August 2024 Electronic Mailbags
August 15, 2024
Wellbeing First Champion Challenge
Recently, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) held a closed-session webinar for board of pharmacy executive directors to follow up about the 120th NABP Annual Meeting keynote address delivered by Corey Feist, MBA, JD, executive director of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. During the July 11 webinar, titled Improving Mental Health Access for Pharmacy Staff, Feist focused on barriers that prevent health care workers from seeking mental health care and simple strategies to remove those barriers.
The Wellbeing First Champion Challenge is a way boards of pharmacy can take steps to support pharmacy staff’s access to mental health care. Boards who verify that overly broad and invasive mental health questions have been removed from licensure and credentialing applications earn a Wellbeing First Champion Badge, which serves as a visual recognition that they prioritize health worker well-being.
As Feist shared during his presentation, the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation offers a toolkit to guide regulators in taking three critical steps to remove barriers:
- Audit all credentialing applications
- Change invasive and stigmatizing language
- Communicate changes to the workforce and assure clinicians that it is safe for them to seek care
All boards of pharmacy executive officers were emailed a link to the webinar recording on July 25. Feel free to share the recording with board members and staff.
We hope you and your board will take part in the Wellbeing First Champion Challenge, and we look forward to discussing this initiative with you at the Executive Officer Forum in September.