March 9 symposium offers tools to restore balance

Kay Glidden	Beth Reynolds-Lewis

Health care teams pay an emotional price for the work they do, and all-too-often experience compassion fatigue from repeated exposure to difficult stories and details.

Such stress-related problems are estimated to cost U.S. organizations more than $300 billion a year through absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover and direct medical, legal and insurance fees.

But studies also show that resilient organizations that address and minimize compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma yield an increase in staff health and morale, staff and patient satisfaction, productivity and effectiveness.

On March 9, attend UNMC’s third annual Elevating the Conversation: Practical Tools for Restoring Balance and learn how to build a resilient culture that benefits you and your coworkers.

Faculty, staff and students will hear Compassion Resiliency consultants Kay Glidden and Beth Reynolds-Lewis lead the following sessions in the Sorrell Center, Truhlsen Events Center:

• Compassion in the Workplace has Big Benefits: 10-11:30 a.m. (This workshop is for university and clinical staff members, leadership, administrators, faculty, non-clinical professionals and students).
• Self-Care is not Selfish: Creative Tools for Transforming Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma: 1:30-3 p.m. (This CME/CE program is for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, fellows/residents, students and other interested health care professions).

Glidden and Reynolds-Lewis co-founded Compassion Resiliency, an education and consultation firm promoting the wellbeing of professionals who work in high stress/trauma work environments. Both are certified compassion fatigue specialists and certified by the Green Cross Academy of Traumatology. They have been training human service professionals, health care staff, teachers and law enforcement/first responders on compassion fatigue, trauma informed care and behavioral health issues for the past 10 years.

Registration for the March 9 sessions will open Jan. 22 and continuing education credit will be available for the afternoon session only. In-person sessions also are being planned at UNMC’s Lincoln, Kearney, Norfolk and Scottsbluff campuses. Watch UNMC Today for details.