COVID-19 Supporting Doctors: How to Deal With Our Sadness, Anger and Grief Through the Crisis with Dr Caroline Walker and Dr Rachel Morris

In this episode of the podcast, Rachel is joined again by Dr Caroline Walker – The Joyful Doctor. Caroline is a Psychiatrist, therapist, specialist in the wellbeing of doctors and host of The Joyful Doctor Podcast.

This is the second in a new series of podcast episodes and videos – COVID-19 Supporting Doctors.

In these difficult times, we're working together to bring you as much support as they can. We’ll be tackling various different topics as they emerge in order to help doctors keep their head in the game and stay focussed and resilient.

In this episode, we talk about the sadness and sense of loss that we are all feeling at the moment. Grief brings with it many different emotions and reactions – from shock and denial through to extreme sadness and anger. Many of us are experiencing a lot of these emotions right now and IT’S OK AND NORMAL to feel like this.

When we suppress our emotions for too long it can be bad for us. We discuss how to release the emotions in a healthy way which doesn’t catch anyone in the crossfire and how accepting what we are feeling and making allowances for others to feel that way too is crucial in times like these. Our top tips are:

Caroline

Feel the emotion
Vent your anger healthily and safely
Share your sadness with others – we’re in this together

Rachel

Give yourself time and space to allow yourself to experience the emotions and let them settle.
Make room for joy in your life – even when it’s hard out there
Make extra allowances for yourself and others

Doctors – we need you more than ever. Keep up the good work. Keep your heads. Keep caring.

Contact Rachel – rachel@wildmonday.co.uk Twitter - @DrRachel Morris

Contact Caroline – caroline@joyfuldoctor.com Twitter @joyful_doctor

We’re sending out a weekly email with new resources, tips and useful content especially for doctors and healthcare professionals throughout the COVID-19 crisis. If you’d like to receive this and other resources about thriving at work then please sign up here

You can watch this podcast episode on YouTube here

Podcast links

Coronavirus wellbeing support for doctors Facebook group

The Joyful Doctor Website www.joyfuldoctor.com

Shapes for Doctors Website www.shapesfordoctors.com

You Are Not A Frog website www.youarenotafrog.co.uk

Tea and empathy Facebook group

The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Russ Harris

BMA Wellbeing Service

The NHS Practitioner Health Programme

Sign up for downloadable CPD reflection forms plus more tools and resources

For more episodes, check out You Are Not A Frog Podcasts and sign up to our mailing list here for loads of useful resources.