VitalForce: An EveryDay Readiness Plan for Spiritual and Emotional Support (Workshop)
Linda Golding, BCC, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
The World Health Organization defines health as ”a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being” and added the spiritual dimension in May, 1984. But where do we find that particular aspect detailed among the lists of social determinants of health? VitalForce is a program designed to respond to that question.
At the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, emotional and spiritual support for hospital staff was often disconnected from the hospital’s centralized planning.
The impact of the pandemic, and this disconnection, on staff included self-reported moral distress, moral injury, chronic uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, and disengagement. Chaplains and redeployed Neuropsychologists responded by offering ad hoc virtual staff groups in order to provide spiritual and emotional support during the crisis.
During the groups, staff was able to name practical achievements as coping skills, e.g. improved teamwork, new clinical skills, and peer acknowledgment. In the U.S., the continuing pandemic, staff illness and attrition, anti-vaccination positions, and leadership turnover have further worn down the inner resources. Add to that the decades of growing civil and political disarray and growing racial hate crimes and the deluge of concerns begins to sweep through the caring professions.
Certainly, a distressed and dispirited workforce presents a risk to all and raises practical concerns:
Hospital staff needs support to regain equanimity and self-compassion; and steps, tools, and skills to reduce anger, resentment, shame, worry and fear before they result in spiritual or emotional infection must be made available.
VitalForce is a chaplain-led, pro-active interdisciplinary team designed to meet hospital staff where they are -- geographically as well as spiritually and emotionally, rather than asking staff to make a call, to remember an appointment, find a convenient location.
The VitalForce model includes assessment, strategy, intervention, and follow-up and a focus on current concerns and experiences, on the recovery process. The team is resourced from within and is additive to resources already available in the institution.
The workshop will be interactive, and provide an experience of the VitalForce model.
At the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, emotional and spiritual support for hospital staff was often disconnected from the hospital’s centralized planning.
The impact of the pandemic, and this disconnection, on staff included self-reported moral distress, moral injury, chronic uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, and disengagement. Chaplains and redeployed Neuropsychologists responded by offering ad hoc virtual staff groups in order to provide spiritual and emotional support during the crisis.
During the groups, staff was able to name practical achievements as coping skills, e.g. improved teamwork, new clinical skills, and peer acknowledgment. In the U.S., the continuing pandemic, staff illness and attrition, anti-vaccination positions, and leadership turnover have further worn down the inner resources. Add to that the decades of growing civil and political disarray and growing racial hate crimes and the deluge of concerns begins to sweep through the caring professions.
Certainly, a distressed and dispirited workforce presents a risk to all and raises practical concerns:
Hospital staff needs support to regain equanimity and self-compassion; and steps, tools, and skills to reduce anger, resentment, shame, worry and fear before they result in spiritual or emotional infection must be made available.
VitalForce is a chaplain-led, pro-active interdisciplinary team designed to meet hospital staff where they are -- geographically as well as spiritually and emotionally, rather than asking staff to make a call, to remember an appointment, find a convenient location.
The VitalForce model includes assessment, strategy, intervention, and follow-up and a focus on current concerns and experiences, on the recovery process. The team is resourced from within and is additive to resources already available in the institution.
The workshop will be interactive, and provide an experience of the VitalForce model.