-Welcome to the webinar today,
"Building Resilience: Practical
Tools for Supporting Survivors'
Mental Health
in the Workplace."
My name is Carolyne Ouya,
and I am the senior training and
technical assistant specialist
at Futures
Without Violence,
and I'll tell you a little bit
more about what my role is.
And Yoo-Jin.
-Hi, everyone.
Thank you for spending
your time with us today.
My name is Yoo-Jin.
I use she/hers pronouns.
I'm also the senior training and
technical assistant specialist
for the National Resource Center
at Workplaces Respond,
which I'll tell you
about in a second.
-So a little bit about
my background
and the project
that I am a part of.
I have, you know, several,
several years of experience
working with survivors
of human trafficking,
domestic violence
and sexual assault
and also working
in workforce development.
So I'm able to see
the intersections
of survivor advocacy
and workplace retention
and development.
I am also a mental-health
advocate,
currently a grad student
in marriage and family therapy
and have sat on various
boards and behavioral health
taskforces in San Diego county.
So I'll be coming in
with that perspective as well.
I'm part of the Promoting
Employment
Opportunities for Survivors
of Trafficking Project,
and so we offer training
and technical assistance
to organizations
all throughout the nation
who are looking to improve
their workforce employment
and education opportunities for
survivors of human trafficking.
And so that could look anything
from building resources
and tools
to providing trainings
to your community
and helping you build
those collaborations
that will address topics like
what we're talking about today.
-Great, and I am focused
in our,
again, National Resources Center
Workplaces Respond,
and my focus is thinking
about training
and technical assistance
for organizations,
whether it's thinking
about survivors
who are already
in the workplace
and also thinking
about sexual assault,
sexual harassment
and workplace culture.
And a little bit about
my background, prior to Futures,
I worked in substance abuse
prevention and intervention,
and I was
a victim-service provider
at a domestic-violence center.
So both Carolyne and I
are bringing some
of that
on-the-ground experience.
I'm looking forward to also
hearing from you all.
-So we went over this.
We'll help you with referrals.
At the end of this webinar,
after the presentation,
we'll have 30 minutes
set aside for office hours
to answer any,
you know, intimate questions
that you have all
from the ground,
and so we'll provide
a link for that space.
And then we also encourage you
to just reach out to us
after the fact to help
troubleshoot any issues
or dive deeper
into the different topics
that we're mentioning today.
There's only so much
that we can do
in the short period of time
when it comes to a huge topic
like mental health
and workplace and survivors,
and so we're going
to do our best
to be as thorough
as possible during this time.
So let's talk about
the learning objectives.
Our goal today is that
we help describe
sort of what the current mental
health challenges of survivors
are in the workplace and what
the mental health challenges,
in general,
are in the workplace
so that you are well
versed in that.
We're going to identify
the key elements
of supportive
and person-centered workplaces.
So, you know, if you're looking
to establish
employment partners,
we want you to, you know,
have good points in mind about
how to make those connections
and how to determine, you know,
what workplace is the best
for your community.
We're going to go through
the 12 stages of burnout
because we're think
it's very important to know
both personally being
in the field,
but also supporting the
survivors that you work with.
And then last but not least,
we're going to talk
about a few strategies
that can help enhance
the mental health of survivors.
So those are the learning
objectives we set aside,
and, you know, we hope
that we hit all of them today.
And if not, you know, just ask
us questions in the chat box
so that we can interact with you
and make sure that
we're addressing your questions.
-Wonderful.
Thanks, Carolyne.
So before get started, we'd love
to hear about who's in the room.
So I will be dropping a link
to our Poll Everywhere,
and just to get
a sense of, again,
who's in the room
and some of the demographics
if you could go and take 30
seconds to answer our question.
-And we'll reply back
with what we're seeing
in the Poll Everywhere.
-Wonderful.
So I'm seeing a lot
of domestic violence
or sexual violence
victim service providers,
a few technical assistance
and training providers,
educators,
community members, welcome,
other because
you do so much more.
Yes.
And feel free to also
introduce yourselves in the chat
with where you're
calling in from, what you do.
-Welcome, Jasmine.
Welcome, Blade.
So to bring you in on a little
secret
or behind-the-scenes,
our original goal
was to have this via webinar
or a Zoom room space
where we could see your faces
and sort of interact
with your voices in person,
but, you know,
it was popular.
You all signed up,
and so we wanted to make sure
that everyone had
the opportunity
to be a part of this.
Regardless of that, we will be
checking out the chat box
throughout this
entire experience.
So feel free to, you know,
put your questions in there,
your comments,
your woot-woots, you know?
We'll try to make it as,
you know,
free-flowing as possible,
so thank you so much
for being here.
So we're going to start off with
our first interactive question.
So go ahead and get
your typing fingers together.
How do you think mental health
shows up for survivors
in the workplace?
So if a few of you can take
some time to, you know,
type what your perspective
is on that in the chat box,
we would love to see that.
So I just saw
absenteeism pop up.
Hello, Deanna.
Sara says it affects
all aspects of the workplace.
We have Amy, trouble focusing
on work-based tasks,
feeling triggered by statements
that people may say.
Linda
said, "Not being present."
Hey, Linda, a part of our team.
Decreased morale.
These are great responses.
Thank you.
Bella, self-sabotage.
Lack of consistency and
self-confidence during meetings.
Brandy and Tony, thank you
so much
for bringing up the role of
trauma and triggers, depression.
Thank you, Dorisha, for PTSD,
low self-esteem.
These are great responses.
Thank you for putting that
in the chat.
It impacts attendance
and performance.
There's abuser-generated
risks in the workplace,
so thank you for
bringing that point up.
Expectations for more
authentic connection
even when e-mailing.
So, you know, how to navigate
those admin
and logistical things.
Feeling silence or isolated,
digestive issues.
Thank you for bringing
in the physical components.
Being distanced,
lack of feeling and belonging.
So these are great.
Awesome.
These are all great,
and so we're going to go
into some of those things,
and know that this is
not comprehensive,
but it's a good place
for us to start.
So before we go into sort of
some of the details
that you have mentioned
in the chat box,
we want to give you
statistics on
just what's going on
in mental health
in the workplace in general,
and we're hoping
that this let's you know
that it's not just
a survivor-specific experience.
There's many elements
of the workplace
that impact mental health
to begin with.
So we want to make sure
that you understand
that first before we add
on the layers
of being a survivor
in the workplace.
So if you look at some of these
statistics from the CDC,
they've done a wonderful report
on mental health
in the workplace back in 2018 as
well as Mental Health America.
Last year at the height
of coronavirus,
they also did
a wonderful report.
And some of the statistics
that have come out from that
are that the workplace
is the third leading cause
of stress for everyone.
