Hot tip: People are not binary ok/not ok.

We're complex and can experience both, neither or anything outside those states.

If you sense someone is struggling, your openness to hearing where they're at helps them feel seen and reassured.

Some alternative questions 🧵
Share your observations using non-stigmatizing language:

"I notice a difference in you today. What's been going on?"

"There's a difference in your tone of voice/body language today that makes me wonder about how you're doing."
Opening up a conversation:

"I'm curious about what you just said. Is it ok for me to ask you more about it?"

"I'm having a hard time with everything going on right now. How are you finding this time?"

"What things have you tried to manage those moments that feel really hard?'
Checking in:

"We haven't chatted in a while. What's happening on your end?" - notice what's NOT being described then ask follow up about that area, seeking consent to go there.

"You've been on my mind. What's been going on?"

"Can we have a chat about how you're doing?"
Avoid making yourself seem like the stronger one reaching out. You're someone who pays attention and cares. You're an equal/peer/friend. Be alongside them. Listen. Appreciate their way of managing their struggle.

For every person you support, receive support from someone else.🥰

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Nathalie Martinek PhD

Nathalie Martinek PhD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @NatsforDocs

15 Aug
GASLIGHTING

I've spent the last month writing/editing a guide for #medical students to respond to casual #sexism and #misogyny as an addendum to my Little Book of Assertiveness.

I want to say a few things about GASLIGHTING

🧵

1/ Image by Natajsa Wagner
The person, often male, doing the gaslighting occurs when a woman or other gendered person responds to a sexist/misogynistic comment to:

💪shut it down
💪challenge it
💪expose it
💪call it out

in a culture or relationship dynamic where that hasn't happened before.

2/
A gaslighting tactic is called 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗩𝗢.

Ref:
𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘺𝘥, 𝘑.𝘑. (1997). "𝘐𝘐. 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺" (𝘗𝘋𝘍). 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 & 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺. 7 (1): 22–32.

3/
Read 9 tweets
3 Jul
I coach physicians to gain shared understanding about their suffering and facilitate shifts in perception that reveal opportunities for behavioral change and transformation. It means I'm frequently exposed to stories of deep suffering & pain.

How I maintain my energy

🧵
1. Clear boundaries.

I know what territory I can cover and when to refer onward. I'm clear about my limits and communicate that at the beginning of the relationship and as we co-create our working together agreement.

I break from work when I'm in the thick of my own process.
2. Know my triggers

We all have sensitivities to specific topic or themes. Knowing about my own wounds makes it easier for me to self-soothe & maintain focus on them when my client is dealing with an issue that has been a wound for me ie bullying, exclusion, oppression, death
Read 11 tweets
3 Apr
I have a beautiful friend in ICU in NY.

I urge all frontline workers to please refer to the people who have been intubated as 'the person with/who is...'
rather than 'the Covid' 'the Intubated' 'the patient who's not going to make it'.

I understand why this happens... 1/
Depersonalisation is a necessary coping skill while managing internal dilemmas, fear, external pressures, inadequate health system, discomfort wearing PPE for long periods and constant exposure to patients with deteriorating health due to COVID19.

It's a nightmare.

2/
When this is over and you finally have space to reflect and process all that happened, please honour the lives of every person you were privileged to care for during their most vulnerable and end stages of life.

Please honour yourself & what was asked of you as healers.

3/
Read 7 tweets
12 Dec 18
Reduced empathy is an unintended biproduct of the educational process. What happens in first year? The first exposure to a patient is a dead body. No info about their lives, families, stories of triumph. Only cause of death. No way of creating empathic connection w/ the dead. 1/
This & other bodies become tools to create emotional distance between the future Dr and patients. Students can’t get feedback from this lifeless body about the level of pain, discomfort, care or love that can be felt from the interaction.
Students are instructed to identify systems, tissues, organs, structures through dissection, reducing the body to a tool for exploring anatomy but not human experience before ever encountering a live patient. Sometimes there’s a sign of the life the body once had.
Read 10 tweets
24 May 18
I mentor & coach physicians on their wellbeing & how to use their energy wisely.

Just as there are people called to work in healthcare, it's my calling to serve those who help people in their most vulnerable times & phases of life to continually have the capacity to do it.
Somewhere along the journey to becoming a physician, students started believing that they should be able to handle everything they're exposed to & developed messy coping habits that impact on their ability to connect with others & self in healthy ways.
Healers need healers otherwise they will fail to recognise how their own suffering can become a source of wisdom to apply in their work with patients & in supporting their peers/colleagues. Instead, personal suffering or denial of it, can take one's mind into dark places.
Read 10 tweets
15 May 18
THREAD:

Being an entrepreneur comes with a sense of freedom & none of the institutional limits on creativity. Yet unless I'm consulting within an organisation or connected to community, it can feel lonely & isolating. Online communities are great for support but it's not enough.
I've seen the negative effects of people investing all their time/energy in networking online & draining group dynamics. I realised that one of my values is to participate in collaborations that involve physical meet ups or at least in the potential of physical meetups. 2/
What can I say? I derive inspiration from in person experiences. So it's not surprising that I notice changes in my thinking patterns & emotional landscape when my interactions are more virtual than physical. It's de-motivating & raises mental health alarm bells 3/
Read 20 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!