Well-Being in Health Care

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The Power of Providers (POP) partners with behavioral health experts in Washington to support the well-being of health care professionals. POP aims to identify and address challenges that contribute to burnout and promote individual and system level support for health care workers who work tirelessly to improve the health of others. This page is designed to support well-being for health care professionals by offering recommendations, helpful resources, and opportunities for connection. 

If you have any feedback or input for our programs, please email: powerofproviders@doh.wa.gov.

Engage

In this space we will be asking questions related to wellbeing and connection. We welcome you to share your honest responses with us. Your answers to the question of the month will be completely anonymous. We will address common themes monthly.

Question of the Month

What are the biggest stressors you are facing right now in your work?

Use this link to answer the question of the month.

Well-Being Champions

Elevate your peers or leaders to be recognized as a well-being champion! Do you know someone that has helped you maintain a healthy state of well-being at work? Use this nomination form to submit a nomination today. We will reach out to the person to ensure they are comfortable being recognized on our page.

Peer Support

Peers can offer a unique form of support. Your peers share the same experiences, challenges and emotions you face daily in health care. This shared understanding can help create a safe space to process feelings together. The isolation you might be feeling can be reduced and resilience can be built by having partnership and mutual empathy from your peers. Additionally, peers can provide immediate support when you need it most.

There are also several peer support resources you can use that are specifically for health care professionals.

Pause

Mindfulness, Meditation, and Journaling

These techniques can help you boost resilience, reduce stress, and improve emotional balance. Mindfulness helps you to stay present, reducing contemplation on past events or worry about the future. The mental shift can lower your stress level, provide emotional regulation and create a sense of clarity even during stressful events or situations.

Mindfulness Practices

Breathing Techniques

Incorporate breathing exercises into your day, your lunch, breaktime, before or after shifts. Taking a few deep breaths can help calm and regulate your mind and body. Focus on your breathing as it flows in and out. To help prevent your mind from wandering, count as you inhale and exhale.

Mindful Walking

A simple form of meditation that can be done during a break. The key to this practice is to slow down, pay close attention to your body and focus on walking. Counting steps, adding a mantra to match your pace, doing a body scan noticing sensations as you move, and walking with intention.

Physical Activity

Journal Prompts

Journaling can help with reducing stress and anxiety, provide a private emotional outlet, improve mood and promote self-awareness. Below are a few prompts to get you started.

  • What are three words to describe how you are feeling right now?
  • What have you noticed about the day(s) that is challenging?
  • What have you done today that made someone smile? Or what is something that someone did for you that made YOU smile?
  • What is one thing you are grateful for today?
  • Celebrate yourself by starting a journal entry with the sentence, “Today I made a difference in this person’s life by …” (this can be yourself too, like accomplishing a personal goal)

Support

For Leaders

As a leader of health care professionals, recognizing and addressing the mental health and well-being load of your staff is essential to maintaining a healthy workplace and providing exceptional patient care. Implementing support strategies should be rooted in an organizational structure that allows staff to manage workload effectively, prioritize tasks, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Some key strategies include:

  • Promoting access to mental health care: Facilitate convenient access to mental health resources and professional support tailored to individual needs.
  • Encourage participation in social support networks: foster environments where staff feel connected and seen through peer support groups and team building activities.
  • Support use of paid time off: Promote appropriate staffing levels to ensure employees can take deserved breaks and utilize their paid leave without fear of guilt or fear of work backlog. Utilize flexible scheduling and ensure predictability of schedule.
  • Encourage physical activity and mindfulness: Support initiatives such as mindfulness practices, yoga or physical exercise programs to reduce stress and enhance overall wellbeing.
  • Promote meaning and mattering at work: Create connection points between the importance of the work being done through recognition and gratitude.

By implementing supportive strategies, your organization can cultivate an environment that helps health care professionals thrive.

More resources for improving workplace well-being:

For Team Members

Many organizations have programs that offer support for employees when they are experiencing challenges. Programs like employee assistance program (EAP) offers confidential services, short term counseling, referrals, and follow up services for employees. These services can start the process of finding longer term support/counseling if that is what you need. Encourage your organization to implement social support systems for you and your colleagues. Seek out resources that you have access to. If you need help finding them, get in touch with your benefits manager, or your human resource office to direct you to the correct person that can help navigate the resources you have.

Listen

Webinars

POP has several webinar recordings available that offer behavioral health support for health care professionals. This short video provides a quick look at our previous behavioral health support work with disaster psychologist, Dr. Kira Mauseth.

Behavioral Health Support for Health Care Workers Webinars on YouTube

Discover

In this section there are more resources that can help you find information to support your own well-being or those you work with.

Connect

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Webpages

Please email questions to powerofproviders@doh.wa.gov.

If you are not a member of the POP Initiative, please join today!