Creative Coping for the Collaborative Professional

Creative Coping for the Collaborative Professional

December 5th, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm

Doors open at 9:00 am for coffee & tea

Continuing Education Sponsored by KCCL, With Sheri Vernon and Anne Lucas

at Bastyr University: 14500 Juanita Dr NE, Kenmore, WA 98028

2.75 CEU/CLE hours

Description

Self-care has become a stale catchphrase for things we should do, but most of us don't have the time, money, or inclination to get up at 5 a.m. to meditate, do some light yoga, journal, and fix some kind of granola breakfast. Instead, we have kids to get to school, a dog to walk, and paperwork and laptops to gather up as we hit the work world running, hoping that today will be the day we finally close out all our emails.

Instead, we sit in meetings filled with pain, anger, and endings—joint meetings with clients trying to end and close marriages forever, split time with their beloved two-year-old, or give up the puppy. We help them split never-enough money and set up transitional lives, all directed by a team of professionals who are experts in the ways of divorce. These experts sit in the toxic soup created by clients and sometimes by toxic teams, hour after hour, day after day, answering emails after hours, drafting documents, and attempting to manage fragile clients as well as fragile teammates. And this is in addition to managing our own marriages, health issues, friends diagnosed with cancer, keeping up friendships, and maintaining clean sheets. Top it off with holiday expectations, and it's amazing any of us survive.

This presentation is a combination of finding quick but impactful methods of reducing stress and becoming, even for a moment, more present in the now. It's about breathing and blowing bubbles, counting balloons, and thinking about boundaries. We will explore the thought that maybe, just maybe, the narrative of us living and working in an ER or war zone is not accurate. Maybe, just maybe, we as a group might be able to shift that narrative into something supportive, bravely honest, and with boundaries that can truly be kept!