The Big Picture
The people who care for patients carry work that doesn’t end when the shift does. CommonSpirit Health is treating that as a reason to invest in the mental health of its own teams, not as a topic for a single training.
Five Utah hospitals in the organization’s Mountain Region are pursuing Hope certification, a suicide-reduction initiative any organization can go through. The aim is straightforward: take better care of staff so those teams can take better care of patients.
Jeremy Bradshaw, Utah Market President for CommonSpirit Health, described why that commitment belongs in the workplace:
The fact is that the majority of suicide deaths occur among individuals who are working age. That suggests that the workplace provides a prime opportunity to invest in prevention efforts. Working adults spend a significant portion of their waking hours at work. What’s more, the work environment can have a huge impact on life satisfaction, self-esteem and a host of other factors that impact mental health. Over the past year, our organization, CommonSpirit, has made a major commitment to improving employee well-being and mental health.
What’s Happening
At CommonSpirit Holy Cross Salt Lake and Davis Hospitals, the work started with listening.
Maura Lee, Director of Operations, said the hospitals began with a listening tour and an anonymous staff survey, then used that feedback to build an action plan. Leaders are now on a feedback tour, taking the plan into every staff meeting and asking a direct question: Did we get this right?
The plan equips teams with training to recognize burnout in one another, and with resources for a self-assessment survey so people can check in on how they’re doing. It also gives staff tools to process what they see at work, so they can be more present for their families when they go home.
Why It Matters
Lee said studies show healthcare workers are more at risk for suicide, anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. She sees caring for staff as a duty of hospital leaders and administrators, because supported teams take better care of patients.
The stakes reach past the hospital doors. In healthcare, people are predisposed to bring their work home. A program that helps staff process what they experience on the job is also support for the families on the other side of that shift.
And unlike a one-time training or awareness campaign, Hope certification is continuous. It isn’t designed to end when a milestone is reached. It is meant to stay in place for years to come.
The Bottom Line
CommonSpirit’s Utah hospitals are building mental health support into how they operate: listen first, turn what they hear into a plan, and keep asking whether they got it right.
If someone remembers only one thing, Lee said, it should be this. It’s okay to ask for help. If you’re not doing well, tell somebody. You never know when that conversation could help you, or help someone else.