Taking Action Against Uncertainty- Growing Your Circle of Inlfuence

Leisa Randall, Principal Educational Psychologist

August 2020

 

Dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak has forced us all to face uncertainty. As soon as plans are made they get unmade and something else happens. I don’t think I have ever experienced a more uncertain period in life. From March onwards each day it has felt like anything could happen and what was agreed yesterday could change again, several times, today. This can be confusing stressful and create worry. Pupils have returned to school and yet we are still faced with uncertainty; what PPE will be required and in what circumstances? Will there be further lockdowns whether locally or nationally? Will there be a vaccine? How long is this all going to last?

As educators we really do like to plan and be organised. It is integral to the way we work. We map out what we are going to do over the short and long term and specify our aims and goals for the future. The levels of uncertainty that we were faced with this year have shaken many people, leaving us feeling out of control and sometimes, helpless.

Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern

When I am working with young people on managing stress and uncertainty, I ask them to complete a Circle of Concern. This is a summary of all the things that worry or stress them. I am including in this bulletin 3 photos (below) of this activity done with a group of secondary pupils which were taken over a period of 6 weeks;

 

Creating the Circle of Concern

 

The Circle of Concern is like a stress wall. It is stuffed full of things that create havoc with our sense of stability, security and ease. The things in this circle feel beyond our control and can present as overwhelming. Uncertainty about the future is often a post-it people place in the Circle of Concern.

The good news is that there is another circle we can place inside the Circle of Concern- called the Circle of Influence. This could start as a small circle which lists one or two things that we do to help ourselves to cope with the stressors in the Circle of Concern. They might include very simple things like getting outdoors, or even singing in the shower.

 

The students I work with are encouraged to ‘grow’ their Circle of Influence throughout the workshops by exploring and finding other ways to cope with anxieties and stresses in their lives.

 

 

 

The Circle of Influence is one way to identify coping strategies. Sharing these as a group can help others build resilience too. This could be a useful activity to do in a staff group, or with a class of young people. It is a way to acknowledge that the Circle of Concern will always exist, and there may be things in there that we can’t ever change or control, such as the outbreak of coronavirus. Nevertheless, inside that circle we can grow our influence with many small ways to cope. Here are some of my post-its in the Circle of Influence;

• Walking on the beach every morning at 6am come rain or shine
• Going for a walk when there is a beautiful sunset
• Getting a cheese scone from the local deli on a Saturday morning
• Playing board games with my family after dinner each night
• Singing in the car on the way to work
• Reading each night before bed to escape from daily concerns

 

These simple things can help me to cope with unpleasant news or uncertain circumstances. They don’t change the circumstances – they do change me and my ability to face the world.

What do you have in your Circle of Concern right now? What things do you do to help you cope with them? What would you put in your Circle of Influence? How can you grow this?

 

Taking action against uncertainty

This term, we are in a clear and obvious state of uncertainty. We don’t know if there will be a ‘spike’ and whether we face another lockdown locally or nationally, we don’t know when and if there will be an effective safe vaccine developed, we don’t know deep and for how long economic recession will last.

All of this ‘not knowing’ could have a negative impact on mental health unless we choose to take action against it. We need to reflect regularly on the internal and external resilience tools we have and could use to protect us against unpredictability, unwelcome news and ongoing instability.

Taking action in schools to explore the ways in which we protect ourselves and help children and young people to do the same, will help us and young people to get through difficult times now and in the future and encourage a resilient generation to come.

 

The Five Ways to Well Being leaflets attached to this bulletin, are useful tools to think about mental health for adults and for young people. This was created by a multi-agency group at the start of lockdown this year and has been used in Hubs and communities to develop a shared awareness of what we can do to take care of ourselves, particularly during challenging times.