The second in a SERIES OF BOOKS FROM
LEE DAVID AND DEBBIE BREWIN
Boosting Your Mental Wellbeing
Wellness / Self Help Publications
The latest in a series of publications brought to you by Dr Lee David and Debbie Brewin.
This book brings easy to follow 10 minute steps using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness to benefit those working in the healthcare industry.
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Working in Primary Care can be stressful and exhausting…
It can be all too easy to slip into a negative spiral of over-working, failing to switch off and not spending enough time on rest and recuperation.
This book will give you the key skills to overcome this stress and to boost your wellbeing, which in turn will allow you to thrive both at work and in your personal life. We show you how making small changes in key life areas can have a surprisingly significant impact on mood.
The book introduces six 10 minute GROWTH steps, based on techniques such as CBT, mindfulness and behavioural activation, that help lead to positive mental health and significantly improved wellbeing.
We look at some of the common difficulties we all experience in primary care such as:
Low Mood, Low Motivation and Burnout
Anxiety, Uncertainty and Worry
Managing Change and Loss
Not many healthcare professionals will go into healthcare believing that it is going to be an easy ride or a low stress career. Although we are taught how to treat and care for patients and need to pass multiple assessments and exams in the process, what we are not taught is how to look after our own health and wellbeing in the course of providing care to others.
The publication of this book is timely because currently it is difficult for those working in healthcare not to feel despondent about the future, when phrases such as “the NHS is in crisis”, “record numbers of doctors retiring early”, “NHS staff on strike again”, and “I can’t see my GP” are being bandied about in the news and on social media.
At NHS Practitioner Health, we look after many healthcare professionals who suffer with mental health and addiction problems. We do not just want our colleagues to survive their careers in healthcare but to thrive, and where better to start than ensuring we learn how to safeguard our own mental health. Healthcare professionals are notorious for putting the needs of others before their own, and we know from our work with the profession how this can so often lead to tragedy when our own basic needs are continually left unmet.
We are delighted that Lee David and Debbie Brewin have brought together their knowledge and experience in this book, to provide healthcare professionals with tools to facilitate better mental wellbeing and self-care. We would urge readers to put these tools into practice because good self-care takes work. With repetition such self-care will eventually become part of your day-to-day life and will ultimately lead to a healthier, happier you and therefore healthier, happier patients.
Dr Zaid Al-Najjar and Dr Helen Garr
Medical Directors, NHS Practitioner Health
This book could hardly have come at a better time. UK healthcare professionals across the spectrum are suffering. Suffering in so many different ways. Few thought that things could get worse as the Covid-19 pandemic receded, at least to an extent. But here we are in 2023 with a profession that many commentators have described as being ‘on its knees’. Demand seems limitless, expectations unrealistic, and the workforce just doesn’t have the capacity to offer satisfying consultations or healthcare experiences to all the patients seeking help for their health issues.
Debbie Brewin and Lee David bring a wealth of experience to this seemingly intractable problem – how do GPs look after themselves? GPs are unique in many ways. Their support is patchy at best. True, there are MDT meetings which play a role in providing patient care but also serve to support the healthcare professionals involved. Then there is the practice team, but with many of them direct employees of the GP partners, seeking help can involve challenging power structures within a practice. Unique among medical professionals, GPs spend long stretches of the day alone with their patients. This ‘unsupervised practice’ is not a feature of most secondary care provision. And it’s a time when GPs can become isolated and lonely, carrying the seemingly impossible burdens of their patients with little direct help. Unlike therapists who can unburden during ‘supervision sessions’, this is rarely available to GPs and not funded as a structured support.
What this book does is to share a process which the authors call ‘GROWTH’ (read on). This goes much further than the unsatisfactory ‘resilience training’ and is underpinned by a strong background in CBT and ACT therapies. There is a clear message here about GPs needing to spend more time looking after themselves. Uniquely, this book provides a structure steeped in the theory of CBT and ACT on how overwhelmed GPs can regain control. And with this, can boost their mental wellbeing.
Professor Mark Ashworth
Professor of Primary Care, King’s College London
I have done Dr. David’s CBT courses and so was very keen to read this book as a parent and GP.
Was not disappointed and loved going through each chapter. It’s like a guided tour to improving mental well-being. Very easy to navigate and understand. In a language which resonates with youngsters. Will certainly be sharing it with my patients. The exercises are clear , concise and just the right dose for small sessions.
– Amazon review – 10 minutes to better mental health
A practical book which allows teenagers to digest information in bite-size pieces. The videos are engaging and bring the text to life. A great read for both teenagers, parents and those who work with young people.