You must take time off work if: your mental health difficulties mean you are putting patient care at risk, or if you have been advised to do so by a medical or mental health professional. But you already knew that. Sometimes the need to take time off is less clear to us, and we need to consider the cost of not doing so.
Beth French overcame incredible odds to achieve amazing feats of human endurance through ocean swimming. She set her sights on completing the Oceans Seven – swimming seven channels around the world, some taking as long as 24 hours with only jellyfish and sharks for company in the water. But after completing four of the swims, she quit. She touched the boat – signalling to her team that the swim was over and she wanted out.
She gave up not because she didn’t think she could do it, but because the cost was too high. She realised that by continuing she would be teaching her son that subscribing to a narrow definition of “success” was more important than listening to her core values.
“I had to make the decision of what I wanted to teach my kid. I’d taught him self-discipline and resilience, but I had to learn to listen to my own voice above and beyond anyone else’s. My voice was saying ‘you don’t have to do this’.”
Beth French
The problem with resilience
Health professionals are frequently told that the key to being successful is resilience. If you are struggling you need to learn to be more resilient, perhaps do some “resilience training”. This narrative conveniently lets the system off the hook as it’s you who needs to change, rather than organisational processes and structures.
In fact, health professionals are an incredibly resilient group of people. They have to survive the rigors of training, and to cope with the reality of working with limited resources in highly demanding contexts. For many going to work is like “being a human pinball in a jellyfish machine” (Beth French, BBC).
It is the healthcare system that is poorly equipped to deal with the most predictable of life events: people getting sick, experiencing tragic life events or having babies, and – always a shock – Winter. It is the system that needs to be more resilient so that it can absorb the needs of a human workforce, rather than requiring its staff to shoulder this burden. This is true in the best of times, so that when worse times come (queue 2020) our healthcare professionals have reserves to draw on. We’ve horribly failed at this in recent decades, and our healthcare workers are suffering.
Counting the cost
Continuing to work when you are struggling with depression, anxiety or emotional exhaustion may be “heroic”, but at what cost? Even if you are still able to function well at work there are other areas of your life that may be taking the brunt. Your relationships with your loved ones may be suffering – there may be more arguments, or less capacity to be emotionally present with them.
Your physical health will also be impacted. We know that stress negatively affects the immune system, making you more vulnerable to short- and long-term health problems. Is it really worth it?
Left untreated depression can lead to suicide. Work is definitely not worth this, ever.
Like Beth French you might be aware that you are not living your life according to your values. Are you putting loyalty to an institution above your need (and right) for a healthy life? Has your relationship with your work become more important than your relationship with yourself and those you love? Maybe you need some time out to re-connect with your values.
Time to touch the boat?
As health professionals we are notoriously bad at looking after ourselves. Even when we’re really struggling the thought of taking time off work raises enormous anxiety and shame. We don’t want to let our patients or our colleagues down; we don’t want people to think badly of us; and we don’t want to admit to ourselves that we’re not coping.
All of this can drown out that inner voice that says, “Enough, you don’t have to do this.” There will be times in our lives when we need to stop and take time out to recover. Not for ever, but for now. Beth French knew that all she had to do was touch the boat, and her swim would be over. Then she could rest and, in time, figure out what the next steps for her could be. Is it time for you to touch the boat?
Next steps:
If you think you need to take some time off work the first port of call is speaking to your GP (though remember you can self-certify sick leave for 7 days).
NB: If you have had thoughts about ending your life please contact your GP urgently.
If you want support to re-connect with your values, process your experiences or learn new ways of responding to your distress book in a free call with me here.
