The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is to hold a stress awareness workshop on April 15 and 16 to help pharmacists understand and cope with stress in themselves and in others.
The workshop is to be presented by Mr Michael Bland, a consultant, author and lecturer who specialises in stress management. Mr Bland has been a regular contributor to the Society's "Over to You" roadshows and will develop the themes he uses in the roadshow presentations. Among the areas he will cover are: recent theories about stress, its causes and how it can be overcome; the relationship between mind, body and spirit; getting problems into perspective and learning to enjoy life in the process; the role of change in the onset of stress; and alternative approaches to handling stress.
The venue for the workshop is Birdsgrove House, the Society's convalescent home set in rural surroundings by the River Dove on the border between Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The workshop will begin early on the Saturday evening with dinner, followed by the first workshop session. After breakfast on the Sunday, the workshop sessions will continue until 4pm, with breaks for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.
The course is limited to 14 persons. The cost is £75 per person, inclusive of Saturday dinner, bed and breakfast and Sunday lunch. The cost is being held down by support from the Society's Benevolent Fund.
Bookings can be arranged through Mrs Sue Smith, Administrator, Birdsgrove House, Mayfield, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 2BN (tel 01335 342144; fax 01335 347030).
The Society had originally planned to hold a stress weekend last autumn. However, in the light of comments by pharmacists who had expressed an interest in attending, it was decided to postpone the event and revise the format - for example, by starting at a later time to ease the difficulties many practising pharmacists have in arranging to attend events on Saturdays.
The weekend is intended to complement the service offered by the Society's Listening Friends Scheme, which is also supported by the Benevolent Fund. The latter scheme gives pharmacists suffering from stress the opportunity to talk about their problems in complete confidence with a fellow pharmacist who is trained in listening skills. Contact is made initially by telephoning the scheme's automatic answering service on 020 7820 3387.