Addressing Work-related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Resiliency Reminders Guidebook

Authors

Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development

Date of this Version

2021

Document Type

Article

Citation

Resiliency Reminders: Building Resilience in the Child Welfare Workforce [A Supplement to Resilience Alliance]. Lincoln, NE: Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development, 2021.

Abstract

This guide is intended for child welfare professionals implementing a workforce effort to address secondary traumatic stress (STS). It was developed as part of CFS Strong, a joint effort of the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) and the Nebraska Department of Human Services’ Department of Children and Family Services (CFS), to address the cumulative effects of STS that is part of the day-to-day work of the child welfare workforce. CFS Strong included: (1) an adaptation of Resilience Alliance (RA) to teach skills and strategies to manage STS and build team cohesion, (2) Restoring Resiliency Response (RRR) to allow workers to debrief after an acute traumatic event, and (3) PSGs to reinforce the skills taught in RA and provide a positive peer group for child welfare workers to feel supported in their work. The resources in this guide were designed to be sent via text message to reinforce the core competencies included in RA and PSG: optimism, mastery, collaboration, self-awareness, self-care, and self-reflection.

This guide contains short messages (e.g., curriculum reminders, tips, rhetorical questions, links to articles and videos) and images that can be shared via text message or email to remind frontline workers and supervisors of key messages introduced during RA and PSG sessions. Resiliency Reminders were sent out via text a few days after a RA session and before the next one to support on-going learning and use of resiliency skills. Messages were sent from a central contact and standardized so that all CFS Strong participants received the same message each week (throughout all 24 weeks of RA and 24 weeks of the PSG). The addition of Resiliency Reminders between groups is an adaptation of the original curriculum intended to enhance learning and support use of the tips and skills taught in the RA sessions.

This guide is organized by core competency and includes articles and videos that correspond to each topic which can be used to design modules for weekly programming. The Resiliency Reminders can be used in a variety of ways such as reminders of core resiliency messages or as tools for supervisors or peers to use in a peer support or supervisory session.

This guide was developed by the Nebraska Workforce Project Team’s (the implementation team guiding CFS Strong) Content Workgroup through its collaboration with the QIC-WD. It draws from publicly available on-line resources as of the time of publication (April 2021). The QIC-WD is funded by the Children’s Bureau and does not necessary reflect their views.