In this issue
Features
My workplace (free article)
Sue Christy embarked on a training course to become a critical incident responder. She talks to Nicola Banning about why and how.
Being outdoors
We need to reconnect with our natural environment. Kathryn Morris-Roberts offers ecotherapy workshops to help stressed, overworked staff and students at the University of Nottingham do so.
Demystifying the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA)
David Membrey and Barbara Mitchels provide a timely reminder of the implications of GDPR for counsellors and psychotherapists.
Better conversations about… supporting employees with a disabled child (free article)
What can employers do to help working families? Jane Moffett continues her series offering practical and emotional advice.
Regulars
New to the BACP Workplace Executive Committee
Introducing Vianna Boring Renaud
Workplace matters
Sandi Mann: Do you get my drift
Cyberwork
Sarah Worley-James: Endings
Notes from the chair
Julie Hughes: Can golf teach me anything about being Chair of BACP Workplace?
Divisional members and subscribers can download a pdf of this issue from the BACP Workplace archive
Editorial: Finding hope
I’ve spent much of the last decade listening to the stark daily reality of teachers, headteachers and social workers who work with some of the poorest children, families and vulnerable people in our community.
I wish I could unhear it sometimes. So, I woke on Friday 13 December with not one jot of festive cheer. I felt heartbroken.
The dark months are a time to go gently. The demands of modern life mean it’s not always easy to surrender to the seasons. But as I take stock, I’m noticing the ways in which the collective social conscience is coalescing around the natural pattern of pausing, healing, supporting and regrouping. The writer and political activist, George Monbiot, tweeted: ‘No recriminations. Solidarity, strength, strategy and resolve. We’ll find a way through it – however hard it might be and however long it takes. In the meantime, we will look after each other.’
In that spirit, I hope that BACP Workplace is somewhere that you can turn to in your professional lives for solidarity, strength, strategy and resolve. I’m a believer in the power of stories to reach out and connect people. And yet whenever I hear stories from our profession, I still hold a sense of wonder about the quality of our work and how it serves our workplaces and society.
‘My workplace’ is a new series where I’m encouraging BACP Workplace readers to tell their stories. It was a joy to talk to Sue Christy about her work in the growing field of responding to critical incidents and traumatic events in organisations. It’s heartening to hear how a conference which the BACP Workplace division hosted, turned out to be a springboard for Sue to reshape her career and to avoid burnout. This is music to the ears of the BACP Workplace Executive Committee – a team of seven dedicated and feisty practitioners, who volunteer their time because they are committed to excellence in our profession. This is their story too.
Nicola Banning, Editor, BACP Workplace
workplaceeditor@bacp.co.uk