Picture the ever-busy professional, juggling a myriad of tasks with the grace of a seasoned juggler, all while maintaining a heart of gold. This week on the Self-Care Society podcast, Kerri Shaw had the opportunity to sit down with Izzy Hutchinson, whose dedication to community health and tackling food insecurity in Appalachia is nothing short of inspiring. She's not just tackling the challenges of her demanding role, but also providing a roadmap for those seeking to balance a high-impact career with personal well-being.
Throughout this conversation, Izzy peeled back the layers of the professional persona to reveal her true self—a data-loving, video game-playing, service-oriented individual with a deep commitment to addressing the social determinants of health. It's clear that her passion for service goes beyond just a job; it's woven into the very fabric of her being. Our dialogue traversed the complexities of her work, the strategies she employs to stay grounded, and the surprising ways in which her personal hobbies inform and enrich her professional life. Tune in for an episode that transcends the typical narrative of busyness, spotlighting the holistic approach to life that enables change-makers like Izzy to flourish in both their personal and professional worlds.
Picture the ever-busy professional, juggling a myriad of tasks with the grace of a seasoned juggler, all while maintaining a heart of gold. This week on the Self-Care Society podcast, Kerri Shaw had the opportunity to sit down with Izzy Hutchinson, whose dedication to community health and tackling food insecurity in Appalachia is nothing short of inspiring. She's not just tackling the challenges of her demanding role, but also providing a roadmap for those seeking to balance a high-impact career with personal well-being.
Throughout this conversation, Izzy peeled back the layers of the professional persona to reveal her true self—a data-loving, video game-playing, service-oriented individual with a deep commitment to addressing the social determinants of health. It's clear that her passion for service goes beyond just a job; it's woven into the very fabric of her being. Our dialogue traversed the complexities of her work, the strategies she employs to stay grounded, and the surprising ways in which her personal hobbies inform and enrich her professional life. Tune in for an episode that transcends the typical narrative of busyness, spotlighting the holistic approach to life that enables change-makers like Izzy to flourish in both their personal and professional worlds.
Welcome to the Self-Care Society podcast with your hosts Celia Williamson, ashley Kuchar, louie Guardiola and Keri Shaw, a podcast devoted to those whose job it is to help others get or remain mentally, physically and emotionally healthy, but who also need to take care of themselves.
Speaker 2:And how we're going to do this by first showing you the filtered, pretty version of success and then the real struggles, real work and raw grit it took to get there, how they took care of themselves and also achieved their goals while doing it.
Speaker 1:Together, we will work with you to improve and maintain your internal health and growth while helping you achieve your external goals and your next professional achievement in life.
Speaker 2:And we're excited to show you how to follow your own individual and unique path and achieve the dreams you have, while taking good care of yourself.
Speaker 3:So let's get started.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Self-Care Society podcast. I'm Keri Shaw, the host this week, and with me I have Izzy Hutchinson. Izzy, it's a pleasure to have you on our podcast. It's a pleasure to be here. Can you share a little bit about who you are, Izzy, Maybe a few lines about your background?
Speaker 3:Sure, so I am a community health worker. I am also the health equity and outreach coordinator for Hocking, athens, perry, community Action and the Southeast Ohio Food Bank. Services to individuals who are low-income, experiencing food insecurity, chronic illnesses, pregnancy and other similar conditions. And it's nice to be on. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Izzy. Sounds like a pretty intense job, and a very important one. A little intense, yeah. Well, let's start out with our kind of common question of who is the real Izzy Hutchinson R-E-E-L. How do folks perceive you on the outside?
Speaker 3:So the most common feedback I receive is wow, Izzy is so busy. I do try to make myself accessible to people, but they often worry about interrupting me doing my work because I do a lot of things. So I think that's the first impression people get, and I also hope that they see me as professional and kind and that I care about the people I work with.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I know you not super well, but that's definitely how I see you as well professional and kind and super busy sometimes comes with the territory. What kinds of how does being super busy affect your relationship with your team?
