mental health

Three Ways to (Re-)Establish Clarity Between Your Work and Personal Life

Happy New Year, Renewers! More of us are heading back to our workplaces this week – or have already returned and are anticipating a distinctive return to “pre-holiday operations.” You don’t have to rejoin/uphold expectations or implications of overwork (or the feelings of uncertainty or perfectionism that come along with them)! Here are three things …

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Book Haul: Somatics

Low-morale experiences are predicated on long-term exposure to abuse and neglect, and this exposure also impacts the body.  From the flight-(freeze) or-flight response stemming from the trigger event and acute stomach knots connected to work dread, to long-term weight gain, muscle tightness, chronic fatigue, or sleep loss, the somatic connections from this phenomenon are undeniable.  …

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Renewals Reach: Rejecting overcommitment

Katrina Spencer’s in-depth guide helps readers recognize the characteristics and behaviors associated with overcommitment. It includes a checklist of countermeasures to systematically reduce or respond to expectations that ignore human capacity or exploit/augment systems that promote or perpetuate overwork, over-functioning, and associated physical and mental health outcomes. The 2017 low morale study is included in …

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Low-Morale Experience Trajectory

The low-morale experience is a trajectory of events that occur for most people dealing with workplace abuse or neglect (Kendrick 2017). Review the trajectory below, and if this experience is familiar to you, consider participating in any of my ongoing data collection activities. The Trigger Event: Trigger events are unexpected and move positive or neutral …

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Book Haul: Mental Health

People moving through low-morale experiences often face a range of negative emotions and feelings, and these feelings can color how they perceive their relationships with organizational leaders, co-workers, and their long-term career outlook. The following books offer insight into recalibrating perception, emotions, and feelings. What would you add? Carbonell, D. (2016). The worry trick: How …

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For the Good of the Order – A Mental Health Awareness Month LIS Collaboration

In observance of Mental Health Awareness Month, Renewals is partnering with mindfulinlis founder Amanda M. Leftwich to lead For the Good of the Order, a collaborative LIS well-being event.  Every Wednesday in May, join Renewals and mindfulinlis for five minutes to take some time in community and slow down for short renewal and awareness practices. …

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BIPOC in LIS Mental Health Summit – Panel Resources

Thank you for attending (and/or for your interest in) the BIPOC Mental Health Summit, which was held on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The BIPOC Mental Health Summit — conceptualized by Kaetrena Davis Kendrick and Twanna Hodge and implemented with the further expertise and presence of Amanda M. Leftwich and Rayna Smaller — offers Black, Indigenous, …

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Report: Low-Morale Experience Assessment Survey (January 2020)

The third session of my Library Juice Academy course, “Deconstructing the Low-Morale Experience in Academic Libraries,” is beginning its third week. I asked students enrolled in the course to participate in a quick Low-Morale Experience Assessment survey, just so we could get a quick gauge on what the landscape looks like for this cohort. Course …

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Report: Share Your Story Results (September 2019)

Since April 2018, I have been collecting stories of low-morale experiences from library employees from all kinds of libraries. The project, called “Share Your Story,” allows people a space to write down as much (or as little) about their most impactful incidents of workplace abuse and neglect as they want to; additionally, they are able …

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