Mind and soul trader; insights from a mindfulness photography lone practitioner

This past year has seen many of us alter ways of working and for some, like myself, a bit of a change in direction. I spoke to the powerhouse that is Ruth Davey, founder and director of Look Again, an organisation that provides mindful photography workshops, courses and training for individuals, practitioners and businesses. Ruth has delivered a number of partnership projects to improve people’s mental health and wellbeing, and the University of Gloucestershire have been privileged to work alongside her in the development and evaluation of some of these. More of that here. But for now I wanted to chat a little about how Ruth has coped with working during a pandemic, given that all of her work has been traditionally delivered in a face to face setting.

Ruth explains: “It's a really interesting process and it continues to be interesting. So before lockdown, everything I did was face to face. Most of the workshop and course delivery was in groups, and I'd have to travel to get somewhere, whether that was delivering a workshop or a course or taking a meeting. I went from going out all the time which I do really enjoy, but can be quite exhausting at times, to having to work from home which is intense in a different way.

"For the first few months, everything was online. I initially set about re-framing some of the programmes, using shorter formats that I knew had been successful and so I began to relax. It was a bit of a revelation, like wow this s*** works. I was going to say that it’s virtually the same as what I do face to face, but actually it's not, it's better. I've adapted it so when I go back to delivering the face to face work it will be better because I've learned a lot about my process and I've improved the framework and the methodology.”

Hearing this from Ruth, that she has not only successfully moved her workshops online, but that the refocussing of this has actually improved the offer, is truly inspirational. I asked her how she think she achieved this.

“I'd rather start something now then wait until it's perfect. So I just get on with it and try it out. I always ask for feedback, which I understand is quite unusual for a lot of creatives, and people ask me if I’m a researcher but for me that's how I learn. For example, the initial four-week online course was 1 ½ hours a week and now it's 2 hours a week. That change came about as a result of feedback from the last group. I'm also considering adding a further week to consolidate the programme; it won’t be new information but an opportunity for consolidation, feedback amongst the group to facilitate sharing and learning more from each other."

“Other than jumping in and having a go, I’ve also had to be seriously flexible and adaptable. We’ve had to adapt from one week to the next because the rules kept changing. One of the things that I bring through my work is building resilience and that means how we bounce back from uncertainty, how we deal with change and difficult situations. And so the last few months has been an amazing opportunity for me to practice what I preach, in a really real way. It's helped me through and this is why I'm so excited to be able to get the work out to more people online because I know it works for me.”

Ruth is one of those wonderful individuals who is happy to talk about her own mental health struggles. As well as practising mindful photography (I can totally recommend one of Ruth’s 4-week online courses), what else has she done to manage her work/life balance during an incredibly challenging time for a lone practitioner?

“The main thing that has helped me, is taking my own medicine and going out into nature every day, often with a camera. Even if it's just a 10-minute walk around the block, preferably in nature. I realise not everyone can do that. Even spending time in the garden or opening a window can help. Remembering to look up, look down, as well as to look straight ahead and look back. I was lucky enough to get some time away, so I went climbing mountains in Wales. I saw this massive steep hill and I thought “how am I going to get to the top”, but I did and when I stopped and looked back, I'd come such a long way. It was this amazing metaphor for seeing how far I've come in my life and my work and everything else as well. I’ve also found it’s important to keep connected to people, even though we’re keeping our distance. I go for walks with friends when I can, and I also have a super group of people around me within my work orbit which has helped me as a lone practitioner. I recently employed someone on a part-time basis to help develop Look Again and pick up some of the tasks I don’t love doing. It’s great to now have a work buddy, someone to bounce things off.”

“Finally never be afraid to tell people that you're struggling. Nearly everyone I've spoken to is struggling in their own way and yes I'm okay right now but I might not be next week. For me it's recognising the ups and downs of life. Some of us feel those ups and downs more than others.”

For me, who has found themselves working (and being) home alone more than they expected this year, Ruth’s last point really resonated. We must all recognise and remember that ‘ups’ follow ‘downs’.

Photograph kindly supplied by Ruth Davey.