Hillsides Releases Innovative Wellness Guide for Managers and Supervisors
Hillsides, a foster care and mental health charity, has created a Wellness Guide of tips and resources for managers and supervisors. The “TIC Wellness Guide” is available for immediate sale as a donation. The guide incorporates practices and techniques inspired by Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), a relatively new concept in mental health that acknowledges the widespread impact of trauma in the lives of most people.
“Practicing TIC is beneficial to everyone because no one is immune to trauma and because the practice emphasizes self-care and awareness,” said Stacey Roth, Hillsides executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Considering that May is Mental Health Awareness Month, this is the perfect time to put some healthy mindsets and practices into place at the office.”
The “TIC Wellness Guide” contains 52 TIC tips – one for each week of the year – broken into six categories: TIC basics, managing stress, self-care, leadership, mindfulness, and community and communication. Each tip contains four parts: a TIC concept, an elaboration, a self-reflection, and a closing remark.
One tip, for example, talks about the benefits of deep breathing and gives instructions on how to take healing belly breaths. Another provides an exercise in staff appreciation, while another explores the benefits of teamwork.
The idea is for supervisors and managers to incorporate the tips in the guide into their regular staff meetings. “Each tip only takes a few minutes, and afterwards your staff should feel a greater connection to each other and the work they do,” said Roth. “Most of our managers are now incorporating TIC tips into meetings with great results, and we are happy to be offering this powerful resource to other companies and agencies.”
The charity maintains a TIC committee, where members collectively brainstormed to come up with the tips. “The manual is staff-driven, which makes it even more meaningful and impactful,” said Roth.
The guide has been selling out at conferences across the country. Each Hillsides “TIC Wellness Guide” sells for a donation of $25 and can be purchased here. During the month of May, Hillsides will be emailing TIC tips to supporters. Anyone interested in being put on the email list should click here.
Hillsides was designated a Trauma-Informed Care Agency by the National Council for Behavioral Health in 2013. All employees are trained in TIC, and Hillsides has also adopted an agency-wide training, Risking Connection®, that incorporates TIC practices.