AtlantiCare is a health system based in southeastern New Jersey. It is the largest health care organization in its region, serving more than 100 locations with over 6,000 staff members. Their project with the AHA Suicide Prevention in the Health Care Workforce collaborative was led by Erin Sochocky, the system’s Suicide Prevention Clinical Care Manager, with the goal of improving employee wellness.
Through their work with the collaborative, AtlantiCare chose to focus on addressing behavioral health stigma. Their project has focused on increasing suicide prevention awareness and helping hospital staff members connect to the services they need to improve their own mental well-being. Focused on improving education and visibility, they distributed resources in areas that are highly visible to employees, hanging posters in employee-only areas and creating screensavers highlighting various suicide prevention and behavioral health resources and materials.
Through these interventions AtlantiCare was able to effectively reach their staff while keeping costs to a minimum. They had the opportunity to present to other collaborative members, inspiring other hospitals and systems that they also can make a big difference on a small budget. They even shared the screensavers they developed with other members of the collaborative so others may implement similar programs.
Sochocky first noticed the system’s program was working when employees started to reach out to her to positively comment on the screensavers they had seen. Over the past six months, there have been more than 20 all-staff communications, including anti-stigma messaging and/or resources distributed to staff throughout the system.
In the coming months, AtlantiCare plans to continue using screensavers and internal website banners throughout the system. Additionally, Sochocky will continue distributing posters to all employee break rooms in their locations across southeastern New Jersey.
