INFORMAL MEETING ON PSYCHIC HEALTH
On the 18 th of October 2023, the team of “Astra Forum” Foundation arranged an informal meeting with the newly established community of medical specialists that have an attitude on the topic of psychic health of those employed in the sector. The team managed to gather at one place medical specialists being part of the group therapy for overcoming stress at the workplace being held with leading psychotherapist; doctors – ambassadors of mental health as well as young specialists with attitude on the topic joined various events in this light.
During the meeting, the chairperson of the Foundation, Momchil Baev, doctor of medicine, told all the participants about the activities performed by the team in order to achieve more sustainable psychic health of medical personnel in Bulgaria. He mentioned the topic of life quality of specialists and the way it suffers because of numerous factors, some of them being prerequisites for burnout – syndrome of professional burnout. They all managed to introduce themselves to the others and share their role in processes.
EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCE AND IDEAS WAS THE MOST VALUABLE FROM THE HELD MEETING
Each and every person who visits the group sessions tells about his or her personal experience, difficulties he or she encounters in his/her daily life and the positive change he notices after visiting the meetings that were initiated in January 2023. Administrative load… more and more unnerved and demanding patients and colleagues proved to be among the common problems shared by the colleagues. Patients’ suffering is also among the traumas specialists encounter. They believe the topic about psychic health mostly of medical personnel should no longer be taboo and we should speak more often about it. Namely, this is the role of ambassadors of medical personnel’s psychic health that disseminate the messages among their communities.
It proves that more and more doctors need to work towards better mental health, they realize this need yet they do not undertake particular steps and actions to this end. All the participants in the meeting discussed this case while looking for an answer how to motivate more people to take care after themselves, thus becoming more effective in their work with their patients. The young specialists that join initiatives arranged by the Foundation in this direction, in turn, shared their impressions while observing their colleagues who have been practising longer. Additionally, we discussed guidelines for making the initiatives popular. Valuable ideas were outlined after discussing the topic.
We foresee meetings of this type to be regular because exchange of thoughts and ideas brings about even better initiatives and contribute for the establishment of the community of medical specialists who work for better psychic health among colleagues. Foundation’s team would like to thank everyone who devoted some of his or her time in the hectic lifestyle and demonstrated his or her support in the activities we arrange that are about to happen in the future.
The group for supporting psychic health of medical specialists remains open and receives new members continuously, without exceeding 12 persons.
