Resiliency expert, sought-after speaker and instructor in the Trent School of Education, Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe is helping business leaders safeguard their emotional well-being in uncertain times
Feeling depleted does not mean we’re defeated. Many leaders are currently facing what is being coined as “compassion fatigue”, and wondering how they can demonstrate for their teams that they care without spreading themselves too thin.
Trent University’s resident resiliency expert, Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe has spent the past pandemic year presenting ideas to improve emotional well-being to groups composed of corporate leaders to postsecondary students, and penning a new book.
In her book Calm Within a Storm: A Pathway to Everyday Resiliency, there are many lessons for leaders including how to overcome adversity through self-acceptance and self-alignment; it contains themes and messages that are sure to reverberate in these difficult pandemic times.
Recently, Professor Hanley-Dafoe presented to Trent students on how they can build resiliency practices into everyday routines.
“Our bodies and mind needs breaks. When working on your computer for hours on end, try breaking up your sessions into 50-minute blocks. Setting an alarm can be helpful. When the alarm goes off – get up, stretch, and move about. The key is to move your body before you feel like you need to,” explained Prof. Hanley-Dafoe. “Micro-breaks are enough to move around the toxicity that is starting to build up in our bodies which contributes to tension and stress.”