Coping and Resilience Supports for St. Joe's Healthcare Workers
Our health care workers make selfless commitment to care for our community every day. Anxiety, exhaustion and compassion fatigue are all normal responses. The Ministry of Health and Ontario has partnered with five hospitals to provide services for frontline health care workers.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is committed to caring for the mental health of health and community care workers during this difficult time. 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 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 business 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.
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 Keith Metcalfe at kmetcalf@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*.
*Note, you must be on the hospital's network to access the MyStJoes intranet
