The majority of you are most likely thinking “not at all.”
Having worked as an operational air traffic controller at a high-density facility for 40 years+ I’ll nevertheless reveal there is most likely a relationship if you are willing to cut mindfulness down to, for example “focus and concentration”.
Being an outspoken advocate for mindfulness and self-compassion, I decided to discover if a program targeted at this specific audience would have an effect on dropouts. In particular I was curious if trainees within this domain might benefit from training focused at lowering their self- criticism.
I left the operational environment a couple of years ago. Teaching mindfulness of various kinds to operational air traffic control personnel, health care staff as well as to those suffering from chronic pain is what I now focus on.
For quite some time during the 40 years+ in air traffic control I was part of the team recruiting trainees, later I became Head of Training.
So, I have insight to what is required from the trainees and what the typical obstacles are while going through training.
I was fortunate to start collaboration with a private training institute which offers ab initio as well as refresher and continuation training to national and international customers, GATE Aviation Training, in Copenhagen.
The signature of all training at GATE is first and foremost devoted to excellence within training. But it struck me to realize they in fact dare to challenge the educational culture in their form of training methods.
Having known the industry for as long as I have, I knew a door might open for me to try out a program targeted at what I know is of utmost relevance; focus and concentration.
Thanks to Dr. Steve Hickman, Executive Director, The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, for granting me the permission to deviate from a standard SC-MSC. With Steve’s encouragement the door became open for me to write the curriculum. “FoCon – The Resilient Personnel” became the program’s title.
Session 1 was 90 min., the remaining 6 sessions were all 75 min.
From the onset it was my intention to follow the SC-MSC curriculum with only a few variations of which one would be a body scan as an add on to each session. Along the way real life for “FoCon” turned out to be a lot more than only a few variations.
I started off with what is in fact comparable to an introductory session of the 8-week MSC. I.e., general “house rules & guidelines” for our next many hours together, “How do I treat a friend-exercise,” the felt experience of mindfulness, common humanity and kindness and “Self- Compassion in Daily Life.”
But my point of departure for the unusual training became the UN 17 Goals for Sustainable Development, more specifically goal no. 3 about good health and wellbeing.
Way down in that paragraph it’s mentioned that before 2030 well-being must be promoted.
They just don’t come up with any definitions of what’s included in mental well-being, let alone methods of measuring improvements.
So, with what I took as a free ticket to elaborate further, I included how the mindfulness movement, and later the compassion movement too, for more than 30 years has proven to:
- enhance general well-being
- lower blood pressure
- improve quality of sleep
- lessen chronic pain, anxiety and stress and more
- overall increase life satisfaction through fostering happiness
I mentioned a few of the scientific studies to back up the statements.
This is undoubtedly the first time ever any Air Traffic Control Training facility has had mindfulness and compassion training on the agenda with the sole purpose of enhancing focus and concentration.
By including the UN 17 Goals for Sustainable Development, everyone, including management who were present at the intro session, appeared to realize “Ah ha, we’re really among the forerunners for doing something big here!”
So, from there on the path of the course really turned into Hanne paving the road ahead of each session, looking at what do the students really need right now?
I started off with the “Compassionate Body Scan” but after just 2 sessions, I shifted to the body scan we use in the MBSR program.
Some other exercises I included were “Soothing Touch,” “Self-Compassion Break,” “The STOP-Practice,” “Soles of the Feet,” “Soften – Soothe – Allow,” “Compassionate Friend,” “Self-Compassion Stone,” and finally “Setting an Intention”.
All in all, “FoCon” has been a valuable process for trainees as well as for me being the facilitator.
I do think it’s very noteworthy that by the time they received their first progress report, i.e., after “FoCon” Session 4, one third of the trainees said they experienced enhanced concentration capabilities when studying for their exams.
After “FoCon” Session 6 half of the trainees said they felt generally lighter, less stressed when they were in the simulator and felt more overall happiness.
A formal feedback survey was carried out by completion of the “FoCon” program.
That gave me insight to what the trainees actually felt they benefited from most. It didn’t come in as a surprise the body scan was their high time favorite.
“Is “FoCon” something you’ll recommend GATE to have as part of our future training programs?”
On a scale 1 – 5, 5 being the best, the question scored 4.8.
So yes, I firmly believe GATE is among the forerunners offering “FoCon – The Resilient Personnel” as part of their training.
The course has proven to induce trainees with a dose of confidence: YES, I can complete my simulator and on the job training because I have learned I don’t need to bully myself with self- criticism.
For the first time ever, we will be fostering a new generation of personnel for the aviation industry who are being trained to motivate themselves with encouragement rather than criticism and to tackle stressful situations with greater ease.
When a student learns how to soften the inner critic, a successful outcome of training is more likely to become the result.
Learn more about mindfulness and register for our upcoming eight-week Mindful Self-Compassion online course here.
Resources:
Hanne Vedsted-Hansen: info@hannevedsted.dk www.hannevedsted.dk GATE Aviation Training, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion: