Quoteworthy
Self-compassion is not kicking yourself when you’re down, which prolongs stress reactions, creates more suffering, and delays your ability to get back up. Instead, self-compassion is about treating yourself as you would treat a good friend in distress. It is about responding with caring support.
Jean Whitlock, Trinh Mai, Megan Call, and Jake Van Epps

Most Recent
How to Improve your Sleep Quality

Struggling to catch some ZZZ’s? Maybe your sleep hasn't been great lately? Either way, it's time to do something about it. Wellness expert Britta Trepp shares tips and strategies to improve your sleep quality and help you fall asleep faster.

Resilience Toolkit

The U of U Health Resiliency Center shares a growing list of resources you and your team can use to continue building resilience together.

Make Room for Discomfort to Work Through Disruption

When our world is turned upside down, we rush past our emotions to get over the pain and feel better. But this approach doesn’t allow us to actually work through the pain. Chaplain Saundra Shanti shares how to bolster our resilience by creating space for discomfort.

Thank You

It’s been quite a year—but we made it! The Accelerate Team is celebrating the small wins with some big engagement from across the globe. Thank you to all 158 contributors who shared valuable insights with the U of U Health community in 2021.

Gratitude

GME Wellness Director Rob Davies explores the practice of gratitude journaling—writing down “three good things” every day for two weeks. This simple exercise can profoundly impact your overall sense of wellbeing.

How to Set Boundaries

In a culture that values self-sacrifice, setting boundaries reinforces additional values, such as support and compassion. Social Worker and Director of Mindfulness Programming Trinh Mai shares practical tips for setting boundaries and speaking up.

Five Ways to Have a Serious Conversation

Palliative care physician Paige Patterson is an expert at having tough conversations. We asked how she engages patients about their wishes, worries, and plans for the future. For Paige, having a process makes serious conversations easier.

Is My Grief Normal?

Grief feels terrible—but that doesn’t mean that all grieving is bad or abnormal. Katherine Supiano, Director, Caring Connections: A Hope and Comfort in Grief Program, helps explain what feelings and actions during grieving are normal—and what actions might be cause for concern.

Vulnerability Is Not Weakness—It’s Why Our Patients Trust Us

Dentist Gary Lowder has spent the past 36 years working with patients who suffer from jaw disorders that result in chronic pain. As faculty in the School of Dentistry, he’s passing along the power of vulnerability as a patient trust-building exercise with his trainees.

Attach Your Own Oxygen Mask Before Assisting Others

Altruism and collectivism got us through the first year of Covid-19. Now what? As anger and resentment bubbles up on the frontline, VA internist Amy Cowan addresses our short fuse by sharing a simple practice for leading daily huddles to foster a bridge to better understanding.

How to Keep Your Cool When All of Your Buttons Have Been Pushed

Resiliency Center director Megan Call offers five simple and practical strategies to work through anger when all of your buttons have been pushed.

Helping Medical Students Care for Themselves So They Can Care for Others

M.ED host Kerry Whittemore speaks to Michelle Vo, director of Medical Student Wellness, about the mental health challenges many students face in medical school, as part of the Medical Education for the Practicing Clinician podcast series.