From surviving to thriving under prolonged stress - Woods Services

Equipping senior managers with the tools to prevent burnout and support teams through disruption, pressure and change.

Woods Services is a Pennsylvania and New Jersey-based non-profit health network and advocacy organization that provides innovative and integrated health, education, housing, workforce, behavioral health and case management services to more than 22,000 children and adults, empowering people with disabilities and challenges to reach their highest potential.

Recognizing the impact of prolonged stress

Woods Services and their affiliates first approached Disastrous for support in 2021, after seeing the levels of fatigue amongst senior management that resulted from managing an organization of 5,000 staff across the Woods system of care through the COVID-19 pandemic.

After two years of hyper vigilance and focus on supporting their staff, managers themselves needed some support. Disastrous provided a Leadership through prolonged pressure masterclass for the Woods Services executive team which includes a Doing Well deck for each participant.

Gaining perspective

“The tools that we were given by Disastrous have helped us get to a better place”

Erin Drummond, Assistant Vice President Employee Training and Development, says that attendees gained tools and perspective from the Disastrous sessions which has helped them deal with stress differently over the last year.

Erin says that a lot of people connected with the Doing Well decision-making cards which prompt people in a stressful decision-making situation to take a step back and consider “is this where we want to be going?”

“This really changed how they have been making decisions over the past year. It got them out of chaos management mode caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and into a bigger picture, planned-out mode that we had been in before the pandemic.”

‍Expanding the support throughout the organization

Following the impact of the masterclass with executive leaders and Doing Well deck, Woods Services deployed the Doing Well deck with Woods Services Board members and are now rolling out Disastrous workshops and tools organization-wide. This recognizes the value and impact the Disastrous training and tools have had for management and how Woods Services can use them to support staff at a wider level.

“Anytime we reached out or needed anything it was always a quick response and very supportive.”

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