A deep-rooted value that guides our care, compassion is grounded in resilience.
“It so important to remind ourselves to build our compassion resiliency, because it’s too easy to go on auto pilot and neglect our own well-being,” says Carrie Laux, Inpatient Substance Use Disorder clinical supervisor. “That impacts our ability to be present and compassionate with ourselves and others.”
Cultivating resilience is easier with a toolbox. Carrie recently learned skills as part of compassion resilience training for leaders at Rogers.
“This class is a great reminder of the need to take care of ourselves,” Carrie says. “It is imperative to continue taking care of others. One of my favorite quotes is, ‘You can’t serve from an empty vessel.’”
Facilitated by the Community Learning and Engagement team, the course is designed to offer tools leaders can use to keep their cups full, and Emily Jonesberg, Community Learning Engagement program manager, says that spills over to other team members.
“A leader leading from an empty cup will not be able to provide the necessary support and guidance every team deserves,” Emily says. “Our leaders have a profound impact on the health of our teams. I know providing them with the support and space to develop and care for themselves will have a positive ripple effect across the entire organization.”
“Compassion resilience training empowers us to sustain our empathy and kindness, ensuring we can continually provide healing and hope to those we serve,” says Brian Kay, PhD, chief strategy officer.
Together, Joan Haznaw and Anne Ballentine serve as group facilitators.
“Connecting with leaders and staff in this work is a true privilege,” Joan says. “Whether we are in a clinical or non-clinical role, we can experience the satisfaction and challenges of working in behavioral health. Working together to create a culture of compassion resilience is key to the success of individuals, teams, and the Rogers System.”
“Being a leader in behavioral health is important and often rewarding work, but it can also be difficult to balance so many needs and still take care of yourself,” Anne adds. “I’m passionate about helping individuals reflect and strategize about where they have control to make changes, set reasonable expectations and boundaries, and prioritize a balanced approach to well-being.”
Of those who have participated in the compassion resilience leader training, more than 90% agree that they effectively use strategies learned in the program to limit compassion fatigue and build resilience, while 100% agree the training allows them to act with a deeper sense of self-compassion and found the work useful in their roles as leaders at Rogers.
Leaders left feedback on the compassion resilience training, including these messages:
“Free space to share leadership encounters, self-compassion, and bringing forward once again the need to take time for myself in order to be my best self.”
“Coming together as a leadership team to understand these concepts, use them ourselves, but also understand how we can impart them to our employees is invaluable in our work. The training provided simple yet effective methods.”
“Being able to apply the concepts and solutions to real life challenges and discuss with other leaders.”
“I found it very helpful to be in this group with other leaders. I also found it to be a safe space to openly share.”
“This training is necessary for all who want to succeed in mental health care.”
Compassion resilience support is available for all team members. For more information on either program, please contact Joan Haznaw, CLE training specialist, at Joan.Haznaw@rogersbh.org.
