BeWellMED

Culture of wellness

Organizational work environment, values, and behaviors that promote self-care, personal and professional growth, and compassion for ourselves, our colleagues, and our patients.

Efficiency of practice

Workplace systems, processes, and practices that promote safety, quality, effectiveness, positive patient and colleague interactions, and work-life balance.

Personal resilience

Individual skills, behaviors, and attitudes that contribute to personal physical, emotional, and social well-being, including the prevention of burnout.

Our Office provides centralized coordination, development, and implementation of programs and initiatives designed to support wellness within our system by:

• Endorsing the health and well-being of our health care professionals and learners as a core value and cultural norm
• Using the Well-Being Index to longitudinally measure well-being
• Using data to deploy targeted interventions in high-need areas
• Implementing changes to improve the efficiency of practice and reduce clerical burden for physicians
• Establishing new programs that provide caregiver support and create community
• Improving access to and decreasing stigma towards mental health care

Well-being check-in

Would you like help navigating resources? Schedule a well-being check-in with one of our caregiver well-being specialists.

Well-being champion network

More than 50 physicians and APPs from around the system serve as well-being champions. Well-being champions are colleagues who are passionate about well-being, are passionate about sharing the resources, and contributing to change in their spaces.  In this role, physicians and APPs share information about resources/ programs with colleagues and serve as a point of contact for those who may be struggling with their well-being.

We recognize time is a precious resource. We encourage our well-being champions to attend a quarterly meeting (CME available), read the biweekly newsletter and share the information with their colleagues. Funding opportunities do exist for well-being champions along with professional development and networking opportunities.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a well-being champion, email bewellmed@corewellhealth.org.

Immediate support

If you are feeling distressed, in crisis, out of control, unable to keep yourself safe, suicidal, or in need of immediate help:

National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
988 (call or text)

• Suicide prevention and crisis response for you or your loved ones
• Available 24/7, free and confidential support for anyone in distress

Ulliance
844.684.3422

• Counseling, coaching, crisis support, legal assistance, and financial advice
• Available 24/7, confidential, no cost, short-term, solution-focused
• For all Corewell Health employees, spouses, live-in partner, and dependents through age 26

South and West Michigan

Pine Rest Psychiatric Urgent Care
616.455.9200

• Immediate assessment and treatment for people experiencing acute psychiatric symptoms who cannot wait for routine outpatient intervention

East Michigan

Behavioral Health Urgent Care (Common Ground)
248.983.5454

• Common Ground Behavioral Health Urgent Care is available to those living in Southeast Michigan by calling

Short-Term and Ongoing Support

If you are having trouble coping, feeling depressed or anxious, or experiencing personal or professional stress:

Ulliance
844.684.3422

• Counseling, coaching, crisis support, legal assistance, and financial advice
• Available 24/7, confidential, no cost, short-term, solution-focused
• For all Corewell Health employees, spouses, live-in partner, and dependents through age 26

Physician Support Line
888.409.0141

• Psychiatrists helping U.S. physicians and medical students navigate the many intersections of personal and professional lives
• Free and confidential, no appointment necessary, 7 days a week, 8:00 am to 12:00 am ET

Physician Resilience Program
eap@pinerest.org (email to request a session)

• Support and guidance throughout the litigation process or when the stress of medical practice extends to other dimensions of life

HPRP – Health Professional Recovery Program
800.453.3784

• HPRP is designed to encourage health professionals to seek treatment before their mental health or substance use impairment harms a patient or damages their careers through disciplinary or regulatory action, with the goal of keeping you practicing medicine safely
• Provides consultation, evaluations, treatment, and case management
• Calls are answered Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm

Priority Health – Behavioral Health
800.673.8043

• Behavioral health case management for Priority Health members
• Teladoc health mental health program - Digital self-help tools

Individual results are kept anonymous and confidential and provide Corewell Health with a mean distress score for each department.

This tool helps you better understand your overall well-being and areas of risk compared to other physicians and APPs across the nation.

This information is used to create strategic reports that drive programming for high-risk areas and system-wide initiatives.

It connects you to immediate national and local resources to support you in:

• Emotional concerns, including stress and fatigue
• Health behavior
• Finances
• Relationships and work-life balance
• Career development
• Organizational and leadership resources
• Medical errors and malpractice
• Alcohol and substance abuse
• Suicidal thoughts

If you're interested in taking the Well-Being Index assessment, email bewellmed@corewellhealth.org.

