Quarterly News and Updates

March 2024

CPH-NEW started the year off with an all personnel retreat focused on professional development in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice and academic writing, as well as strategic planning to set our goals for the future!

The Center continues to expand their work in engaging workers in Total Worker Health®. Total Teacher Health has expanded their reach this year with new elementary schools, SHIFT has been delivering training to build TWH leaders in labor, TWH Employer Crisis Preparedness preparing a NEW online course, HITEC continues to expand its reach with more correctional facilities engaging in the intervention design process, and our Outreach Core has developed a series of case studies on the implementation of the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program.

Reducing Opioid Dependence for Injured Workers: Exploring the Opioid Alternative Treatment Pathway in Massachusetts

Contributed by Cora Roelofs, ScD. University of Massachusetts Lowell. Department of Biomedical Engineering

Workers, particularly those in physically demanding jobs or occupations with high injury rates, have been more likely to receive opioid prescriptions than the general population and, as a result, have also been hard hit by higher rates of opioid overdose. Although progress has been made in reducing opioid prescribing practices, little attention has been paid to the challenges facing injured workers who have years-long opioid dependence. The Massachusetts Opioid Alternative Treatment Pathway (OATP) supports a mediation process to provide improved pain management and support through dose reductions for injured workers with settled claims who are taking high-dose long-term opioid pain medications. Continue reading here.

CPH-NEW News & Views

CPH-NEW Continuing Education and Training

Building Total Worker Health Leaders in Labor-Train the Trainer: Are you a member or staff at a union or worker organization? This training is designed for you! Learn to implement TWH approaches in labor management health and safety committees. Classes are held via Zoom and can be completed on one full Saturday session or three Tuesday afternoon sessions.

Total Worker Health (TWH) for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Professionals: A Continuing Education Course for Occupational Health Professionals is a self-paced online course that provides a foundational introduction to TWH concepts and how they apply to OSH professional practice.

Total Worker Health Facilitator Training: Sharpen your facilitation skills and learn how to implement Total Worker Health using the Healthy Workplace Participatory Program, in this virtual training course. Register for the April cohort here.

Continuing Education & Training Page

Events

March 6, 2024: Connecticut Construction Industries Association is hosting a free Total Worker Health Seminar at the Double Tree by Hilton in Bristol Connecticut. Guest speakers, including CPH-NEW Director Dr. Jennifer Cavallari and NIOSH TWH Director Dr. Casey Chosewood and others will share case studies of implementing TWH and discuss the how and where can companies start to tackle them all to take care of workers beyond compliance.

March 12, 2024 10AM CT: Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety presents: Cannabis, Legalization and Health: An Overview of the Literature and Opportunities for Collaboration. This webinar will give a quick overview of cannabis, summarize levels and patterns of use, present what is currently known and not known about cannabis and health outcomes (including workplace outcomes), discuss the current regulatory environment and implications of those changes, and give a quick overview of the newly launched SPH Cannabis Research Center at UMN.

March 14, 2024 4PM MT: U-POWER presents: Building Capacity for Total Worker Health. Learn what it’s like to try to use a community-based participatory research approach when working with for-profit organizations, designing focus groups that are mindful of power dynamics between employees and supervisors, and what first-round analysis has revealed about what makes workers feel safe in their workplace.

March 27, 2024 12PM PT: California Labor Lab presents: Workplace Mental Health: Embracing a Population Health Framework. This presentation will explore the critical role of healthy leadership in supporting workers’ mental health through a population health framework. The session is designed to provide evidence-based insights and practical guidance on how leaders can support and protect mental health through proactive and responsive supportive strategies.

May 15, 2024 11AM MT: Health Links presents: The State of Workplace Mental Health 2024. Learning Objectives: The state of workplace mental health in 2023/2024. Best practices from small and large employers who focus on workplace mental health. How the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community is impacted by workplace mental health.

Events Page

New Publications

Nobrega, S. and Zhang, Y. (2024) Let’s Learn Together! A Mixed-Methods Study to Assess Readiness for Interprofessional Education on Total Worker Health® Practice. Workplace Health & Safety. https://doi.org/10.1177/21650799231217320

Siddique, S., Gore, R., Zhang, Y., and Punnett, L. (2024) Emotional exhaustion in healthcare workers: Moving beyond coping skills to improve organizational conditions. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003063

Publications & Articles

Listen, Read, Watch

The Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity has created a new tool for managers. The Manager’s Guide to Incivility outlines what incivility is, strategies managers can take to combat it, case studies based on real situations, and exercises to explore team dynamics.

The Center for Health, Work and Environment has developed new curriculum to help schools prepare for mental health emergencies. Mental Health Emergency Preparedness for the School Workforce, is an intervention to increase psychological preparedness for teachers, staff and leadership in pre-K-8 schools during emergencies.

Psych Health and Safety Podcast: Join Dr. David Daniels as he and guests raise awareness about psychological health and safety.

The Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkely the Center partnered with the Center for Construction Research and Training to create a research to practice roadmap for general industry.

The Center for Health, Work and Environment are offering, Mental Health in the Workplace, a free 30 minute course designed to help leaders prioritize and address workplace mental health.

The Center for Work, Health and Well-being has created these handy tip sheets for promoting worker engagement. You can find them in English or Spanish!

The Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest has developed materials for implementing a suicide prevention campaign in your organization.

The Healthier Workforce Center for the Midwest has developed great tools to engage young workers about workplace health and safety.

Total Worker Health^® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Participation by CPH-NEW does not imply endorsement by HHS, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This publication was supported by Grant Number 1 U19 OH012299. Its contents are solely the responsibility of CPH-NEW and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIOSH.

CPH-NEW is a NIOSH TWH Center of Excellence

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