Natália Leal Gives Workshop on How to Work on Mental Fitness

22.09.2023

Career & Life Coach Teaches How to Battle Your Saboteurs

On 29 August, Wittenborg organised mental fitness workshops to give their employees the tools to recognise and assess their mental wellbeing and that of their colleagues. Career & Life coach Natália Leal helped participants recognise negative thought patterns that can affect their mental health. She emphasised that negative thought patterns (or as she would call it 'saboteurs' because they can sabotage you) can affect your daily practice and behaviour and influence the mental state of yourself and those around you. "Everyone has them," she explains during the workshop, "even though you may not immediately recognise them."

Saboteurs come in many shapes and flavours and can cause various negative thoughts. For example, the 'Judge' is the most universal saboteur that everyone has, punishing you every time for shortcomings or failures. Other complicit saboteurs include the 'Avoider', which makes you avoid confrontations with your or others' problematic behaviour. "However, you can train yourself to fight your saboteurs," Leal explains during the session. "I advise everyone to do 80 to 100 PQ reps a day to make sure your mind is strong enough to do this."

The aim is to maintain and improve your mental health and train your mental muscles. Leal helps participants train their PQ Rep. PQ Reps refer to training your Positive Intelligence Quotient. 1 PQ Rep, is closing your eyes for 10 seconds, disconnecting your thoughts and focusing on other stimuli such as your hearing, feeling and listening. They can awaken your 'Sage', the positive equivalent of the saboteur. It is a stage of being where you are unaffected by your saboteurs. During these training methods, participants learned how to focus on their surroundings and get rid of their saboteurs. Negative emotions are a warning signal and therefore useful. However, too many negative emotions can be dangerous. By training your PQ Reps and shifting your attention outward instead of just inward, it becomes easier to find your inner sage.

All participants were given a form with questions about their mental health and how they react to certain situations. Based on this form, they got a result on which saboteur belongs to them the most. This is meant to make participants aware of their saboteurs. Participants were placed in groups to discuss their saboteurs and what happened in their past that highlighted it, as well as how it affects their behaviour. They had to work through the five stages of power: Empathise, Explore, Innovate, Navigate and Activate. These Sage Power Games included visualising one's inner child, observing without judging, embracing new ideas, viewing life choices from a future perspective and avoiding self-sabotaging thoughts. These techniques aim to enhance one's sage perspective for personal growth and resilience.

Prioritising Mental Health

In February this year, faculty and staff met for the annual WUAS Student & Staff Representation Conference Day to discuss what the school can do to help staff improve their mental well-being. From this panel discussion came the idea of organising this workshop. In this way Wittenborg wants to underline the importance of prioritising the mental well-being of its faculty and staff. Statistics of 2018 showed that 17% of the employees in the Netherlands experienced burnout-related problems, making psychological problems the second most common cause of work-related absenteeism, after illnesses such as flu and colds. Of female employees, 7% attributed their absenteeism to psychological problems, overwork or burnout, while the corresponding figure for male employees was 5%. Wittenborg places a strong emphasis on the mental health of its employees, and workshops like this one will provide participants with tools and techniques to maintain good mental health. And that pays off, as last year's preventive medical examination showed that participants from Wittenborg report low high capacity and a lower risk of burnout.

"The workshop was really useful and insightful and most of us don't prioritise it because we are saturated in the daily pattern," says participant and EU project manager at Wittenborg, Aydan Holtrigter. "Many things contribute to my mental fitness while being self-aware. And I enjoy meeting my wiser self. I also enjoy getting to know my colleagues and discussing these things in a small group."

Education & Research Administrator Selina White was also very enthusiastic about the workshop: "I think it was a really useful session," she says. "And it was really nice to reflect and exchange experiences with colleagues about mental fitness, but also about inspiration and how to develop it. It's really important to develop our well-being and I hope for more sessions like this for staff and students."

Natália Leal sees great value in her sessions to help participants gain self-confidence and shine on and off the shop floor: "I hope participants learn to be confident that you can get the best out of yourself," she says. "I think these sessions are important for empowering everyone."