Individuals Caring for Their Mental Health

As a leader, encourage your team to care for their own mental health. The ability to cope with challenges, reactions to emotions, feelings about ourselves, and relationships with others – is just as important as taking care of physical health. A toolkit for individuals to use with benefits through Texas Health and community resources can be found here.

Other Ways to Help

Even if your team’s mental health seems fine, there is so much going on in the world that we have never had to deal with before. Get to know the resources available and really listen to your team when they talk. Be prepared to offer these up as solutions. Consider adding a standing agenda item in staff meetings to spotlight these. The resources below have been provided to Texas Health Resources from trusted community partners, vendors, etc.

• Building Hope
• Financial Support
• Giving Back
• Managing Stress from COVID-19
• School Aged Kids Resource
• Stress Management Tips
• Understanding Compassion Fatigue
• Preventing and Managing Stress

Building Resiliency

After months of preparation, lifestyle adjustment and wearing additional personal protective equipment both on and off the job, we’re all tired physically and emotionally. By all accounts, COVID-19 is here to stay in one way or another. Now is the time to build the skills in your team to be successful in the months and years to come, and one of the best skills we can build is resilience. Resilience is the process of adapting well when facing significant stress, adversity, trauma, tragedy or threats. Being resilient is about looking at life’s challenges from a different angle so you can bounce back more easily and learn from stressful situations.

• Build Resiliency During COVID-19 Support Deck
• Coping with COVID-19 Support Deck
• Facing Challenges with Strength: Learning to Be Resilient

Actions and Ideas

Below are ideas on ways to weave these resources into your support of your staff. Whether it’s virtual or physically distanced, in a department meeting, rounding or one-on-one, any of the ideas below can be modified to fit your team’s dynamic and situation.

ACTIONS TO TAKE

• Create Space with Staff for Open Discussion: build on trust you have already established with your team and try to get conversations started by dedicating time for conversations by asking open ended questions. Try asking them to rank how things have been going on a scale of 1 – 10 and why, how has your work or life changed lately that you didn’t expect, what is something at work or at home that you wish you could change, Listen with an open mind and an open heart. Find ways to be vulnerable in the conversation, ask what you can do help and offer the resources you’ve become familiar with that Texas Health offers.
• Mindful Moments: Create time for Mindful Moments. This can be anything from a good news story, You-Tube video that brings a smile, reviewing one of the resources above, etc. Whatever you choose, beginning a meeting with a Mindful Moment can help set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Consider asking your team members to sign up or volunteer to share, too.
• Check in regularly, in some way. With changes happening often, it’s a good idea to check in with your team in some way at least weekly. Besides regularly scheduled meetings, don’t forget social niceties of simply saying good morning or hope you enjoy the weekend.
• Offer Resources: If a staff member mentions a concern or issue they are experiencing, whether personally or professionally, refer them to the benefits available to them through Texas Health Resources. BeHealthyTHR.org is a great resource for all benefits and wellness information

IDEAS TO CONSIDER

• Put yourself in your team’s shoes. Think about the Promise Behavior “I promise we will recognize and respect all the ways people differ. I will take the time to acknowledge the emotions and anxieties of others and demonstrate empathy and compassion.” Assess the
  needs of your team and consider their feelings and their experiences. Encourage your staff to connect with each other and watch for signs of stress or fatigue. Have your teammates remind each other (and you!) to eat, drink and sleep.
• Times are changing. Don’t forget your change management strategies from the ADKAR Change Management Training: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. Use your tools that you learned in the training to prepare and equip your team to understand and fuel change.
• Thank your employees often. Encourage your team members by using the Error Prevention Tool of 5:1 Feedback. Don’t forget to take time to celebrate successes individually and as a group and remember that a simple thank you goes a long way. Be sure your employees know you see them, you appreciate them, and communicate that they are making a difference. Don’t forget to use the Applause system to show your appreciation to employees who are going above and beyond.