Denver Health – Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal

Improving the well-being and resilience of hospitals’ workforce has been and continues to be an issue of great importance and concern. Realizing that employee well-being influences the quality of care provided as well as employee recruitment and retention efforts, Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA) sought solutions to improve employee mental well-being and reduce employee burnout.

The solution, for DHHA, was to implement the Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal (RESTORE) program, which is available to all employees, trainees, students, contractors, and volunteers. The goals and objectives of the RESTORE program include the following:

• Promote and sustain the mental well-being of the workforce.
• Promote and sustain individual, collective, and organizational resilience through timely and confidential peer-delivered emotional support and psychological first aid (PFA).
• Provide trauma- and resilience-informed education and training.

RESTORE was implemented in January 2020 with rapid expansion in March 2020 and enjoyed many successes including:

• Since March 2020:
  • 519,417 points of contact and 16,700 encounters or activations for application of PFA and emotional support.
• Since August 16, 2021:
  • 912 calls to the 24/7 peer support line.
  • RESTORE group support team has served 4,551 group participants.
  • 334,071 visits to the drop-in center.
  • 6,848 instances of peer-delivered PFA during center visits.
  • 7,767 touches via mobile services to staff across units and clinics.
  • Peer responders have provided emotional support and PFA 404 times via mobile services.
  • 4,756 have participated in RESTORE trauma and resilience-informed training, education and workshop offerings.
• Since January 1, 2022:
  • 559 outreach calls have been made to include staff directly impacted by assaults and workplace violence.

To learn more about the RESTORE program, please contact Tia Henry, MBA ([email protected]) at Denver Health.