What are we doing?
Since September Dr Jon Patrick and and Art Psychotherapist Kate Pestell have been training the ED staff in mentalisation.
Why are we doing it?
So as a team I think we are pretty empathetic, this slips the busier and more stressed we get. When it slips we have negative team and patient interactions. The question is can mentalisation help us improve the care we give to our patients and strengthen our team relationships?
“What is mentalisation?
The term mentalisation refers to the ability to reflect upon, and to understand one’s state of mind.
In addition mentalisation also helps us to understand the state of mind of other people. The benefits of mentalisation are:
1) Mentalisation enables us to understand our own contributions to problems and conflicts with others;
2) Mentalisation helps us to change our behaviours and calm down when we are upset;
3) Mentalisation allows us to relate to ourselves and other people with empathy and compassion; and
4) Mentalisation promotes our ability to effectively cope with conflict. ”
How are we doing this?
The one-day training sessions are continuing in to the New Year so if you haven’t had the chance to attend one yet please chat to your line manager.
Jon and Kate are running twice weekly sessions in the ED teaching room from 09:00-10:00 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. These are open to everyone (whether you have been on the one day training or not). They are happy to discuss difficult cases or teach new techniques for mentalisation.
Please join us!
We are very grateful to the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation for funding this project.