40. Prof. Cath Crock - music in health care - our first international podcast guest!

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

My 1st international guest - Prof. Cath Crock, founder of Hush Foundation, Melbourne. Using music to bring kindness into health care.

Cath’s work is 100% in tune 🎹 with Whose Shoes, bringing creativity and humanity into health care. I met Cath through Bob Klaber’s monthly kindness sessions. Cath and Nicki Macklin from NZ are regular contributors, joining in the early hours!

Social movements for kindness in health care are growing internationally.

The Gathering of Kindness is an amazing line-up of international speakers, demonstrating how kindness makes a difference. Get involved!

Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋

• We can get through these tough times if we’re kind to each other
• Music makes health services more human!
• The Hush Foundation in Melbourne sets a wonderful example!
• If you feel uncomfortable with current practice, be brave to use imagination and creativity to find alternatives
• Culture change can be difficult if people feel you challenge 'the way we’ve always done things'
• Coproduction is key. Parent-carers notice areas for improvement that staff may not see
• Difficult problems are solved when people come together!
• Bring people with you, not confront them
• Treat people as equals! #NoHierarchyJustPeople
• Listening can improve patient safety
• The big challenge in patient safety is how staff treat each – organisational culture
• If staff don’t feel looked after, they don’t have capacity to go above and beyond or embrace anything new
• People are generous with their time and skills when they feel they’re contributing to something meaningful. The benefit is reciprocal!
• Respect patients’ time - not keep them waiting when they could do something more enjoyable
• Encourage empathy. People feel differently realising these could be their own children
• Plays help us understand patients can get substandard care if teams don’t work robustly together
• Different art forms – plays, poetry - reach people in a different way to change practice
• People can recognise themselves and vow to change their practice
• If you change one person at a time, it’s like a ripple going forwards
• The pandemic has brought new opportunities
• It’s hard to be a lone voice for kindness. You become worn down by the system (structural unkindness)
• We are making strong connections – globally!
• You need a thick skin to ride the storm when creative, more human approaches come head-to-head with ‘old power’ 😬
• Storytelling helps inspire others – lots shared in this podcast!
• Start your own Gathering of Kindness! - join a ‘watch party’ to help you get started!
• Shoutout to Cath’s wonderful parents. What a legacy! Kindness and music!
• It‘s hard to say ‘no’ to things that bring you joy! 😉

Links and resources
Hush Foundation
Gathering of Kindness
The Obs Pod: Reading the Signals
Daniel, 15, is an upcoming singer-songwriter - his 1st song 'Day by day' describes Daniel's journey in hospital

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