So if it's the third leading
cause of stress,
that should tell you something.
One in 10 employees report
that their workplace stress
affects their mental health,
and then four in five employees
feel emotionally drained
from their work.
So this is without even adding
on the nuances
of a survivor's history.
Being in the workplace, demands
of the workplace in general,
is a place for emotional,
you know, toll.
It takes an emotional toll
on our well-being.
And it's also important to know
that three in five employees
are not receiving
adequate support from survivors
to help manage the stress.
So with these pervasive
challenges,
our advocacy is not just
for survivors,
but for the workplace in whole
so that it's working cohesively
for all the members
that are involved.
Some other statistics is,
when you're going into
the work environment,
65 percent find it difficult
to concentrate
in their work environment,
and only five percent
of employees agree
that their employer is providing
a safe environment.
So this is letting you know that
there's some things missing,
and we have to figure out
what's missing
that's causing these high
numbers of disconnection
and struggle in the workplace.
So understanding
that is important.
And then when we look at the
financial burden
of mental health challenges
in the workplace,
it's pretty high.
Depression and anxiety
cost the global economy
about $1 trillion per year
in lost productivity.
That's a lot of money, you know?
It's not often that
we see trillion,
so that let's you know
that we --
It's something that we really
should pay attention
to in order to support
what we're doing.
And then on average, employees
with depression miss
about 27 days of work per year,
which tallies up to about $4,500
per capita
cost of that person
and their challenges.
And then what's interesting
to know is that for every $1
invested in mental health,
especially
evidence-based programs,
employers can save $2
to $4 on other expenses.
So it's just letting you know
that investing in mental health,
investing in well-being
in the workplace benefits
the organization as a whole.
So if there are any advocates in
the community who are trying to,
you know, make a claim
or support why it is important
to focus on mental health,
you know, these are the numbers,
and this is the benefits of it
that, you know,
we hope that you find helpful.
So then what does that mean,
kind of digging deeper
into the overall challenges
of survivors,
and many of you, being advocates
and educators in the field,
have already listed
so many of these.
But the first thing that
we're going to talk about
is the types
of mental health challenges
that our survivors
are struggling with.
Many of you
are familiar with it,
but we're going to go
through it together.
So the first is adverse
childhood events.
A lot of survivors, a lot of
individuals,
have gone through
very difficult,
traumatic stressors
throughout their lifetime,
and so they're carrying
that with them
just outside of their experience
as a survivor
of human trafficking
and constantly
trying to maneuver
some of those challenges that
they've experienced as a child.
And we also know that adverse
childhood events
has a direct correlation
or impact on our physical health
and well-being, right?
So if you have a certain amount
of adverse childhood events,
it increases your likelihood
of diabetes and heart disease
and all of those
other physical ailments
that can get in the way of
your success in the workplace.
There's also complex trauma
and polyvictimization.
So we know that it's not one
type of trauma
that our survivors
have experienced.
There are many different types,
whether it's community violence,
you know, sexual assault,
and, you know,
whether it's the systems
that we're a part of,
such as racism and xenophobia
that are considered violence
in the way
that we feel
and express in our bodies.
We know that there are many
different layers of trauma
that we're focusing on.
There's also polyvictimization.
So by the time the survivor
is entering the workplace,
many have unfortunately been
victimized many different times
across their lifetime
in many different ways.
So you're not just navigating
the relationship
between an employer
and a survivor.
There's many other areas
that they may been victimized.
So you have to understand
that the workplace itself
can be a traumatic
or difficult environment
to be in
and having to navigate that.
We also know that if you take it
to another level,
a lot of our survivors
have co-occurring disorders.
So in our field, we tend
to focus on the trauma.
We tend to focus on
the depression and the anxiety,
but sometimes, we are not
giving us much discussion
outside of
the trauma-informed care
to all of the other parts
of mental health
that our survivors
could be struggling with.
So that's everything from
bipolar disorder,
you know, schizophrenia,
some neurotypical challenges
that, you know,
our survivors
could be struggling with
and then substance abuse and how
all of those things can be --
a survivor can be experiencing
all at the same time,
which makes it
very difficult to navigate.
So when we're looking
at the barriers of care,
and I'd also like
to plug SAMHSA,
which is the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health
Services Administration.
They are a great resource
for evidence-based practices
and diving deeper
into the things
that we're kind of talking
about on the surface level.
So if you haven't had a chance
to really go through
their content
and read it,
we encourage you to do so.
So we know our survivors
are struggling with this.
What are the challenges to care?
And I know many of you have
probably experienced frustration
in navigating
the mental health system.
I will proudly --
not proudly say,
but I will say out loud
that our system does not work.
It's broken right now, and it
is not supporting all of us,
especially our survivors
who tend to be
the most marginalized.
One reason for that is --
Thank you, Lisa, for that.
Yes, yes, I agree.
We have stigma.
A lot of our survivors
are carrying a lot of fear
and a lot of stereotypes
and preconceived narratives
about the mental health
and therapy,
and so going and seeking help or
trusting help is very difficult,
and so navigating
that stigma is hard.
We have lack of
culturally inclusive
mental health professionals.
And so, you know, because
our survivors
are coming from
so many different backgrounds,
we don't always have
a mental healthcare professional
that mirrors that background
in which they're coming from,
which increases
the level of stigma
and fear of seeking
these services.
Another issue is misdiagnosis.
So a lot of our survivors
will find themselves
being misdiagnosed, right,
and not having the ability
to go through a thorough,
you know, screening
or assessment
to receive the right diagnosis
or the right medication.
And so we're having a lot
of that going on,
and if you look
at the statistics
of how it impacts
communities of color,
you know, there's
a lot of misdiagnosis
in that level
juts in general
without having the identity
of a survivor.
The next, it's expensive, y'all.
I don't know if anyone
has taken a chance
to really look
at how much therapy is
or how much medication is
when it comes to mental health,
but it is way more expensive
than something that we can do
without adequate support
and healthcare support
and community support,
so that's another barrier.
And then the last is that
there's enough mental healthcare
resources at this moment
to really support the needs
in the community.
So we just wanted to make sure
that you're aware
of those barriers.
If there's something that
we have not mentioned,
please put it
in the chat box.
Lisa, thank you
for mentioning sexism and racism
can lead to a ton
of deadly challenges.
Thank you so much
for your comment.
So we're going to make sure
that we read through that.
So we want you to also see
the symptoms of trauma
and understand that a lot
of co-occurring disorders
can cause some of
these reactions as well.
So we broke it down
in emotional,
physical and cognitive.
