The 'How We Care' podcast top 5 episodes! June 2023.
The How We Care podcast features two experienced passionate helping professionals talking about the challenges, joys and self-development of their work. Elizabeth Turp, a counsellor/psychotherapist and writer, and Paul Gaunt, a career professional and lecturer have 60 years of clinical experience between them, love what they do and they love talking about it! Since 2020 they have discussed everything from self-awareness to self-care, each conversation a spontaneous exploration of a subject that goes to some interesting places.
Full of insights for trainees and useful reflections for qualified practitioners who counsel, coach, teach, treat, support, care or guide for a living, ‘How We Care’ features the voices of people who are dedicated to the continued development, wellbeing and learning of others. As well as hosts Elizabeth & Paul, guests include early career therapists and practitioner academics.
Practitioner wellbeing and a commitment to individualised person-centred practice run through all episodes. The intersection between different professions yet similar approaches to helping makes for some unexpected and inspiring conversations.
To celebrate our upcoming 20th episode here are insights into our top 5 episodes, click links to listen now:
Most downloaded! Episode 8) The Courage of the Person-Centred Approach
What does it mean to work in a person-centred way, truly meeting clients in their individual style, needs and where they are without a formulation, structure or predetermined process? The excitement, freedom and exhilaration of PC practice is discussed alongside the many benefits to the client of practitioners who approach their work like this regardless of role or theoretical approach.
Central to how Elizabeth & Paul both practice, this episode is doubtless popular as a contrast to the dominance of more easily measurable approaches and where they have both landed as most effective and appropriate to the majority of clients after many decades, trainings and workplaces - an evidence base in itself! Listen here:
Second most listened to! Episode 1) Being with emotions in Helping Conversations
What is it like to encounter strong emotions in a helping conversation where they might not be explicitly on the agenda? How can teachers, medics, careers professionals, HR professionals, etc best serve their clients, patients, employees or students while looking after themselves in challenging moments?
This is the topic that started ‘How We Care’! Talking about how different professions handle unexpected challenges in interactions, Paul suggested recording our conversation might be a good learning tool for his teaching - one thing led to another and we started podcasting! Listen here:
Third most heard: Episode 15) Working and Training as a Helping Professional when you have a chronic condition.
What are the challenges of working in a demanding and complex helping role when you live with a chronic condition? What is helpful to consider to create work and a life that supports your health at different career stages. What does embedded - rather than reactive - self-care look like?
Elizabeth has been self-managing chronic health issues throughout her 25 year career, our recently qualified guest Natalie has researched the mental health needs of people with chronic conditions, this conversation contains many gems about how to cope, assert yourself and thrive as a helping professional living with health challenges and how much this can bring to the work. Listen here:
No 4: Episode 13) Helping clients gain clarity and shift perspective
How do we support our clients to increase their self-awareness and shift to a healthier more helpful perspective without giving advice or using reductive techniques? We look at ways we can open up dialogue and support clients to discover their strengths and authentic selves.
This discussion comes out of the apparent differences in focus of mental health counselling and careers guidance and finds unexpectedly similar approaches from our therapist and career professional hosts. Listen here:
Fifth most popular: Episode 9) Combatting Imposter Syndrome
With special guest careers coach and expert on Imposter Syndrome Sally Beyer, we discuss how this difficult issue shows up in the helping professions, what the research tells us and what you can practically do to address it.
This issue comes up regularly across social media discussions and in supervision, especially for people starting out in private practice and addressing it can mean the difference between making a living and giving up. Listen here:
If you like what you’ve read here, check out information on our 14 other topics below to discover more wisdom, reflections, tips and ideas on growing your effectiveness and enhancing your wellbeing. Each episode offers a simple and quick but effective exercise for you to try. Upcoming episodes include ‘Do we love our clients?’, ‘Professional Standards’ and ‘The art of deep listening’ Follow us on Twitter @howwecarepod and Instagram @howwecarepodcast
'How We Care' Podcast
Started in November 2020, my podcast with careers guidance consultant and friend Paul Gaunt, ‘How We Care’ are collaborative conversations between helping professionals for people who care for a living. We consider the challenges in this, how best to look after our own wellbeing and ways to develop effectiveness. Formerly Head of several university careers services, Paul is now a Lecturer teaching trainee careers practitioners and has a private Careers Guidance Business based in Liverpool and online.