Well-being check-ins offer short-term support, motivation, and direction in addressing various aspects of work-life integration with our licensed mental health provider and caregiver well-being specialist. These check-ins are anonymous and confidential and available to physicians, APPs, residents, and fellows. They include up to 3 sessions per life event. Topics of focus may include:

• Professional Fulfillment
• Burnout
• Self-advocacy
• Work-life balance
• Mindfulness
• Resilience
• Self-compassion
• Compassion fatigue
• Self-care
• And more

Well-being check-ins are perfect for the busy professional who is interested in connecting on aspects of personal well-being in a convenient and concise way. The overarching goal of this offering is to help foster resilience, well-being, and growth of our staff as individuals and professionals.

How do I sign up?

To sign up, complete the well-being check-in request form.

You can also reach out directly to our office via email at bewellmed@corewellhealth.org or via phone at 616.267.9400.

Need ongoing support beyond 1-3 sessions?

Get mental health support.

Well-being check-ins are not intended to replace therapy. If ongoing therapy is desired instead of or after completion of well-being check-ins, our team can help navigate connecting you to additional resources that best meet your individual needs.

The peer support program connects you to a trained peer supporter who is a fellow physician or APP and someone with similar work experiences. The goal is to connect you with someone who truly gets it and can help you process the complexities that so often come from working in health care.

When to reach out and how it works

Peer support can be utilized whenever someone is struggling with chronic stress, compassion fatigue, or burnout. Examples may include:

• Involvement in an adverse event
• A challenging patient outcome
• Patient aggression
• Litigation
• Crisis relief work

Peer support is completely confidential and is a crucial tenet of our program. There is no documentation of the session and no tracking of personal information (including names). Peer supporters will activate the Blue Envelope Workflow if an individual is expressing concerns about self-harm.

After you contact us, you will be sent an intake form that includes minimal information in order to create the best match. Our BeWellMED team will utilize that information to match you with someone who is available to meet within 24-72 hours.

Need peer support or interested in becoming a peer supporter?

It's easy to reach out and get connected. Call 616.267.9400 or email peersupport@corewellhealth.org.

Practice Wellness Sessions are topic-based facilitated conversations, tailored to meet the needs of your team. The hour-long session provides opportunities to build team dynamics over breakfast or lunch, provided by BeWellMED. Sample topics include:

• Physician and APP fulfillment
• Team building
• Values clarification (team-based)
• Energy at work

Email bewellmed@corewellhealth.org to bring a wellness session to your team.

The MED+UP program brings small groups of physicians and APPs together monthly for conversations facilitated by a peer on topics related to professional fulfillment and meaning in work and life. It is a great opportunity to build new community and connections with colleagues in a meaningful way. This program meets for 6 months on a monthly basis and is available for CME. This opportunity, and combined curriculum, has been initiated throughout leading health systems.

• Mayo Clinic found that providing a way for clinicians to meet in small groups for semi-structured, private discussions about overcoming the challenges of their field and finding the meaning of their work resulted in measurably lower burnout and social isolation, and higher well-being and job satisfaction.

Topics include meaning in work, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, medical errors and malpractice, trauma exposure response, and more.

Interested in joining or facilitating a MED+UP group?

Email us at bewellmed@corewellhealth.org.

The Physician and APP Coaching program was developed and designed to provide our physicians and APPs an innovative professional development opportunity.

Coaching program participants report an increase in overall job satisfaction, an increase in a sense of belonging at Corewell Health, and report that the program affected their decision to stay employed with the organization.

Each client is partnered with a certified professional development coach who is focused on helping them achieve their professional goals. This partnership allows our clients to make profound, lasting shifts in their lives with frequent focus on personal and professional fulfillment, career development, charting, and more.

What is professional development coaching?

Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in their life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful, and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
• Encourage client self-discovery
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client responsible and accountable

This journey helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life while improving their leadership skills, communication skills, aligning more closely to personal values, and unlocking their full potential.

What your colleagues are saying

• “It's helpful to have time to reflect and dedicate time to my thoughts. I leave the session with a clear line of sight into next steps.”
• “The program helped me feel more in control of my work life, which greatly affects my happiness. I was able to see opportunities for improvement where I initially felt there were none or had no clue where to start.”

Program offerings

At different times of the year, BeWellMED offers group, individual, and leadership coaching programs. These programs run between 3-6 months, are facilitated by certified coaches, and are available to employed physicians and APPs.

