Over the past year, Princeton Health took action and developed a plan to provide coping skills and emotional support for our most valued assets, our workers, in response to the toll COVID-19 was having on healthcare workers across the globe. The Well-being Initiative was developed with the goal to meet our physicians and staff’s mental health needs through training, education and available support outlets. By providing these resources, the Initiative seeks to reduce the prevalence of these mental health challenges and help support a more resilient and healthy workforce.
The response from physicians and staff to the initiative has been overwhelmingly positive, so much so that Princeton Health is committed to continuing this initiative. There is a great need to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health care within the healthcare system, normalize the need for behavioral wellness support, and to build a culture and environment where nurses, physicians and employees in every job across our organization can “be human” – where they feel comfortable asking for help.
Princeton Health employees have access to a Clinical Psychologist and support team, receive annual training and education for Peer-to-Peer Nurses Support, and can participate in Schwartz Center Rounds (which offers employees space to discuss social and emotional issues that arise in caring for patients) as well as a Grand Rounds Speaker Series featuring experts in medical crisis management. Bulletin boards on floors, newsletters and other resources are available to all employees that promote self-care and serves as a way for the staff to connect. To address the stigma still tied to seeking mental health, there are numbers for services and help in addition to reminding staff who their Peer Wellness Representatives are, located in private spaces such a bathrooms and other areas throughout the hospital.
We are grateful to the corporate and community partners who have supported the Well-Being Initiative. Leading gifts have come from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk, Inc. and Christine Grant and her husband Michael Halpern, via the Halpern Family Foundation.
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