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You are your own customer

[Audio narration]

When you're constantly looking outward to take care of others' needs, it can be easy to neglect your own.

It's worth thinking of yourself as your own customer by following the four guiding principles of delivering money guidance. 

[1. Screen text: Care]

Care for yourself. You need support too. Don't overstretch yourself. Ask for help if you need it.

[2. Screen text: Be clear]

Be clear about the limitations of your role. You can't do everything for everyone every time.

[3. Screen text: Connect]

Connect with yourself. Stay aware of how you're feeling and why.

[4. Screen text: Check]

Check your mental and emotional state. You may need a moment to recover from a difficult interaction before you move on to your next customer.

Remember, your wellbeing is just as important as your customer's.

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The value of reflection

We sat down with money guidance practitioners to discuss why self-reflection and self-care is so important in their roles.

What reflective activities work for you?

[Voice: Olena Batista, Money Guidance Officer – Clarion Housing Group]

“Each month, we do peer reflection with a different colleague. So, we pick each other’s case, we analyse it. It’s not in a way to criticise anyone’s work, not at all, it’s just to share the best practices, learn, share opinion, keep knowledge up to date, but also to identify strengths within the team.”

[Voice: Lena Smith, Money and Support Adviser – University of South Wales]

“I recently had as student that is going through domestic violence. So, I didn’t have much knowledge on that before. I had a general knowledge, but not enough to be able to give the further advice and guidance to feel comfortable in what I was saying on a referral basis.

“So, an example of that would be now, is I would look upon that and what advice and guidance is out there for me to ensure that the next time I support somebody that’s in that situation that I can provide them the best advice and guidance and referrals, to make sure that their experience of coming to me about money guidance is a good one and it was also beneficial to what else was going on in their situation.”

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Have you found reflection helpful in your self-care?

[Voice: Farai Muchineripi – Quality and Compliance Manager – Money and Pensions Service]

“For me, self-reflection has really helped to move me forward, to improve as a person, and to also get the support that I need when I need it.”

[Voice: Lucy Charnock, Regional Liaison (East) – The Injured Jockeys Fund]

“I think self-reflection is essential because if you’re unable to assess yourself, you can’t possibly assess other people. And also, you need to constantly learn how to improve yourself and your interactions with other people.”

[Voice: Olena Batista, Money Guidance Officer – Clarion Housing Group]

“By delivering money guidance you can be drawn into all sorts and kinds of emotions, so you often have to think about yourself as a practitioner.

“So, that’s where a self-awareness and self-reflection comes in, which is important because obviously dealing with the customers who are facing financial hardship and maybe you spoke to someone who didn’t have money to feed their kids today, and then you take it all within you, with you home and how do you deal with it? So, it’s really important to self-reflect”

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When have you found that reflection has helped you with a customer?

[Voice: Lucy Charnock, Regional Liaison (East) – The Injured Jockeys Fund]

“When I first started with the Injured Jockeys Fund, our then Chairman always used to say the first thing you do after you’ve had a phone call from a new beneficiary is take a deep breath and consider if it’s actually an emergency because it’s important to slow everything down, take consideration, and consider what needs to be done as a priority.

“And some things that people ring in with as an emergency, actually, with a little bit of planning and care, is a relatively straightforward resolution.”

[Voice: Irene Woods, Debt Coach – Christians Against Poverty]

“I have learned over the years that sometimes you take away from them – you can be too giving and you take over aspects of their life, you know? You just say ‘They don’t have to worry about getting food, I’ll get them a food parcel every week’, and this sort of thing, and it can be too much.

“So, I’ve learned that on reflection – to not take their independence away.”

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Why would you recommend reflective activities to your colleagues?

[Voice: Farai Muchineripi – Quality and Compliance Manager – Money and Pensions Service]

“Thinking is really important in this role because it then helps you to really understand that breadth of this role and how you can just continuously improve as you go along. So, definitely you would need to self-reflect.”

[Voice: Olena Batista, Money Guidance Officer – Clarion Housing Group]

“Self-reflection is really important in our job. And whether you can do it with a colleague or whether you’re just analysing the work you’ve done with the customer, it’s important to help your own wellbeing also to help the customer’s.”

[Voice: Irene Woods, Debt Coach – Christians Against Poverty]

“Just to get reassurance that, you know, you’re doing well. You are helping people and you’re doing the right thing.”

[Voice: Lena Smith, Money and Support Adviser – University of South Wales]

“Networking, I think, is a huge key when it comes to reflection because it also gives you that understanding that ‘Do you know what? Another person has had that sort of question as well’, and you weren’t on your own with that.

“And other people feel that position at the moment. And yeah, we do need more advice in that area and how can we all collectively come together and find training on that?”

[Voice: Lucy Charnock, Regional Liaison (East) – The Injured Jockeys Fund]

“I think reflective activities are essential because you’re always learning from them, and if you’re constantly learning, then you’re improving your own skillset all the time."