Humansolutions Bulletin - September 13th 2018

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Throughout my career I have come across people time and time again who are unhappy about one or more aspects of their lives who, when I ask them what they are doing to address those issues, respond with a shrug of the shoulders or the verbal equivalent. It is as if they feel overwhelmed by the situation and therefore adopt a passive approach to it. I have sometimes felt a bit of a fraud because it has often been the case that my saying: ‘So, what are you going to do about it?’ and helping them to formulate some meaningful answers to that question have been enough to free them up to take some positive steps. The ensuing progress –…

Anyone who pretends that emotional intelligence is a ‘soft’ skill has never managed a bullying claim, told an employee that their position is redundant, or been involved in an industrial negotiation. Many management tasks that are essential in today’s workplace require understanding of the emotional issues that employees and teams face. Resolving them takes strength, decisiveness, compassion, strategic thinking and integrity – and the importance of these skills shouldn’t be underestimated. Emotional intelligence can be understood to be the ability to recognise and understand your own feelings and the feelings of others, and to choose how to respond to them. Rutgers psychologist Daniel Goleman named five elements of emotional intelligence back in 1998: Self-awareness; Self-regulation, being the ability to manage constructively…

Joan Jackson, 84, was admitted to Southampton general hospital earlier this month with acute stomach pains. She was diagnosed with gallstones and a liver problem. Three days later she had an operation to remove the blockage. Jackson, who has no family, says she does not know what she would have done without Gary Collett, a volunteer who has been helping her for two and a half years. “He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. If it weren’t for him, all I’d have to wear is one nightie. He brought me extra nighties, did my washing, fetched me things to read. Not many people would do that.” Collett, 59, visits every Tuesday and Thursday – he does shopping and odd bits of DIY,…

Employee Benefits Live, Europe’s largest two-day event for benefits and reward professionals, is partnering with mental health charity Mind for its 2018 event at ExCeL London on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 October 2018. The charity will host the event’s first Mental Health Hub, where Mind will offer delegates advice on mental health in the workplace and showcase its new Mental Health at Work Gateway, which is being launched in partnership with The Royal Foundation. Mind currently operates a Workplace Wellbeing programme that aims to help individuals understand and start talking about the costs of neglecting mental wellbeing in the workplace. This includes offering free resources for employers around how to improve both mental wellbeing and employee engagement. Click here to read more

In the first of a two-part podcast, our guests Dr. Heather Larkin and Amanda Aykanian discuss strategies designed to strengthen homeless services and empower the social work profession to assume a lead role in ending homelessness. They describe the National Center for Excellence in Homeless Services, the Center's ties to the Social Work Grand Challenges, and the National Homelessness Social Work Initiative. The episode concludes by exploring misperceptions about homeless social work practice, what it actually means to work in homeless services, and how engaging in this area provides opportunities for interconnectivity across all levels of practice. Click here to read more