Collette Mackay, a Senior Staff Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Forth Valley Royal Hospital and an RAF reservist at 612 Squadron, recently began a new volunteer role with Nurse Lifeline – a new national peer-to-peer telephone support and listening service for nurses and midwives.
Here Collette explains a bit more about the new service and how she wanted to get involved.
“We all work in environments with high physical, emotional and mental stressors so it is important to care for ourselves and develop a healthy relationship and mindset with self-care and support.
“The helpline founder and chair, Natalie Greening, is a nurse and RAF reservist with a background in Critical Care. This peer-led phone service provides opportunities to receive support without judgement, from people staff can relate to. The aims is to inspire and empower with positive content, help people enhance their coping skills and maintain a happy, healthy career. As nurses, we quite often spend so much time looking after everyone else, that we forget to look after ourselves. We have a duty of care to our patients, and equally to each other.”
“We know that for many working within the health service, feelings of emotional isolation and burnout existed before the pandemic and that these issues have only been exacerbated by recent global events.
“However, it is also well known that times of crisis, whilst hard to endure, we have the capacity to inspire innovation and resilience. Who is better placed than nurses and midwives to be the driving force for sustainable change and at the heart of influencing? So, we thought we’d take matters into our own hands…
“In 2019, the vision for Nurse Lifeline was first realised- creating space for nurses, midwives, healthcare support workers and their friends and family to offload and chat with someone who gets it. Developed collaboratively by a small group of frontline staff united by an acute awareness of the pressures facing the workforce, Nurse Lifeline is the first nursing and midwifery led initiative to offer a national, free and confidential peer-to-peer listening service, by nurses and midwives, for nurses and midwives.”
“But we’re not planning to stop there – we want to use our platform to promote wellbeing, to empower, encourage and amplify the voices of those within the nursing and midwifery workforce through sharing uplifting stories of people who have overcome challenges and by creating a service that can be shaped and contributed to at all levels.
“Chatting with us may just give you the encouragement that you need, or it might boost your confidence in seeking ongoing support. We can’t provide advice, counselling, or discuss professional issues, but we know that sometimes just talking about your day with someone who understands can be a game changer.”
To find out more visit the Nurse Lifeline website or call our Listening Service – Monday – Friday 7 – 11pm on 0808 801 0455.
