The coronavirus pandemic and the associated restrictions have turned people’s lives upside down generating lots of stress, fear and anxiety. But reopening, getting back to normal (or new normal) also brings about at least as much emotional pressure, dilemma and inherent conflict. It is now more important than ever to deal with your difficulties, emotions and mental processes more consciously. In the video series supported by Telenor, Hesna Al Ghaoui and Judit Endrei-Kiss want to give people ammunition, inspiration for that and present exemplary human, community and workplace stories while chatting with their guests.
“A crisis can not only smash you to the ground, but it can also lift you up. To achieve that, it is important to consciously deal with the things you experienced over the past year and articulate your feelings, be them good or bad. We are in a state of collective grief now where individuals are at different stages of the process. You have to accept that to understand why people behave and respond to the reopening so differently. With this series, we want to create a forum to discuss the most difficult moments and the key lessons learnt that helped people gain strength during the pandemic”, said Hesna Al Ghaoui, author, journalist, researcher of the topic of fear and host of the Strength from Crisis video series.
“Reopening is like moving from darkness to light. You can see in the light, but you can hardly open your eyes first. You need time to be able to see clearly again. This is the stage where people are now. You have to learn again how to connect and overcome your fears and frustrations”, added Judit Endrei-Kiss, organisational development expert with a degree in psychology, Chief HR Officer of Telenor Hungary, and co-host of the video series.
In the six episodes, guests will share their thoughts related to the given episode of the Strength from Crisis series. Guests will include Károly Gerendai, ByeAlex, Anikó Baji, Réka Lukoviczki “Robotgirl”, Dr. Márta Fülöp, Zoltán Gazsi, József Balatoni “Jocó bácsi”, Norbert Michelisz and several other well-known experts and public figures. “The Strength from Crisis – The Psychology of Reopening” video series is supported by HR Fest as a professional partner.
The first episode of the series is already available. In this video, the theme of grief, letting go and restart is discussed by Health Communication Expert Anikó Baji who has been working in the frontline, at the emergency triage unit of Uzsoki hospital since the beginning of the pandemic, Réka Lukoviczki Réka “Robotgirl”, blogger, inspirational speaker and model and Diána Hajdu-Kis, organisational development coach and grief counsellor.
About the first episode – “Letting go and restarting in the COVID grief”
In the past nearly 1.5 years, all of you went through the different stages of grief even if you didn’t actually lose a loved one. Shock, denial, anger, bargaining and depression were experienced by many people. Discussing these emotions are necessary to get over them. In the first episode, Hesna Al Ghaoui and Judit Endrei-Kiss invited guests who will share their example on how you can move on from grief to acceptance and grow stronger using the experience you gained.
Guests of the first episode:
Anikó Baji, working in the frontline, at the emergency triage unit of Uzsoki Hospital in the worst period of the pandemic, gives an insight into the challenges created by the pandemic in acute patient care and the mental burden imposed on healthcare workers struggling to provide appropriate treatment to patients. “When you go to a patient in a protective suite you have to touch them and talk to them as if they were your child, mom, dad or grandma,” said Anikó. “And when you sit in a huge changing room [at the hospital] and you hear sounds of muffled crying from all directions… it is not one but five or six colleagues crying after the shift. They do it silently, not to disturb each other. And then you go to the ward, look into each other’s eyes and ask: ‘How do you feel?’ ‘I’m fine, thanks.’”
Réka Lukoviczki “Robotgirl”, blogger, model, inspirational speaker – who lost her left leg in an accident – talks about her lowest point and the process of overcoming the loss and gaining strength from her trauma. “These times make me more uncertain than I was when I lost my leg. (...) I believe that no matter how deeply you are affected by a situation, you can always find a way out.”
Diána Hajdu-Kis, organisational development expert, grief counsellor presents the concept of organisational grief and describes a general loss management process: “We have very different feelings, but there are some things that we all grieve about. Such is the loss of the belief that physical proximity is safe”. According to Diána’s experience, most companies (and employees) refuse to deal with the issue of grief related to their organisation. Denial is a typical response even at a verbal level. You call problems “challenges” and collective redundancy a “transformation”. Nevertheless, two out of three organisational changes are perceived by colleagues as a failure. The solution can be verbalizing your emotions: “If a manager legitimizes the grief experience in some way at the organisation, others will be relieved”, Diána said.
Our smaller and larger communities, the places where we live, work and exist, are very important in the process of reopening. The six episodes of talks navigate viewers through the different aspects of this process. Telenor wants to set a model and not only support the video series but also actively empower people and communities to help each other develop new routines and understand what reopening means to different people.
To watch the first episode please CLICK HERE.