READY FOR TAKE OFF
As international travel returns, Juliette Sivertsen talks to an ex-flight attendant about coping with anxiety while travelling
There’s a mix of excitement and apprehension in the air as New Zealanders begin to travel internationally this week, for the first time in more than 12 months. Transtasman travel is thrilling after being grounded due to Covid-19, but navigating airports and bigger cities can bring about heightened levels of anxiety and distress.
And not just for passengers — flight attendants face the same mix of emotions.
For eight years Alice Stevenson worked as an international flight attendant while studying undergraduate and postgraduate psychology.
Stevenson has lived experience of historical mental distress, and at times throughout her life it’s cropped up, including while she was flying. She says many of her triggers as a flight attendant are likely to be the same for other attendants and passengers with mental distress — “. . . lack of sleep, lack of routine, a lot of things happening out of my control operationally, such as needing to be away for longer. Or things happening at home when I was away, to do with interpersonal relationships,” says Stevenson, who is now finishing her Doctor of Clinical Psychology.
She says for many workers in the aviation industry, the unpredictability of the work impacts wellbeing frequently.
“I’ve been on a couple of mental health committees for flight attendants and the level of burnout was quite extreme.”
Flying during Covid adds another layer of stress, so she emphasises the importance for airline crew to realise they’re not immune to the increased anxiety that the pandemic has brought.
“You might be putting on your smile and your uniform every day and going to work, but actually you’re in a unique situation. And most of us in the world are feeling stressed about it anyway, but you’re on the front line. Maybe understanding the emotional and psychological impacts that it will be having. It’s not a matter of if — it will. You can only take that on for so long.”
Stevenson, who is currently working as an intern psychologist at Ra¯ kau Roroa, recommends flight attendants and others working in aviation read the book, The Managed Heart:
Commercialization of Human Feeling by Arlie Russell Hochschild.
“It’s about how you’re expected to deliver a product, and the product is your body and your face and a flight experience. So I guess when we’re thinking about Covid and anxious passengers, what’s going to be the cost of that? Because you can’t really show your own feelings and be really human in your response to people.
“There’s always going to be a boundary there at work. But somewhere you’ll be encoding that in your body and mind. And shutting that off might have real impacts later on.”
Stevenson recognised some of the hardest times in her journey in the industry were when she was feeling lonely and away from home. And that feeling of loneliness can hit business and leisure travellers as well.
“Something might have happened at home, then I’d go away, and there’s not a lot I can do about it. And you feel this lack of connection.”
She says if workers and travellers know they are susceptible to feeling lonely, then it’s a good idea to plan or schedule a call or video chat with supportive family or friends back home to help regain a sense of connection.
For flight attendants who might be facing or experiencing the issue of burnout or heightened stress as flights pick up again, Stevenson recommends contacting their Employee Assistance Programme to talk to a trained counsellor for advice. “I think the EAP is extremely important; if you’re feeling overwhelmed you deserve your own therapeutic help.”
Questions on keeping good mental health when travelling? Email juliette.sivertsen@nzherald.co.nz or find me on Twitter at @j — sivertsen
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