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Workshops And Trainings

Workshops And Trainings

Mental Health Workshops

Give your team members interactive learning opportunities and mental health workshops that drive workplace wellness, collaborative relationships, improved leadership practices, and increased employee engagement!  

People sitting in a meeting.

Start the conversation about mental health in the workplace

How long can the burnout continue? How much turnover is acceptable before something different needs to happen? Will your organization be able to overcome common mental health pitfalls that cause teams to fail?

Set The Foundation

Covenant Workplace Solutions will deliver mental health workshops, in-person or virtually, that are grounded in a wide range of health and wellness topics. Our workshops have been designed by our industry experts, and can be custom tailored to the needs and goals of your organization. 

Benefits Of Our Workshops

  • Foster openness 
  • Build and maintain optimism 
  • De-stigmatize mental health 
  • Build trust and team chemistry 
  • Improve communication 
  • Open doors for support 
  • Establish a culture of 360-degree wellness, personally and professionally 
  • Increased utilization of your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) 
  • And more! 
People sitting in a meeting.

Our Workshops

Leading with a Mental Health Mindset

3-4 hours

Mental Health in America is at an all-time low and we continue to see the severe ramifications from the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout society. All the unpredictability and uncertainty has led to increased tension and fear, which has carried over to the workplace in a number of different ways. According to Capita, 49% of employees think their own manager would not talk to them about their mental health concerns. Mentally well workplaces train its leaders to be prepared to have some of these necessary conversations and how to spot potential red flags throughout the organization.  

This workshop is great for future leaders, new leaders, and even leaders with decades of experience. This information has practical, immediate application for leaders on the front lines who may be more of a ‘player-coach’ all the way to the leaders in the C-suite.  

Objectives: 

  • Understand the magnitude of mental health on society as a whole and how it is impacting the workplace 
  • Learn why this is a personal issue, not a personnel issue 
  • Discuss both the direct and indirect impacts this has on the business 
  • Discuss the possible organizational risk factors at play 
  • Recognize how to identify potential red flags  
  • Explore best practices and learn how to effectively support colleagues 
  • Outline the many aspects of a mentally well workplace 

Burnout Prevention

1-hour

Burnout is emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Burnout appears gradually and is most often associated with work, parenting, or relationships. In a 2021 study by Indeed.com, 52% of respondents experienced burnout, up from 43% in the same pre-COVID survey. As the pandemic continues, it is even more important for employers to make burnout a priority.  

Objectives: 

  • Understand the emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms of burnout  
  • Learn about the impacts of burnout on individuals and the workplace  
  • Learn strategies to prevent burnout   

Overcoming Compassion Fatigue

1-hour

Compassion fatigue is the emotional residue or strain of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events. This is quite often experienced most by those directly helping people or animals in distress. Commonly confused with burnout, compassion fatigue may have its symptomatic similarities, but it is very different. This is a great workshop for being proactive to get in front of compassion fatigue, but also a great option for those already experiencing it. 

Objectives: 

  • Understand the warning signs for compassion fatigue for yourself and your team members 
  • Learn about the impacts of compassion fatigue on individuals and the workplace 
  • Learn strategies for emotional and physical self-care to better prevent compassion fatigue 
Women writing in notebook

Mental Health 101

1-hour

This interactive workshop is devoted to giving individuals an opportunity to learn about all things mental health through an informative presentation full of powerful research, statistics, and storytelling. According to Johns Hopkins, 26% of adults have a diagnosable, treatable mental health condition at any given time. Not only does that represent us as a society, but how many employees make up 26% of your organization? 

Objectives: 

  • Learn to identify the signs and symptoms of mental illness along with the definitions of the most common mental health disorders. 
  • Learn about the impact of mental health challenges on the individuals experiencing them as well as how it can affect people closest to those experiencing those challenges. 
  • Discuss the myths vs facts about mental health challenges and what steps we can take to eliminate the stigma around mental health. 

Healthy Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

1-hour

At the end of this session participants will be able to have a deeper understanding of the importance of resolving conflict with others in a way that strengthens relationships and creates opportunities for successful outcomes.  

What is conflict? Where does it come from? How do we resolve it? Almost all of us can think of a time where we have struggled to have the motivation to address and issue with someone. While it may seem at the time that is the best option, research shows this leads to deeper underlying issues within that relationship and drives a more toxic environment for all. By learning tools to resolve conflict and having the opportunity to practice being empathetic we can create opportunities for successful outcomes that build positive, healthy relationships. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Set norms, values and cultural awareness  
  • Understanding relationships and how they impact our interactions with others 
  • Explore our understanding of conflict 
  • How does communication impact the interactions we have  
  • Learn tools for de-escalation and conflict resolution 
  • Understanding perception, emotions, and stress and how it leads to how we react to a situation or issue 
  • Putting into practice the tools to create a successful outcome and more positive culture.  