And we hope that when you're
working with your survivors,
you can sort of figure
out out a way
to sift
through the differences
between what's
considered emotional,
what's considered physical,
what's considered cognitive
because it can help with
referring to the right spaces
to help support those
different challenges.
So we already know the numbness,
the apathy,
the withdrawal which
some of you have mentioned,
the guilt and the shame,
the anger, irritability,
suicidal thoughts
and tendencies, ideation.
We also have physical,
which are headaches,
sleep problems,
chronic pain, pain attacks.
So if I'm struggling to sleep,
I'm not going to show up my best
on a Monday morning,
a Tuesday morning,
any day, right?
If I'm having constant
headaches,
how am I focusing and being able
to get through a task?
If I am having gut issues,
right, like,
how can I make it through
an entire 8-hour shift, right?
So sometimes, we get stuck
on the emotional
and sort of mental components
of mental health,
but we want you to know that it
does manifest itself physically.
And then the last area
is cognitive,
so flashbacks, hypervigilance
and so any little --
I don't want to use
the word little,
but anything in the workforce
could end up being a trigger,
and the person feels that
it's a personal attack
when it could be just something
that's a part
of the workplace environment.
And then also,
it affects memory.
So having to remember tasks
and kind of work
through that experience
can be very difficult.
So we just want to refresh
or let you know
about those areas.
-Carolyne, I just wanted to
uplift something in the chat --
-Yes, please.
-... about thinking about folks
who have a record
because of things
like substance abuse and also,
in the back of my mind,
thinking about in addition
to the individual symptoms
that folks are experiencing
as survivors,
the systemic impact
of the criminalization
of survivors as well, right?
So what folks have had to do
to survive
can often be criminalized,
whether it's substance use,
even things like homelessness.
So these are things that
we're going to also
bring into our conversation,
but I wanted to uplift.
-Awesome.
Thank you so much for that.
And I can't see the full name,
but someone mentioned
how healthy mental
health screenings
should be a part
of routine healthcare
and how there's not a focus
on prevention here,
which is difficult.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
So you've mentioned this.
How does all of this impact
the workplace?
And we've made some comments
here and there about that.
But increased absenteeism,
not showing up
because I don't feel well
and I don't want to
and nobody understands, right?
Not being able to concentrate.
So supervisors are frustrated
because they feel like,
"I've told this person
to do this how many times,
and they have yet
to figure it out," right?
And so dealing
with that dynamic.
Increase in personal calls,
texts and visits.
You know, I always say we do not
heal in isolation
but in community, right?
So having to make those
connections throughout the day
to get through the day
can get in the way of,
you know,
the task that you have.
If there are any, you know,
reports or investigations
that need to happen
in the workplace or in general,
there tends to be sometimes
an unwillingness
to participate in that,
or let's say victimization
is happening in the workplace,
you know, not speaking up
about that experience
because of everything that
the person has gone through.
And then also appearing
agitated,
angry, sad or hypervigilant.
We have lack of confidence
and withdrawal,
and something else that I saw
in the chat box
that I will lift up,
and thank you to the person
who brought that up,
is the increase of gun violence
and retaliation in the workforce
that's related to
mental health challenges, right?
And so without prevention,
without the right structures
and support systems,
sometimes we're unable to see
all of those warning signs
and flags along the way
until it's too late,
and it's another headline,
right?
And so really keeping that
in mind
and saying
what can we put in place?
What relationships
and structures
can we put in place
to address that?
So thank you for
bringing that up.
So now, are there any questions?
If you want to put that
in the chat box,
and thank you so much
for your feedback.
We appreciate it so that we know
that we're not talking to,
you know, dead space, right?
So we appreciate that.
Thank you, Anna, for bringing up
strangulation, head trauma
and how that affects that.
Yoo-Jin just put in the chat
box, thank you for that,
is that we have
an anonymous question
Poll Everywhere.
So if you, for whatever reason,
do not feel comfortable
putting your question
in the chat box,
we want to honor that.
So go ahead and use the poll
that you
Yoo-Jin just put in there
to ask those questions,
and we'll be sure to address
it along the way.
So I'm now going to turn it over
to Yoo-Jin.
Step one, the practical step one
is really understanding
what mental health is,
what the challenges are
and how they present themselves.
So that's step one,
the practical tool.
The second practical tool
is identifying a safe
and supportive workplace
or what a safe employment
partner could look like.
So Yoo-Jin is going to kick us
off with that section.
-Thank you.
So we'll be going over elements
of a safer workplace,
and the reason why we say safer
is
because we can't ever actually
guarantee safety in a space.
So these are some ways
that we can work to create
structural improvements
to the systems
that we might be in now.
So the first being investing
in employee well-being
in all aspects of the word.
So thinking about mental health,
like we looked
at some of the symbols
that affect both survivors
and just workers
in the workplace,
mental health
being a very big concern
and something that affects
so many people.
Having inclusive and welcoming
workplace environments,
inclusive in all senses
of the word.
We're thinking both diverse
and equitable.
We're thinking about
accommodating and welcoming
folks with different abilities,
who are neurodivergent,
having accessible spaces.
We're thinking big.
We're thinking about policies
and practices
that set employees up
for success and growth,
having a commitment to
transparency and collaborations.
So we're thinking also about
what would it look
like
to have shared power
in a relationship
where in the workplace,
there tends to be
a lot of hierarchy,
and when we think about
transparency,
we can bring in salary.
We can bring in pay equity.
We can bring in,
how do we lift ourselves
up in this organization?
How do we support each other
to do that?
Is it clear how people are
promoted, how people are paid?
And of course,
the strong workplace community.
So many of us are trying
to bring our full selves
into our workplace.
It tends to be where a lot of us
spend a majority
of our waking time,
and so ways that we can increase
community building
and unionizing, so that folks
can advocate for themselves.
And so we wanted to also share
a tangible resource
that we have called
Check Your Workplace.
It's checkyourworkplace.com,
and we'll be going over a tool
called the Culture Walk.
This is a tool where we can --
It's a worker-organized tool
in which we can think through
what do we have in place
already in our workplace
that can work
to make it a more inclusive
and a place of belonging
and what maybe could
we work to implement.
So we'll go over
a few of them now.
Thanks, Sarah, for dropping it
in the chat.
You can also look it over
as I speak.
So some of the questions that we
invite all organizations
to ask is thinking about space,
physical space,
allocated for non-managerial
employees to meet and interact.
Are the most desirable
workspaces in the building
only for folks
in higher positions,
folks who are higher paid?
Do employees feel a sense
of connection
and access
to workplace leadership?
How do you know?
Do you ever ask and check?
Next slide.
Thank you.
Do the leadership
and supervisory roles
reflect the gender,
racial and other
demographic characteristics
of both the workplace,
the organization
and the community
you're serving?
