See Something. Say Something. Do Something.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan quickly realized the importance of supporting staff and clinicians working on the front lines. Tricia Crawford, CBIS, Lead House Supervisor, Neuro Rehabilitation Services-Residential, and Riaka Shackelford, Human Resource Business Partner, share more about a unique approach they used at Spectrum to monitor the mental health needs of their team.

As the largest healthcare provider in West Michigan, Spectrum Health understands the commitment to provide quality health care to our patients in our community. We also stand committed to our team members who provide such care day in and day out.

March 2020 was a pretty overwhelming time as we were rapidly learning more about COVID-19 and how to keep our patients, residents, and staff safe. Establishing a routine way to communicate updates and share information happened quickly through routine virtual meetings. We also identified and focused immediately on the importance of building tools to support our team members. Some of that focus was on team member recognition, providing information about COVID-19, and building resources to support team members, such as access to daycare resources. As we continued to talk about how to best support our teams, the topic of mental health began to emerge.

It is no question that our mental health has been impacted by the various events that have taken place and continue to take place in our nation. At Spectrum, we made it our business to support our team members and to address the topic of mental health. We knew the pandemic and other stressors could be impacting the mental well-being of our team and we wanted them to know we were there to support them through any challenges, including suicide or suicidal ideations. We developed and distributed to all work sites the following resources:

• Psychological First Aid Card: See Something. Do Something. Say Something. – This half-page reference card was implemented as a way for our organization to recognize that we all have a part that we can play in our mental health and in supporting the mental health of others such as our peers. It is sometimes our peers who notice when another peer is struggling. The Psychological First Aid Card was an easy guide highlighting the importance of noticing actions of others (seeing) that may indicate that they are struggling, provides talking points (saying) on how to ask the right questions to the person struggling, and providing a listening ear, encouragement and/or resources to help them (doing).
• Blue Envelope – For leaders, as part of our Employee Suicide Risk response, we utilized a “blue envelope” process providing leaders with step-by-step instructions on how to appropriately navigate challenging situations with team members that may have suicidal ideations or declarations surrounding their mental well-being. With the partnership of various departments within Human Resources, leaders and team members have the support to get through difficult situations with little to no previous experience.

As we continue to work through the impact of the pandemic on all of us and the people we serve, we have seen as leaders how the various mental health resources available have helped support our team members during this very difficult time. We also strongly value our community partners who also offer many mental health related resources and ensure our team members are connected to their tools and resources as well with a robust list of local and national resources, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-TALK (8755) which is an excellent way to connect with suicidal/potential suicidal and other mental health support.