Speaker 3:Well. So what I try to do is, when I know I'm going to be very busy, I notify my team. Like most recently, for example, I've been working on a very large grant and that takes up a lot of my time. So I just sent them a message like hey, I'm gonna be busy from this day to this day. I'm available if you need me, but if something slips my mind and you need some help, just let me know. So I do try to meet them halfway in that respect.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic, that's really courteous and I'm sure they appreciate just knowing what to expect, right, as far as when you're available and when you're not, yeah. So my next question is always you know who is the real Izzy, the R-E-A-L Izzy, like I'm sure you don't want to be defined as you know? You know? Izzy the busy one, yeah. So who are you? Like? I'm sure you don't want to be defined as you know, you know Izzy the busy one. Yeah, so who are you? Tell us about yourself?
Speaker 3:Okay. So prior to getting my job at HapCap, I served in AmeriCorps and I also volunteered at Ohio Health Oblennis Hospital and I was a food pantry steering committee member for the Ohio University Cats Cupboard Food Pantry. So my background is very service oriented. Like I love helping people, I really love addressing those social determinants of health. I think we really need to focus on that in Appalachia. So the real me, beyond the busyness, is just getting into that area right and helping people and being my service-oriented self. That's what I find most fulfilling about this work. And, more personally, I'm really nerdy to be honest.
Speaker 3:One of my favorite parts of my job is the data Uh. But when I'm off work I'm reading, I'm playing video games. You know, if you see me out jogging, I'm running from something you should be running to we're in danger. Like I'm not that kind of person.
Speaker 2:Um so, uh. Yeah, I'm just a big old service nerd. In a nutshell, I love that service nerd we need more service nerds out there. We do, so can you talk to me a little bit about your self-care? What does that look like?
Speaker 3:care. What does that look like? Sure, so lately my self care has been telling people like, hey, I do want to meet with you, but let's push this meeting a little bit further out, let's give ourselves a little more time to prepare. And then I've also been taking more breaks at work, getting up, walking around. So for me, my self-care lately has just been slowing down, postponing things when I need to, and then, in addition to that, I do the usual self-soothing things, like I mentioned, I like to read, I like to play games, um, and I find that prioritizing those activities when I get home helps me transition out of work mode. You know, you know what I mean? Yeah, um, and that's really important, for sure.
Speaker 2:I like that. So having a transition time is your self-care. Has your self-care changed over time?
Speaker 3:Yes, I would say that prior to working for HapCap, my self-care was almost entirely self-soothing, and self-soothing practices certainly have a time and place, they're very necessary, but I think the most critical aspects of self-care are, you know, more therapeutic ones, more long term solutions, and playing video games isn't really a long term solution for much of anything.
Speaker 2:I just heard a really interesting article yesterday, I think, on NPR about Tetris and about there being a speed of Tetris that helps people get into flow. So you can't play when it's too challenging and difficult because then it gets really frustrating, and if you play it when it's too slow it's not challenging enough and you get bored. But there's a sweet spot in there that gets folks like kind of playing and moving and into a flow that actually reduces anxiety and calms people down.
Speaker 3:So you know I'd say that aligns with my experiences when I was younger. I had a really severe chronic pain condition and one of the ways I chose to cope was through video games, and the type that I played were where you'd go out on quests, you know, like there was a goal for the quest and you would progress towards the goal and at the end it felt like you were rewarded. Right and for me, completing those quests got me into a kind of flow state and I felt like it really reduced my pain. So there's maybe something there.
Speaker 2:Interesting. You were ahead of the research. Um, so how about, uh, self-care and being a leader? Um, you know what's it like to work with people who have pretty, I would imagine, high stress jobs and, um, you know, they probably also need to be reminded about self-care. What is that dynamic like?