So this is a big one.
This is where we think
about equity.
Who is on your board?
Who is leading the organization?
And who is on the ground doing
that community
and high burnout work?
Is it reflecting the people
who are in your community?
Why or why not?
Do employees feel
a sense of connection
and access
to workplace leadership?
How do you know?
Have you ever asked?
Do employees know how and to
whom they should report
incidents of sexual harassment
and violence?
And further, do employees know
what happens afterwards,
after you make a report?
This can also be related
to the intersections
that we talked about.
Sexual harassment and violence,
racial violence,
all of that
comes into play here.
-Thank you so much, Yoo-Jin,
for walking us
through that Culture Walk.
So those are the big picture
questions to really keep in mind
about, you know,
your own employment environment
and any of
the employment environments
that you want to connect with.
And then we're going to dive
a little bit deeper
about how do you develop
an employment partner?
So once you know
this information,
what are you looking for?
Before we move forward
with that,
I want to provide two resources
or highlight two resources.
The first is the one
that Yoo-Jin just mentioned
that Sarah put in the chat box,
and it's a guide called
Building Resilient Workplaces.
So it has tips that reviews
all that Yoo-Jin just mentioned.
The second, based on the part
one that we talked
about of knowing the symptoms.
Mental Health America
has a wonderful screening guide
or screening tools
on their website.
So anyone can test that
for depression, anxiety,
PTSD,
bipolar,
many of the mental health
challenges that are going on.
While they're not, you know,
an assessment that, you know,
a psychiatrist
or a mental health therapist
can do or are doing,
they are a great starting point
for any of those
that do not have access
to that initial assessment.
So for any of you advocates
who may be concerned
about what the person you're
working with is experiencing,
I encourage you to check out
that screening guide
and that screening tool
and all the tests
that are available there
because once it's complete,
you get a list of resources
that will support you through
that particular mental
health challenge.
And then the other thing
is the check your workplace,
which is the culture walk
that we just talked about,
so go ahead
and save all of that to dive
into deeper at a later date.
So for many of us, you know,
during our training
and technical assistance --
Thank you so much, Sarah,
for that feedback --
we are looking
to build partnerships.
Right?
Our training and technical
assistance work is,
what relationships can we make
to help
make employment and education
and the workplace experience
easier for survivors?
And so a lot of the TTA
we're doing is diving
into those conversations,
and so we wanted to give you
a brief taste
with the hope that you'll,
you know,
check us out during office hours
and reach out to us
after the fact
to kind of dive deeper into it.
So the first is, you know,
be clear about your purpose
and goals for partnering.
Right?
Be clear about the challenges
that you're experiencing.
If you're not clear about that,
it's hard to make relationships
about --
you know, it's hard to make
those meaningful relationships
that address the culture
and the challenges
that we've all mentioned.
The next is to align
with the values
of the employer
or the organization,
which Yoo-Jin brought up
some great questions
on how you can identify
what those are.
The next is, identify
an employer with a detailed
and supportive
onboarding and training process.
So sometimes we're in such
a hurry to have our --
you know,
get our survivors employment
that we don't ask
questions about,
how are they being trained
in the beginning?
How is the on boarding process?
Is it supportive,
or is it terrifying?
Right?
If I'm starting onboarding,
and I'm terrified
with all of the challenges
that I'm going through,
chances of me following through
is going to be difficult
because I already,
from the beginning,
don't feel safe
in that environment.
So as an advocate building
these relationships,
really look into what
that initial starting point
is because it can make or break
the retention of your client
moving forward.
The next is developing
a relationship
with the leadership.
You want to be able to check in
and say,
"Hey, how's everything going?
Is there anything that,
you know, we can do
to kind of support the person?"
And then creating an MOU
with that person or a contract,
so that there are clear
guidelines and measures
on how you'll address different
challenges that may come up.
So these are some of
the standard things
to keep in mind in addition
to SAMHSA's principles
of trauma-informed programming,
which is obviously safety,
collaboration, transparency
and trust, empowerment,
peer support
and acknowledging identity,
so hopefully having this
will get you started on thinking
about what it could look like,
and then we are willing
to sit with you
to kind of dive deeper on that.
I want to lift up Lisa's point.
We learned that the onboarding
process for survivors
need personal attention
and not just emails.
Our relationships and their
health counts on understanding
and feeling comfortable with,
like, insurance paperwork
and any life
decisions like that,
so that's a good point,
figuring out,
is the on boarding
process personal
or are they clicking through
some automated systems?
And if it's not personal, what
can happen to make it personal?
Right?
So I'm glad that you have
mentioned that.
"And then how about leadership
training for all employees
instead of just training
to the leadership?"
Great point, so if you're
working on
the collective culture
of a workplace,
everyone has to be involved
in those conversations,
not just the leadership.
So these are great points
that you're bringing up
and can really inform
the questions
that you ask
an employee partner
or the questions that you work
with your survivor on so
that they may advocate
for themselves
by asking those questions
to the employer.
So imagine how empowering
that can be to be able
to have to
that type of dialogue,
so thank you
for bringing that up.
So we're going to move
into recognizing
the 12 stages of burnout,
and Yoo-Jin is going to share
that with you
and why that's important.
-Thank you, Caroline,
and thank you, everyone,
for making this
such an engaging presentation.
There's so many
incredible knowledge
and expertise in the room.
We encourage you to keep
sharing it with us.
So we wanted to bring
in this conversation
about both compassion fatigue
or vicarious trauma
and burnout
to have some tangible tools
to understand what could be
happening in a psychosomatic
or both psychological
and body-based way,
knowing that this could affect
both survivors
who are showing up in the
workplace and also ourselves.
I think it's important to note
that much of this information
can also be directly related
to us as service providers
or as advocates and educators,
knowing that there are likely
also survivors
in your workplace,
and so this is doubly important
for us to think
through and implement.
So first, the difference between
compassion fatigue and burnout:
As many of you
might already know,
compassion fatigue is also
called secondary trauma
or vicarious trauma.
It's the emotional residue
or strain of exposure
to working with people
who are experiencing trauma,
suffering from traumatic events,
and so this is again
trauma-based and related,
and it can be built up over time
and can also integrate factors
that are being experienced
structurally
and intergenerationally
such as racial trauma.
So when we think about burnout,
it's a cumulative process
marked by emotional exhaustion
and withdrawal associated
with an increased workload
or institutional stress,
so this could be stress
in your organization
and also things like,
I don't know,
a global pandemic perhaps.
It emerges over time,
and it's not trauma-related,
but it can be exasperated
if we're also experiencing
compassion fatigue.
Great.
