Health care workers of all kinds and at all levels provide essential care and support to our New England population. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this workforce has been called upon to work harder and longer to ensure that we are all able to continue accessing health care services, often, putting their physical and mental health and well-being on the line. Now, after more than a year of working within this crisis and managing the same types of personal challenges we all have, healthcare workers are experiencing higher levels of stress, vicarious trauma, and burnout. This added burden puts them at risk for stress-related medical conditions and mental health and substance use problems, as well as increased risk for leaving the helping professions altogether.
At the New England MHTTC, we have developed a series of virtual offerings and products to help support the well-being of all members of the health care workforce. Our events and products aim to support health care workers throughout New England with access to evidence-based information related to wellness topics, trauma, and stress, which includes:
Products and Resources
Organizational Well-Being in Health Care: A National Symposium
a free two-day event during which national leaders shared the latest innovations and research in this area. Here, you can learn how health care organizations can benefit from investing in these values and walk away with practical measures your organization can implement at various levels, especially with administrative buy-in.
Native Spirituality: Creating Time and Space for Trauma Recovery and Wellness
We are now beginning to see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel and many Native people are taking stock of the past 15 months of physical separation and emotional strain. This discussion with Native spiritual and cultural leaders provides an opportunity to applaud the bravery of our health care providers and community members, and to discuss how Native spirituality can support our ability to regain our health and balance. For many, Native spirituality can be a potential antidote that minimizes the consequences of anxiety, fear, depression, and other stresses caused during the coronavirus crisis.
A series of interactive webinars specifically focused on HCWs and first responders in the New England region. The following topics included in this series are resilience, mindfulness, yoga, meditation, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, sleep hygiene, positivity, and substance abuse in the context of COVID-related stress among HCWs.
Organizational Restructure to Promote BIPOC Employees’ Well-Being
This webinar featured presenters who recognized the struggles faced by their BIPOC employees and colleagues during COVID-19 and took steps to address their needs proactively. Our presenters will discuss emerging and best practices specific to creating equitable supports that promote the well-being of BIPOC employees.
Workplace Wellness: Improving the Quality of Providing Care
This webinar is focused on steps behavioral health employers can take to support the well-being of their employees, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first of a two-part series, this webinar will feature speakers who will share their lessons learned as behavioral health agencies supporting employee well-being through the pandemic and beyond.
The New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center has created this collection of resources to offer information, strategies, and practices to help behavioral health employers take steps to “fix the workplace” rather than “fixing the worker.” It is divided into four sections:
1. Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Workers and Organizations
2. Organizational Strategies and Practices for Supporting Employee Well-Being in the Workplace
3. Organizational Strategies and Practices for Supporting Employee Well-being: Resources Specific to Behavioral Health Organizations
4. Organizational Strategies and Practices for Supporting Employee Well-being: Frameworks and Lessons Learned from Healthcare Settings
Supporting Mental Health and Substance Use Providers during the crisis created by COVID-19 is imperative. This webinar focused on how providers are coping and how to best support this critical segment of the workforce. It discussed how hopelessness, fatigue, stress, trauma, and social distancing are impacting the well-being of mental health and substance use practitioners. Presenters highlighted the need to practice self-compassion, holistic wellness, and self-care as essential strategies to deal with compassion fatigue, burnout. Supportive strategies and techniques to increase connection are discussed. This product was created in collaboration with the New England ATTC.
Back to School After COVID-19: Supporting Student and Staff Mental Health Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help guide conversations to include a trauma-informed, equitable, and compassionate lens to providing mental health supports to every member of the school community. Because we will all return to school as different people than when we left, caring leaders are seeking to support each other in turning our tragedies into growth, recognizing the joys amongst the ongoing and profound difficulties, and re-establishing school communities to serve everyone, with greater justice and equity.
Self-Care in Overwhelming Times
These are overwhelming times. Stress, anxiety, fear, loss, and grief – all part of ordinary life – are exponentially heightened in this time of the pandemic. How do we name what we’re experiencing? How do we stay healthy in body, mind, and spirit? How do we keep gentleness and compassion alive for ourselves and others?
This Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC) resource guide shares results of the reflective conversations the New England MHTTC has had with C-TLC Fellows - a unique group of district leaders, educators, and school-based mental health professionals with whom the New England MHTTC has built a sense of trust and community over the past 18 months.
Supporting Staff in these Extraordinary Times
As agency leaders, directors, and supervisors, how do we stay grounded and focused during these turbulent times? How do we bring forth our humanity and strengths to support employees? What challenges/learning opportunities are staff experiencing? What do they need? How do we listen and respond well? Join us in identifying principles and practices to help staff adapt and thrive in this extraordinary period of our lives.
The MHTTC Network Provider Well-Being website offers a variety of resources for mental health providers from all the regional MHTTC centers that are updated often.
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