Mental Health in the Workplace

1-hour

In the United States, nearly half of all adults will struggle with mental illness at some point during their lifetime. This workshop explores the impact of mental illness on job performance, the cost to a company due to untreated mental illness, and what can be done to address this.

Objectives: 

  • Understand that mental illness impacts a sizable portion of your workforce  
  • Learn the cost of mental illness on employee performance  
  • Understand the financial implications untreated mental illness has to a company  
  • See how reducing the stigma and openly discussing the importance of mental wellness positively affects workplace culture  

Mental Health in the Classroom

1-hour

13-20% of kids are diagnosed with a mental health disorder in any given year and educators are often the first to notice a change in a student’s behavior. This workshop is an introduction to how mental illness may appear in student behavior and what educators can do to support mental wellness in the classroom.

Objectives: 

  • Learn the signs of common mental illnesses   
  • Understand the impact mental wellness has on a student’s ability to learn  
  • Receive strategies for creating a learning environment with mental wellness in mind  

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Trauma and Its Impact 1-hour 

1-hour

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are traumatic childhood experiences such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, physical and emotional neglect, household challenges, etc. Research has shown that as the number of ACEs a child experiences increases, so does the risk of several health conditions and social problems during that person’s life. This workshop will help you understand the impact of ACEs on child development, help you identify signs of trauma in your students and employees, and provide ways to respond rather than react.  

This workshop will help you understand the impact of ACEs on child development, help you identify signs of trauma in your students and employees, and provide ways to respond rather than react.  

Objectives:  

  • Identify adverse experiences that can affect a child’s development and their response to stress  
  • Understand the importance of healthy brain development in a child’s early years and the impacts of toxic stress  
  • Understand that experiencing adversity in childhood can have a significant impact on a person’ life course resulting in ill health, poor well-being, and in some cases premature death  
  • Understand how building resilience can help mitigate the impact of ACEs  
  • Understand what it means to look at adverse childhood experiences through a “trauma-informed lens”   

Crafting a Personal Work Mission Statement

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will create a work-specific mission statement regarding why they exist in their work organization, along with their core purpose and values within their work organization.

All people, sometime during their career, struggle emotionally at work. We naturally bring our feelings, opinions, and behaviors (some desirable, some not so) to work. In any situation, our strongest locus of control is our behaviors. Knowing this can give us a lot of influence over our work situation. A mission statement articulates why an organization exists and the core purpose and values of an organization. Writing your own personal work mission statement, similar to an oath, can help you identify if you are living up to your ideals or falling short (and if you are falling short, how to correct this to meet work ideals). You can draft a personal work mission statement by stating, “My personal work mission is to … and as a result, I commit to these actions and behaviors.”

This workshop will include these actions:

  • Crafting your very own personal work mission statement (and only if you are comfortable, reading it out loud).

Defining Your Strengths and Values AT WORK by a “Top-Down” Approach

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to identify three strengths or core values in their work setting and outline how they can augment those strengths in their future.

A top – down assessment is one in which you examine the big picture first. Understanding what drives and motivates us enables us to invest in the things that help us live our strengths and values. When we are not certain what our purpose is, we can hope to find it by completing a “top-down” personal assessment. This workshop will include these actions:

  • Make a list of your top five to ten values.
  • Take inventory of your work and work calendar. First, look at the way you spend your time at work and wonder if your work actions express your strengths and values. For example, if giving is important to you, do you have time on your calendar to support co-workers or volunteer for work-related tasks? Finally, looking at your time holistically, note how much of it is spent on activities that are additive and invigorating and how much is spent on things that sap your energy.
  • Examine what matters to you and reflect on whether you can dedicate more time at work on these values.
  • Ask co-workers or supervisors whom you trust what they would say you care about or what brings you energy and excitement.
  •  Identify the gaps between what makes you tick and your current actions. For example, are there values that you care about deeply that you don’t spend any time in enacting? What could you do differently to allocate more time or attention to the things that matter?

Defining Your Strengths and Values AT WORK by a “Bottom-Up” Approach

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to identify three strengths or core values in their work setting and outline how they can augment those strengths in their future.