So the 12 stages of burnout:
This is a tool
we wanted to offer
that gives very tangible
symptoms and stages of burnout
that tend to happen.
It can happen
in different orders,
but this is one way
that it can happen,
and so this is a tool developed
by Herbert Freudenberger
and Gail North,
and this has especially
have been utilized
in fields
related to the medical field,
just given the high levels
of burnout here.
So as you can see,
the first six stages,
a lot of burnout tends
to first manifest
in an active way
where we try to work harder,
so the compulsion
to prove ourselves, like,
"Oh, I'm going to
just work harder.
I might neglect
some of my needs,"
such as physical needs,
not sleeping,
not eating,
working overtime,
not attending
your medical appointments
or seeing your friends or having
any kind of work/life balance.
A displacement of conflicts: So
your problems
are being dismissed
or you're projecting
some of that anger onto others.
Revision of your values: So
things that you came
in pre-burnout
are not as important
to you anymore.
Work is your only focus.
Denial of emerging problems: So
denial of that burnout
is happening.
Problems are viewed as,
"Oh, it's just because of
this specific event at work,"
or because it's this
very specific time,
rather than it being
a life change of yours.
Just reading through the chat,
moral injury also being
important, absolutely.
Yes, definitely,
survivors are passionate,
helping to manage their time,
caring for themselves.
Sometimes that can be also
a result of secondary trauma,
feeling like, "Well, if I'm not
being useful or I'm not helping,
I'm not needed here,"
and this can also, you know,
complement these
symptoms of burnout,
so we look
at the next six stages.
Withdrawal: This is when
it's hard to get in touch
with people.
They might stop responding
to calls or texts.
They might just stay
in their office
and do their job
and go home.
Behavioral changes: This can
also manifest
through numbing behaviors
such as increased substance
or sudden substance use.
It could be social media.
It can be food.
Depersonalization: So this is
when we're feeling like,
"I am outside of my own value
and not valuable.
I don't really know
what I need anymore."
Feeling an inner emptiness:
So you see the first
six stages are pretty active,
where we're trying
to overcompensate,
and the next six stages
tend to be
where we start to really
experience that burnout,
and so inner emptiness,
feeling like,
"Well, what's the point of me
even doing this work?
Nothing is really
going to change,"
and this is where
you can also compensate
with different behaviors such as food, sex, alcohol, drugs.
Depression: Feeling lost
and unsure, feeling exhausted,
feeling like there's nothing to
look forward to in the future.
And then burnout syndrome,
so total and physical collapse,
time for full medical attention,
and another symptom of burnout
that can be compounded by this
is when we hear anger
being projected towards,
quote,
difficult clients,
so when we're hearing
advocates or practitioners
who have been in the field
saying things like,
"Well, they're just being
such a difficult client,"
or kind of projecting
some of that anger
rather than thinking about,
"Well, what has this survivor
gone through?"
This is when we know
that we're feeling
and experiencing burnout.
Okay, just looking at the chat.
And just -- Go ahead, Caroline.
-Yeah, and the reason
we want you
to be familiar with these stages
is because as an advocate,
when you're supporting
a survivor,
especially when it comes
to mental health,
we get overwhelmed because
we're not quite sure,
like, where do we start?
What do we address first?
How do we address it?
Right?
And so knowing these 12 stages
and how they show up
and how they can show up
in the workplace is helpful
because then you can identify
maybe one stage or two stages
to work on at a time towards,
you know, being well, right?
So if a person comes to you
and you can say,
"Wait a minute, like,
they're struggling
with trying to
prove themselves.
What's getting
in the way of that?"
Right?
That's a much easier
conversation to have than,
you know,
the totality of,
"I feel unworthy,
or I'm not doing --
You know, I'm feeling
unworthy or worthless," right?
So being able to break out
those bigger thoughts
into these sections can
really help with identifying,
"What's the best way
to support this person?
What's the best resource?"
instead of getting overwhelmed
by the totality
of the experience
that the person
is getting, right?
So for example,
neglecting needs,
much easier to have
a conversation about.
Like, "What do you feel
you need right now?
Like, are you sleeping?"
Like, that feels much easier
to chew than the entire,
you know, trying to tackle
the entire workplace in general,
which can be really difficult,
so that's why we wanted to make
sure that you are aware of this.
Some things in the chat box,
thank you, Michael,
for lifting up "Destroying" --
Has recommended the book,
"Destroying Sanctuary"
by Sandra Bloom.
I love a good book
recommendation.
For any of you that are
like that, go ahead
and add that to your list
if you haven't read it
or want to check it out,
and then I also want to
lift up something by --
I'm going to butcher
your name, I think,
and I apologize for doing so,
but Madgan, I think,
and has mentioned
the impact of moral injury,
being a part of a system
that, you know,
may be doing
institutional violence,
or let's say you're
a part of a system
where you're seeing some of
the same victimization
that you've been through
being perpetuated, right,
and how that can affect you
and the work that you're doing
or can affect a survivor
in trying to find home
in that workplace,
so thank you so much
for bringing that up as a point.
Jennifer, I feel you.
It has been a season of 2 years
and so with COVID
and supporting survivors,
so if you're feeling burnt out
after helping people,
we hear you,
and so, you know, translate
some of those feelings into,
"What do you think
your survivor --
How do you think
that that could be manifesting
in your survivors?"
and helping navigate them
through that process.
Awesome.
-Great, and I just wanted
to add in addition to this that,
yes, there is a comment
that we can also have
secondary healing and resilience
in this conversation too,
and it's not enough
for us to know
and name these burnout symptoms
and then tell people,
"Okay, well,
go take care of yourself."
Many of these symptoms exist
in a system
in which it is very difficult
or almost inaccessible
for people to care
for themselves,
and this is a conversation
we'll continue
to have about structural care
and the need for policies,
the need for
organizational change
rather than telling the people
who are most burnt out
to go take care of themselves
and come back
and be ready to produce again,
so this is a very important lens
that we're bringing in the sense
that we're not telling people,
"This is just an individual
action that needs to happen,"
within a system that often
makes it inaccessible
for both advocates
and survivors to thrive.
And don't worry, we'll be
giving you some strategies
in how we can do that.
-Tomasina mentioned,
"Are the 12 stages
from a public --
published book
or article?"
We would say look up --
If you look up
"The 12 Stages of Burnout"
and you look up
these psychologists,
Herbert Freudenberger
and Gail North,
that's a good place
to start in terms of reading
into the 12 stages,
and it will get you to some,
you know, really good literature
that spell it out.
Okay?
Awesome.
Okay, so we were going
to do a bio break,
but I'm thinking
because of time,
we're going to move past that,
and then we'll insert
the bio break
right before
the office hours, right,
for whoever would like
to join in on that.