With combined experience in our respective fields of nearly 60 years, we are passionate about what we do and the interactions we have with clients. The podcast comes from a shared love of, and person-centred approach to, our work, and a fascination with parallel skills and issues. Relevant to social workers, teachers, managers, counsellors, nurses, psychologists, holistic therapists, physical therapists, Occupational Therapists, coaches, physiotherapists, doctors, HR professionals….it is of interest to anyone having human interactions as part of their work that can surprise, challenge and even shock. Planned topics include: being with emotions in session; practitioner self-care; the problem with positive thinking and the importance of supervision. 'How We Care' is available monthly on all podcast platforms with regular updates on Twitter, follow us @howwecarepod to stay in the loop. Like and subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.
This is ‘How We Care’!
Episode 24: Deep Listening for Helping Conversations
Elizabeth and Paul discuss what good listening is, why it is essential in helping conversations, consider the ways in which good listening underpins effective helping and our wider interactions in everyday life. We discuss the behaviours that signify good listening, and identify some of the factors that can interfere with deep listening, such as fatigue and intrusive thoughts. Listen here
Episode 23: Keeping it Human: The impact of dehumanising systems on well-being
Elizabeth and Paul consider the impact of dehumanising systems on well-being, both in the workplace and wider society. They also discuss some of the ways in which helping professions can support clients/patients/customers etc through the effects of these dehumanising systems. Listen here.
Episode 22: Do we love our clients?
Elizabeth and Paul discuss whether they love their clients, the different types of love experienced in human connection, what love means in helping conversations and the effect that attentive, accepting, warm, therapeutic relationships can have on clients and why this is the case. They also consider potential problems within meaningful professional helping relationships and how to address them. Listen here.
Episode 21: Transitions in Life and Work
Elizabeth and Paul discuss how big changes in life (parenthood, retirement, loss, redundancy, ill health, etc) impact us and what can be useful to know about coping with changes to our roles, whether chosen or imposed on us. listen here
Epsiode 20: Supporting students and looking after your own wellbeing in educational settings.
With special guest Dave Wood Phd: illustrator & graphic designer, educator, researcher, author and course leader at Dundee University. Elizabeth and Dave discuss the informal but vital role of supporting people in educational settings through emotional challenges and mental health, what this takes and how to take care of yourself while doing so. We consider the lifelong learning, curiosity, creativity, authenticity and acceptance involved in our work. Listen here. Transcript available here
Episode 19: The Benefits of Reflective Practice
Elizabeth and Paul discuss the many benefits of reflective practice, and their own individual experience of using it to enhance professional practice. Listen here Full transcript of episode available here
Episode 18: Acts of Self-Care for Helping Professionals
Elizabeth and Paul take a lucky dip approach to the card resource '50 Acts of Professional Self-Care developed by Siobhan McLean of Kirwin Mc Lean Associates and Self-Care Psychology and pull out some cards at random to prompt discussion. Listen here
Episode 17: Keeping up with social change as a helping professional – the importance of challenging CPD.
Elizabeth talks with guest Dr Peter Blundell, counsellor/psychotherapist, social worker, lecturer, researcher and founder of Therapists Connect. Discussion on the importance of continually learning and challenging yourself as a helping professional in a changing and sometimes divisive world. We look at ways to work on ourselves at different career stages to address our privilege, prejudices, power dynamics and avoid potential harm to our clients that can come from our own ignorance or fear through anti-oppressive practice. They consider what can get in the way of doing this and offer some ideas about how to choose accessible and relevant CPD. Listen here
Episode 16: Looking back at 2 Years of the 'How we Care' podcast!
Elizabeth & Paul celebrate two years of the podcast, reflecting on the creation, process and development of their conversations and looking back on the most listened to episodes. They discuss practitioner wellbeing, individualised care and the power of being open to anythng in the work, with insights into how effective helping conversations are based on deep empathy and trusting human connection and how person centred the podcast is too! Listen here
Episode 15: Working and Training as a Helping Professional when you have a chronic condition.