A bottom – up assessment examines small, separate activities, observations, exchanges — in other words, the parts that make up the big picture. Understanding what drives and motivates us enables us to invest in the things that help us live our strengths and values. When we are not certain what our strengths and values are, we can hope to find by completing a “bottom-up” personal assessment. This workshop activity will include:

  • Prior to the workshop keeping a journal for a one-week period of time. During that time, note which activities, observations, and exchanges drain you and which ones make you feel good.

  • At the end of the week review your journal. Look for patterns: can you identify insights or generalize about cause and effect relationships as they related to strengths and values?

  • Make a list of people you admire in work settings and identify traits of theirs that you value.

Defining Your Strengths and Values IN LIFE by a “Top-Down” Approach

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to identify three strengths or core values in their personal life and outline how they can augment those strengths in their daily lives.

A top – down assessment is one in which you examine the big picture first. Understanding what drives and motivates us enables us to invest in the things that help us live our strengths and values. When we are not certain what our strengths and values are, we can hope to find it by completing a “top-down” personal assessment. This workshop activity will include:

  • Make a list of your top five to ten values.

  • Take inventory of your “away from work” or personal calendar. First, look at whether the way you spend your time expresses your strengths and values. For example, if spending time with loved one is important to you, do you have time on your calendar to spend time with loved ones? If your value is to volunteer in your community or for a social cause, are you spending time in such volunteer behaviors? Next, make a note next to each item on your personal calendar indicating if each activity gives you energy or drains you. Finally, looking at your time holistically, note how much of it is spent on activities that are additive and invigorating and how much is spent on things that sap your energy.

  • Examine what matters to you away from work, such as related to family, community, spiritual belief system or social causes. Reflect on whether you can dedicate more time toward values.

  • Ask those whom you trust what they would say you care about or what brings you energy and excitement.

  • Identify the gaps between what makes you tick and your current actions. For example, are there values that you care about deeply that you don’t spend any time in enacting? What could you do differently to allocate more time or attention to the things that matter?

Defining Your Strengths and Values IN LIFE by a “Bottom-Up” Approach

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to identify three strengths or core values in their personal life and outline how they can augment those strengths in their daily lives.   

A bottom – up assessment examines small, separate activities, observations, exchanges– in other words, the parts that make up the big picture. Understanding what drives and motivates us enables us to invest in the things that help us live our strengths and values. When we are not certain what our strengths and values are, we can hope to find it by completing a “bottom-up” personal assessment. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Prior to the workshop keep a journal for a one-week period of time. During that time, note which non-work activities, observations, and exchanges drain you and which ones make you feel good. 
  • At the end of the week review your journal. Look for patterns: can you identify insights or generalize about cause and effect relationships as they related to strengths and values? 
  • Make a list of people you admire in your personal life and identify traits of theirs that you value. 

Identifying Your Meaning and Purpose in Life

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to identify their purpose and meaning in life and outline actions that will help them strive daily to live their purpose. 

Viktor Frankl’s renowned book written over 75 years ago, Man’s Search for Meaning – his Holocaust testimony – has been translated into over 50 languages, sold over 16 million copies, and is currently listed on Amazon’s “Top 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.” In this book, and throughout his career as a practicing psychiatrist, Frankl helped his client’s discovery life meaning by having them imagine their future funeral and had them write their eulogy (role in life, memberships, accomplishments, what they were good at, qualities they were loved or admired for, personal or work goals) and then strive daily to live their purpose. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Participants writing their eulogy (and only if they feel comfortable, reading them out load) 
  • Outline two actions that will help each participant to strive daily to live their purpose 

Create a Calling Mentality at Work

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to reframe negative thoughts about a work task to reality based positive thoughts that augment a greater sense of purpose.   

The ways we think about our daily tasks can change our relationships to our work. Thus, by changing our perspective, we can achieve a greater sense of purpose without actually changing what we’re doing at work. This workshop activity will include:  

  • Pick one up coming work task on your calendar, whether it be attending a meeting, giving a presentation, or filling out an expense report. 
  • Think about the task, first, as part of a job, then as a career, and finally as a calling. Jot down or make mental notes for each of these different states. 
  • Reflect on how you approach the task when you think of it as a duty for a job versus something that you do as part of a calling. Does your motivation change? Do you feel a shift in the excitement or perhaps more or less dread? 
  • Practice doing this with a wider swath of your work tasks. Take an entire day in reframe it as a calling. Pay attention to how a shift in your perspective impacts your sense of joy and purpose.  

Practicing Compassion Toward Others in the Workforce

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to reframe negative thoughts toward co-workers and agency staff to reality-based compassion toward them and an ability to focus on their strengths.  

