Why mindfulness for Dietitians?

I think you’d need to have been living under a rock not to realise that everything mindful is, like, so hot right now. Dietitians are in a fantastic position to utilise mindfulness practices because they are incredibly relevant to the work we do. Not only our professional lives, but also our personal lives as well. We work with humans. We employ self-reflective practices. We need to take care of ourselves. Many Dietitians are working with vulnerable people who are disconnected from their body’s innate wisdom.

I’m going to go out on a limb here (*gulp* vulnerability moment) and suggest that there are too many Dietitians working from a “neck-up”, intellectual approach who would really benefit from understanding more about how our own experience influences the way we work with our clients. In fact, I would argue that we would all benefit from approaching our practice from a place of self awareness, self compassion and self care. It actually does start with us, and our willingness to engage with the “inside-out” experience, which I’ll freely admit can be pretty confronting if you prefer to stay in “teacher/advisor” role. Essentially, it’s really important that we are willing to step up and practice the very skills our clients will need to heal, so we can be a valuable part of that healing process.

So let’s start from the beginning…..

What is Mindfulness?

One of the more common definitions is:

Mindfulness is a special kind of attention characterized by attitudes of openness, curiosity, and acceptance. We notice our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and sense perceptions as we're having them in the present moment.

In other words,

Mindfulness is paying extra-ordinary attention to ordinary experiences.

Why mindfulness specifically for Dietitians?

My thoughts are that if we’re wanting to be authentic and genuine in our practice, then it certainly seems prudent to be engaging with mindfulness practice ourselves. In other words mindful eating is not like teaching someone to read a label (you know it, you can teach it). I really believe it’s a practice that we teach and share from a place of authentic understanding and personal practice.

For Dietitians, this might mean deliberately taking the time to delve more deeply into mindfulness as a practice in your own personal life, to really grasp the language, and be a role model for your clients. Being present with your clients and patients is possibly the most valuable gift you can offer. Understanding how mindfully being with your clients offers you rich information and feedback, not only about their experience, but about your experience too.

So why do I think mindfulness is such an important practice for Dietitians?

1. Because we are human…

Yes. Yes we are. And some days probably more than others right? Our human experience has shaped the reasons why we pursued Dietetics as a profession. It has also influenced how we’ve ended up in our particular workplaces, the clients we attract, and the way in which we work. Our own human experience can offer us incredible wisdom and insight that can exponentially improve the way we interact with the humans who are our clients and patients. Using mindfulness, we can come to a greater understanding our own day-to-day, moment-to-moment experiences which give us incredible information, can create space for better choices and allow us to be the most empathic, helpful, supportive and wise practitioner we can be.

1. Because we work with other humans…

Our interactions with others forms a big part of our work. We spend lots of time listening, evaluating, assessing, analysing and conversing. Mindfulness can offer us additional depth to our interactions with others by helping us cultivate greater awareness of others’ experiences, and our own. For example, when we are seeing a patient we’re in a better position to be able to:

• be aware of our own thoughts as they arise (without reacting to, or judging them)
• notice any physical sensations within our own bodies that provide us with valuable information
• allow us to pause before reacting or saying something that might be unhelpful
• find a stable, centred place from which to offer considered advice or feedback.

1. Because we work with humans who have concerns…

Some, if not most, of the clients and patients we see have concerns of some description. They may be minor concerns, major concerns, or life-threatening concerns. Our interactions with people when they’re under stress can have an incredible impact. It can alleviate some concern, or it can compound concern. Mindfulness can help us tell the difference, and guide us to evaluate our options when we’re working with people under stress.

1. Because being in a caring profession can be stressful…

It’s well understood that daily stress and worries can lead to a variety of negative outcomes specifically in health professionals. These include:

• Burnout (or “compassion fatigue” - see below)
• apathy (about your job)
• physical ill-health
• poor mental health

In some cases, being in a caring role can come at the expense of caring for yourself; and often this continued service to others can lead to what’s been termed ‘compassion fatigue’.

Dietitians are in a wonderful position to taking up mindfulness as a way to increase their levels of self-compassion, empathy, and sense of calm.

1. Because Mindfulness improves reduces stress and improves health

We understand that Mindfulness is often prescribed to people with health problems as a way of encouraging them to lead richer, more meaningful & healthier lives.

We’ve got plenty of research to support the positive impact of mindfulness on health and well-being. Three different meta-analyses show mindfulness based therapies can:

• significantly reduce stress in otherwise healthy people 
• improve depression, anxiety, coping style, and quality-of- life
• reduce symptoms of depression

How you can get started:

One of the reasons I started “The Mindful Dietitian” is because I believe that Dietitians are in a brilliant position to be regarded as experts in mindful eating. However, I’m also passionate about authentic practice, and to really learn the language, it’s super important that we’re willing to engage in mindfulness practice ourselves.

Through The Mindful Dietitian, I’m offering short introductions to mindfulness and eating behaviour specifically for Dietitians which aims to give you a good place to start in terms of developing a greater understanding of the concepts, and how it applies to our practice. There are live, online workshops and courses run throughout the year with small numbers so you can have your burning questions addressed. Would love to hear from you, or see you online as we navigate this tricky food and eating world together.

This, and more information available here:

www.themindfuldietitian.com.au

 References:

Dawn Bazarko, Rebecca A. Cate, Francisca Azocar, Mary Jo Kreitzer. The Impact of an Innovative Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on the Health and Well-Being of Nurses Employed in a Corporate Setting. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 2013; 28 (2): 107

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3646311/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19432513

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642537.2012.713186#.VY5_JEagZ2B

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15256293