With the possibility of an imminent ‘return to work’ making headlines, Lydia Hartland-Rowe reflects on ways to navigate this uncertain period with mental health in mind.

Everyday life is about managing stress to some extent; it can motivate us to achieve outcomes and complete goals, but unreasonable and sustained amounts of stress can feel like a threat to the body, at times affecting our ability to function.

There’s no doubt that mental wellbeing in the workplace has come into sharp focus over the past year, but we have a long history at the Tavistock and Portman of thinking about how to make sense of our emotional experiences at work.

Women and families receive care and support from many different professionals and services during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. If your role involves working with women in the perinatal period, it’s vitally important that you have an understanding of perinatal mental health problems, as these are very common and affect more than 1 in 10 women.

Meet Caroline Black – a British Psychoanalytic Council registered Psychodynamic Psychotherapist, who completed her training at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Caroline teaches on a number of courses at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, including our Digital Academy ‘Psychoanalytic Thinking at Work’ course.

We are living through precarious times which are a challenge to us all, but more of a challenge to those who are vulnerable. Children’s mental health is at serious risk from this crisis, and children’s mental health issues today translate into adult mental health issues in the decades to come.

Now recruiting for a second year, ‘Psychoanalytic Thinking at Work’ offers its students the opportunity to engage with the fundamental principles of psychoanalytic thinking and experiential learning – all from the comfort of home, at a time and pace that suits you.

The ‘systems-psychodynamic’ approach to executive coaching focuses on the emotional and relational dimensions of work roles – developing the capacity to analyse the impact of the wider system on the individual, and navigate complex processes in the workplace. If you’re new to this approach, here are five key tips to consider.