Lessons Learned from Sandra Bloom: Tackling STS at the Workplace

"We must be conscious and deliberate in engaging in self-care behaviors."

~Dr. Sandra Bloom

Benchmarks North Carolina hosted our annual meeting at the beautiful Grandover Resort in Greensboro.  At this meeting, successes are celebrated, and visions are sketched for the upcoming year.  This year, members had the privilege of hearing from keynote speaker, Dr. Sandra Bloom, founder of the Sanctuary Model. 

Dr. Bloom shared how chronic stress and trauma impacts us at an organizational level.  Compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious traumatization, and burnout are just a few ways chronic stress surfaces in our organizations.  She shared how individuals and organizations must tap into protective factors, such as social support, to avoid the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress.  Dr. Bloom suggests that we learn to know our own limits and set appropriate boundaries, urging us to be conscious and deliberate in engaging in self-care behaviors. 

During her presentation, she encouraged the audience to schedule time for self-care on our calendar and commit to that time.  Dr. Bloom went on to say that at the organizational level, this should not be an “add-on” or afterthought, but instead, regularly scheduled self-care time should be mandatory.  She challenged us to think of ways we can implement small changes throughout our day.  What does that look like?  Take breaks during the workday.  Have hope in the ability of people to change, heal, and grow.  Create a culture to counteract the effects of trauma.  Learn to meditate and other ways to activate your parasympathetic nervous system.  All these are things we should think about for ourselves, our staff, and our organizations. Do you have a self-care plan? Is your agency culture conducive to individuals with self-care plans? If not, how do we create safe, nurturing cultures within our organizations? As Dr. Bloom reminded us in her closing statements of Ghandi’s famous quote, we should all aspire “Be the change we want to see” at home, in our work places and the world.

--Written by Carla Whaley