Fostering Joy and Well-Being in Health Care
Faculty and staff across our vast academic health system dedicate their lives to helping and healing others. That dedication, along with cultural and system process issues, can lead to stress and burnout.
The Resiliency Center stands ready to help University of Utah Health employees cope with these conditions. But we can’t overlook the gift that healing and helping others can bring to us: Joy.
In my new role as Associate Chief Wellness Officer for U of U Health, I look forward to broadening our impact. In addition to helping faculty and staff through hard times, we want to help them experience full joy and purpose in their work.
Adapting to Change
I’ve been with the Resiliency Center for more than seven years. In my new role, I’ll continue working closely with Amy Locke, MD, Chief Wellness Officer for U of U Health. Together, we’ll develop policy and program interventions across our health system.
Every year we’ve learned more about the field through experience and tools like the Better U Survey. As we better understand faculty and staff challenges, the Resiliency Center has changed to meet those needs.
Using Research and Data to Promote Health
Future plans include building out a research arm for the center to study what we’re doing and add to research efforts across the nation.
We’re interested in finding the critical ingredients for professional well-being. It can be difficult to measure impact in this area and challenging to conduct research.
Currently, the Resiliency Center can’t do randomized controlled trials for professional well-being. Finding data points to compare and understand is the first step.
Experiencing the Joy in Our Work
Emphasizing the joy in our work can help build a healthier workplace. Everyone can experience joy in their work—it’s not just aspirational. We can all be happy, healthy, and productive.
Most people working in an academic medical setting signed up because they want to make a difference. We want others to experience joy.
Why can’t we experience joy along the way, too? How can we create an environment where joy exists on a regular basis?
One way is to learn from groups already doing this work.
The Resiliency Center recently adopted the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s “Joy in Work” model to guide conversation and action with leaders and their teams. What used to be our Wellness Champions foundations course is now the Joy in Work foundations course.
Anyone interested in promoting joy at work, within their area of control, can take the course in late September. It’s available to individual employees and team leaders.
Other initiatives to aid employee well-being include:
Healing Through Storytelling
In February 2025, we’re hosting “Healthcare Stories: Joy” at Kingsbury Hall. Clinicians, patients, family members, staff, faculty, and students can submit to tell their stories live on stage.
As humans, we need stories. Stories are a way to connect. They build community. And they serve as a compass for living in the way you understand one another. It can be incredibly healing for listener and storyteller. There’s power in hearing ourselves speak out loud and having that received by someone else.
Code Lavender On-Site Mental Health Support
Another important initiative is “Code Lavender,” an on-site emotional support program we’re rolling out.
Working in an academic medical setting comes with stress. This includes trauma, grief, moral injury, and wear and tear.
In the past, support for trauma, grief, or injury was well-intended but cobbled together. We had a number of groups in place to help teams that experienced a stressful event. But communication and support were not as seamless as they could be.
Code Lavender brings in resources and sets up a communication chain. Those who need to be in the know about a particular event can be alerted right away. Support and recovery can begin as soon as possible.
Thriving in Our Work
These are some of the steps we’re taking to build a thriving community.
Historically, in the field of psychology, we’ve looked at helping people return to baseline. But for more than 20 years, we’ve asked, “Why stop there?” Why not move people toward thriving?
Fortunately, this is now part of the conversation about professional well-being.
At the Resiliency Center, we need to identify and treat what isn’t going well. But we can also move toward joy and thriving—so our faculty and staff can experience life to the fullest.
Employees can reach the Resiliency Center at 801-213-3403 or resiliencycenter@hsc.utah.edu 8 am – 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
