Stronger now, stronger in the long run

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HealthWiki > Promoting Community Mental Health > Chapter 9: Helping ourselves to do this work > Stronger now, stronger in the long run

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

• Chapter 9: Helping ourselves to do this work
• Noticing how we react to others and what to do about it
• Knowing when the stress is too much
• Stronger now, stronger in the long run

Many community-based organizations were created to challenge the inequality and injustice harming people. Many of us working in these groups have a strong moral and political commitment to change unfair conditions and organize people to find solutions.

While there is no shortage of problems that need urgent attention, there is often a great shortage of resources with which to do it. This puts an enormous stress on those of us who earn our living this way. Not only are the salaries and benefits less than in the for-profit world, but the lack of reliable funding makes our jobs unstable.

We put up with being understaffed and overworked because we don’t want to abandon the people we serve. The injustices are huge and progress is painfully slow.

Sometimes it feels like the challenges require superheroes—which we are not. Supporting community mental health means building organizations and workplaces that encourage participation, don’t burn people out, and move toward the social change our communities need, deserve, and demand. While every organization must do this based on their specific situation, these positive practices can improve almost all non-profits and service-oriented organizations:

Support autonomy and reduce hierarchy. Not every organization is suited to a collective structure, and not every person in a workplace wants an equal amount of responsibility. However, workers who control more of the decision-making about their work tend to find ways of working that increase their productivity while decreasing their stress. Give yourself and others the space to adjust work tasks so there is still accountability for doing them, but so they are done in a way that feels more efficient or more rewarding.

More equality in rewards. Large differences in salaries and benefits tell workers that some people are valued more than others. While still rewarding people for seniority, responsibilities, professional credentials, and achievements, a fairer workplace limits salary differences so the gaps are not large. It also creates paths to promotion and changing positions within the organization.

Our organization made a rule that the highest paid person, our Executive Director, cannot be paid more than 2.5 times what the lowest paid, entry-level position earns.

Regional equality. Set salaries to be roughly equivalent to those of other area workplaces. This helps limit turnover and build community.

Paid time off. Especially when jobs are emotionally draining and people struggle to meet client and community needs, time off is a necessity, not a luxury. Besides weekends, make sure there is at least one holiday or other paid day off every month and adequate vacation time. Rest and relaxation keep people able to work for the community, and they don’t take anything away from the community. The ability to take personal time for doctor appointments and to care for children or others also keeps anxiety lower.

Look for shared problems that can be solved

Many social change, care-giving, or social service organizations find that it builds morale and improves workplace relations if they can regularly identify and fix workplace issues affecting many people. Involving people from across the organization often generates good, practical ideas about how to make the workplace better. Creating an open culture of addressing problems together can lead to effective and realistic solutions.

Our intake forms required too much clicking, too many needless questions. They took too much time and worsened ergonomic problems. We cut the form’s length in half and changed to software that was much simpler. It was a big relief in our daily work.

We reactivated a workplace improvement committee. They use anonymous surveys to get feedback, report to our all-staff meetings monthly, and give updates on what is in-progress and what has already been done. It makes us feel more in control of our workplace.

The core of our work is home-based outreach, but policies hadn’t been updated in 5 years. Travel costs had risen and we spend more time now with each family. We organized an agency-wide review so policies now match our actual workload and costs.

Our unused outdoor patio now has a mural, tables, and a container garden. Many of us now take lunch breaks together. The chance to laugh and know each other better lifts everyone’s mood.

We help people whose lives are really intense. Hearing it day after day can be too much. We get numb to it—our empathy drains away. We now divide the work into administrative work days and days we provide counseling. The result is fewer people quitting due to burnout.

Celebrate ourselves and our victories

So much of our work addresses long-term problems and the need for structural change that we often fail to recognize our small victories, completed projects, and successful transitions out of particularly stressful times. Celebrating with a group lunch, an afternoon off, a trip to a special event, or another enjoyable activity helps build staff unity and the feeling that we are valued for what we do.

This page was updated:18 Apr 2025