Wellness Resources for Nurses

As a nurse, we know you’ve had a front-row, center-stage seat, to the hardships the healthcare industry has faced over the past few years. With an already stressed healthcare system, the pandemic has driven healthcare workers, and especially nurses, to overwhelming levels of burn-out. In fact, that burn-out has progressed to mental health disorders in clinicians in many cases. While there has been a push towards supporting mental wellness, taking the time to find and practice those techniques is difficult to do in the few hours of rest nurses often get in between shifts. So, we’ve taken the initiative here to remove searching Google from your to-do list and connect you with real-world resources that could make a difference in your mental wellness goals.

The Well-Being Check-Up

We might not all have the time to devote to a long-term plan, but if you’re sensing that something is “off” mentally or emotionally, it’s a good idea to get it checked out just like you would with any physical ailment. These emotional stressors can eventually turn into physical health problems, so you are actually taking care of your physical health when you take care of your mind as part of the body. Well-Being Care Services is a check-up system that allows you to assess your mental well-being and get a reference point on how healthy you are. The service is free to Ohio’s healthcare workers and supplies licensed mental health professionals to talk to, or a referral to another provider. The site advertises that the service is completely anonymous, and all services are voluntary, so each user can move at their own pace.

Operation Happy Nurse

Sometimes all you need is a little time to re-charge and reset. Operation Happy Nurse is a space dedicated to helping nurses that are dealing with anxiety and stress and offers them a free subscription. After signing up, nurses can take advantage of many different features that connect members, develop nutrition and exercise plans, a nurse blog featuring real-life stories about dealing with mental health, a podcast for managing stress, a hotline for nurses that need to talk to someone right away, and many other resources. This site aims to provide a supportive community of nurses that is a safe space to rely on.

Stress First Aid

Talk about a mental health resource! The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs offers Stress First Aid for healthcare workers on their website. Included is a manual, workbook, and resources on learning how to provide stress care for yourself and your peers. The study is not just a compilation of helpful tips, but real training in taking care of mental health. Readers will learn how to identify stress and anticipate their reactions so they can minimize or eliminate negative outcomes. Helpful charts direct the reader in assessing their level of chronic stress, their personal susceptibility to PTSD, identifying their sources of stress, and how it could be contributing to their overall well-being. Once the reader has been able to assess their mental health, the manual and workbook provide a study in Stress First Aid to help treat and manage their stress levels. The study also teaches the reader how to identify distress signals in their peers so they can help others that are dealing with issues that may get out of hand otherwise. In addition to Stress First Aid, the National Center for PTSD website offers resources on understanding sources of trauma, how it impacts certain populations, other conditions that coincide with stress, and so much more!

MINDSTRONG/MINDBODYSTRONG

The MINDSTRONG/MINDBODYSTRONG program is offered through The Ohio State University and is a cognitive behavioral skills building program dedicated to teaching techniques that prevent mental illness, reduce stress, and improve healthy lifestyles. MINDBODYSTRONG is a program for clinicians and helps to improve mental health and job satisfaction. MINDSTRONG offers a course for Adults, College Students, and a specific course for Nurses. The NURSING 5115 MINDSTRONG course teaches nurses self-protective strategies to improve their mental health in the present and future. All of the programs are backed by numerous studies showing its effectiveness in alleviating stress symptoms and improving overall well-being.

If you’re a healthcare professional and need resources, LeaderStat offers information on Wellness for tips on staying healthy. If you’re thinking about making a career change, take a look at our job board to see our many job openings and get connected with one of our recruiters!