A Psychologically Healthy Workplace - for Health Care Workers!

"What Is a Psychologically Healthy Workplace?

The standard outlined in Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (CSA Group 2013) identifies a number of key factors involved in creating a psychologically healthy workplace. These include the following:

• Civility and respect in the workplace
• Supported and valued employees
• Praise, recognition, acknowledgement and fairness
• Growth and development opportunities
• Clear leadership and expectations
• Recognition of the need for balance (personal life, family, work)
• Manageable workloads – responsibilities can be accomplished within the time available
• Adequate resources to do the job
• Workers who have some control over how they organize their work
• Consideration of opinions and suggestions of employees – employees participate in decision-making
• Psychological services and supports available to employees with mental health issues"

       Kitts J. Psychological Health and Safety in Canadian Healthcare Setting. Healthcare Quarterly, 16(4) October 2013: 6-9.doi:10.12927/hcq.2014.23643 

Old Halifax - January 30, 2014

 

Canadian eh?

     Canadians tend to be easy-going, open-minded and tolerant. Interestingly, some see this as a strength, whereas others interpret it as laziness, a failure to speak up for what one needs - in fact deserves & should demand to have immediately! Those of the latter mindset are, in turn, seen by many Canadians as pushy, crass & self-centered.
     Canada is, relatively speaking, a sparsely populated country. Recently it's been found that the greater the population of a city, the faster people from the city tend to walk. Could it be the same for their perceived urgency for gratification ie self-centeredness?
     Meaningful change towards a higher quality of life is accomplished slowly, internally. Demanding that others and the external environment should conform to our wishes simply won't happen. Self-centeredness (egocentricity) is well-known as an early stage of human development. The sad fact is that many never outgrow this stage. 
     Whatever stage one happens to be in, one assumes to be perfectly reasonable & appropriate. After one has matured beyond a given stage, and has some capacity for self-reflection, one looks back with considerable humility at one's past (relatively primitive) behavior.
     That is why it is so important to be at least conceptually aware of what humans are capable of achieving: well beyond egocentricity, human beings can - and must - mature to (& beyond) allocentric levels. See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/04/stressed-out-or-centered-choose-one.html