Resources for Primary Care Together Sessions

Session 2

The focus of our discussion was compassion. 

Some interesting thoughts and questions were shared:

  • Connecting is an essential part of being compassionate.
  • Being compassionate often involves being vulnerable.
  • Being compassionate does not equate to doing more, it might just be about being present.
  • Sometimes being a doctor is a barrier to being compassionate.
  • How does compassion/empathy look and feel like if you are neurodiverse?

We used resources from this page…. read more.….

Next month’s session, 18th January 2024, will focus on ‘new beginnings’. 

 

Session 1

We opened the session by listening to Philip Larkin’s poem- Days.

We shared our aims of attending the meetings and went on to discuss pictures and poems related to working in general practice.

We concluded with Rosemerry Trommer’s poem, But You Thought You Knew What a Sign Looked Like
A poem about gratitude shared to remind us that being able to express and receive gratitude improves our sense of well-being. If you are interested in exploring this more take a look at the work of Martin Seligman and his work on positive psychology.

These are some of the resources we discussed. (click on the images for more detail)

I read a couple of extracts from Polly Moreland’s book A Fortunate Woman. Her book was inspired by John Berger’s A Fortunate Man. It’s a beautiful book and great to use in a tutorial. I have heard it described as ‘a call to arms’, to the profession to ensure what makes General Practice such an important speciality is not lost forever.  

This is one of the passages I highlighted. (page 118)

Session 2 is on 14th December 2023.

Our theme will be compassion.

For either our December or January meeting you might choose to read the novella (short story) by Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illych. It’s widely available to read or listen to, can be borrowed from your library and there is a free copy online. 

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting, Zoom links will be sent out the week before each meeting by email, and from January 2024 our meetings will be on the third Thursday of each month 19.30-21.00.