Compassionate Care

(7) mindfulness; and (8) being grateful. Additionally, she presented to the seminar’s participants the five pathways to self-compassion which touch the physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual. It is important that as health care workers we ask these two important questions: What are my warning signs? How do I find balance? Ms Felice’s talk reminded me of what L.R. Knost says: Taking care of myself doesn’t mean ‘me first’. It means ‘me too’.

The last input in the half-day seminar was given by Dr. Claudia Psaila. Her subject title was Building Resilience when providing Compassionate Care. She started off by saying that the health care worker needs to be in touch and compassionate with himself and herself. And, the question about being resilient is not one of surviving but of thriving. Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress. Hence, resilience continued on page 31