Meet Ea Suzanne Akasha
Many years of emergency work in the field has made it clear that it is a main and major task for helpers to know their own boundaries and to practice self-care. Self-care is a lived daily practice and not some advice on a piece of paper.
As for my role and contribution in the project of IPP, I am keen to be in the Who Cares as I give workshops where participants can openly share how they are doing, what their stressors are, how to cope, and how to support peers.
No doubt the pandemic and all other situations of prolonged uncertainty have a great impact on how we are doing. We constantly have had to adapt to new situations and information without knowing if it is ending soon. This is hard mental and emotional work! Frontline workers have also had to face anxiety also from their close ones, and have been overburdened. Working for long stretches of time exceeding bodily, mental and emotional limits is draining.
In our trainings we focus on the different types of losses suffered during the pandemic, talk about them and then focus on what has been gained and learned. This is usually very moving and important moments when people acknowledging their losses as well as gains. Being able to live in changing times is a vital life skill we all need to learn.