Almost all of us can name one person (a boss, coworker, the person who sends a million e-mails) who drives us crazy at work. While it may seem impossible to feel anything but annoyance toward this person, especially when he/she is creating more work for us or is the perceived cause of our suffering, by practicing compassion we can start to positively impact our work environment and change our experience. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Bring the difficult person to mind. 
  • Imagine him/her outside of work – perhaps interacting with his/her children or taking a walk in nature.  
  • Imagine separating the person from those things that cause the undesirable behavior. 
  • Think of people in this person’s life who care about and value him/her: a family member who relies on his/her or a struggling parents who did their best to raise her. 
  • What behaviors does this person display that you can appreciate: humor, the ability to get things done? 
  • Think of crossing paths with that person outside your normal environment – can you imagine meeting him/her for the first time and enjoying his/her company? 
  • With this additional context for the person you find challenging, notice how it allows you to exercise more understanding, empathy, or generosity in your next encounter.  

Fortifying Ourselves with Self-Compassion

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to reframe negative thoughts toward themselves to reality-based compassion toward themselves and an ability to be fair to ourselves by balancing responsibility, self-correction, and focusing on our strengths.   

Practicing self-compassion is as important as applying compassion to others. Remember that many workers, in all lines of employment, feel like frauds. When you find yourself in self-deprecation mode, calling yourself names, telling yourself that you can’t do something well enough, and generally being a bully to yourself, remember that most people suffer from this “imposter syndrome,” the feeling that we are just pretending, that we don’t really belong, that we will be found out, that are true inadequacy will become obvious to the people around us, who are, for some reason, being tricked for the time being. The fact is that everyone you work with, no matter how self-assured they seem, experiences self-doubt. This is a human condition. And these are just thoughts, so you don’t have to believe them. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Be a friend to yourself. As corny as that may sound, it’s a cognitive reframing activity that hundreds of my past clients have found incredibly useful. When you notice you’re being hard on yourself over a problem, imagine a dear friend coming to you with the same problem. How would you respond? How would you offer support? What would you say? How would you regard your friend? Now try giving these responses to yourself.
  • Ask for help. Many of us are caught up in the idea that we need to be a professional, which we equate as being stoic, handling things on our own. Over time, though, this “I’ve got this” attitude begins to wear thin, and we realize we can’t do our jobs alone. Experiment with giving someone else the chance to support you. If this is a completely foreign idea to you, then I suggest you do it even more. People like to help! Think of how you feel when you get to help others. Helping people makes most people feel good about themselves and fuels connection. So, instead of defaulting to “No, thanks” or “It’s okay, I’m fine” when someone offers you something, try saying yes 

Identifying the Ladder of Inference or Incorrect Hot Thoughts

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to reframe unhealthy cognitive distortions to reality based positive thoughts. 

Paying attention and recognizing when we are climbing the ladder of inference can offer us opportunity to shift our attention to objective data, rather than react to subjective feelings. This workshop activity will include:  

  • Bring to mind a recent situation at work that caused you to experience difficult emotions.
  • Write down how the situation made you feel. What were the strongest emotions? Fear? Anxiety? Panic? 
  • Now take a moment to write and reflect on the facts of the situation. What actually happened? 
  • Next, take a step back. What would an objective observer say about the situation? Did what actually happened warrant the panic you felt? Was the eventual outcome as terrible as you thought it was? Practice identifying what you’re inferring through your emotional responses versus what is actually provable based on fact.  

Walking Meditation

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to learn how to meditation while walking as a way to calm a stressed mind.  

Sometimes you might find yourself flooded with emotion and unable to take yourself calmly through the process of identifying and listening to your emotions. In moments such as these, one of the quickest ways to shift your focus is to rest your attention in your body. By returning your focus to your body, you can turn off negative thoughts. One way to do this is simply to go for a walk, or to practice what is known as “walking meditation.”  When you practice walking meditation, you simply go for a stroll. You have no purpose or direction in space or time. The purpose of walking meditation is walking meditation itself. Going is important, not arriving. Walking meditation is not a means to an end; it is an end. This workshop activity will include: 

  • As you walking, put your attention on the soles of your feet and feel them contacting the ground
  • Stand on one foot and be aware that it is resting on the earth
  • While walking, look down and anticipate the ground where you are about to place your foot, and when you do, mindfully experience your foot, the ground, and the connection between your foot and the ground 

Gratitude Reflection

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will be able to focus their mind on the quality of being thankful.  

