As someone who focuses on trauma-informed leadership and self-care as well as trauma-informed care, I've been working hard to get the idea of a Recovery Plan out there into the world. I wanted to share a training description with the PACEs community, not as an advertisement but what I think people need to be focusing on in this crucial time. I have just finished my first series with the United Way here in Denver and it went great and was well received by leaders.
Few periods in recent history have been as challenging for leaders and managers as the last several months. The pandemic forced us to drastically change how we deliver services with little time to plan or support staff through the experience. Unlike other work stressors, COVID-19 transcends the work environment as it threatened our lives and those of our family and friends. Besides the fear of the virus, we saw a fight for racial justice, a financial crisis, and an intense and divisive political election and insurrection. As the pandemic enters its second year, people are tired, traumatized, angry, and afraid.
Leaders and managers have done heroic work to support staff while staff continue to give every ounce of energy they have to those they serve. Our resiliency and passion allowed us to survive during the pandemic and turbulent times. However, the biggest challenge is now on the horizon. Every day brings a new study about the crashing mental health of our communities. This mental health crisis will hit the social services, health care, and education sectors particularly hard as our staff were burning out at rates higher than any other occupations before the pandemic.
The challenge that faces us is clear, how do we help a burned out and traumatized workforce recover? We cannot assume this healing will naturally happen as vaccines help us return to "normal." If not strategically address, our workforce's mental health threatens to lower our outcomes, devastate our organizational culture, and cost us financially in turnover, absenteeism, health care costs, and declining productivity. This training series will help leaders and managers understand the impact of the trauma of the last months, create a plan for recovery, and address the systematic issues that burned people out at alarming rates before the pandemic.
Leadership Workshop Titles:
- Understand the Impending Crisis
- Importance of Organizational Support & Self-care
- Creating a Plan for Recovery & A New Healthier Normal
Leadership Workshop Structure:
- 35-minutes of content
- 20-minute small group conversation
- 35-minutes of content
- 30-minute question and answer sessions (optional for folks)
Self-care Online Training:
Healing and helping professionals are at risk of experiencing issues that mirror those of the people they serve. Research demonstrates the dangerous impact on physical and emotional health when exposure to trauma is combined with a stressful work environment. Knowledge is the best defense against burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. This training goes further than other self-care trainings by addressing the critical elements of health to enhance productivity and quality of work on both an individual and organizational level.
Course (Average 20 minutes in length):
- Introduction to Self-care
- Burnout & Work Trauma
- Stages of Helping Fatigue
- Person Self-care Strategies
- Work Strategies
- Team Health
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