You are not alone this International Stress Awareness Week

Feeling stressed?

You’re not alone. The coronavirus pandemic has created levels of stress that have been unprecedented for so many people. Whether your stress has been caused by fears of contracting COVID-19, other health issues, financial concerns, housing problems, job worries, education challenges or through the stresses and strains of daily life with (or without) a family to care for, finding ways to cope can be really difficult and stress can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Why ENA is supporting International Stress Awareness Week

This year we are supporting International Stress Awareness Week to highlight that no matter who you are, what challenges you are living with or what role you play in society, we can all feel stress and need to find ways to deal with that stress.

Recognising when we are stressed is an important first step in making sense of our feelings. Mind’s ‘Signs of Stress’ talks about:
• Feeling anxious, wound up and worried as feelings you might experience if you are stressed.
• Stress may manifest itself in ways that include emotional reactions and changes in lifestyle habits.
• You may also experience physical effects including breathing, digestive or sleep problems, to name a few.

To find ways to alleviate your stress, read Every Mind Matters ‘Top tips to deal with stress and burnout’ which includes suggestions to challenge your thoughts and talk to others.

How we support our clients with stress

At ENA, our first concern is always how our clients are feeling. Whilst many people engage our live-in care services to support them with their physical health problems, we are always mindful of our client’s mental health, and how mental and physical health are intertwined. As the saying goes:

“There is no health without mental health.”

Being disabled, and/or living with short or long-term health conditions is tough. Even with a live-in carer to provide optimum support, many of our clients feel stressed through circumstances like trying to access additional health services or coping with health or financial assessments. Sometimes just trying to plan and navigate a trip out can be stressful if disabled facilities aren’t operational or transport services prove problematic.

Our live-in carers aim to create as stress-free an environment as possible within what they can influence. Our care plans have mental health support built-in as standard so that we can be aware of anything that our clients might find particularly stressful or anything that triggers a person’s stress. Armed with this information, our live-in carers will look for any ways in which we can minimise stress for the person in particular situations. We want our clients to feel as comfortable and in-control as possible.

How we support our staff with stress

We are mindful that whilst the day-to-day lives of our office-based staff and our live-in carers are very different, all of our staff may well feel stressed at some point. We aim to minimise stress by creating a positive work culture whereby we all support each other, either in-person or remotely, and we have mechanisms in place for our staff to obtain support 24/7 should they need it.

As part of our commitment to our entire staff team’s wellbeing, we provide all staff with access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mindful Employer, which offers a listening ear, guidance and signposting to further advice on any issue either in or out of the workplace. If you are a member of our staff and would like to utilise this helpline, the number is 0300 555 6006 and they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also provide access to the Calm App for all of our staff. Calm is packed full of ways to help staff relax, unwind and sleep better, and we’ve had great feedback on its usage from our team.

We know that many social care staff feel stressed through lack of training and development, so we ensure that our live-in carers receive continual opportunities to learn and develop through our award-winning training programmes. Our office-based staff also have access to appropriate training for their roles. Feeling out of your depth is a certain route to stress and anxiety, and that is not something we ever want our staff to feel.

Our commitment to stress-busting

We want to make saying, “I’m feeling stressed” a normal part of opening up a supportive conversation, whether you are a disabled person talking to our live-in carer, a family member discussing live-in care with one of our advisors (in a phone call you may have been meaning to make but have been putting off because you’re stressed), or a member of our staff team who’ve found yourself in a stressful personal or professional situation.

Feeling stressed isn’t a sign of weakness or something to hide. If you (or your family member) are supported by us or work for us, we are here for you.

Find out more about how ENA Care Group could support you or your family by calling 0800 4334 413 or emailing care@ena.co.uk.

To find out more about working for ENA Care Group, please call 01707 383 033 or email recruitment@ena.co.uk.