Work In Organisations
Systemic Psychotherapy transfers to work in organisations using experience of human relationships and group dynamics to help team building and organisational change using appreciative enquiry. Appreciative enquiry looks at what is going well and the strengths of a company rather than the deficits. In using this approach there is less need for individuals to defend their position and they are then more able to hear others points of view.
When people in an organisation become frustrated or cynical it is always because the organisation is not respectful of three universal needs, these are:
- Have a voice and be heard
- Be viewed as essential to a group; and
- Be seen as unique and exceptional
Work Place Stress
According to the Health and Safety Executive half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill, while 12.8 million working days were lost last year due to stress depression and anxiety.
Stress can often go unnoticed for a long time before something happens which results in a major breakdown or major physical symptoms requiring extended time off work. Stress is a normal reaction to something we see (or our brain interprets) as a threat or danger, the body then goes into high alert to try and protect us by producing adrenaline which gives us additional energy to fight or run away. This primitive response is over 35,000 years old and at that time was useful in protecting us against sabre tooth tigers etc. Nowadays, this reaction is useful in helping us to take physical action to avert disaster i.e in braking suddenly, jumping out of the way etc. After such an action the body returns to normal and the brain can process what has happened.
Problems occur when physical action is not necessary or appropriate and we are left feeling in danger and with high levels of adrenaline running through our bodies. in the modern world the dangers we feel threatened by are, loss of relationships, status, health, financial difficulties or diagnosis of serious illness, too much work, exams and conflict. All of these make us feel out of control of our lives and therefore our brain interprets this as being in danger with the same physical responses such as headaches, nausea, stomach ache, dizziness, fatigue, palpitations, poor concentration, inability to remember things etc. Loss of sleep, poor diet and excess alcohol or caffeine are additional factors which can result from feeling out of control but which also have an impact to our mental health and inability to function normally.
When people feel overwhelmed by their situation or 'stressed' their emotional brain becomes dominant which then prevents the thinking brain from coming up with possible solutions. Stress is part of everyday life and there will be times when we go through particularly stressful periods, we cannot 'cure' stress be we can manage it and take action to keep it in check.
We are able to offer consultation and training on stress management as well as a therapy service for individuals either by running clinics at the workplace or at our clinic in Ashby De La Zouch.