finding balance” by Melo Calarco) cites that 90% of these individuals who were burnout, were not being aware of how unwell they were, until they had developed severe levels of psychological fatigue and distress requiring medical and psychological help.

Self Awareness Skills Training is not a panacea for burnout. The causes of burnout are multifactorial and require a comprehensive management approach, however, strong
emotional intelligence skills can reduce vulnerability to chronic stress and burnout.

It is known that doctors perform their best when their experience of medicine is rewarding and satisfying. An intrinsic sense of well-being and a strong internal locus of control is fundamental to this. Self Awareness Skills Training offers participants opportunity to sharpen their emotional intelligence skills, and to work intentionally to develop a greater sense of meaning and purpose in all aspects of their lives and relationships.

Moving forward, Anita is working with a post doctoral fellow from the University of Sydney to evaluate the feedback to date and design the evaluation of the content in a scientifically robust way.

Dr Anita Moss

Since completing her RACGP fellowship and DRANZCOG in 2008, Anita has achieved great diversity in her professional life due to her varied interests.

From her employment in the Women’s Health Unit at Peninsula Health, to working with the Royal Flying Doctors Victoria in regional Victoria, to being the Clinical Lead GP at the Non-Government organisation EACH’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Service, she is well challenged!

Raising her two teenage sons brings her much joy and keeps her grounded. Away from the workplace, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, practicing yoga and hiking along the beach trails near her home.

During Victoria’s lockdowns in 2020 – 2021, Anita completed the 200-hour Yoga Teacher training in lifestyle medicine and Mindfulness based counselling, to further deepen her own yoga and meditation practice and strengthen her ability to manage challenges in life.

In 2017, Anita’s lived experience of mental ill health and her recovery, led to her becoming a Peer Ambassador for SANE Australia for 5 years. SANE is an organisation working to provide support to, and reduce stigma around issues of complex mental, thereby promoting wellbeing for all Australians. Following on from her peer ambassador role, Anita has recently been appointed to the board of SANE to continue her advocacy work.

She enjoyed contributing to the Well Being Working Group for the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2020 – 2023 to achieve positive change for the organisation, especially for the doctors in training.

Anita completed the Future Leader’s Program 2021 through the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, where she honed her leadership skills in all aspects of work, and life.

The increasing incidence of doctors suffering burnout and mental ill health is a cause she feels passionate about improving. Having recovered from a severe episode of major depression herself, she was inspired to share her lived experience and her most difficult learnings with others, in the hope that people who are suffering will access support and help. This has been the inspiration for developing Self Awareness Skills Training through the RACGP Future Leaders Program.

For more information please reach out to your dedicated consultant or contact us on au@1medical.com.au or +61 7258 0100.

Event Details

Location: Sydney NSW 2000

Date: May 2024

Hosted by Dr Anita Moss