All right.
So we're going to ask
a question.
Now you know what the problems
are, which many of you are like,
"I already knew that,"
which is perfectly okay,
but, you know, a question
that we have for all of you is,
"What do you do
to strengthen survivors'
access to mental
health resources?"
So if you can take a few minutes
to just put into the chat box,
you know,
what you're doing right now.
What is it looking like for you?
We'd love to see that,
and then hopefully
that will inform
how we move into some of
the resource building part.
Okay, so we have, Tony,
"Ensure that your organization
has employee
assistance program."
Oh, Lisa, please
do not apologize.
Like, talk as much as you want.
We appreciate all of
your feedback and insight,
and honestly,
it is making my time,
so thank you
so much for that.
Okay.
And, Tomasina,
the link for burnout is --
Yoo-Jin has just put into there
a source that you can go into.
So I'm going to read
some of the responses
to this question
that we received.
"One of the places I work with,
they give five three therapy
sessions from a list
of mental health providers."
That's awesome.
"There's consultations
through EAP programs.
There's transportation,
and telehealth
is really going on right now.
Twelve EAP visits,
so they're increasing the amount
of EAP visits that are going on.
Mental health
first aid training."
Thank you, Ken,
for mentioning that.
That's one of the things
that we're going to say,
so you're ahead
of the game on that.
"One hour per week
of paid mental health
with no restrictions."
That's awesome.
"Training the supervisors
so that they're supporting,
you know, employees better, 211
and local crisis intervention."
Let's see.
"There's a new project
that allows you to reach out
to more individuals
that are involved in criminal
court and offer support,
screening for TBI."
Awesome.
Oh, they said PollEverywhere
has not moved on that.
It's okay.
Go ahead and just put it
in the chat box,
and we will engage that way.
Okay.
So you have a ready-made list
on site,
and so you have conversations
about those resources,
one-on-one consultations,
added personal days
and sharing information.
Yes, QPR, Erica!
That's another thing
we mentioned,
so you're ahead of the game with
QPR that we're going to mention.
"Kindness and respect,
education,
so a lot of psycho-education,
having some time off,
you know, providing training
to all employees
about how to be supportive,"
so these are great.
Thank you for sharing this.
You have a grant -- Michael,
thank you for sharing that --
a grant to provide
free mobile trauma therapy.
That's awesome.
Well, these are all great.
Thank you for sharing that.
-Caroline?
-So we're going to -- Oh, yes.
Go for it.
-I was just going to say,
I wanted to share a few of
the PollEverywhere responses --
-Oh, please.
-... if that's okay.
-Right.
-So I was looking through,
"Empathetic and
supportive coworker,
employee assistance programs,
understanding supervisors
that know resources,
so a lot of affirming
of the need for leadership
to also be trained
in these topics.
Ensuring supervisors know how
to better support and partnering
with local resources
and publicizing them,"
and I also, you know,
read in the chat earlier,
"Having time for people
to actually access it,
so not just having it available
and saying,
'Go take care of it,'
but how can you
if you don't have the time
to access it in your schedule?"
So thank you
for these responses.
-Awesome, and I see
that a lot of you
are bringing up,
like, workplace policies
and HR and supervisors
and all of that stuff,
and that's why we broke it up
between part one and part two,
so part one is going to be
what's helpful for you
as a direct service provider
or community-based agency
or an advocate,
you know, for survivors,
and then part two
is going to go into the nuances
of the employer, right,
and what they can do
to address this,
so thank you
for bringing up those points
because we will definitely be
discussing that during part two,
and, Tomasina, I agree with you
that free mobile therapy
is a great thing.
"How are employers informed that
they are employing a survivor?
Isn't disclosure an issue?"
Yes, thank you
for bringing that up.
Is disclosure is an issue,
and a lot of times,
back to that conversation
about develop --
You know, identifying
an employment partner,
you are under no requirement,
and we advise not to disclose
the experiences of the survivor
without their consent
and to allow them
to have the power in disclosing
what they would like to
in a workplace setting or not.
However, as an organization,
you can definitely, you know,
ensure that an employer
has trauma-informed practices
and advocating for that
in general, right?
And so that is usually
how we approach making sure
that the employer is prepared
to work with survivors is,
putting it under an overall
trauma-informed care lens,
maybe an overall sort
of gender-based violence lens
and just ensuring that,
you know,
there's equity in the workplace,
so those are the different ways
that you can engage
in those conversations
with employers
without disclosing
the experience of the employer,
and so that's one thing
to put in mind,
and there are organizations
that are working on this,
and so we'll share with you
some of those contacts
so that you can have
intimate conversations with them
about how to navigate
that particular issue.
And so we're going to go into
kind of, what do we do, right?
So we know, you know,
that our survivors are going
through these challenges.
We know that they're entering
the workplace.
We know that there are systems
in place
that are making it difficult,
so what are some of
the steps that you can do?
The first thing, you know,
once you've understood
what's going on and kind of
what a safe employment agency
could look like is truly just,
like, safety planning, you know?
The more that you have
conversations
about what could come up in
the workplace with a survivor,
the more prepared they are
when those things come up,
and so a lot of people
walk into, you know,
because we have
quick turnarounds
and we're trying to deal with,
you know, self-sufficiency
or, you know, things like that
in a quick place,
sometimes our preparation period
or some of the things
that we include in our
preparation for the workforce
is lacking
some critical things to address
some of these mental
health challenges.
So the first thing which we will
be really working on,
and we're hoping to have
a webinar on it,
is trauma-informed
work readiness.
So a lot of times,
we focus just on,
"Let's make sure
they have a resume,
and let's make sure they have,
you know,
they're ready for an interview
and have interview clothes,"
and things like that
that are very, you know,
tangible to get prepared
for the workforce,
but we don't really go into
deep conversations about,
you know, what are the,
you know, EEOC policies?
If you have been sexually
harassed or something goes on
in the workplace
that you don't agree with,
what are those things
that you can do
to ensure that
you're safe, right?
What are the company's
policies on leave,
you know,
if you have to take time off?
Like, all of those things that,
you know,
the employer usually takes on
could be really
great conversations
that you have with, you know,
a survivor prior to that
initial day in the workforce
so that when
they're hearing it, right,
it makes sense or they learned
about it, you know, already
and they can kind of pick up
on those pieces
because unfortunately, during
orientation and onboarding,
that information can get lost,
whether you have --
you're experiencing trauma
or some sort of mental
health challenge or not, right?
So incorporating some of those
things into your work readiness
so that you're having
conversations about, "Okay,
when you feel like leaving,
like, what's our plan for that?
You know, how are we
going to work through that?"
