We recently interviewed Marissa Hetland, RHN, PHN, and Julie Flathers, North Country SHIP coordinator, about how nurses from North Country Community Health Services are using movemindfully strategies in their home visits.
Why did you choose to train staff to use movemindfully® practices for themselves and their clients?
With the impact of COVID and the overwhelming amount of work public health staff have spent supporting and protecting their communities, we knew we wanted to offer something that would support staff well-being. We had previously offered movemindfully training to our SHIP worksite and school partners and had received positive feedback, so it seemed like a good fit. We also thought this training would be easy to implement and share with others.
You‘ve done a great job creating sustainability after the training. How are you supporting staff in keeping this work at the forefront for themselves and their clients?
We realized after the first training that staff really liked the skills they had learned and we just wanted to make it easy for them to use. So, we added a list of the movemindfully practices to the electronic record for home visits. Initially, the training was provided through the SHIP grant, and in order to offer ongoing training we looked for other funding sources. The home visiting coordinator is starting staff meetings with movemindfully moments. Each public health agency has received movemindfully Permission to Pause Posters and has posted them as reminders for staff.
How have you integrated movemindfully practices into the client’s electronic records and why is this important?
At North Country Community Health we added the movemindfully Breathe Move Rest practices as a checklist in the electronic record. This makes it easy for staff to review, select, and keep track of the strategies they use to meet clients’ needs, supporting accountability and sustainability.
Integrating mind-body practices into home visits makes perfect sense, and as a public health practice, it supports North Country clients as well as their staff. We are so grateful for this ongoing partnership and will continue to update you on their innovative practices!