Practicing Safe Stress: Introducing CANADEM Notes

Introducing CANADEM Notes

Just months after I started my first international job I lay in a hospital bed.  I had swollen joints, high fevers and no diagnosis.  Doctors didn’t know what was wrong.

This marked the beginning of what became my decades-long international career.

Four weeks later I was better – and understood what had happened.

I had become ill because of stress I didn’t know how to handle.  To paraphrase a stress expert, it wasn’t my being there that made me sick – it was my reaction to being there.

I was young and it was my first mission.  In fact, my feeling of being impacted by stress was not unique.  Research indicates that at least 25% of humanitarian workers experience significant anxiety or depression. More feel frustrated and question their impact.   Burnout is seen as one of the top five challenges for international staff.

CANADEM is committed to supporting your well-being and effectiveness.  These Notes are one of the ways we can do that.   Each one captures insights from humanitarian workers who have found a pathway to resilience and effectiveness.  Each takes just a few minutes to read.  If you are being placed in a mission through CANADEM a new one will come every 3 or 4 days. We encourage you to read them rather than file them away for later reference.

In terms of my own experience, I learned that stress is nature’s way of calling attention to the fact that we feel threatened and may need to fight or take flight.   I was too proud to flee from the challenges I faced, so my body went into fight mode instead. That was helpful for a few weeks, but ultimately it exhausted me.  Not equipped to manage sustained stress, my body and spirit got tired.

In the hospital I realized I needed a different way.   I developed new behaviours and attitudes that have sustained me in humanitarian work since then.  I learned from more experienced colleagues how to work effectively with the unique challenges of international and intercultural missions.

Just as we learned to wear seat belts in cars and to sleep under nets in malaria country, we need to develop and evolve practices to manage the stress that is part and parcel of our international careers.

The Notes are organized in topic sets, each addressing a stage or dynamic of our international experience. You can read them as they arrive in your inbox – or if you need to skip ahead, to look at a question of culture or conflict, for instance, you can access all of the Notes on the website www.canadem.ca/notes.

Before Leaving Home

As a teenager I baked my first cake without knowing that one should first scan the recipe to ensure all of the ingredients are on hand.  The results … well, they made for stories that my family is still amused to tell. This first set includes reflections on the mind set with which we leave home, consideration for the family and friends we will leave behind, and preparations for security and health.  It also includes optional links to Notes on topics like the neurobiology of stress and ways to respond when we experience it.

Getting the Job Done

We get to do this work because we have a record of success, based on the work we have done in known contexts.  The new context may be very different and require some retooling. This set of Notes looks at topics like culture, working with colleagues from very different backgrounds, the importance of local staff, and managing disagreements.

Managing Challenges

Stuff will happen. We will see others grow discouraged or struggling with troubles ranging from too little sleep to burnout to potentially traumatizing events. The same things may or may not happen to us. This set enhances our understanding of these challenges and suggests some tools for dealing with them.

Coming Home

The mission does come to an end.  Most international workers say that coming home is more challenging than going into a new mission.  This set examines why and how we can gain from this part of the experience as much as we gained from the mission itself.  It also concludes with suggestions for ongoing learning, if international work remains part of our life’s path.

Thank you for what you are doing.  Please feel free to contact us about any of the issues we address in these Notes – and have a good mission!