As leaders, how do we fully equip and support our teams to create equitable pathways in partnership with our communities? Effective teamwork depends on staff feeling safe to speak up, even when their opinion is not shared or may be unpopular. Psychologically safe teams support candid feedback, identifying opportunities for learning and improvement, as well as approaches to treat errors as opportunities for growth, not punishment. This has real consequences for helping professionals. Psychologically safe professionals have:

This internal change intentionally creates a team environment that will provoke external change, leading to equitable solutions that shift power to bold, strategic and well-informed communities. Attendees can expect to learn how this practice has led to innovative solutions to shift power from agency to community from several leaders in a fireside chat setting.

Learning Objectives

Presenters

Romero Davis
Senior Program Manager
Social Current

Dr. Michael Cull
Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy
University of Kentucky

Workplace health is tied to reduced turnover, increased productivity, and ultimately client outcomes. In the post-pandemic “Great Resignation” environment, the burden to build resilience and avoid burnout is placed on the already overwhelmed and overworked employee. Just as the proverbial canary cannot be responsible for fixing the toxic elements of the coal mine, employees cannot fix organizational obstacles to workplace happiness.

McKinsey reports that 52% of employees leave because they feel their supervisor does not value them. Meanwhile, supervisors, who often are overburdened by staff vacancies, are dancing as fast as they can in remote and hybrid environments, where it is increasingly difficult to assess employee needs or even their own needs. This workshop will provide tangible solutions for organizational champions who want to impact the current workforce crisis in human services and promote a culture of true wellness, resilience, and psychological safety.

Ultimately, by creating actionable data, organizations that check-in routinely can build a robust mosaic of baselines, success measures, and strategic planning initiatives to engage and retain talent. By doing this, organizational leaders will confidently be able to answer: How are my employees? How’s my team? How are certain subgroups of employees doing?

The canaries no longer need to be sent into the dangerous coal mine. Rather, the coal mine is automated with sensors and alarms to create a safe space for all.

Through an engaging and interactive format, participants will discuss:

Learning Objectives

Presenters

Gwen Koenig
Chief Growth Officer
SigBee

The “Great Resignation” is creating a burden on organizations nationwide, especially in meeting contractual deliverables, retaining skilled staff, and recruiting new staff. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics stated that COVID-19 contributed to one of the largest employee attrition rates, particularly in health care. Nonprofit management teams critically rely on strong leadership from within, and oftentimes, staff are promoted into management roles based on clinical excellence but are not provided a strong foundation related to leadership competencies like:

That is why every organization needs a “bench” of skilled players on their team. This workshop will discuss a Leadership Training Academy’s 12-month curriculum for new and emerging leaders that develops these competencies.

By examining behavioral health case studies, participants will learn about components of a successful organizational response to low staff morale and burnout. Participants will also learn about needs-based assessment processes aimed at identifying future leaders internally and gain practical tools to improve retention in their own organizations.

Learning Objectives

Presenters

Erin Saylor
Managing Director of Behavioral Health Services
Child and Family Agency of Southeastern CT

Courtney Seely
Senior Director of Behavioral Health Services
Child and Family Agency of Southeastern CT

Deepening the understanding of stress, adversity and trauma is a burgeoning focus in community-based and human services organizations. As part of the understanding of equity and cultural competence within equity, diversity, and inclusion, it is important for organizations to also understand the trauma that exists for people from historically oppressed and marginalized groups. Understanding common language, and practical applications in approaches at the individual, program/organization, and system levels is important to implementing and sustaining transformation. An integrated trauma responsive and equity-focused approach can improve the experience, overall wellness, and long-term engagement, of the workforce and service recipients.

Learning Objectives

Presenters

Kesha Carter
Chief Diversity Officer
CCSI

Elizabeth Meeker
Senior Director of Practice Transformation
CCSI

How do some professionals thrive in their careers, while others experience burnout from vicarious trauma? This is a question leaders are asking, as many agree staff retention is the number one challenge in organizations today. Vicarious trauma is an occupational hazard. It causes significant turnover and is costly to professionals, the clients receiving treatment, their organizations, and the broader profession.

In response to this ‘cost of caring,’ we have focused attention on vicarious trauma in attempts to mitigate the symptoms in employees through clinical supervision, work-life balance, and burnout prevention strategies. Even with this intensive knowledge and effort, the attrition data has not changed. We are missing something.

Vicarious resilience is the experience of witnessing healing in others, resulting in personal resilience development. Experiencing vicarious resilience is what can keep all of us healthy, strong, and excited about our work. There is a clear process of developing vicarious resilience through four specific phases of learning and growth. This four-phase developmental process is shaped through supportive leadership and management and supervision. This partnership between professionals and supportive leaders is the link to ensuring the development of vicarious resilience. Through expert use of emotional intelligence and supportive leadership models, the phenomenon of vicarious resilience brings renewed life to helping professionals and positively impacts both treatment and business outcomes.

In this session, learn about research around professionals who exhibited strong traits of vicarious resilience. Participants will gain a foundation in the literature on the history of children’s mental health and the elements of leadership. Understanding the process of how vicarious resilience is developed will allow you to bring this to your organization. With the tools given you can begin to shift the focus from trauma to resilience in your professionals and see the positive impact.

Learning Objectives

Presenters

Leslie Chaplin
Founder
Solare Well-being, LLC