Initiatives

Emory Flourishing at Grady is dedicated to creating meaningful programs and initiatives that support faculty, learners, APPs, and staff by fostering wellness, wellbeing, and resilience while building a stronger, more resilient, and more connected community. 

Upon request, debriefing sessions are offered to Emory at Grady teams following particularly challenging, distressing, or traumatic events. Led by Dr. Nadine Kaslow, these confidential, facilitated, small group discussions provide a structured, supportive, and informal and safe environment for individuals to process their experiences, share emotional reactions, and foster individual and collective healing. The goal is to help health care professionals address immediate stress and team members' emotional and psychological reactions and needs, strengthen team connections and bolster team functioning, and promote ongoing wellbeing. Team debriefings can be helpful after challenging or traumatic clinical or hospital-related events, significant team stresses or losses, high levels of burnout among team members, and problematic team dynamics, etc.

The WeCARE Peer Supporter Program is a peer-led support network that provides a confidential and compassionate space for colleagues experiencing stress, trauma, or burnout. Recognizing the demands of working in a Level 1 trauma center and safety-net hospital, this program empowers trained Peer Supporters to assist colleagues in navigating challenges through active listening, emotional support, and guidance toward wellness strategies and resources. 

Peer Supporters are volunteers from across departments and undergo training in peer support principles, active listening, and resource navigation to ensure they can effectively support their colleagues. Meetings with peers are designed to be non-judgmental and confidential, providing a safe space where individuals can process their experiences, feel heard, and receive encouragement without fear of stigma. 

Opportunities to be trained and deployed as Peer Supporters are open to faculty, learners, APPs, and staff who want to support their peers, strengthen the culture of wellness and wellbeing, and promote resilience and flourishing within the Emory at Grady community and beyond. 

To access an Emory at Grady Peer Supporter or to be trained as a Peer Supporter, use the button below. 

The Emory Flourishing at Grady Team Connection Microgrants provide funding for new, innovative, and impactful team-based activities that build team cohesion, improve interpersonal relationships among team members or across teams, increase individual and team-level resilience, and reduce burnout levels across the Emory at Grady community. Microgrants of up to $2,000 will be awarded for team-based initiatives during fiscal year 2026. 

The 2025-2026 application is now closed. We are excited to share that 11 teams have been selected to receive funding. A PDF highlighting the funded initiatives is available below. You may also view the original call for submissions to learn more about the goals, eligibility, and selection process. 

We look forward to future opportunities to partner with your team to foster connection and wellbeing across Emory at Grady. 

Access to convenient food options is an important contributor to workplace wellbeing -particularly in fast-paced clinical environments. Through ongoing conversations within the Emory Flourishing at Grady Advisory Group, expanding access to healthier, grab-and-go options in the Faculty Office Building emerged as a shared goal. 

Recognizing the connection to the needs of the community, the Emory at Grady Dean’s Office partnered with Georgia Vending Services to introduce a self-service Micro-Market on the first floor of the Faculty Office Building. The Micro-Market provides a modern retail-style experience with a variety of fresh items, snacks, and beverages, available 24/7 through a self-checkout kiosk system. 

This initiative reflects a broader commitment to creating an environment that supports wellbeing in practical, everyday ways. By increasing access to convenient food options — including healthier selections — the Micro-Market helps address one of the meaningful barriers faced by busy faculty, learners, APPs, and staff. 

As with all Emory Flourishing at Grady initiatives, we will continue to evaluate the Micro-Market’s utilization and community feedback over time. 

For additional details about how to use the market, payment processing, and the community feedback form, please review the guide below. 

ArtRounds is a visual arts initiative developed in partnership between the Emory Flourishing at Grady Program and Community and the Office of Community & Engagement within the Emory at Grady Dean’s Office. It uplifts the creativity and lived experiences of faculty, learners, APPs, and staff through visual storytelling by bringing art into shared spaces to inspire reflection, connection, and inspiration. 

The inaugural installation of ArtRounds will be unveiled as part of Together We Thrive, the Emory School of Medicine’s two-day community-wide event focused on community, engagement and wellbeing. Artwork will be on display starting March 16, 2026, in the Faculty Office Building (FOB), 1st Floor Lobby, with the Emory at Grady ArtRounds Inaugural Exhibition and Celebration held on Thursday, March 26, from 5:30–7:30 PM, in the FOB Lobby and Room 101. 

All are invited to attend the celebration, meet the artists, and enjoy refreshments and live performances that highlight the richness of our community. ArtRounds is intended to be an ongoing initiative that showcases creative expression as a powerful source of flourishing across the Emory at Grady community. 

