Coping and Resilience Supports for St. Joe's Healthcare Workers
Our healthcare workers have made a selfless commitment to care for our community during COVID-19. At work and at home, you have shown incredible strength. But even the strongest among us need help sometimes. Anxiety, exhaustion and compassion fatigue are all normal responses in this pandemic. It's ok to say it: this is really hard.
You're not alone, we're here for you.
How to access coping and resilience supports for St. Joe's healthcare workers:
Mental Health Support Portal
The COVID-19 Mental Health Support Team offers confidential support for healthcare workers through quick access to a trained mental health specialist.
Simply call St. Joe's Connect at 905-522-1155, extension 36499 during business hours or complete the referral form here. You will be contacted within 24 hours. For more information, visit www.stjoes.ca/HCWmentalhealthsupport.
Stress First Aid
Stress First Aid is an evidence-based model for self-care and peer support practices adapted for healthcare workers by the Schwartz Centre for Compassionate Care and the National Centre for PTSD. The goal of Stress First Aid is to help preserve well-being, and promote recovery from stress.
Click here to visit the Stress First Aid MyStJoes page.
Returning from Redeployment Support Sessions
We understand the immense sacrifices that you as healthcare workers are making to support our community during this time of crisis and the psychological toll this can take. We want to provide an opportunity for discussion and support.
The St. Joe's Coping and Resilience Support (CARS) Team is offering facilitated Zoom group sessions with mental health specialists around redeployment experiences. Individual sessions can be arranged if preferred. Topics include coping, resilience, recovery, grief, trauma and self-care.
Please contact Katherine Mendoza at mendozka@stjoes.ca if you are interested in attending a session.
Employee Peer Support Program
The Employee Peer Support Program is available to all SJHH employees. This program is intended to promote employee resiliency and effective coping strategies to advance the psychological health and safety of staff. Peers have a shared understanding of work stresses, have relevant lived experience and experiential knowledge. Peer Support is a non-judgmental, safe and supporting relationship between two people who have a lived experience in common.
For more information, click here.
Coping and Resilience Support (CARS) Mobile Team (available by manager request)
CARS is a mobile team made up of St. Joe's mental health specialists that provides individual or small group support on units or for offsite teams around coping and resilience strategies.
Managers can request support from CARS for their teams by contacting Erika Haber at ehaber@stjoes.ca.
"In-Huddle" Spiritual Care Supports (available by manager request)
St. Joe's Spiritual Care staff are available to attend team huddles to provide brief reflections and exercises to boost morale, promote team cohesion and enhance spiritual well-being.
If your huddle does not already include a Spiritual Care staff member and you would like to draw on this opportunity, managers can request this support by contacting Gary Payne at gpayne@stjoes.ca.
Employee Wellness Program
St. Joe's Employee Wellness provides programs and resources that align with the eight dimensions of wellness to create a holistic perspective of well-being: physical, mental/emotional, social, intellectual, financial, spiritual, environmental and occupational.
Visit the Employee Wellness page on MyStJoes.
