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Building resiliency

Ascension Texas Center For Resiliency Supports

Healthcare Workers To Help Prevent Compassion Fatigue

Krista Gregory, founder and Manager of the Center for Resiliency for Ascension’s Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin, knows firsthand the challenges of healthcare burnout and what is commonly referred to as compassion fatigue — a secondary stress reaction due to the physical, emotional and psychological impact of helping others, often through experiences of stress or trauma. For more than two decades, Krista has served at the bedside of patients and helped meet the personal and spiritual needs of patients and their families.

“I personally experienced burnout several times. I thought, ‘There’s got to be another way to do this, where I can fully love the people that I care for and not lose myself,’” Krista said. “So we decided to do a deep-dive study of how we care for ourselves, how we care for members of our teams and what it means to make this work sustainable for all of us in healthcare.”

In March 2016, her vision to “care for those who care” came to fruition through the Center for Resiliency, which offers transformative support services for healthcare professionals.

HEALING PEOPLE, STAYING HUMAN

The tagline for the Center for Resiliency, “healing people, staying human,” trauma associated with working in the field of medicine. “The mission is to equip our people in healthcare with practical tools to survive the challenges of our unique work environment and thrive in all aspects of our lives,” Krista said.

“This is so in alignment with the ABIDE [AppreciationBelongingness - Inclusivity - Diversity - Equity] framework — serving communities and really paying attention to the state of humanity and each individual person,” she said. “Our humanity is really where the magic is.”

While acknowledging that there are similar centers and organizations that study the concept of healthcare worker burnout and compassion fatigue, Krista said the Center for Resiliency looks beyond the concept of burnout and focuses on preventive strategies, personal well-being and the avoidance of compassion fatigue.

Krista found value in the personal requests and testimonies of healthcare workers.

“What we ended up creating as far as what the Center for Resiliency encompasses today came out of the voices of people at the bedside. It didn’t just come from a book or an expert,” she said. “The experts were the people doing the work. It’s always through the lens of people on the front lines. That’s been at the core of the Center for Resiliency.”

Mortals In Medicine

One piece of feedback that came from Krista’s for-thepeople-by-the-people approach was the need for collective sharing sessions and storytelling for healthcare providers. Mortals in Medicine, a night of off-site black-box theater storytelling, is a quarterly opportunity for healthcare workers to address compassion fatigue by sharing the complexities of working in medicine. During the sessions, which are often somber and tearful, clinicians share personal conflicts, some of which include caring for patients while being a caregiver or suffering losses in their own families. Ultimately, these sessions provide a healthy outlet and shared understanding of unique experiences.

In addition to Mortals in Medicine, the Center for Resiliency offers a variety of training programs and events to help healthcare professionals create healthy boundaries between healthcare and self-care. The center also offers one-on-one professional development coaching sessions for physicians and healthcare leaders. Whether one-onone, in dialogue sessions or in retreat settings, Krista and her team strive to provide practical resiliency tools for associates at the bedside or in the boardroom.

Coping In Community

Many of the center’s training sessions and retreats are designed with community and camaraderie in mind. Although there is emphasis on self-care, training also includes techniques to help colleagues who may be dealing with compassion and empathy fatigue.

“How can we help people not only with how they personally cope, but how they cope in community? We aren’t just asking what we can teach you about what you need personally or in your professional life, but how you are working with all of your team members,” Krista said.

“A lot of the research calls it compassion fatigue, but I call it empathy fatigue because it’s really about empathetically resonating with people around us — literally feeling what another person’s feeling,” she said.

TIPS FOR SELF-CARE AND COMPASSION

Deana Donovan, National Lead of Associate Well-Being, Ascension, suggests the following self-compassion and self-care practices to help healthcare professionals heal people and stay human.

Self-compassion

• Practice self-kindness: Avoid self-judgment. Understand and accept that what you’re experiencing is normal.

• Practice grace: Treat yourself with the same care and compassion you would a friend or loved one.

• Practice daily mindful meditations: Become more self-aware and reflective by practicing 30 Days of Meditation & Reflection, a monthlong journey that invites you to cultivate self-awareness and provides tools for self-regulation and more self-compassion.

Self-care

• Recharge your batteries. Get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet and practice healthy sleep habits.

• Take intentional time off. Rest and rejuvenation are essential to personal well-being. Read “Creating Balance and Boundaries That Work for You and Your Family” to learn healthy work/life habits.

• Do what you love. Take time for your hobbies and engage in something that is enjoyable for you.

• Utilize resources. Ascension offers a wealth of ways to support mental and emotional well-being. Visit the myCare site from the Good Day Ascension Intranet to find the best resources to support you and your family.

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