Emory at Grady Choir: One of our primary creative initiatives is the Emory at Grady Choir, a welcoming and casual group open to faculty, learners, APPs, and staff who enjoy music and want to contribute to a more uplifting work environment. The choir brings colleagues together to perform at events such as the holiday celebration, faculty receptions, and commemorative gatherings, creating moments of joy and connection.  

Beyond these opportunities, we are exploring other arts-based initiatives as avenues for creative stress relief and personal reflection. 

The Emory Flourishing at Grady Program offers educational initiatives designed to address timely and meaningful wellness topics for faculty, learners, APPs, and staff. These events are aimed at enhancing awareness, providing practical tools, and promoting a culture of wellbeing across the health care community. Educational initiatives often occur in conjunction with other teams, such as the Emory School of Medicine Office of Academic Affairs and Professional Development. 

• March 2025 - Promoting Health and Well-Being: Addressing Substance Misuse Among Faculty with Effective Treatment and Support Strategies - focused on warning signs of substance misuse among physicians, barriers to seeking help, intervention strategies, and available support services; presenters - Dr. Paul Earley, adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Dr. Janice Harewood and Kristen Render from the Faculty Staff Assistance Program 

• September 2025 – Navigating Moral Distress in Academic Medicine: Addressing the Impact of Current Environment on our Professional Lives – explored definitions, precipitants, impacts, and effective navigation of moral distress; presenters – Dr. Nadine Kaslow, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 

Supported by a grant awarded by the Emory Medical Care Foundation, Inc. (EMCF), Drs. Malavika Kapuria, James O’Shea, Michael Zdradzinski, Sophie Arkin, and Katherine Kohler, under the mentorship of Drs. Nadine Kaslow, Michelle Lall and Jason Schneider launched a comprehensive survey in spring 2024 to better understand the well-being, sources of stress, and wellness preferences of Emory at Grady health care personnel.

148 faculty, staff, APPs, and learners completed the Professional Quality of Life for Healthcare Workers Scale (ProQOL Health). Survey results indicated moderate levels of personal support, compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and moral distress, with no major differences by professional background. However, some departmental differences emerged in compassion satisfaction and burnout. 

The top five contributors to daily work-related stress were: workflow inefficiencies (67%); resource limitations (62%); physical, emotional, and psychosocial stress (47%); ethical dilemmas and moral distress (32%); and insufficient interprofessional communication (30%). The top five preferred wellbeing initiatives identified were: Emory at Grady lounge (52%); access to healthy food onsite (43%); transparent communication between leadership and staff (38%); onsite debriefings for adverse events (28%); and onsite wellness programming (23%).  

To build on the survey findings, from October 2024 through February 2025, the research team conducted confidential, one-hour focus groups with 48 Emory at Grady personnel. Three separate focus groups were held for each professional background—attendings, housestaff, APPs, and staff—with participants grouped with their peers to foster open discussion. The focus groups explored deeper narratives around wellbeing, stress, and community needs, providing qualitative data to provide further context to the survey results, and to reveal new themes and wellbeing activities. 

Analysis of the focus group data is currently underway. Findings will inform future Emory Flourishing at Grady initiatives and programming, ensuring they are community-driven, responsive to lived experiences, and reflective of the unique challenges and strengths of the Emory at Grady environment. 

Throughout the year, Emory at Grady recognizes national and community-based wellbeing awareness moments as opportunities to pause, reflect, and engage in practices that support individual and collective flourishing. These observances highlight important dimensions of wellbeing and serve as intentional touchpoints for connection, education, and care within our community. 

Healthcare Workforce Wellbeing Day (March 18, 2026) 

In recognition of Health Workforce Wellbeing Day, the Emory Flourishing at Grady Committee led a community-wide effort to center the wellbeing of those who care for others. This observance served as a reminder that sustaining compassionate, high-quality care begins with supporting the health, nourishment, and connection of our workforce. 

As part of this initiative, healthy snacks were distributed across departments to offer moments of care and restoration during the workday, alongside continued efforts to expand access to nutritious food through initiatives like the Emory at Grady Grocery (EGG). Together, these efforts reflect an ongoing commitment to fostering a culture where wellbeing is supported, accessible, and integrated into the daily experience of our community. 

Stress Awareness Month – April 2026 

During Stress Awareness Month, we focus on increasing awareness of how stress shows up across our work and daily lives—and how it can impact our physical health, emotional wellbeing, and ability to stay present and engaged. In healthcare environments, where demands are often high and sustained, stress can accumulate in ways that are not always immediately visible, making it important to recognize early signs and respond with intention. 

This month, we are featuring our Stress Management Tip Sheet, which offers practical, accessible strategies to help manage stress across multiple dimensions of wellbeing. These tools are designed to support awareness, encourage small, sustainable shifts, and create moments of steadiness throughout the workday.