If you are interested in a future coaching program, please complete our coaching interest form and/or email us at bewellmed@corewellhealth.org.

Join BeWellMED on select Wednesdays monthly at noon, where well-being experts, mental health professionals, and certified development coaches speak on topics that may resonate with you. These facilitated discussions are meant to provide bite-sized content focused on well-being and give space for connection with colleagues across the system.

Topics may include:

• Self-compassion and mindfulness
• Meaning in work
• Adverse event and litigation stress
• Relationships and support at work
• Work/life satisfaction
• Imposter syndrome
• Well-being resources at Corewell Health and in the community
• And more

Email bewellmed@corewellhealth.org to have the Wellness Wednesday events added to your calendar.

Calm App

• Corewell Health has partnered with Calm to provide the organization with tools that can help team members and their families reduce stress and anxiety, sleep better, and live happier, healthier lives
• Once you’ve signed up, share Calm with up to five loved ones (age 16 years or older) via the “Manage Subscription” page inside your Calm account. Follow these instructions to add dependents from your premium account.

Center for Mindfulness

• The Center for Mindfulness offers programming built on the evidence-based practice of mindfulness and are led by Ruth Lerman, M.D. and staff
• Programming includes:
  • Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
    • MBSR teacher training
  • Mindfulness practice groups
  • Consultations
  • Workshops and course series
• Contact the Center for more information or to register. Call 947.522.3590 or email centerformindfulness@corewellhealth.org.

eM Life

• Online live and on-demand mindfulness programming available to you, your spouse, and your dependents as part of your benefits package

If you are struggling with burnout, chronic stress or have experienced an adverse event, please call our liaison line at 616.267.9400, and we will connect you to the resources that best fit your situation.

Corewell Health resources

BeWell Home

Lifestyle Medicine

• Corewell Health West employed physicians and APPs
• Email myconcierge@corewellhealth.org

Clinician Support

• Identify time-saving efficiencies
• In-person and independent study (via Workday)
• Contact epiceducation@corewellhealth.org

Suicide Prevention

• Team Member Blue Envelope provides guidelines on how to help employees experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
616.391.1753

• Facilitates team and individual debriefing after an adverse event, including abnormal stressful incidents, poor patient outcomes, death of a team member, or workplace violence.

Corewell Health East Integrative Medicine
248.964.9200

• Integrative medicine offers evidenced-based, clinical modalities that combine traditional and holistic treatment options to help with illness, relieve pain, manage stress, and optimize overall health.
• Available treatments include massage, acupuncture, Reiki, yoga therapy, integrative and lifestyle medicine physician appointments, and naturopathic consultations. Physician appointments are available face-to-face or via video. 
• All Corewell Health team members and volunteers receive discount pricing on massage, acupuncture, Reiki, and pharmaceutical-grade supplements.
• Email cheintegrativemedicine@corewellhealth.org to be added to the newsletter.

Corewell Health Risk Department
616.486.2522

• riskmanagement@corewellhealth.org
• Identifies and eliminates risk, provides consultation, and works proactively and reactively to minimize the damages following adverse events.

External resources

Michigan State Medical Society

• MSMS provides local and national physician well-being resources on their website
• Access to SafeHaven program through VITAL WorkLife as an MSMS membership benefit
  • SafeHaven is a comprehensive and confidential physician and health care professional well-being program offering resources and support to address career fatigue and behavioral health concerns, including counseling, peer coaching, legal and financial consultation, and concierge services

American Medical Association

• Personal resilience resources, efficiency of practice, and culture of wellness resources through its Steps Forward program

National Physician Suicide Awareness Day

• Offers an individual and organizational toolkit to prevent physician suicide.

Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation

• Advocates for professional well-being and mental health of health workers.

American Foundation on Suicide Prevention

• Offers resources for those experiencing thoughts of suicide, have lost someone to suicide, or want to learn more about suicide prevention
  • Resources for residency training programs who lost a resident to suicide
  • Resources for health care organizations who lost a physician to suicide

Greater Good Science Center

• A global well-being resource center from the University of California - Berkley, which houses evidence-based personal and group well-being articles, resources, and links
• There are resources specific to health care professionals

Duke Center for the Advancement of Well-Being Science

• The Duke WELL-B program offers evidence-based personal resilience tools for the busy health care professional (most are only a few minutes long), as well as a monthly webinar series, which is free to health care professionals in Michigan and culture of wellness resources