Christina Illarmo, LMSW | Collective for Healthy Communities Director

When working remotely, staying connected with colleagues is more important than ever. Our IWES Executive Leadership Team leads us in meetings three times a week, larger teams meet at least once a week, and smaller teams check-in daily via Zoom, Google Chat, and by phone. Part of my role at IWES as the Director of the Collective for Healthy Communities (CHC) includes coordinating our Staff Wellness Calendar, and that work doesn’t stop just because we may not all be physically in the same space.

CHC hosts weekly workshops to support the resilience of our staff by providing trauma-informed psycho-education to promote sustainability in the field and to hold space for preventing or addressing vicarious traumatization experienced through our work. These intentionally crafted activities encourage the development of deeper self-awareness, increased emotional intelligence and authentic self-care. It is also an opportunity to provide professional development to increase skills and understanding of core issues related to public and mental health. With staff members working remotely, technology creates opportunities to explore new ways to support the collective.

It is important for leaders to remain sensitive to the emotional toll and pressure remote working conditions impose on their colleagues. To be effective, I believe that as soon as possible, leaders across non-profits should set aside one hour in the workweek to dedicate to holding space for support and connection for staff who elect to participate. With the loss of co-working spaces, staff face new challenges adjusting to working from home that may include grief and anxiety related to the loss of routine, and struggles coping with isolation. For IWES, our CHC team has dubbed this hour “BYOTea,” for us to drink and spill our literal and figurative tea. To keep the conversations manageable and provide space for all staff to participate, we follow a loose structure that involves Newsball, a check-in on Wins & Challenges of the week, a Spotlight of a free resource, and a closing with a check-out on Self-Care. Below is a breakdown of our agenda so your team can give it a try!

1. Newsball: this is a common group game that, when done in person, involves throwing a ball around to identify and prompt someone to share personal news. Done over a video conferencing platform, the facilitator can encourage staff to bounce in and out of the conversation when they have news they would like to share. Before the game begins, it’s important that the facilitator reviews key group norms. At IWES, staff agrees to share news that is directly related to them and not to reveal another person’s news. For example, if I know that a coworker got engaged over the weekend, I would leave it up to them whether or not they wanted to reveal their happy news. We have also established that this isn’t just a space for good news and that people are welcome to check-in about something that might be particularly uncomfortable or sad, such as the loss of a loved one. To manage our responses, we have agreed to nonverbal gestures to provide recognition, validation, and support to our peers. For happy news we may do a little thumbs up dance in our chairs, or throw high fives at our screen. For sad or difficult news we use “spirit fingers” to send healing vibes of love and light, form our hands into a heart shape, or rest our hands on our hearts. And of course, because consent is key, for those who do not wish to share, they can simply opt out by reporting “no news.” This game continues until everyone has had a chance to share or pass.

2. Wins & Challenges: This portion of BYOTea allows us to highlight what is happening with our work. It is a space to brag or celebrate what may have gone well, such as, accomplishing a difficult task or having a great interaction with a student. It could also be a space to vent or to workshop a challenge that is slowing down a project or getting in the way of one’s goal. The dialogue that emerges here is usually very rich and allows staff to share what works for them and to receive vital feedback on different strategies and tangible solutions to apply to various situations. These exchanges always leave me in a sense of awe over the internal resources we have at IWES and a deeper understanding, empathy, and appreciation for the work my colleagues do.

3. Spotlight: After a review of Wins & Challenges of the week the facilitator shifts the conversation to a brief presentation to highlight a free resource available online or in the community. To involve different staff and perspectives, someone different may be tapped to do this each week to help us expand our toolbox as educators, advocates, organizers, and caregivers. As an example of the kind of topics we have discussed, during our first week of remote work, one of our health educators shared an article discussing tips for transitioning to working at home and remaining productive.

4. Self-Care Check Out: Finally, we close out BYOTea by reaffirming the crucial commitment to self-care required to remain sustainable in this field. Staff receive recognition and encouragement from peers as they share what self-care activities have been working for them, or what they would like to try.

Before you set off to implement a similar weekly event for your staff calendar, I have a few more suggestions for you to consider. To get started, this will be more successful if a strong group facilitator (who is ideally not a supervisor to group members) is selected to move through the transitions and to uphold group norms. In order to make this work for your team you may want to extend the length of time to an hour and a half, depending on the size of the group. Generally, groups under 10 work great, but adjustments can be made to be inclusive of a larger size. For instance, some video conferencing programs allow you to break participants into groups in separate virtual breakout rooms. It is also important that this activity be done during work hours and that it is voluntary, because consent is key! Compelling staff to participate dilutes the significance and effectiveness of the group. Staff who are internally motivated to participate are able to get more out of the time and play crucial roles in keeping it a safe space. However, in weekly staff meetings I find it important to routinely invite all staff so that members who haven’t participated yet know the virtual door is open for them to participate when they are ready.

If you have questions about how to adapt this for your team or want to tell me about what your agency is doing to promote staff wellness, I would love to hear from you! You can reach me at cillarmo@iwesnola.org. In the meantime, be well, stay connected, and remember that Healing is the Revolution!