DentaltownUK February 2018 - 48

BACD
news

Strength in Numbers
Joining a professional academy will not only help practice
life, it will benefit support and better networking
How do you ease the stress of busy
practice life? Whatever stage you're at in
your career-fresh-faced as a DF1 or with a
decade of experience under your belt-you'll
be juggling personal commitments, trying
to keep up-to-date with CPD, training ...
this list barely scratches the surface.
We hear about the emotional benefits of
taking 'me time'; conversely, a good support
network is also a great stress-buster. Since
time immemorial, humans have had an
inherent wish to belong, to be an accepted
member of a group.
In 2016, a study looked at the correlation
between a sense of belonging and perceived
stress levels among nursing students. The
results supported the concept of belonging
as a fundamental need, 'having a positive
influence and impact on students' learning,
motivation and confidence'.
You may consider the most important
things you 'belong' to are your family and
friends. You may be a member of a gym or
golf club, or be part of a group based around
another hobby or interest.
Your sense of belonging and identity may
be deeply intertwined with your religious or
spiritual affiliation. On a social level, then,
we seek out people who are similar to us and
to whom we can relate. Feeling understood
and accepted makes us feel good about
ourselves, which is comforting when the
going gets tough in practice.
Of course, we are all also members of
the wider dental community. We go online
to make social connections; social media is
now also a source of valuable professional
affinities. Modern ways of communicating
using platforms like Twitter and Dentaltown
have changed the rules of engagement forever.

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FEBRUARY 2018 // dentaltownuk.com

With just a few clicks you can make new
contacts and use forums to talk with colleagues
around the world.
However, there is an important physical
element to being a member of something-
the idea of turning up, representing and
being active in support-which an online
community cannot give on its own.
We do all belong to the wider dental
family, but when we have back-to-back
appointments, that family can seem more
like a distant aunt we only see at Christmas!
Social media and online networks have
their (very important) place, but there are
unquantifiable merits in connecting with
people face-to-face.
To enhance that sense of belonging,
maybe it's time to consider membership
of a different kind of peer network-one
that offers an established support system,
educational opportunities and the chance
to meet with fellow members.
The great thing about a professional
academy is that in bringing together clinicians
who want to maintain standards and promote
their field, it will be joining together many
different perspectives and points of view
under one all-inclusive umbrella.
With practice life often being isolating
as well as stressful, it is easy to miss out on
ideas and new, inspirational approaches or
techniques that could really transform your
work. A good professional academy will
thrive on education and debate that is both
informative as well as challenging.
The problem with social media networks
is that we often seek out people who think
the same way we do, because we either want
to avoid conflict or the medium does not
allow nuanced discussion.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK February 2018
