Creating a Holistic Pilot Program
It is with an overflowing heart that I sit here on my second to last day at work and reflect on all of the great things that my job has allowed me to do. Years ago, I was dreaming about how amazing it would be to be able to build a holistic program at the children’s hospital I worked at. I had written down everything that I would do: provide education through monthly newsletters and have a big focus being on implementing holistic modalities for staff while they had a break or downtime at work. I allowed myself to meditate on this dream and elicit the feelings that building something so magnificent would bring me & the people that would receive the offerings: joy, connection, community, healing, peace, ease, and bliss.
Years later, my dream manifested into the 3D reality when I started building the Holistic Care Team Pilot Program at Valley Children’s Hospital in October 2022. I knew from that moment that I could create the reality that I wanted to live in, and I knew that all of my meditation and daily self-growth practices had paid off. The program launched to peri-operative staff in December 2022, and two additional Holistic Care Team Leaders were added to the team. Interestingly enough, looking back from the start was such a journey to get to where we are today: a thriving program! Getting started, I would go around to all of the units and have people sign up for class offerings and sometimes it was crickets. The majority of people were unsure of how beneficial these holistic offerings would be. Then some people were more receptive than others, and then before I knew it — 3 months in — word of mouth traveled and we were getting more and more people attending classes!
In May — for Mental Health Awareness Month — we were able to extend out our holistic offerings (Reiki, Yoga, and sound meditations) to anyone in the hospital that wanted to sign up. We created short surveys and to be honest, reading them brought so much joy to my heart that happy tears streamed down my face. I just knew deep down that this type of culture change was exactly what needs to happen in EVERY SINGLE WORK PLACE. We need more healers in the workplaces providing spaces for people to relax, recharge, and rejuvenate. With the modern day stresses of every day life compounded with work stress, healers are needed more than ever to break the mental health crisis that we are seeing.
I am forever grateful for the role that I played in building something from the ground up, and my time dedicated to making the Holistic Care Team Pilot Program thrive will always hold such a special place in my heart. I know deep in my heart that I helped touch the lives of so many people throughout my time in this role, and that alone is my soul’s highest purpose — my dharma. As I relax and surrender to the great unknown, I know that my soul has a beautiful purpose for this life: to help uplift the well-being of the communities I serve. Although I do not know what is calling me next, I remain open to receive the divine blessings from the Universe that I know will pour to me when I am grounded in my truth, opening my heart, and connecting to Source Energy.
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If you are a CEO or someone that is looking to implement a Holistic Care Team Program in your organization, institution, or hospital, please feel free to reach out and connect with me. I would love to be able to help guide you into creating a new culture that is pivotal to optimizing your employee’s health and well-being and creating employee retention. If you’re interested in learning more about the program I built, below is the document that I created that is the foundation in building the Holistic Care Team at Valley Children’s Hospital.
Holistic Care Team
Mission: The Holistic Care Team aims to take care of the mind, body, and soul through optimizing employee mental health by offering holistic modalities and the Comfort Cart to help nourish the mind-body connection and optimize overall health and well-being.
Vision: We strive to make the foundation of the Valley Children’s Hospitals’ workplace significantly better for increasing the mental health and well-being of employees. Based on the five pillars that Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released last year to help improve workplace mental health and well-being, there are various holistic modalities offered in the Zen Den that peri-operative employees can partake in. In addition, the Comfort Cart rounds three times throughout the week and offers snacks, tea, empathetic listening, and healing modalities to help people feel seen, taken care of, and valued.
Goals
Goal 1: Add in additional classes to bring diversity to the Zen Den, starting July 2023.
- Ask co-workers what they feel is missing in the Zen Den, and how we could help improve our offerings.
- Trial out different holistic modalities to see what people are open to trying.
Goal 2: Offer online classes to staff once a month, starting in October 2023.
- Classes can be 30 minutes – 1 hour utilizing Zoom. (The hospital would pay for a Zoom account, and one of the HCT leaders would create the link to be able to send out to employees. This could continue to build community and allow someone to partake in a session in the comfort of their own home.)
Goal 3: Zen Den classes will be filled each time by December 2023, as staff will have shifted the work culture into implementing setting aside time for their own healing.
- Maximize people utilizing the Zen Den offerings throughout the month. Continue to go around to units with the sign-up sheet of the offering to maximize people coming to the Zen Den.
Implementing A Work Culture of Increased Well-being Is Imperative
Last year, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new framework for improving mental health and well-being in the workplace. He stated that in order for “thriving organizations and healthier communities,” it is imperative to have a foundation of a healthy workforce (ASH Media, October 2022). He created five pillars that were released October 2022 that are designed to help build policies, implement practices, and change the foundation of how organizations are run in order to best support the mental health and well-being of the all of the workers. Christine Netzley-Morales designated three leaders – Bernice Algots, Rosie Brunin, and Leticia Murrieta – to help develop The Holistic Care Team (HCT) Pilot Program in December 2022, and each month they have advanced the process and deeper understanding on developing the program. The HCT Leaders have valued what the Surgeon General has recommended and are implementing measures in order to support the new framework that Dr. Vivek Murthy suggested.
