Office of Team Wellbeing: A Resource for All UVA Health Team Members

“We want all team members to work in a culture of respect, professionalism, and safety at UVA Health,” says Joel Anderson, PhD, RN, Co-Director of OTWB, Assistant Professor of Nursing. “Prioritizing a culture of wellbeing through the application of evidence-based interventions that are tailored to the needs of the clinic, unit, or workplace builds an environment that supports meaningful compassion, enjoyment, and engagement at work.”

To reflect the importance of wellbeing, and its influence on the strategic plan, the organization is receiving much-deserved support and recognition from leaders as well as updates to its branding, clarifying the wide range and large number of programs it administers. A cross-functional team, led by Ann Kellams, MD, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM, worked tirelessly over several months to fulfill the new vision thoughtfully and meaningfully. As of Dec. 1, the OTWB supports all team members throughout the UVA Health enterprise, including UVA Community Health.

OTWB is organized around three pillars: prevention, assessment, and response. These pillars are underpinned by Wisdom and Wellbeing principles and strategies, which include building individual wellbeing, improving interpersonal communication, and identifying and reducing unnecessary stressors.

One OTWB program, the Team Wellbeing Advocates program, has trained 195 advocates since 2022, including students from UVA School of Medicine and UVA School of Nursing. After training on the use of evidence-based tools to support area wellbeing plans, advocates are able to support their teams with evidence-based strategies to identify unnecessary stressors and apply wisdom practices that support the in-the-moment wellbeing of the team, using a model developed by Wisdom & Wellbeing Program co-founder Richard Westphal, PhD, RN, FAAN.