The Mind Flossing Toolkit officially launches today during International Week of Happiness at Work and Friendship Month and consists of a deck of cards to nurture greater well-being and resilience.
The Happiness at Work manifesto states: ‘Let’s create a workplace to stimulate fun, appreciation, positive feedback, awesome challenges, trust, meaningful results and own responsibilities. Let us, as employees, employers, entrepreneurs, organisations, and especially as human beings, work together to make happiness at work the norm and not the exception.’
The cards themselves are a self-intervention toolkit drawing from the science of well-being – positive psychology. They are designed as a pocket-sized guide you can carry with you, to nudge you to take intentional well-being actions. Bite-size activities range from meditations and journaling to creative exercises that can be done with patients and at home.
In line with the Happiness at Work manifesto, the Toolkit offers the opportunity to explore well-being under the umbrella of mindfulness and self-compassion, including team resilience, gratitude, optimism, character strengths, values and meaning.
The benefits of using these cards include:
- Increased self-awareness
- Emotional literacy
- Emotional regulation
- More effective communication
- Improved relationships
- Better engagement at work.
The cards also address common negative thoughts such as imposter syndrome and perfectionism (the latter is a common trait amongst dental professionals and can lead to increased psychological distress).1
Speaking about the Mind Flossing Toolkit, creator of the cards, as well as a dentist and positive psychologist, Mahrukh Kawaja – AKA Mind Ninja – commented: ‘Over the years, it has been well established that working in dentistry is stressful, with a BDA survey very sadly revealing a high level of stress and burnout amongst a survey of more than 2,000 UK dentists, 17.6% of whom admitted they had seriously thought about suicide.’
Mahrukh continued: ‘Now, of course, there are added pressures in the post Covid era. If at all possible, we need to intervene before any of our colleagues reach crisis point and that is one of the reasons why I created this deck of cards. The cards are evidence-based, drawing together many psychological strands in an effective way. What’s more, the content of every card has been carefully chosen and curated with dental professionals in mind.
Mind Ninja is also delighted to have two industry partners for the launch of the Flossing Toolkit and thanks both Acteon and NSK for their support of the initiative, with both recognising the value of the cards to support the wellbeing of dental professionals through a larger order for their customers.
These lucky recipients will be among the first to learn how to create habits that stick, by unpacking the key takeaways from psychology and neuroscience, in no small part thanks to the engaging use of illustrations that depict the diverse community in dentistry.
Stancey Coughlan, commercial director at Aceton
Recognising the exceptional psychological value of the cards is partner Acteon, on whose behalf, commercial director, Stancey Coughlan, remarked: ‘At Acteon, we strive every day to support one another and our customers in our professional endeavours. When I heard about the Mind Flossing Toolkit, I knew it was something that dental care professionals would find invaluable, to boost well-being as an individual and as part of a team.
‘But I also recognise the importance of supporting dental professionals beyond Acteon’s sphere, which is why partnering with Mind Ninja made perfect sense for our business and our ethos. We couldn’t be happier to be at the start of this journey with Mind Ninja, offering an incredible opportunity to improve well-being across the UK.’
Alex Breitenbach, Managing Director of NSK UK
Commenting on NSK’s partnership with Mind Ninja, Alex Breitenbach, Managing Director of NSK UK Ltd, stated: ‘NSK UK is delighted to be working with the Mind Flossing Toolkit as we have a common aim to improve the life of dental care professionals and their patients.
‘Ikigai is a Japanese philosophy that helps people lead a happy healthy life and now NSK has taken this concept and developed a completely new approach to oral hygiene to help dental care professionals unlock their potential to excel in daily practice.’
Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director, Practice Plan Group
Also offering invaluable support is partner Practice Plan. As Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director, Practice Plan Group, said: ‘One of things I’m most proud about working at Practice Plan is the way we can help to transform the working life for many dentists and their teams, with many dentists citing the reason for change being to create a better work/life balance and a less stressful working environment for the entire team. The well-being of the whole practice team is paramount and so it was an easy answer when approached to support with the Mind Flossing Toolkit. A fantastic and very simple, but effective resource for practices and their teams to remember that their well-being really does matter.’
Indeed, Mind Ninja would love to see people supporting one another other, checking in on each other’s emotional well-being. So, in celebration of their friendship and to promote all round happiness at work, why not purchase the cards for a dental colleague or your whole team, to show how much you care?
For further information and to purchase the Mind Flossing Toolkit, please visit www.mind-ninja.co.uk/shop.
Reference:
- Collin V, O’Selmo E, Whitehead P. Stress, psychological distress, burnout and perfectionism in UK dental students. Br Dent J. 2020 Nov; 229(9): 605-614. doi: 10.1038/s41415-020-2281-4. Epub 2020 Nov 13. PMID: 33188344