The first pillar outlines protection from harm, and the HCT strives to create a normalization around caring for the mental health of our employees. We created the Zen Den – a place where employees can come relax and restore – to be able to utilize during their down time for a quiet moment of solitude or partake in a holistic activity to help relax from the stressors of working in a hospital environment. Various classes are offered throughout the month to help improve the mental health and well-being of peri-operative staff. Classes include gentle yoga, stretching, massage therapy, breathwork, Reiki, and sound meditations. The leaders of the HCT have also been doing evidence based literature reviews, and they have created education revolved around certain topics each month to help employees understand the evidence backed behind why holistic preventative modalities are so important and why they are recommended to be practiced in day to day life (i.e. breathwork, meditation, sound meditation, creative mindfulness, and aromatherapy have been some of the topics).
The second pillar is about creating connection and community. The HCT has been going above and beyond in this pillar! There have been 24 employees that have volunteered to be part of the Holistic Care Team committee, and they have been extremely beneficial building community and helping round with the Comfort Cart! The Comfort Cart carries a variety of tea options, snacks, and candy that rounds three days a week throughout the wide array of peri-operative departments which in addition have included PICU and EVS. Members of the HCT will take turns rounding in various parts of the designated areas, and folks receiving items off of the Comfort Cart convey heart felt gratitude for being taken care of. In addition to snacks and tea, there are various holistic options available too, such as breathwork, sound meditation, a relaxing “M technique” hand massage, and an option to receive a massage from a massage gun. Lastly, during the month of May, the leadership team of the HCT collaborated with Employee Wellness to provide Reiki, gentle yoga, and sound meditations to hospital staff. The HCT leadership team was able to create a culture of inclusion, since anyone in the hospital could sign up to receive these offerings, and the holistic offerings were well received, as evidenced by the surveys that were collected after each session.
The third pillar addresses work-life harmony, which everyone should be inclined to appreciate. The HCT strives to have everyone visit the Zen Den to be able to receive care for their mind, their body, and their soul, because as humans we are not just the physical body – we also have our mental intellect and our emotional feelings that need to be taken care of. Thankfully, management in the peri-operative areas have been dedicated to helping their employees receive offerings in the Zen Den. It takes teamwork, planning, and collaboration, and the units have been diligent about helping cover someone’s assignment to help their co-workers receive various offerings in the Zen Den! From a PICU nurse having coverage for her assignment, to an IR nurse and anesthesiologist having downtime in the afternoon between cases, to a PACU nurse finding late afternoon coverage, all (and many more!) have been able to visit the Zen Den to receive a holistic offering.
The fourth pillar states how people want to know that they matter at work. “Knowing you matter has been shown to lower stress, while feeling like you do not [matter] can increase the risk for depression” (ASH Media, October 2022). Folks that have been receiving Zen Den offerings have expressed how the offerings have helped them feel valued at work. Also, while rounding with the Comfort Cart, the smiles, gratitude and palpable joy that are felt emitting from staff is deeply seen and appreciated. In healthcare, most of the employee’s jobs go unseen and unappreciated. Usually, only when something goes wrong is it brought to the attention of a healthcare worker in how they can improve. However, with the HCT there is an abundance of verbal gratitude and appreciation that is shared with employees while rounding and while attending Zen Den activities. In addition, there have been positive affirmation signs displayed around the peri-operative areas to remind staff that their presence at work truly matters.
Lastly, opportunities for growth is the final part of the framework. Overall, the HCT strives for inclusion, diversity, and expanded learning to help employees grow personally and professionally. Currently, the HCT offers nurses a pathway for increasing their nursing ladder position at Valley Children’s Hospital. HCT members attend a monthly meeting, in which updates are discussed as well as a collective approach for how HCT members think the HCT can improve. During these meetings, various speakers also present certain topics and trainings, which helps the members grow universally. Trainings include empathetic listening and breathwork, with more in the coming months. Lastly, the leadership team has been able to receive hands on training of music theory and how to conduct a relaxing sound bath meditation from Rosie Brunin. Leaders of the HCT are continually growing and advancing their skills in creating experiences for the vast offerings of the Zen Den and Comfort Cart in order to meet the needs of staff.
In summary, the Holistic Care Team at Valley Children’s Hospital has exceeded expectations on developing a holistic program that implements all five pillars that address the current public health issue of Americans: How to Improve Mental Health in the Workplace? Through education and employee communication, the Zen Den has gained rapid attention in the last several months, as evidenced by an increase in employee participants coming to Zen Den classes and extending the work hours of our massage therapist. It is our greatest hope that Valley Children’s Hospital will see the positive impact that this program is having for peri-operative staff and will eventually be able to extend the program out to all hospital employees so everyone can receive the benefits of improving their mental health and well-being in the workplace.
Reference
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). (2022, October 20). U.S. Surgeon General releases New Framework for Mental Health & Well-being in the workplace. HHS.gov. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/10/20/us-surgeon-general-releases-new-framework-mental-health-well-being-workplace.html
