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Promoting Agency & Employee Wellness

 

Wellness is a key ingredient to building a more resilient workforce and has been a big part of the journey in becoming trauma-informed.  I was asked by a police lieutenant last week what our agency, Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) does to promote wellness.  I told him about recent activities that I've organized within the CAC TFT Program (Child Advocacy Center Trauma-Focused Treatment  Program)  that I oversee and about ongoing agency efforts.  This conversation got me thinking that it would be great to share about our efforts on ACEs Connection and ask all of you what you do within your organizations to promote wellness.

Our most recent wellness and resilient building activities:

  1. Weekly supervision with CAC TFT staff where time is devoted to discussion of trauma exposure and strategies (e.g., expressive arts such as sandtray and art therapy interventions) to cope with the impact of this exposure, 
  2. Weekly hour promoted for SCAN staff to the practice of Mindfulness (example recording attached).
  3. SCAN Monthly Wellness Newsletter (see an example attached),
  4. Quarterly CAC TFT Program Staff Retreats (agenda combines work related activities and wellness activities.  (See our recent retreat agenda attached),
  5. Creation of a CAC Staff Wellness Plan (modified from my favorite Self-Care Plan),
  6. Began book discussion on Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others (Our discussion of Part 1 questions are attached),
  7. Creation of a daily reflection card (inspired by a card that Laura vanDernoot Lipsky shared at a CACVA Conference in 2017),
  8. Creation of a Vision Board that includes quotes to remind us about why we do the work that we do& goals for this year (Picture is in the header of the post),
  9. This week we are facilitating Peer Review for our mental health Muldti-disciplinary Team partners where we will watch the film Walk With Me, and
  10. Next month we are going on a SCAN staff retreat to Wildrock.  Wildrock is  a three acre outdoor nature playscape in nearby Crozet, Virginia that provides eco-therapy retreats.  Our time at Wildrock will allow for staff to connect with nature, de-stress and strengthen our team.

What Wellness and Resilience Building activities are promoted at your agency?  Please share with our ACEs Community.   Take good care - Lisa 

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Melinda Dubinski posted:

These are great examples. I can't help but wonder how much time per week you are prioritizing for this type of self-care and connection? It doesn't seem feasible with everyone's busy schedules to incorporate a lot of these ideas. I.e.-- I can't imagine people wanting to participate in a staff retreat over a weekend away from their families and other obligations.

Hi Melinda - I definitely spend a lot of time devoted to staff wellness as a supervisor and program coordinator. Luckily our team enjoys spending time together and joins retreats when they are able (sometimes for a day or the whole time). But any of the ideas can also be incorporated into smaller time periods (like a staff meeting). Would love to hear other ideas that might make it feel more manageable for others.

These are great examples. I can't help but wonder how much time per week you are prioritizing for this type of self-care and connection? It doesn't seem feasible with everyone's busy schedules to incorporate a lot of these ideas. I.e.-- I can't imagine people wanting to participate in a staff retreat over a weekend away from their families and other obligations.

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