What is my purpose? It鈥檚 a question often asked at times of personal or professional change. For those with a calling or vocation 鈥� teachers, doctors, therapists, the police and emergency responders, the answer might simply be, 鈥榯o teach, heal, care or help鈥�. But when we lose our sense of purpose, we become disconnected and lose a part of our self. This is often precisely the moment in a client鈥檚 life when we meet them for the first time.听
Zoe Davenport leads a national police psychological health surveillance programme and writes this issue鈥檚 lead article on working with the police. She describes the force as 鈥榯he punchbags of society鈥�, and her article makes for sobering reading: 鈥業 have worked with police officers who have been stabbed or shot, run over, or had their jaw or limbs broken; and most horrifically, set on fire.鈥� Little wonder that Zoe argues for a properly funded national standard of clinical support for the police 鈥� which begs the question, why isn鈥檛 it already in place?
The answer, unlikely to surprise anyone working with the public sector, appears to lie in chronic underfunding and a lack of staff and resources. This makes tough work even tougher and it lowers morale. Not only are police officers retiring earlier because they are no longer able to endure a 30-year career physically or mentally, but the OH staff who support them are in short supply, and few 鈥榟elpers鈥� are drawn to work in a staff service so starved of investment.
It got me thinking about the wounds inflicted on employees, who become fodder for political distraction or expediency 鈥� from the GPs being told to 鈥榮top hiding鈥� by Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, to the teachers accused of being idle during lockdown. In 鈥楳y workplace鈥�, I talk to Naomi Ward, a former English teacher, who coaches educators across the world to rediscover their sense of purpose. I was touched to learn how Naomi offers her love of language and metaphor to help those who can鈥檛 put words to what they have lost: 鈥榃hen we can鈥檛 find the words to express something that we are longing for, we find that the poets have already said it.鈥� This, Naomi says, helps us to transcend the fear that we are alone 鈥� the connection reassures us and it gives us courage.
In 鈥榃hen 鈥渙ld Mark鈥� meets 鈥渘ew Mark鈥濃��, Anupama Garg explains that she was unable to find a single case study written by a workplace counsellor on their work with an employee experiencing long COVID. This gave her a sense of purpose to write one. And finally, if you or your clients need reacquainting with your sense of purpose, I hope you鈥檒l read my interview with Eloise Skinner about her new book, The Purpose Handbook.
Nicola Banning, Editor,
香港六合彩精准资料 Workplace听
workplaceeditor@bacp.co.uk
