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Community Resilience Campaign

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Free Download of Our New Workbook on Resilience

Are you feeling frustrated, exhausted, and overwhelmed? You are not alone. We’ve put together the following self-care suggestions to help you cope.

Staying Resilient

What we do:

Silver Hill Hospital established the Community Resilience Campaign (CRC) to keep healthcare workers, first responders, school staff and other community groups mentally resilient in the face of overwhelming stress resulting from the pandemic. Covid-19 may have been the catalyst but the mental and emotional effects of the pandemic are expected to last for years. Rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, and drug abuse have increased dramatically over the past few years. The CRC collaborates with leaders and the frontline workforce to hold in-place and virtual workshops on well-being, self-care, coping skills and other resiliency strategies. Coaching also includes how leadership can take care of their people through multiple communication and team development techniques as well as how to manage the pressure of the current climate impacting organizational operations. The CRC is keeping the community mentally resilient as the psychological impacts of the crisis continue.

The CRC is here to help the American workforce manage the tremendous stress and emotional damage exacerbated by the pandemic. This stress and trauma are longer term and additional mental health support is needed throughout our communities. The CRC identifies strategies to mitigate the feeling of burnout that has inevitably increased workplace stressors, family obligations and societal turmoil. The CRC provides techniques to empower and motivate individuals and implement useful strategies that boost optimism. The CRC is working with leadership at schools, healthcare facilities, law enforcement agencies, and other organizations to mitigate the psychological consequences of increased stress. The CRC collaborates with leaders and the frontline workforce to hold workshops on well-being, self-care, coping strategies, and resiliency techniques. Coaching also includes how leadership can take care of their people through multiple communication and team development techniques to engender a positive command climate.

The campaign has launched a YouTube channel and serve as a mental health guide for leaders, managers, school staff, community workers, healthcare personnel and first responders.

Please support our efforts by contributing to our campaign through this contribution link and designating your contribution to the Community Resilience Campaign. Please email resilience@silverhillhospital.org for more information on how we can support you!

Resources For Everyone

Increase Your Sleep

According to the National Institute of Health (2019), getting enough sleep is as vital to survival as food and water. Lack of sleep inhibits the formation of new neural pathways and makes it harder to concentrate and react quickly. To improve your sleep hygiene:

  • Set room temperature to between 60-67 degrees F
  • Limit screen time after dark to reduce cortisol production
  • Ease the transition before drifting off by deep belly breathing
  • Enlist a family member for a 5-minute foot massage or acupressure (or do it yourself!) 
  • Put socks on cold feet

Move Your Body

Exercise can provide protective factors during a time of increased stress. It boosts your mood, can reduce the risk of certain illnesses, and decreases stress. And if you were exercising but stopped, think again. That reduction may not be in your best interest. According to Weinstein, Koehmstedt, & Kop (2017), a decrease in exercise can result in depressive symptoms and anxiety.  To get more movement in your day:

  • Lift something moderately heavy, safely (like a coffee table book or a jug of water) 10 times or more during a break. More on the benefits of lifting heavy things
  • Take the stairs or park in an adjacent lot to increase daily steps
  • Take a free online Yoga class 

Meditation

According to a comprehensive review of meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being (Goyal et al., 2014), mediation improved symptoms associated with anxiety, depression, and pain, reducing psychological distress. With a five-minute break, you can even get in a quick meditation that starts with box-breathing. Here are some resources our staff finds helpful:

Resources for Leaders

Strong teams require influential leaders, especially during times of crisis. Here are suggestions on how to lead effectively, steadily, and compassionately. Prepare your team to work at the best possible during the worst possible.  

Take time to reach out

  1. Ask team members how they are doing and how you can help.
  2. Provide emotional support along the way. It will create greater engagement and help employees bring more of themselves to work.
  3. Is there something setting your staff member back? See what you can do to help. You need to know what kind of emotional load they are carrying. Arriving at work frustrated, angry, fearful, or exhausted, will affect their ability to make decisions with confidence and focus. Make sure they know you’ve “got their back” to prevent burnout, anxiety, and poor performance at work. 

Huddle

  1. Take a minute to touch base with your team at the start of each shift.
  2. Encouraging staff to become aware of emotional status prevents toxic emotions from taking over.
  3. Create a visual and verbal reconnaissance of the members’ mental states. Look for facial cues. Listen to indicators of stress, anxiety, and worry.
  4. Use keywords to address emotional status. Use questions such as, “How is your emotional temperature?” or “Where are you on the self-compassion meter?” It provides a light and productive check-in without having to go into details.
  5. Have team members had restful sleep and nourishment? These will serve as buffers against fatigue, help productivity, and prevent breakdowns in the system.    

Reappraise and adapt

  1. Expect faults and deficiencies in the system. They will show up and ultimately hinder work.
  2. Step outside of the leader’s perspective and consider issues that might affect the broader context given these new circumstances.
  3. Recognize and acknowledge new needs, habits, resources, and areas where the team can grow. Get input about the good, bad, and ugly.
  4. Give your team the vision and hope that is appropriate and needed at this moment. Your team is looking up to you as their leader.  

Cherish your team

  1. Give praise and validation, especially to small successes, assertions, and progress. It’s crucial for team morale right now. Acknowledge those that put in the effort.
  2. Be calm, empathic, emotionally understanding, and validating. The return on this investment will be ten-fold.  

Learn the lesson

  1. Take time to process and reflect on what’s happened. Be sure to take note of possible mistakes, errors, mishaps, or barriers in your teamwork and convert them into learning opportunities.
  2. Figure out new ways to go about things. Take different approaches and practice new habits from lessons learned. It will take your team to the next level.
  3. Find the optimal way to prepare for the future by training and building on what you’ve gone through in crisis time. This will be instrumental for having a well-oiled machine, regardless of what the future brings.
  4. Finally, find clarity on what has worked and what hasn’t. It will support your new roadmap. 

Resources to Download & Share

Resources for Staff (PDF)
Essential Habits for the Next Wave (English)

Critical Self-care Full page (English)
Critical Self-care Full page (Spanish)

Critical Self-care_halfpage_(Spanish)
Critical Self-care_halfpage (English)

Resources for Leadership (PDF)
Leadership_Resources (Spanish)
Leadership_Resources_(English)

Leadership_Checklist_(Spanish)
Leadership_Checklist_(English)

Five Ways to Support Staff (Spanish)

Five Ways to Support Staff Infographic (Spanish)
Five Ways to Support Staff Infographic (English)

Specific to Healthcare Workers
Compassion for Healthcare_Workers (English)
Compassion for Healthcare_Workers_Infographic_(English)

Support for Nurses and Aides

Grief and Loss Cards (English and Spanish ZIP)
Resilience Cards (English and Spanish)

Specific to First Responders
Creating Space for Law Enforcement (English)

Creating Space for Law Enforcement Infographic (English)

Creating Space for Law Enforcement Cards (Female)
Creating Space for Law Enforcement Cards (Male)

EXTERNAL RESOURCES: 

Hotlines and Support Services

Information found here is not intended to replace needed professional care related to COVID-19 or mental health conditions. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, your local emergency room or call 911.

GIVE TO THE COMMUNITY RESILIENCE CAMPAIGN > 

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