Building & Sustaining Personal & Professional Resilience Amy - PDF document

7/8/2020 Building & Sustaining Personal & Professional Resilience Amy Nitza, PhD Institute for Disaster Mental Health SUNY New Paltz 1 Coaching to High Performance Supporting Others in Managing Stress Evaluating Performance ovs.ny.gov/training 2    AGENDA    3 1

7/8/2020 The Impact of Stress  General Stress  Cumulative Stress  Acute Stress  Traumatic Stress Photo credit: Edison Sabala 4 General stress • Normal condition of life • Necessary for health and survival • Can be positive or can be negative • Most people deal with it daily and function well 5 The Stress Response Curve Unmotivated Eustress Distress STRESS = Not Enough Stress Optimal Stress Too Much Stress Productivity Stress 6 2

7/8/2020 Cumulative Stress  Piled up, unresolved general stress  Destructive pathway of stress  Produces negative changes in: o Mental and physical health o Performance o Relationships o Personality 7 Acute Stress  Body’s response to a situation perceived as dangerous or threatening  Fight or flight reaction as the body prepares to defend itself 8 Trauma Stress Crisis The stress experienced by Trauma trauma can feel fdffffff overwhelming and outside of normal experience . 9 3

7/8/2020 Stress in the Current Context • Pre-existing Stressors Result: • Pandemic: Constant need to adapt, • Invisible with ratcheting up of our • Unpredictable • Chronic but rapidly changing baseline stress levels combined with multiple • Racial Injustice incidents of acute • Chronic stress! • Acute • Traumatic 10 Stress and the Brain 11  The monitor of danger (the alarm system)   Judge of what is pleasurable or scary  Arbiter of what is, or is not, important for survival purposes  Makes quick decisions, but is not fine ‐ tuned  Develops first. Shaped by early experiences that create children’s emotional map of the world. 12 4

7/8/2020 Focused on understanding and thinking about the world around us  Responsible for the interpretation of all our experiences  Regulates ‘executive functions: • Planning and decision making • Sequencing actions • Predicting consequences of our actions • Keep us from acting on all our impulses The Rational  Slower than the emotional brain, but more fine ‐ tuned Brain 13 The The First, the emot First the emotional br brain (the n (the s smok oke a e alarm) Smoke Alarm Smok e Alarm dete de tects a cts a po pote tential t ntial threat ( t (i.e. a . a stre ress ssor) & & Next, the , the ratio tional br brain (the n (the w watch tchtower) examine ines the p the potent ntial thr threa eat, decides on on a The The pl plan o an of act action on, and act , and activates tes that pl plan an Watchtower Wa Then, Then, the the emot emotiona nal br brain (the n (the s smok oke a e alarm) re return rns t s to base selin line and and co continu ntinues mo s monitorin nitoring 14 In Daily In Daily Lif Life In Times In Tim s of Ex of Extreme treme or or Manag Managing s stress rel ress relies on es on Traumatic aumatic Stress Stress a heal a h alth thy y balanc nce e The smo smoke alarm is e alarm is const nstantly go going ing betw between the the emot emotional off - f - sugge uggest stin ing danger danger; it it ge gets s stuc uck and r ratio tional parts of of the the sition . . in in the ‘o ‘on’ n’ po posi bra brain. n. The brain be brain becomes mes o out o of balan balance; ce; t the watchtower i watc er is ov overwhel whelmed med by the e smoke alarm. smo e alarm. All All the brain’ e brain’s at s attention ge gets f focused on on tr trying to s to shut of off th f the s e smok oke a alarm, m, at at the ex expens nse o e of o other her brai brain func functions. 15 5

7/8/2020 Building P Building Personal onal Resilience in silience in the the Face of ce of Stress ress Photo credit: Edison Sabala 16 Resilience = Being able to stay in, or quickly return to, a place of physiological, emotional, and mental balance after being disrupted. It is maintaining the ability to respond vs. react to difficult situations 17 Responding vs. Reacting Responding = Green Zone Reacting = Red Zone 18 6

7/8/2020 Stress reduction in Preparing & rehearsing are Level 1 stressful moments the keys to success. In times of stress, it is a lot easier to activate a pre ‐ existing strategy than to Level 2 Daily activities/routines to maintain wellness develop one on the fly . Long ‐ term investment Level 3 in wellness 19 Photo credit: Edison Sabala 20 Rehearsal Leads to Rewiring 21 7

7/8/2020 Three Three Pathway Pa ways to Building Building Thoughts Emotions Resilience silience Behaviors 22 Emotion-B Emotion-Based Str d Strategies gies Goals Goals St Strategies rategies • Strengthen brain’s ability to • Mindfulness stay in balance • Meditation • Mental Muscle • Relaxation/Breathing • Improve emotion regulation • Yoga • Regulate attention to allow us to hold our focus • Noticing (and accepting) your reactions gives you more control over it 23 Cognition-Based gnition-Based Strateg Strategies es St Strategies rategies Goals Goals • ‘Self-Talk’ • Avoid sustained activation of the ‘fight or flight’ system • Combat the brain’s negativity • Cognitive Restructuring bias • Can you replace these “automatic thoughts” with more neutral/realistic/helpful thoughts? • Stress Inoculation • Mental rehearsal and preparation for specific stressful situations 24 8

7/8/2020 • Scans for bad news • Focuses tightly on it (losing sight of the big picture) • Overreacts to it • Fast ‐ tracks the experience into memory • Becomes sensitized, creating a vicious cycle Our brains are Velcro for bad experiences and Teflon for good ones Hanson (2018) 25 • B belief 26 What SPECIFICALLY are How are you viewing each stressor? Stress St ress your stressors? NAME IT to TAME IT Inoculation Inoculation As a threat As a challenge Flowchart Flo Is it something How can you you can control reframe it as a or change? challenge ?: • Positive self ‐ talk • Remember Yes : No : Try problem ‐ focused your Try emotion ‐ focused coping strategies: strengths coping strategies: • Reach out • Breaking problems • Relaxation for support into manageable • Distress tolerance parts • Emotion regulation • Problem ‐ solving • Anger management • Brainstorming • Distraction skills • Skill development 27 9

7/8/2020 • Pic Pick somet something t hing that at is is pleasur pleasurable ble, and and mak make it it a a reg regular practi practice Conc Conclusion: What What you do is less ou do is less • Doing somet Doing something hing onc once c creates a eates a tempor temporar ary positiv positive e exper perience; ence; doing doing impo important than than something repeate somet hing repeatedly c ly creates las eates lasting ing picking something ing something change ch and doing it and doin it • To grow any any psy psycholo hological resources is ical resources is regularly reg to ha have repeat ve repeated ed experie perience ces of s of it it t that at create eate las lasting c ing changes in anges in brain ain function funct on 28 Q Thank y Thank you! u! & A 29 10