Bringing Selfcare Directly to Your Inbox

By Portia Ingram, Director, Smart Start Suffolk

Two years ago, I could never have imagined we would be discussing, at great lengths, the impact of wellness initiatives on personnel during a pandemic. For many of us in government, we know and value public service but are not trained first responders so we lived in constant dissonance; we left our homes, partners, children, pets, and comfort zones to assist in the all-hands-on-deck calls to fight an invisible fight, often receiving only ounces of praise to the pounds of risk we faced.

Stepping outside our doors and into an uncertain world forced many of us to take an intentional approach toward our health and well-being. As a government, we may often deploy employee programs to decrease risks and costs related to insurance plans. However, this time, it was about needing a constant reminder that our well-being is innately important, and that without it, it would be tough to keep our head in the game. Not just in work, but in life and within what was now termed “the “new normal.”

In April 2020, Chief Deputy County Executive Lisa Black, tasked me (then Deputy Director of Community Affairs) and Ann Marie Csorny, LCSW-R (former Director for the Division of Community Mental Hygiene), and later Michelle Zarifis (a County Executive Assistant), with building out a wellness newsletter for Suffolk County’s 12,000+ employees. The goal of the newsletter was not to force anyone to engage in self-care acts, but to bring awareness to what self-care can look like and how it can manifest in our day.

For over two years, we have offered an assortment of classes and events in our Behavioral Health & Wellness Campaign newsletter.

From gardening, to meditation, to caregiver support classes, we have linked employees to resources for various needs and lifestyles. Through this newsletter, we have provided important updates and resources on COVID-19 as well as mental health programs available through county health insurance. Since its inception, the newsletter has also partnered with the Long Island Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence (LICADD), the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, and our very own Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Retha Fernandez (who is Chopra Meditation certified!), for live meditations to support our workforce. What started out as a newsletter became a community. Many employees receiving the newsletter would write back expressing their gratitude. Others would check in and offer suggestions and feedback about programs they would like to see. It became apparent that when people felt they were cared for, they became more engaged with the programs and in turn, became happier. At a time when nothing felt perfect and the future was uncertain, voices of gratitude and optimism not only helped the recipients of the newsletter but helped those of us creating it as well.

Today, we continue to send out a weekly newsletter as a reminder to our employees that their health and well-being is a top priority in Suffolk. Practicing self-care is not only important during a pandemic, but also in our day-today lives. It has proven to us time and again that our most precious resource in government is after all, our workforce. Keeping our employees healthy, keeps our community healthy.