Workforce Self-Care Resources

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider”. Self-care is broad concept which encompasses hygiene (general and personal); nutrition (type and quality of food eaten); lifestyle (sporting activities, leisure, etc.); environmental factors (living conditions, social habits, etc.); socioeconomic factors (income level, cultural beliefs, etc.); and self-medication. 

(Source: World Health Organization)

It is important as we consider workforce self-care to remember the importance of organizational support, community care, accessibility, and cultural differences. Health centers should consider providing time, resources, and support for variety of self-care outlets to their workforce.  As outlined in Health Outreach Partners’ (HOP) Organizational Self-Care: Addressing the Collective Responsibility for Your Employees’ Wellbeing,“ Organizational self-care is an approach that moves beyond self-care as an individual practice to accepting it as a collective responsibility. In this collective practice, organizational leadership in partnership with team members develop policies and procedures that create a healthy work environment for all. By moving away from self-care as an individual practice, organizations create systems of support that build self-efficacy for employees to engage in self-care practices.” 

This resource repository is meant to serve as a starting point for organizations to grow their support of self-care of their workforce and an ever-growing clearinghouse of resources for individuals to engage in self-care.