Speaker 3:Sure. So I can't speak for all community health workers, of course, but the community health workers on my team, as I mentioned, they assist people who are very low income, hungry people, underemployed people, and those circumstances can certainly be very stressful for our clients. But there's also some vicarious trauma for our community health workers and that makes self-care super necessary. So some of the ways that I've chosen to handle that are not just reminding them like, hey, you need to be taking care of yourselves, because I don't think that's very helpful. As a leader Like I need to be more involved. So, through our Pathways Hub, we actually have a contract with a social worker and our social worker is available to meet with our community health workers to not only discuss tricky situations with their clients, but also how they're feeling, what is that trauma like for them, how are they taking care of themselves? So it's been immensely helpful to have a mental health professional on our team who can assist them with those tasks, because I can do my best, but I am not a mental health professional and I won't pretend to be. And then, on my end, something that I've been implementing is a workplace stress survey. So this is a survey that I try to provide to my team. It scores through numbers right. So if they answered the questions about stress and they scored like one to 30, they're doing pretty well, you know. But let's say they scored a 75 on the stress survey.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't need to know the specifics, but I want them to schedule a meeting with me so that we can work things out and address that together. So that's been another part of it. And then, additionally, we just talk about it. You know we have these weekly meetings to discuss how they're doing generally and how their clients are doing and when they're stressed out. I want to know because maybe there is something I can do, maybe we can have a discussion together about stuff they're doing at home after work that might help them feel better. You know that kind of informal back and forth. So, in a nutshell, I just try to be involved. You know, because, again, it's not helpful to say you need to take care of yourself, no, helpful to say you need to take care of yourself, no, I want to help you. Let's work on it together.
Speaker 2:I really like this model, Izzy. So it sounds like they have access to a professional who can listen to them and help guide them, and that can happen within their workday, I'm assuming Like it's kind of baked into into the work structure. Absolutely, those are paid hours Fantastic. And then doing an assessment so that not only helps you with information but also probably helps them do some self-reflection of exactly where am I and what might I need.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and my hope is as well that it helps them feel heard. I definitely want my team to understand that I care about them not as employees, but just as people, and I want them to feel like they have a voice with us about community health work and just the general tenets of community health work.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what we, we want for the people that we work with as well. Right, Like that they feel heard and that they feel seen as humans, not just as a client or a case, but really so it's, it's parallel processes, right, Right, and then and so then the final component is you being available yourself and being approachable and just making sure that they understand that you're, you're there for them and in their corner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I certainly try to be. I know I said that I'm busy, but I hope my team recognizes that anytime they need me, I will make the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. I really like that as a structure. Thank you for sharing. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you would like to mention, or do you have any words of wisdom when it comes to self-care in your own journey?
Speaker 3:I think something I've learned recently and it took me like sobbing about it, I got to a critical point of stress. Something I've learned recently is that when I need help, I should just ask for it. I know that seems so simple, but I think we forget. We just assume we're going to be burdensome to the people we work with or the people who care about us. But I think it's satisfying for people to help us out, like I know for me personally when I'm assisting someone on my team and they're having a hard time, it doesn't feel burdensome, it feels like I'm doing a good thing. So I try to internalize that and recognize that someone helping me may also feel that way.
Speaker 3:So I don't hesitate anymore. I don't let it get to the point where I'm crying at my desk. I reach out. So that would be my advice, you know, just for anyone who's worried about how they're going to be seen, how someone might feel about it if they ask for help Don't Just do it. Don't let it get to that critical point Start before. Just do it, don't let it get to that critical point Start before.
Speaker 2:Those are really wise words, susie, thank you. Sometimes, as helpers, it's hard for us to see ourselves as the recipients, but we all have to wear both of those hats at some point and at many points of our lives.
Speaker 3:Yes, over and over.
Speaker 2:Over and over. Susie. This has been fantastic. I really appreciate your time and your wisdom and I wish you all the best in this work. It sounds like you are a wonderful leader for your team.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I really appreciate that and I've loved being on the podcast. Appreciate that and I've loved being on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us and once again, this is Izzy Hutchinson and I'm Keri Shaw with the Self-Care Society podcast. And just remember, it's self-care, not selfishness. So take care and have a great day. That concludes this week's episode. And remember, it's not selfish, it's self-care.