The need for Trauma-Informed Leadership in the Spa & Wellness Industry. Here's why and how.

“Trauma compromises our ability to engage with others by replacing patterns of connection with patterns of protection.” Dr. Stephen Porges PHD.

The workplace is one of the essential settings where individuals find or not, a sense of dignity (from making a living), worth (being useful) and fulfilment (use of their gifts, talents and being part of a team).

More than ever, organizations face unpredictable challenges ( Covid, War, Earthquakes…etc) that directly affect what they do and how they do it. It adds pressure on employees at ALL levels of hierarchy.

Employees may also experience trauma due to other kinds of issues at work, such as bias, harassment, and bullying. Employees also face challenges outside of work, like intimate partner violence, mental and physical illness, and addiction can affect the workplace as well.

McKinsey Institute surveys 4,000 employees in four GCC countries to help improve understanding of employee health. The survey found 66 per cent of respondents reported mental health challenges and 55 per cent distress, compared to 32 per cent globally.?

Trauma isn’t a jacket we can take off when it’s time to go to work; we carry it with us. It affects productivity, relationships, engagement, absenteeism, turnover, and more.

While there may be a myriad of traits, behavioural and situational theories of leadership. I would like to believe that one of the qualities that take precedence is the quality of being in “Right Relationship.” The Relational Container.

Efforts to demonstrate to employees that they are cared for and supported through challenges will be reciprocated in lasting trust, engagement, and loyalty.

Here are a few points on what organizations and leaders can do to practice supportive, trauma-informed leadership ( without the therapeutic context) and build cultures of compassion to see them through today’s challenges and the ones to come.

1. THE ART OF COMPASSIONATE LISTENING & SEEING

A vital element of trauma-informed leadership is being willing to listen to and acknowledge the pain of those experiencing trauma. It is essential to allow people to share their experiences, but we need to make sure they feel genuinely heard as well. That means that we must employ not only our best active listening skills but our compassionate listening skills and acknowledge what we’re hearing. A simple “Thanks for sharing that,” or “I’m sorry for everything you’re going through” can suffice.

Edith Eva Eger (a Holocaust survivor and Psychologist specializing in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder) describes Compassionate Listening as the art of responding not reacting. To listen with your heart. You can’t see with the eyes, but you can see with the heart. Naturally, we forget,?at times and that’s ok too! But the conscious awareness of when you are NOT “Compassionately listening” provides you with the space to embody it.

The art of Compassionate listening is to listen to what is said without comparing it with what already you know. If you compare what you listen to, you distort it. You have already accepted the old, and you put the new into the old bottle. So can you listen without comparing or translating, but actually listen to the words, meaning, and significance??

Can you listen without saying the X Wellness article, the expert of X modality or some other book says that? Absolute listening is very difficult for most people because they have never learnt the art of listening. Listen to the words, the meaning of the words and the significance behind the words, and thereby have an insight into what is being said. Insight is not that you intellectually understand or verbally comprehend what is being said, because truth is something that lies beyond the word. This is the art of Compassionate listening.

Then there is the art of seeing. We see things through the picture we have created about it. When you look at a tree, you don’t look at the tree; you look through the word and image you have about the tree – the same when you look at a person.?

As you are reading this very article. Are you looking at me through the image you have built – the reputation, the knowledge that you have about me or merely what I have shared?

If you have no image or conclusions about the author, you are observing actually what is, not the name and the form, but behind that, what actually is. That is the art of seeing, and observing.

Can you "listen to or see" your Therapist, Visiting Practitioner or Spa Attendant without the preconceived notions about them that you have already created within your own understanding?

Unfortunately, listening, acknowledgement, “seeing “seem to get rarer the more senior leaders get. We often have succeeded in our fields by identifying and solving problems. In times of trauma, though, we should resist the urge to “fix” things or offer advice intended to reframe the situation at hand. Sometimes, the most powerful support we can provide is merely to let someone know they’ve been seen and heard.

2. CREATING A WEB OF SUPPORT

In times of trauma and distress, employees may need access to support like mental & emotional health benefits/initiatives, financial assistance, flexible work options, childcare, and other resources. It’s important to offer these forms of support widely.?

Incidents of trauma at work may have a broader impact than those who experienced the primary injury/event. If an employee dies by suicide, for instance, their loved ones will be affected, as well as immediate coworkers and friends—but so many others who’ve lost loved ones previously, or nearly have. The group of individuals whose lives are touched may be difficult to predict. Therefore, instead of attempting to identify specific individuals experiencing trauma and offering support to those individuals, make support broadly available and allow people to choose for themselves what support to access.

3. DOING YOUR OWN WORK?

Part of being a leader is knowing how to manage your own energy. This is necessary to avoid burnout but also to ensure you are setting the right energy for your organization. A leader’s energy has an outsized impact on the team. Leaders set the tone. A disconnected leader (who is consistently frustrated, frazzled, angry, or on autopilot) can affect the entire team and its work.?

Tarka is a Sanskrit word that means “reasoning,” “ philosophical inquiry,” “conjecture,” “logic”, “creative reasoning” or “speculation.” In yoga and Indian philosophy, Tarka goes beyond conscious thinking and reasoning. It is a sort of reflective analysis that is only possible by turning inward and calming the mind. Once the mind is calm, one can begin to see reality and the self as it truly is.

What we need to do as leaders in the world is say, okay, I can get a feeling of anger, fear and/or I perceive myself as avoidant or defensive in this situation. Yes, you can do that! I feel that sometimes for sure.

But we owe it to ourselves and the people we lead to actually take a lot of deep breaths, practice self-awareness by being fully present to what is and taking care of our needs.

?What daily practices can you Integrate to support yourself? How well are you caring for yourself in your present life? Do you have someone whom you trust that you can talk to? Be it a therapist or friend and family. Are?you eating well? Do you have your own mindfulness and/or movement practice? Connect with Nature around you? Etc.

Trauma will continue to shift norms and reshape the workplace as we know it, and organizations that want to see sustained success in the future will need to implement trauma-informed leadership. Organizations that fail to adapt to the changing needs of their teams will be left behind.?

Today’s leaders must be willing to evolve to meet both the collective and the individual where they are and prepare their organizations—and their people—for the challenges of tomorrow.

How do we ensure that our organizations and leaders have the skills and resources to navigate trauma effectively? I would simplify these to three overarching concepts and I love acronyms so in honour of our industry here we go;?

S.P.A

Support (“I can get the help I need”)

Protection (“I will be treated fairly”)

Acknowledgement (“I will be heard”)

On a Final note I will end with a quote from Krishnamurti;

“It's not a measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society.”

With Compassion and deep respect,

Michelle x

Mindful Muses & tools

The Presence Process - Micheal Brown

IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging - Dr. Dan Siegel

Resource