The concept of practicing gratitude has become immensely popular in recent years for its magical impact on health and well-being. Practicing gratitude makes a lot of sense if we think of it as a daily reminder to reflect (not ruminate) and specifically to include the positive in our world, the kindness of neighbors or co-workers, the effort that goes into supporting the materiality of our experience. Also celebrating our own wins. Begin a 30-day challenge today to celebrate your wins and what is going well professionally for you each day. This is to counteract a tenancy to focus on what could be improved, what is not working. Not that this isn’t a good thing to do, but it needs to be balanced, and there’s a lot to be said for a strengths-based approach rather than a deficit-based approach to work/life. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Focusing your mind on the quality of being thankful
  • Making simple journal entries daily 

Developing an Optimal Leisure Lifestyle

1-hour

By the end of this session participants will create an optimal leisure lifestyle that will increase positive emotion into their lives and help them discover meaning in life form their free time.  

Most people have no idea that there are different types of leisure that can be utilized during free time. Serious leisure is the development of a skill set that can take weeks, months, and years to cultivate and is based on mastery and effort (e.g. restoring antiques, learning a musical instrument). Casual leisure is the opposite and is immediate, intrinsically rewarding, relatively short-lived pleasurable activity requiring little or no special training (e.g., eating out, going to a movie). Project-based leisure lies between serious and casual leisure, as it is a short-term, reasonably complicated, one-shot or occasional (though infrequent) creative undertaking carried out in free time (e.g., creating family reunions or a community celebration, planning an elaborate vacation). An optimal leisure lifestyle consists of one serious leisure activity, supplemented by casual and project-based leisure. This workshop activity will include: 

  • Learning the difference between serious, casual, and project-based leisure
  • Creating an optimal leisure lifestyle 

Repossessing Your Sanity in the Workplace

One Day (8 hours)

A workshop that will create a self-care plan to increase positive emotion during the workday and find meaning in work and life. 

As a leader of an organization, how do you motivate those around you? As a worker in an organization, where does your motivation come from, and can you change it toward being more positive? Do you ever take the opportunity to understand the meaning the work has for you or your teammates by understanding: 

  • Why they’re excited about a particular project; 
  • What skills or knowledge they might gain as a result of the work; 
  • The process or procedure they are excited to introduce and how your colleagues can make everyone’s lives easier; and 
  • How work allows people to create better lives for themselves or their families? 

Work can be deeply rewarding and can contribute to positive emotion at your place of employment and in your own family and community. However, work can also create an awful lot of negative emotion, such as anxiety, anger, envy, fear, and paranoia, can also leak into your family relationships and into the broader community. According to Dr. Leah Weiss, an internationally known Professor at the prestigious Stanford Graduate School of Business, nothing provides more opportunities for negative emotions than the dynamics of the workplace. But the good news is that these feelings matter and can be changed. How we feel at and about work matters – to ourselves, to the quality of our work, and ultimately to the success of the organizations for which we work. 

Building on Dr. Weiss’ work and research, and using his skills and academic labor, the various workshops offered by Dr. Rodney Dieser will offer psychological strategies to develop soft skill-based leadership to prevent burnout and change toxic workplaces. In addition, the strategies outlined will help transform the daily grind of work into labor that sustain us: meaningful contribution and a sense of belonging. These workshops will offer practical strategies for bringing courage, purpose, and compassion to our work. 

This one-day interactive workshop is focused on how to feel greater positive emotion at work, which extends to greater positive emotion in life. The morning will focus on discovering your specific purpose at work and how to use free time outside of work to develop an optimal leisure lifestyle that can also lead to meaning, but also enjoyment, pleasure, and relaxation. The afternoon session will focus on how to reframe your thoughts when feeling negative in your work setting, gaining compassion toward yourself and your work colleagues, including how to repair ruptured relationships, and learning how to calm yourself when upset.  

Participants will learn to: 

  • Craft a workplace mission statement 
  • Use mindfulness to stay calm 
  • Focus on what they can contribute 
  • Use reflection and problem-solving techniques 
  • Practice compassion towards colleagues 
  • Identify realistic work goals 
  • Perform self-compassion 
  • Develop an optimal leisure lifestyle outside of work 

This all-day workshop can be broken into a half day workshop focused on (1) discovering your specific purpose at work and how to use free time outside of work to develop an optimal leisure lifestyle that can lead discovering to meaning in life, but also enjoyment, pleasure, and relaxation or (2) learning how to reframe your thoughts when feeling negative in your work setting, gaining compassion toward yourself and your work colleagues, including how to repair ruptured relationships, and learning how to calm yourself when upset. 

Custom Workshops

1-hour to One Day

Have our team review your organization’s presenting needs and circumstances and we will design a custom workshop, through the lens of wellness, that delivers the desired outcomes you are seeking. 

Would you like to learn more about any of our workshops and how they will positively impact your workplace culture?

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