Embracing positive psychology and coaching principles

What does it give to participants?

• A time efficient regular opportunity to meet (virtually) with a small group of peers, facilitated by a medical educationalist in a safe and confidential space ( 1 hour with CPD)
• A welcoming place/ team for those with no team or a team they feel excluded from.
• Time to think, talk, share
• This is for the participants own benefit as so many have had losses personally it also improves patient care. All the self-care skills are readily transferable to colleagues and patients. So many people are struggling, both health care workers and their patients.
• We run highly interactive workshops with small break out groups on Zoom. We teach leadership by modelling inclusivity, listening and coaching and we use positive psychology, kindness, compassion and self-care as our bedrock.

What does it offer the NHS?

The Doctors’ Mess has so much to offers the NHS:

• Potential to aid retention of doctors at a time of high levels of stress and burnout.
• Welcome and support for our international doctors.
• A sense of belonging to those that currently feel isolated or marginalised
• Demonstration of the value of diversity and inclusion.
• A model of kindness and compassion to encourage doctors to first nurture themselves to survive and thrive, reducing burnout and PTSD.
• Support to prevent suicides through confidential one to one conversations and signposting to specialist services if needed
• Safety and space to allow whistleblowing and speaking up
• Self-care and self-compassion WHICH translate to better patient care
• A functioning model for Integrated Care Systems to aid the building of ‘flourishing teams’