Keynote: How four keys to resilience safeguard mental health

Editor's Note

Mental health educator Sheila-Robinson Kiss, MSW, LCSW, led OR Manager Conference attendees through an interactive session of strategic life planning during an energetic opening keynote session Monday morning.

Titled “The Four Keys to Sustain Resilience - The Power of Safeguarding Your Mental Health,” the session focused specifically on strategies for ensuring mental health issues do not get in the way of living a full life. “Because of importance of your work it is imperative that your life stays fueled and elevated,” she told the audience of perioperative professionals. “That requires tools.”

According to Kiss, the four keys to resilience are:

1. The power of decision—specifically, deciding to be accountable for one’s impact on their own life and the lives of others. “At this time in my career and life, where do I want my impact felt most?” Kiss asked the audience. “Everything we do has an impact—what a smile does for coworkers/team. Body language, attitude. Where you focus that impact is what will grow. With this identified, the next step is “nailing down your narrative,” Kiss said. The fact that we respond to what we tell ourselves is happening rather than what actually happening illustrates the control we have over our lives—control we exercise through our own personal narratives. Audience members were tasked with creating their own personal narrative statements and to say them out loud daily (which is backed by science suggesting the sound of one’s own voice is 60% more impactful than that of others, Kiss said).
2. Get connected and stay connected. “Connection is everything,” Kiss said, citing a Harvard study showing people who are connected across multiple domains of life live longer, enjoy more overall satisfaction. Further, disconnection feels threatening, inhibiting our ability to work at our best. Connection is among the strongest protective factors, which include family, friends, diet/nutrition, and anything else that insulates bodies, minds, and spirits against stress and wear and tear of life. Notably, other people benefit from one’s protective factors, too, Kiss said. “Every time you enjoy a protective factor—every time you enjoy a connection—that benefit is downloaded within you and you are able to push that positive energy out to the world. The most significant protective factor anyone can cultivate is their own attitude, Kiss said. Those “walking in balance” do not make molehills into mountains, for example. To ensure the benefits of connection long-term, she recommended planning for connection by putting something to look forward to on the calendar.
3. Set priorities. In other words, keep what matters in front of you. Visual cues throughout one’s environment make it more likely that these priorities will be maintained, Kiss said. For example, Oprah Winfrey’s quote “Gratitude makes what you have more than enough” were “just words” until she purchased a gratitude journal for her and her family to use.
4. Implement the tools with intention. Quoting Howard Parad, she made the point that how we resolve life stress has everything to do with the moment of decision—what we tell ourselves during the moment of decision. To that end, she recommends questioning oneself, because questioning makes resilience a proactive activity. She offers three specific questions: First, "What must remain intact as I deal with what is happening?" The answer might be as simple as keeping one’s body healthy by eating nutritiously. Second, "What empowering narrative can I create?" The answer might be, “my heart is broken, but this, too, shall pass.” Finally, "What resources can I access?" As opposed to a formal therapy session, the answer might be as simple as taking more walks or talking more to friends.

Life is very much like a poker game,” Kiss concluded. “You must find the courage, come what might, to play the hand that you were dealt, because the deck is getting shuffled all the time.”