The other thing is just,
you know,
there's something called
a Wellness Recovery Action Plan,
and I'm going to put a link
to a comprehensive one
on the chat box,
so give me 1 second to do that.
And so WRAP is something
that you can do with,
you know, for yourself,
and you can encourage survivors
and walk survivors through,
and it has so many questions
on there in regards
to their mental health
and wellness safety, right?
And so, you know,
I encourage you
to kind of look
through that document,
and if you can't do
the entire thing,
maybe pick out some key areas
that you would like to focus on
with the person
that you're working with
in order to develop a mental
health and wellness safety plan,
so it is evidence-based.
Mary Ellen Copeland
came up with it.
A lot of organizations
do implement it,
and so go ahead
and check that out.
The other one is a stalking
sort of safety plan,
so some of you have mentioned,
you know,
the challenges
that come with,
you know, being victimized
and kind of the safety protocols
that you have to do with someone
who is trying to be,
you know, trying
to distance themselves
from a previous abuser
or trafficker,
and so SPARK
has great resources
on how to create
safety strategies
if they're experiencing
some sort of stalking,
so include that into
your work-readiness plan
so that any of those, you know,
anxieties or hypervigilance
that may come up
in regards to that
in the workplace
can be addressed,
and then we also know
that the National Human
Trafficking Hotline
has a great safety
planning as well,
and there's many others
that we haven't even mentioned,
so we want to encourage you
to really do safety planning
and expand it
from just,
you know,
preparing for the workforce
with the basics
that we know in employment
to really addressing
some of these safety concerns
and issues.
The second thing, which I think
is very, very important,
is partnering with community
mental health resources
so that that comment
in the comment box
about having
the free mobile clinic
is a great example of that,
so we saw a lot of examples
about having,
you know,
already made resources
and going through them
with survivors,
and giving it to them
as an option for
when they are in need of it,
which is great.
You know, we're not talking
against that,
and we encourage you
to continue that practice,
but we also say, "You know,
take it to the next level
by really
developing a relationship
with a community mental
health provider,"
and you can do this
in many different ways.
One basic way is just
bi-directional warm referrals
so that you're able
to refer to them
the way that,
you know, you've mentioned,
if someone is going
through something,
you can say,
"Hey, we have a client.
This is where they are,
or this is who they are,"
and kind of connecting
with them that way,
but coordinated care
could be really powerful
for your organization.
So I'm going to put
two resources,
two documents into the chat box
that come from
our human trafficking
collaborative network.
The first is an advocate
health intake tool,
so let me see, how do I --
Oh, or maybe I can't do that
if it's not a --
Okay, so I think what
we'll do with that is,
we will attach it
to the follow-up tools
that we have for you,
but our health team,
we have a team
that focuses on health care,
and they have developed
a great health intake tool
to walk through
with survivors, right?
And so while it's been tested
on domestic violence survivors,
the same questions can apply
for human trafficking survivors
as well,
and it goes through
questions to figure out,
"Do they have
a primary care doctor?
If not, you know,
where do they go
for their health care services?"
And really walking through
that discussion
that can sometimes feel
very difficult to do
if you don't have a guide,
and so we're going to send
that guide
over to you as an advocate
that you can use,
and what we encourage
is just tailoring
the questions
to mental health,
if you would like
to make it specific
to mental health, right?
So it's focusing on
overall health,
but you can tailor
to mental health.
The second thing that we'll
send you after the fact is,
we also have a guide on how
to build fruitful partnerships
with health care systems, right?
And so you can walk through
that guide and start building
those relationships
with the health care system.
And then if you can see
on the screen,
if you're confused
and not sure,
you know, where are the health
care systems in your community,
we have HRSA,
and then we also have SAMHSA,
who has put together
a behavioral health finder,
and so once you've identified
these locations,
some of the things
that you can do with them is,
what would it mean
to have a mental health advocate
come on-site, you know,
and offer office hours,
you know, on a biweekly
or monthly basis to offer
that warm referral?
What would it mean to have
a space in your area
where peer groups can be held
from mental health
professionals?
And a lot of times
as organizations,
we feel that we don't have
the resources for that,
but through partnering,
you're able to bring that in.
The other resource
we like to offer is NAMI
that has a peer-to-peer program,
so partnering with them,
they often go to different
places in the community
and offer workshops
and education groups
and peer-to-peer
support networks,
and so the question
that I want you
to walk away with
in terms of partnering is,
"What would it mean to bring
these entities in-house,
and if so,
what would that look like?"
because often,
they already have the funding
to provide these services.
They just need the people
and the space, right?
And so these are ways that you
can kind of maneuver your way
through some of the challenges
that your grant funding
could have for that.
Brianna mentioned,
"Our group has a meeting
once a month with a psychologist
and counselor."
Exactly, that's a great example
of how you can make
something like this happen.
Okay.
So we only have a few minutes
left,
so, Yoo-Jin, if you can walk us
through the workplace resources.
-Absolutely, and thank you,
everyone,
for sharing the resources
you are already implementing
or maybe, you know,
also inviting you to think big
about what could be implemented,
and please also catch us
for our part two.
We'll put the link again
at the end
where we talk more about
these structural interventions.
So resources in the workplace:
Many
of you have
already talked
about employee
assistance programs, EAPs.
This can come through something
like an organizational
therapist,
perhaps having affinity groups,
and just really uplifting what
many of you have already said,
that it's not enough
just to have an EAP.
It's important to have
a culturally sensitive,
informed and trained
EAP provider,
so thinking through that.
Benefits including,
what kind of health care
do you offer
to your employees?
Is mental health care covered?
We're thinking through
also benefits in terms of leave.
Do you count mental health days
as part of sick days?
How do people --
What is the accrual rate
for some of these things?
And then mental health
conditions again being covered
under the Americans
with Disabilities Act
and requesting leave or having
adjusted work schedules
or different kinds
of accommodations.
So this is something that
someone mentioned yearly,
is that there can already be
a stigma of outing ourselves
or even requesting
that kind of accommodation,
so when we can create
organizational culture
where we are talking about it
and we show that we do have
accommodations
and we happily welcome folks
from all different identities,
it can create an environment
in which someone
feels more comfortable
and actually accessing
the resources that you have.
So again, it's not just enough
to say,
"We have this,
but no one is using it."
It's important to ask,
"Well, why?"
-Right, and some examples
of those accommodations are,
like, modified break schedules
or special break location,
or a removal of
environmental triggers.
Some organizations can also
use support animals,
and so, you know,
if someone has been diagnosed
with a particular challenge
and needs those,
just know that they
are covered under that,
and you can advocate
on their behalf in regards.
So here are workplace resources
that address,
you know,
trauma-informed practices
in the workplace,
management systems,
and so we're going to put that
in the chat box quickly.