Elizabeth and special guest person-centred counsellor Natalie Rodil discuss their experiences in the counselling profession while living with chronic illness. They describe their journeys to getting support, learning self-management and the ongong challenges of both organisational and private practice work. Their experiences as mid-career and early career therapist respectively highlight some useful points about needs, policy and rights and for those of you managing others some clear examples of the how to support employees with chronic conditions. Listen here
Episode 14: Why we all need to know the truth about Long Covid
Elizabeth reads her article about the hidden reality of long term health problems arising from Covid-19 infection. This is far more common than people realise and important to understand if you work as a helping professional. With the words of some Long Covid patients, she considers the impact on individuals, society, relationships and the economy and offers some explantions for why it isn't being given more attention. Listen here
Episode 13: Helping clients gain clarity and shift perspective
Elizabeth and Paul consider some of the skills and techniques helping professionals can use to help clients gain clarity and shift perspective. Among the approaches discussed are the use of visualisation and visual images, scaling questions, considering problems from the perspective of another, and the skilful use of silence. Listen here
Episode 12: The Value of Self-Awareness for Helping Professionals
Elizabeth and Paul discuss the value of developing and maintaining self-awareness as a helping professional, and the ways in which high levels of self-awareness can significantly enhance our support for those we seek to help. They share some of their own strategies for being self-aware including journaling, recruiting critical friends, and mind-body awareness practices. Listen here
Episode 11: Dealing with work & Illness
Elizabeth and Paul discuss the challenges of working through illness, and of returning to work after an illness or with a long-term health condition. This is part one of a two-part discussion on this topic....part 2 will include a deeper exploration of working while living with long term conditions/chronic illness. Listen here
Episodes 1 - 10:
Episode 10: Can AI replace us?
Elizabeth and Paul discuss the possibility that AI might threaten jobs such as therapists, careers advisers and even doctors. They make a case for specific attributes that will always be difficult for AI to replace, and the value we all get from being listened to by an empathic human, rather than a robot (or a robotic human!) Listen here
Episode 9: Imposter Syndrome - What is it & how you can address it
Paul talks with special guest Sally Beyer, careers coach and expert about her work helping medical professionals combat imposter syndrome, some tried and tested strategies for dealing with imposter feelings when they arise, and some useful resources to find out more. Listen here
Episode 8: The Courage of the Person Centred Approach
We discuss the Person-Centred approach to helping conversations, how it can empower clients and why it requires courage on the part of a helping professional. Listen here
Episode 7: Supporting People's Life Decisions
We discuss some effective person-centred strategies for supporting people to make life decisions in helping conversations. Listen here
Episode 6: Putting Our Scars Into Service
In the last Episode of Series 1 of How We Care, Elizabeth and Paul discuss the idea that as helping professionals our most difficult life events (e.g. mental or physical illness, loss, abuse) can be used to deepen our empathy for clients and sharpen our effectiveness as a helper. Listen Here
Episode 5: Self-Care part 2 back to basics
Continuing from Episode 3, but going back to basics at request of some listeners. Focus on healthy sleep patterns, exercise, diet, pacing ourselves and finding an outlet to express and release emotions. Listen Here
Episode 4: The Benefits of being a Mindful Professional with Dr Liz Sparkes
In this episode Dr Liz Sparkes, Director of Coventry University's Masters in Mindfulness and Compassion, discusses what mindfulness is (and isn't) outlines the benefits of mindfulness benefits, and the links between mindfulness and compassion. Listen Here Click here for articles on mindfulness and wellbeing.
Episode 3: Self-care for Helping Professionals
We discuss our best self-care hacks, as well as some of the ways in which helping professionals can neglect caring for themselves because of a focus on prioritizing the needs of those they help, and how that can be counterproductive for our own-well-being. Listen Here.
Articles on self-care ideas and principles: 10 tips for coping during a pandemic, from a psychotherapist and expert patient. Pacing for fatigue & post-viral recovery also useful for stress management and learning to prioritise your own needs. For more articles on self-care related topics like sleep and mindfulness see this page
Episode 2: The Problem with Positive Thinking
Elizabeth and Paul speak of how helping professionals of all kinds are united in their desire to use their skills and knowledge to help people make positive changes and feel better about life. In seeking to enable these outcomes, however, we can sometimes try to 'fast track' the client to a better state through use of 'positive thinking' strategies for which the client/patient/student may not yet be ready. Inadvertently we may reinforce a double bind where the person being helped expresses difficult emotions, and then feels additionally bad for not being more positive! Listen here
Episode 1: Being with Emotions In Helping Conversations:
Elizabeth and Paul discuss the core conditions for being present and supportive when clients express strong emotions such as fear, anger, or grief in helping conversations. They also explore how helping professionals can protect themselves from absorbing difficult emotions when helping clients through tough times. Listen here
