Healthcare workers deal with stress-filled situations daily, and many feel more significant stress and burnout. Stress and anxiety have increased in healthcare personnel, and we know this leads to physical and emotional health concerns. Our healthcare organizations have stressed-out workers taking care of patients dealing with stress-filled problems. This is not Healthcare; this is Sick Care. The movement for supportive therapies is growing nationally and even worldwide!

Caring Should be the Heart of Healthcare

Caring should be an expectation in our healthcare organizations. In reality, we have sick providers caring for others in a sick system. Who provides care for the provider? 

Time and resources are precious. Managers get caught up in filling staffing “holes” and putting out the “fires,” which take priority over providing care for the nurses and other workers. It’s hard to catch your breath when dealing with chaos all around. However, burnout and turnover happen if renewal and caring efforts are not provided to our healthcare workers. Ultimately, this is more expensive as nurse recruiting and orientation are costly measures. It only makes sense to invest in our current staff with efforts to reduce their stress and bring renewal resources that can be utilized quickly.

Yes, we have Employee Assistance Programs, which offer excellent services to help counsel and support staff. Realistically, this service does not answer the needs of many people. In a recent survey, over 50% of nurses stated they lacked resources to manage emotionally in their work setting (2021). Over 50%!! This is alarming. What type of patient care can be provided when your nurses feel anxious and emotionally drained?

Supportive Therapy Engagement Program or S.T.E.P. - Reduces Stress in 5 Minutes or Less!

S.T.E.P. provides holistic strategies for healthcare professionals to use quickly for themselves and in practice! This online program is well organized, easy to use, and accessible anytime for nurses - even in the clinical setting. Nurses receive 24 contact hours for completing this program. This means they can earn credits, feel more balanced, and have some fun learning new tools to manage their chaos. 

You may not be able to change the chaos you are dealing with in the clinical arena, but you can change how you manage stress.

S.T.E.P. Therapies Promote Healing

S.T.E.P. therapies shift sick care into healthcare by giving tools to manage stress and bring balance. This concept provides independence because you and your staff have resources and options to choose from to help manage in times of chaos.  

This online program gives your staff strategies, tools, and written and audio resources focusing on Relaxation Techniques, Aromatherapy, and Gentle Movement that they can easily use for themselves or to assist others. They’ll get immediate access to methods to balance their immune system, meditations to use in 5 minutes or less, and a video guide through quick and easy movement exercises they can use daily.

Mental stress can create difficulty focusing and affect decision-making. S.T.E.P. shares activities to clear the fog of mental stress with visualization and imagery or with Ageless Grace movements. All these are proven to enhance brain activity, and the strategies are done in 5 minutes or less!

Even spiritual stress is explored in the S.T.E.P. program. The person is guided in gentle yet profound experiences that can assist them in going deeper into healing awareness and balance.

Aromatherapy is a hot topic in the clinical setting, and patient safety and essential oil quality must be addressed. Aromatherapy is woven throughout this course with quick how-to tutorials to create products safely in the practice setting. A bonus module will give resources and templates to get your unit started using supportive therapies for immediate results.

Supportive Therapies Benefit Staff and Patients

Supportive therapies can make a big difference in touching one another and promoting healing. Clarence, a four-time cancer survivor, shares his gratitude for modern medicine but believes it was the caring energy of his nurses, along with his tools of Healing Touch and aromatherapy, that really “saved my life!” He continues to use these tools in his daily health plan. 

Sue worked on a busy oncology unit and struggled with work balance and managing her family as a single mom. She stated that she was feeling stressed and overwhelmed and was “out of control.” She needed her job but was challenged in getting up to face “another war” on her unit. After using the tools from S.T.E.P., Sue felt she had more control over how she could manage the stress and bring balance to her work and home life.  

When we are filled and renewed, we can help others find balance and peace themselves.

As the saying goes, if your cup is empty, how can you give it to others?

S.T.E.P. provides you and your staff with the tools and resources necessary to bring balance and peace to themselves, which translates to their work setting.

Do you want to learn more about implementing S.T.E.P. in your department? Schedule a FREE Discovery Call on how we can individualize S.T.E.P. for your staff and clinical setting.

References:

Kirzinger A., Kearney A., Hamel L., Brodie M. (2021). The toll of the coronavirus pandemic on health care workers. The Washington Post Frontline Health Care Workers Survey. 

This blog is provided for educational and informational purposes and is not medical, mental health, or healthcare advice.  Although Debra Reis is a Clinical Nurse Specialist licensed in Michigan, she is not acting in that capacity here. Debra Reis is working as a holistic educator and consultant, not as a licensed medical health professional or in her professional capacity as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, heal, cure or prevent any illness, medical condition, or mental or emotional condition. Working with us is not a guarantee of any results. Debra Reis, Wellness Services, L.L.C., owns all copyrights to the materials presented here unless otherwise noted.