At Advocate Children’s Hospital, chaplains provide support to frontline staff, patients, and families. They provide this support to staff in two ways: individually or on the unit.

Two types of support offered by Chaplains

For individuals: Manager refers staff to one-hour group sessions:

• Goal is to help staff with higher stress, such as new nurses, navigate the practice environment
  
  
• Extends to staff facing personal stress as well
  
  
• The group meets at end of shift once a week for six weeks
  
  
• New group sessions run four times per year

For units: Manager requests one-time session for staff on the unit:

• Requested during periods of high stress (for example: when a week’s patient mortality rate is higher than normal)
  
  
• These sessions vary in format, ranging from 15-minute reflections to longer debriefings

Common topics covered during chaplain-led recovery time:

• Chronic stress from caring for high-acuity patients
  
  
• Grief and strategies for coping with loss
  
  
• Empathic distress from supporting patients and families
  
  
• Developing a rhythm of self-care

Specialized chaplain roles at Advocate Children’s

To make time for staff support, in addition to patients and families, chaplains at Advocate Children’s Hospital divide their responsibilities among each other. There are three main chaplain roles:

1. Unit-based assignments
   Six chaplains, each assigned to multiple units for 421-bed, two-site hospital; they support staff, patients, and families on assigned units as needed.
   
   
2. Staff support programs
   Three chaplains run and develop organization-wide programs to support staff emotional well-being.
   
   
3. Incident response
   All chaplains respond to incident-specific needs organization-wide, such as a major trauma coming through the emergency department.

If your organization doesn’t use chaplains or doesn’t have enough chaplains to provide this type of support to staff, consider using other qualified staff, such as:

• Social workers
  
  
• Counselors
  
  
• Mental health professionals
  
  
• Spiritual leaders
  
  
• First responders trained in psychological first aid
  
  
• Hospice workers trained in behavioral health support
  
  
• Palliative care specialists
  
  
• Students or faculty affiliated with psychology or social work graduate programs

The bounce-back kit, pictured here, is another component of Advocate Children’s emotional support bundle. Each bounce-back kit is a small care package with a variety of low-cost items related to a theme. For example, the relaxation kit includes a reflection exercise, a coloring book, earplugs, and candles. Kits are stored in a central location, where anyone—staff or managers—can access the kits at any time to give to a colleague.

Sample content:

• Reflection exercises
• Coloring materials
• Earplugs
• Candles

Sample themes:

• Acceptance
• Letting go
• Anger
• Gratitude
• Rest

How Advocate Children’s encourages mindfulness

Moments of silence

• Unit staff observe a daily 30-second moment of silence where they reflect on their work.
  
  
• This encourages staff to embed reflection and respite in a unit’s daily routine.

Safe zones

• Staff in the oncology outpatient clinic decided the break room should be a place in which patient care is not discussed.
  
  
• As a result, nurses have a communal space that promotes wellness and helps them truly “take a break” from traumas they face at work.

Chaplain-led recovery time

• Every week, a chaplain facilitates a session where they encourage participants to bring a prompt or poem and think about kindness towards themselves, others, and the community.
  
  
• There is a long pause for silence here to allow for self-reflection.

Additional mindfulness options to consider adding to an emotional support bundle

Code lavender

Nurse-driven rapid response activated for patients and clinicians in need of intensive emotional or spiritual support

Code lavender carts

Carts with relaxation materials that are designed to help staff ground and center themselves during moments of heightened stress

Vital hearts training

Three-day intensive training on resilience and compassion fatigue

Other training sessions

On mindfulness, meditation, controlled breathing, journaling

External mental health support apps

Free access to apps such as SilverCloud or myStrength