Home » Protect your peace : staying safe in hostile times

On 13 November, we had 21 attendees attend “Protect your peace: staying safe in hostile times” presented by Maureen Mguni and Sarah Wilkins, senior lecturers at Kingston University. This presentation spoke about reframing self-care from an individual practice to an act of social justice, resistance, and collective healing within a climate that is challenging and has been making individuals question their sense of belonging and safety.

The Ubuntu philosophy “I am because we are” suggested that individual well-being is fundamentally linked to the well-being and support of the community. In a high-pressure professional environment, this balance often shifts, requiring greater support from the collective (community, workplace, or systemic policy) to maintain individual capacity.

This topic was very emotive to the group but Maureen, Sarah and attendees allowed themselves to be vulnerable. Despite navigating a difficult and personal conversation, a positive tone was present in conversation. 

Our attendees went into breakout rooms to discuss the following questions:

1. How do I currently practice self-care, and to what extent are these practices shaped by individual responsibility versus community support?
2. What would it look like to engage in self-care as a collective, relational practice that supports both my well-being and the support of others in my community /profession?

The themes from these breakout rooms were as follows:

1. Systemic and Structural Challenges

• Need for systemic change: A significant “win” would involve systematic structural changes rather than solely focusing on individual coping mechanisms.
• Role of leadership: There is a strong desire for better role modeling and action from senior leadership and an expectation for them to actively respond in a way that addresses the uncomfortability such as the raising of flags in local boroughs.
• Creating boundaries: A challenge exists in knowing what professionals need to address when they cannot create their own boundaries due to system demands with high workload and dependencies.
• Learned helplessness: Participants noted finding themselves in a state of learned helplessness, suggesting self-care has become a necessity driven by systemic stress.
• Authenticity and identity: The discussion touched on the difficulty of achieving authenticity and being unapologetically oneself in their workspaces. Being able to trust raising an issue and it be dealt with accordingly.
• The gap between placement and the workplace: While reflection is driven during placement, there is a risk of missed opportunities in the workplace when the space for reflection is not provided. Confirming that theory is nothing without practice.

2. Community, Support, and Safe Spaces

• Faith and networks: Faith was highlighted as a recognized safe space for community and protection and the need to lean on networks and peer support spaces.
• Vulnerability of safe spaces: A core difficulty is that even when safe spaces are created, they can be “infiltrated” or compromised e.g. going to the gym and facing individuals who aren’t welcoming or having down time watching TV and observing the news.
• Relational impact: The concept that what we do for ourselves reflects on how we engage with others was stressed. In roles of care, investing in self-care directly impacts communication and presence for colleagues and those we work with.
• Finding connection: The importance of finding chemistry with people you can feed into each other (mutual support) and using resources like music to soothe and join communities was noted.

3. Individual practice and discipline

• Discipline and boundaries: Self-care was strongly linked to discipline and boundaries, including how one speaks and prioritizes oneself. This at times can be difficult but the importance of this was stressed.
• Intentional energy management: The need to be selfish to hold yourself before others and thinking about your energy. Pouring into yourself first, then pouring into others.
• Emotional intelligence: Investing time in learning and using emotional intelligence was identified as a necessary skill.
• Circle of influence: Attendees focused on the importance of determining their circle of influence, what they can actually control and challenge within a larger problem.

4. The digital environment

• Social media impact: Concerns were raised about the way information becomes liberalized (everyone having an unfiltered opinion) and how news is driven by algorithms.
• Positive use: Focusing and interacting with positivity on social media and pouring into the right algorithms so you see positive returns and themes.