Wellbeing in the Workplace
Overview
We all encounter challenges in our work roles -- from everyday issues like balancing multiple deadlines to supporting clients who are in distress. Explore this collection to learn strategies to manage workplace challenges and support your wellbeing in the professional environment.
Contents
Courses
Assess, Recover, Mitigate, Strengthen (ARMS): A Wellbeing Regimen for Professionals
Assess, Recover, Mitigate, Strengthen (ARMS): A Wellbeing Regimen for Professionals was developed by Dr. Bill Nash, a pioneer and expert in the prevention, recognition, and treatment of moral injury and leading researcher, educator, and clinician in psychological health. This course covers concepts and tools to prevent and recover from occupational moral distress, moral injury, and burnout. It is appropriate for all human service professionals, including those in health care, social services, education, crisis response, and any other role requiring compassionate service to others. The framework ...
Enhancing Professional Wellbeing
The Enhancing Professional Wellbeing course is designed to explore ways to maintain personal wellbeing, support a positive working environment, and reduce feelings of burnout. Learn about wellbeing from fellow LA County employees and explore fictional situations to gain strategies for supporting professional wellbeing.
Shifting Perspectives: Adopting a Trauma & Resilience Informed Lens
Employing a trauma and resilience informed lens in your work requires practice. Take this course and learn alongside fictional county employees as they adopt and practice the core principles of trauma and resilience informed care to improve their interactions with the people around them in the “real world.” Consider how applying the skills taught in this video can enhance your current work practices.
Printable Tools
Abdominal Breathing Script
Practicing deep breathing helps reduce stress and promote a sense of calm. Use this script to practice abdominal breathing during times of stress.
CALMR Worksheet
Communication challenges arise when interacting with others. The CALMR strategy is a simple reminder of how to respond during difficult or even combative situations. The strategy focuses on calming down and staying aware of non-verbal communication to help ease tension and reactions. Use the printable tool with students to help them navigate their responses to challenging interactions.
Compassion Fatigue and Self-Care
It can be hard to take care of ourselves when we spend so much time providing care to others. We often consider self-care something we can only participate in when we have large amounts of time to devote to it. Download this tool for some ways to practice self-care, even if you only have a few minutes.
Effective Communication at Home and Work
Teaching effective communication skills helps convey difficult messages, decrease communication-related misunderstandings, and improve relationships. Use this printable to teach effective communication strategies.
Videos
Boundary Management Explainer Video
Setting and communicating professional boundaries helps to maintain a good work-life balance, manage expectations of colleagues and supervisors, and prevent feelings of burnout. Watch this video demonstration to learn how to manage professional boundaries.
CALM Explainer Video
Communication challenges arise when interacting with others. The CALM strategy is a simple reminder of how to respond during a difficult or even combative situation. The strategy focuses on calming down and staying aware of non-verbal communication to help ease tension and reactions. Watch this video to learn the CALM strategy.
Learning Pathways
Somatic Series: Widening Our Window of Tolerance
This pathway provides an overview of the Window of Tolerance and accessible, body-based mindfulness practices to support yourself or those in your communities. Learn how the Window of Tolerance concept applies to wellbeing and practical body-based strategies to support wellbeing, nervous system regulation, and a wider Window of Tolerance. This pathway includes explanations, examples, and opportunities for practice. Get ready for a different type of experience: after the first step of the pathway, the milestones will guide you through real-life practices. How to get ready to complete ...
Trainings
Moral Injury as an Identity Wound
In this video, Dr. Bill Nash reviews the history of two competing, overarching conceptions of psychological trauma – one conceiving of trauma as the principal result of maladaptive coping with stress, the other as a literal and enduring wound to a person’s identity or social self. The evidence supporting each conception of trauma is also considered, along with evidence that observed symptoms of moral injury in veteran and healthcare populations may best be understood as resulting from literal damage to one’s identity. Finally, Dr. Nash ...
Articles
Spring Into Mental Health Awareness Month
Spring is a time of fresh blooms, nourishment, sunshine, and awakening. This year in particular, spending time planting in my garden, I feel a sense of restored energy. On the occasional rainy day, I am delighted to bring out my rain boots, as I know the rain supports growth. The month of May wraps up the spring season and is also mental health awareness month.
We're Still Checking In
I was running late to a Zoom call. Zoom fatigue is real and I had not taken any active steps to prevent the negative impacts of attending back-to-back calls. This seems to be how remote workers are feeling since the safer at home orders. I jumped on my next call just in time for introductions to end and the “check-in” to begin. The meeting leader instructed each person to state how they were doing, something they were working on, something they were proud of, and ...
Micro Lessons
Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace: Boundary Management
Boundary management supports the wellbeing of individuals and colleagues. Learn what boundaries are, their importance, and practical strategies to establish and reinforce them in the workplace.
Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace: Emotion Regulation
Identifying emotions is the first step to maintain or return to professional wellbeing. Emotion regulation allows individuals to more appropriately respond to situations. Learn about the brain's physiological role in emotions and tools to better manage stress and emotions.
Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace: Professional Wellbeing
Review the skills to utilize and demonstrate the importance of social support and self-care in managing stress. Define the challenges of secondary traumatic stress and moral distress in the workplace and learn ways to enhance resilience skills to lessen the effects.
Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace: Prologue
This micro lesson provides an overview of strategies and skills to maintain professional wellbeing. Strategies to support addressing the tolls of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, moral distress, and moral injury from challenging occupations are addressed. The four skills addressed to help you build resilience in the workplace are self-awareness, emotion regulation, effective communication, and boundary management. This overview also explains how to navigate each module.
Mobile Tools
UCLA MARC Mindfulness App
Mindfulness is the practice of training the mind to be present through moment-to-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, body sensations, and the environment. Download the MARC Mindfulness app to participate in mindfulness meditation practice at work or home.
Resources in Español
Respiración
Practicar la respiración profunda ayuda a reducir el estrés y promueve una sensación de calma. Utilice este guía para practicar la respiración abdominal durante los momentos de estrés.
