The Healthy Monday Program Makes Room for Self-Care

It’s no secret that we’re living through exceptionally stressful times, which is why leaving room for self-care is so important! The Healthy Monday Employee Wellness Initiative does just that! The program was designed by The Monday Campaign, Dr. Elena Ladas’s Integrative Therapies Program, POWER in Pediatrics, along with wellness experts from Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The Monday Program is intended to provide you with weekly self-care tools and resources to help refresh your mindset, rejuvenate your energy, and achieve your wellness goals, potentially leading to stress reduction and a decrease in the effects of burnout.

Every Monday, now through March 2023, you will receive an email with a link in your inbox to the Healthy Monday Refresh, reminding you to take a moment to think about your own needs. Each week focuses on quick, easy, evidence-based mind-body practices, physical activities, and healthy meatless recipes, all promoting self-care. Weeks 1-12 will include videos featuring wellness experts from CUIMC including: Drs. Dara M. Steinberg, Ian J. Sadler, Melanie A. Gold, Pooja Amy Shah, and members of the Integrative Therapies team, Michelle Bombacie and Michelle Walters.

Weeks 13-24 will include a practice and a supplementary article that takes a deeper dive into the recommended weekly practices. Columbia Work Life and NYPBehealthy provide additional resources correlating to each self-care tip. These resources include links to well-being coaches, video demonstrations and audio meditations, gym membership discounts, and healthy recipes.  

We aim to provide resources and recommendations on one platform to all faculty, trainees, and staff across our institution, especially those not previously aware of the wellness initiatives already offered. Potentially 1,000 participants, comprised of CUIMC faculty, trainees, and staff throughout the Department of Pediatrics, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital nursing staff, human resources network, Cancer Center Infusion Center, Milstein Oncology, and the School Based Health Centers, Family Planning Clinic, and Child Advocacy Center, will participate.

To further understand the facilitators and barriers of our wellness program, pre- and post-participation surveys and weekly mini-questionnaires are encouraged, however, completion is not required to participate. To preserve confidentiality, registration is not required. You can click on the weekly link and hop on for a little self-care anytime! Participation in this study will potentially increase both your knowledge and practice of self-care activities. We will not collect any identifying information so you can participate as you wish.