Oh, it's not coming through,
so we'll put those
in the chat box,
or we'll send it out
after the fact,
but here is a list:
the Management Center,
the Sanar Institute,
Project Trust.
They do great work
with workplace mental health
and safety
and trauma-informed care,
so, you know,
we encourage you
to kind of check
out their resources
and how you can connect
with them for best practices,
and then the other,
the last things
that we want
to share with you,
and then we'll put the link
in for office hours to have,
you know, continue
an interactive dialog,
is some of you have mentioned
QPR Suicide Intervention,
so, you know,
making sure that --
you know, QPR is
a wonderful training.
It is evidence based.
It addresses suicide, you know,
prevention and intervention,
and so, you know,
what would it mean
to train all of your survivors
at QPR suicide intervention
or all of your employers
in that?
So that's one area that I think
would be helpful
just to address some of
those initial experiences
that could be difficult, right?
There's also mental health
first aid,
so I've been part
of the organizations
where we made sure that,
you know, all the survivors
had access to a mental health
first aid training,
and that really opened up
a lot of discussion
about what
they were experiencing
and addressing stigma
and also empowering, you know,
that individual
with those skill sets,
and the beauty
of these trainings
is that you can also
put it on a resume,
so for those of you
who are looking
to enhance
the resume of a survivor,
these trainings
serve dual purposes
of both psycho-education,
prevention in terms of how
they respond in their community
and support their community,
and then also being
a great resume addition
to make that individual
even more employable.
There's also a great
organization
called National Conflict
Resolution Center,
and so they have
two great trainings.
One is called
the Bystander Challenge
and the Art
of Inclusive Communication,
so if you go
onto their website,
you can learn more
about those trainings
that they offer
to community members,
and we've made sure
that our survivors
have had access
to those as well,
so these are some of the more
practical trainings
that you can embed
into what you offer
to ensure that individual
is more equipped
in those conversations
about their own mental health
and how they support,
you know, their community.
So with that said, you know,
in honor of time,
are there any questions
that we can answer for you
at this moment in general
with everyone here?
There's also a feedback form.
You know, it's five questions,
so very simple,
just to let us know what we can
do to improve on this
because it's something
that we want to continue
having a discussion
and dialog about.
And then this is our e-mails
at the bottom
so that you can get
in contact with us,
and then I am going to put
the next Zoom room
into the chat box,
and then for any of you who want
to join us for office hours,
we'll be in there
and we'll be able
to kind of troubleshoot
any questions,
offer best practices that
we've seen and kind of dive
into this,
like, very big overview
that we tried to do in a short
period of time even deeper.
So are there any questions?
Oh, we have until 2:30.
I completely -- Yeah.
Thank you, Hope.
We had more time than I thought.
I was like, "We're running out!"
So we will take any questions
and any sort of, you know,
dialog that you would like us
to have in this moment,
and I'm going to review and see
if there's anything, yeah,
anything that we missed.
Thank you, Hope,
for that feedback.
Okay, so if there aren't
any questions, you know,
we have 20 minutes left.
If there aren't any questions,
we'll hang out a little bit,
and then we'll go into
the office hours room,
and we invite all of you
to join us in that space
so that we can dive deeper.
"Can you put" --
Yes, we can put the slide
back up with the e-mails.
Give me one second.
Nope, nope.
There we go.
And so a little bit more
about the trainings
that I kind of ran through,
the Bystander Challenge
really helps individuals
if they may be seeing
something in their environment
and which is problematic
or harmful
or, you know, goes against
their own personal values,
especially with everything that
we've been experiencing lately
with, you know,
hate against, you know,
our Asian community or against,
you know, Black lives,
and all those different things
that come up.
It's a challenge that can help
individuals get more comfortable
with speaking up
or seeking support
during those particular times,
and then the Art
of Inclusive Communication
is a training
that helps individuals
get better
at communicating with others
who may have different views
than their own
or come from
different backgrounds,
and that's been very helpful
for our survivors
because a lot of you
have mentioned in the chat box
that sometimes
the difficulty is,
how do you present yourself
professionally in the workplace?
How do you connect with your,
you know, fellow peers,
or how do you connect
with your supervisor?
So that training really
breaks it down in a,
you know, wonderful way
on how you can understand
each other
and understand differences
before it becomes, you know,
the aggression or the anger,
so those are great things
to put in your toolbox.
Lisa, "How do we help
our coworkers
accept and honor differences?"
A great question!
I mean, there are many
different ways.
I will say from the Art
of Inclusive Communication,
it really is just, like,
having more safe spaces
to have conversations
with each other, you know,
and really get to know
each other on a human level,
and so sometimes we leave
the conversation with,
you know, these big challenges
that we have yet
to kind of figure out,
and that can be scary
because it's easier
to run away from that,
so the art of it
is breaking it down
from those sort of bigger
and heavier topics to more,
"I see you, right?
You're a human just like I am.
This is what I've experienced.
This is what you've experienced.
Let's see if we can find
common ground on that,"
so the answer,
one of the answers
is having more safe spaces
for you to connect
with your coworkers,
and unfortunately
this virtual setting
has made it difficult for that.
Some people have found
that it has made it better
because you're able to have
those conversations,
but, you know,
that's one way to start.
-Yeah, Caroline, and I
was just thinking
about what you're saying
and how --
I can't remember
who said this,
but talking about how change
moves at the speed of trust
and how things like equity
where we're talking about
these challenging conversations
really is in relationship,
and it's not just
about here in the brain
where we're saying
all the right things
when we're not able
to make mistakes
and also come together and talk
about when harm has been done,
and so the difference being,
there's a difference between
disagreeing with something
and having an opinion
that is based in dehumanization,
and I think that's something
that we can work through
also in our part two webinar
in how we can make
those distinctions
as we work in relationship
with one another.
-Awesome.
-So I don't see any
other questions popping up.
We have 138 people
still hanging out with us,
so thank you for that.
There is a part two on the 27th,
and so, you know,
go ahead and, you know,
register for that.
I think Yoo-Jin had put it
in the chat box.
She just put it in there again,
and then we will be sending out
a follow-up e-mail
with some of these resources
that we've mentioned along
with the recording for you
to be able to go through it
on your own,
and then we invite you
to the office hours
that we're about to have,
and then also to reach out to us
to discuss this
a little bit more intimately
because hopefully that is
how we can really troubleshoot
any of the challenges
that you're having,
so without further ado,
we're going to say,
"Thank you so much,"
and we're going to hop into
the interactive Zoom room,
and we'll see who shows up
for office hours,
but we appreciate
having all of you here today.
-Thank you, everyone.
-Okay.
Thank you.