Working life can be very highly pressurized, with demands from our personal lives adding to the pressures. Making sure we cope with it all and keep stress and burnout at bay can be a very challenging undertaking. Key to this are self-care and the development of resilience. If we do not look after ourselves, we will be in a weak position to support others, whether at work or in our personal lives.

Sadly, it is not at all uncommon for busy people to focus narrowly on what they need to get done and, in the process, neglect their own needs and thereby put themselves at risk. This can lead to a vicious circle where not attending to our own needs leaves us overstretched and lacking in the energy we need to get everything done. The more depleted we become, the harder we have to try to get the work done and meet our responsibilities in our personal lives. The more this goes on, the more likely we are to neglect our own needs, potentially making the situation even worse.

This course has therefore been developed to establish the importance of self-care and to provide guidance on how to achieve it. The course also clarifies the important – but often misunderstood – role of resilience.