Our personality aspects influence our leadership traits. Join us as we chat with Dave Closson about his upcoming Leadership Institute Community of Practice session, titled "Building Rapport and Working Overextensions." In this episode, we'll discuss workplace thinking styles and the overall importance of individualized attention to the unique personality traits of each team member.  This podcast was produced as part of promotions for the upcoming webinar, Building Rapport and Working Overextensions with Dave Closson.

Mitigating bias in hiring and promoting practices in the behavioral health field is a priority.  Behavioral health practitioners are required now more than ever to pay closer attention to these challenges in the workplace. Join us for a discussion with Dr. Anitra Warrior and Dr. Belinda Hinojos around increasing awareness, effectively navigating challenges, and moving towards action. This podcast was produced as part of promotions for the upcoming webinar, Promoting Equity and Inclusion in the Workforce: Examining Bias in Hiring Practices with Dr. Anitra Warrior and Dr. Belinda Hinojos. 

Current political environment around equity and inclusion in the workplace has made it challenging for practitioners to provide effective evidence-based practices towards prevention, treatment, and recovery.  Behavioral health practitioners are required now more than ever to pay closer attention to these challenges in the workplace.  Join us for a discussion around increasing awareness, effectively navigating challenges, and moving towards action. This podcast was produced as part of promotions for the upcoming webinar, Community of Practice: Equity and Inclusion in Behavioral Health Work hosted by Shawn Sorrell.

The pandemic has permanently changed how we think about work. As the U.S. enters year three of working through the pandemic, people are channeling their internal reflections and shaping them into a new way of working and trying to find meaning in work and the companies that they work for. Join us for a discussion about how capitalism is evolving, why companies must do more social and environmental good and how you can recruit and retain top talent in an ever changing job market. This podcast was produced as part of promotions for the upcoming webinar Communities of Practice in Leadership: Workforce Innovations - Social Impact and Remote Working hosted by Jonathan Liebert.

The Burnout Busters return to deliver a few off-season updates. First, Dr. Jordan Thayer and Dr. Hannah West tease their guest spot on RN Huddle, a podcast on all things nursing brought to you by the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha. After an especially demanding year for nurses, the Burnout Busters chat with Renee Paulin, MSN, RN, CWOCN, about helpful well-being strategies for the profession. You can find that episode at https://rnhuddle.unmc.edu/ after it drops next week. Anyone interested in organizational-level well-being will not want to miss the MHTTC Network’s free national symposium to be held Aug. 5-6. During this two-day virtual event, attendees will hear from national experts with experience implementing system-wide well-being programming. Attendees will learn the lasting benefits organizations can experience upon investing in these values and walk away with practical measures their organizations can implement at various levels, especially with administrative buy-in. Check back here soon or visit mhttcnetwork.org for registration information. Finally, we are seeking your input on Burnout Busters! We want to make a podcast YOU want to listen to. How can we help you enhance your well-being through the lovely medium (we’re biased) that is podcasting? Please visit https://bit.ly/BB_Survey_S1 to take our short survey. -- Remember, you can use the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout to share your well-being journey with us and others! Learn more at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersPodcast

Health care professionals working with patients or clients who have endured traumatic events can expect to experience some stress related to this role. But at what point does that stress become detrimental, or even cross a line into secondary or vicarious trauma? This week, join our Burnout Busters for a conversation around trauma. Host Hannah West, PhD, talks about her work with trauma patients and with organizations on addressing trauma among caregivers, prior to and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn how to recognize trauma and take steps to respond to its symptoms, and how the “do no harm” tenet of the Hippocratic oath applies to health workers in addition to their subjects. -- Hannah West, PhD, is a regional trainer for the Mid-America MHTTC and behavioral health provider at Sunflower Pediatric Behavioral Health in Shawnee, Kansas. Dr. West is passionate about assisting schools and districts at the systems level through consultation and coaching to match student academic, behavioral and mental health needs with resources available through the development of multi-tiered systems of support. As a trainer for the National Association of School Psychologists’ (NASP) PREPaRE curriculum, she is also passionate about working with schools to implement best-practice prevention, intervention, and postvention supports related to school crises. -- Remember, you can use the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout to share your well-being journey with us and others! Learn more at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersPodcast

No one knows better than registered nurse Denesha McGhee-Hill that we have to lean on our connections with others to help us weather difficult experiences. McGhee-Hill started working on a medical surgical floor in February 2020 and, like many nurses at the time, quickly transitioned into treating COVID-19 patients. In addition to learning to bear the typical stressors of patient care, she was on the front lines as the world came to find out just how devastating the COVID-19 virus would be. In this episode of Burnout Busters, join us for a conversation with McGhee-Hill about how relationships — be it with a partner, family member, colleague, or mentor — provide support during difficult times in our personal and professional lives and help us maintain perspective on life. -- Denesha McGhee-Hill is a registered nurse on a medical surgical floor at Nebraska Medicine. Since early 2020, she has treated countless COVID-19 patients by day (and sometimes night) and then come home to resume her other life roles as mother, spouse, and role model. Prior to her work as a front-line nurse amid a pandemic, Denesha spent four years as a clinical licensed practical nurse (LPN), splitting her time between two Nebraska Medicine clinical sites. Her main base site at this time was the Girls Inc. Health Center. During her time here, she was the pioneer and point person for the Allied Health Professionals (AHP) program, which provided free STI testing to individuals ages 14-24. She performed these tests and educated clients on making safe and conscious decisions pertaining to consensual sexual activities. Denesha is a fierce advocate for her patients, other nurses, and herself, making her the perfect person to sit down with us and discuss techniques for managing individual well-being under strenuous circumstances. In particular, we'll hear how she leaned on personal connections and her community through these times. -- Remember, you can use the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout to share your well-being journey with us and others! Learn more at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersPodcast

The Burnout Busters introduce listeners to our 30-day mental health challenge held in celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month. Follow @MidAmericaMHTTC on Twitter and search Mid-America MHTTC on Facebook for simple daily exercises intended to boost your mental health and well-being. Let us know you're participating using the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout. This will enter you in a chance to win a physical copy of our Adult Resilience Curriculum (ARC) workbook, containing many more well-being activities. We'll be back next week with a full-length episode on connection and community. As always, you can learn more about Burnout Busters at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersThePodcast.

Mindfulness doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, sometimes all it takes is returning your awareness to the present moment. The science behind mindfulness is known worldwide and cross-culturally: Our brains are prediction-making machines, so it can take some training to prevent ourselves from jumping to conclusions about events that haven’t happened yet. This week, Steve Wengel, MD, is our guest from the “wellness biz” (his words). Dr. Wengel is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the assistant vice chancellor for campus wellness for UNMC and the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Join the Burnout Busters for a practical discussion about how time-pressed health care professionals can make mindfulness work for them. -- Steven Wengel, MD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the first-ever assistant vice chancellor for campus wellness for UNMC and the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Dr. Wengel is from Omaha and has been a practicing psychiatrist since 1991, specializing in geriatric psychiatry. He treats patients with a broad range of psychiatric conditions, including dementia, depression, and anxiety disorders. He is currently the director of the UNMC Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, and he previously served as the chair of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry, from 2004 to 2018. Dr. Wengel has a longstanding interest in the role of non-medication interventions for reducing stress and anxiety. He has employed meditation techniques in his personal, clinical, and academic practices for many years, and has worked with the University of Nebraska to create innovative academic and clinical programs in stress reduction. In his current role as the wellness champion for UNMC, he oversees academic programs reaching out to faculty and trainees in all disciplines. His goal is to reduce stress and burnout in health care students and staff, as well as to reach out to other populations across the state and region. -- Remember, you can use the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout to share your well-being journey with us and others! Learn more at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersThePodcast

One of the most important steps we can take when investing in our well-being is identifying our values: or, as this week's guest Ali DeLizza, PhD, defines them, “the things in life that give us meaning and purpose.” Once we’ve identified our values, we can set goals that help us prioritize actions that make us feel fulfilled — even when we are experiencing stress or burnout in other parts of our professional and personal lives. Dr. DeLizza is a child psychologist and director of wellness programming at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry. This week, she chats with the Burnout Busters about how living life in accordance with your values can improve your well-being, and she teaches a simple, mindful technique that can help you gain a little perspective even on a hectic day. -- Ali DeLizza, PhD, is director of wellness programming and an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). As a child psychologist, Dr. DeLizza works extensively with children and teens with anxiety and depression, using approaches from acceptance and commitment therapy to help her patients improve their well-being in part by committing to valued actions. Dr. DeLizza also works with children and teens with ADHD and other behavior disorders, and with LGBTQIA+ youth. In addition to her clinical interests, she is committed to making organizational-level changes to support professional well-being at UNMC and beyond. She has been working in Nebraska since 2018, when she relocated from Western Michigan. -- Remember, you can use the hashtag #mhttcbyebyeburnout to share your well-being journey with us and others! Learn more at https://bit.ly/BurnoutBustersThePodcast