Building resilience among health care workers in Washington is critically important as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. To support health care workers in this area, the Washington State Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Group is offering another round of free PsySTART Responder (PsySTART-R) trainings in March 2021. PsySTART-R is an evidence-based method for health care workers, first responders and health care systems to build resilience, anticipate and track stressors and develop individualized coping plans during critical incidents. After training, individuals set up their personal PsySTART account, allowing them to track and graph their exposure to certain events that are more predictive of psychological risk, and set up a personal coping plan to address the risks.
Additionally, organizational leads can access de-identified, aggregated information on how their staff are doing and their risk levels. This information can be tracked to identify trends in real time, allowing the organization to modify levels of support and offer early intervention as needed. This provides situational awareness and builds resilience within the organization.
For more information on the training, dates, times and registration links, please check out the training flyer. For questions, email DOH-BHAdmin@doh.wa.gov (ATTN: PsySTART-R Training).