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The UAB Department of Pathology, in tandem with the UAB Heersink Office of Wellness, is dedicated to the wellness of our individuals, teams, and workplace. Peruse the UAB-offered wellness resources below to improve collective well-being, evaluate well-being burnout and engagement, examine and reduce organizational stressors, and more. In case of emergency, call 911 or the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Wellness Wheel

office-of-wellness-white-02.pngThe Wellness Wheel is a visual interpretation of the Office of Wellness' mission to focus on the physical, psychological, and social wellness of UAB's people and place. UAB Pathology, in tandem with the Office of Wellness, is committed to identifying and providing resources in multiple dimensions of wellness that are critical for individuals and teams while keeping the center of our focus on overall workplace wellbeing. This focus is on occupational, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and health/physical wellness. 

Office of Wellness Resources

  • Wellness Support Services

    The office offers confidential consultation and coaching through conversations for faculty, advanced practice providers, medical residents and fellows, medical students, biomedical graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.

    Services include:

    • Wellness check-ins
    • One-on-one assessment and consultations 
    • Informal coaching and advising through conversation
    • Group sessions
    • Referral assistance 

    Make an appointment by calling 205-731-9799 or emailing Alisa Palmore. No referral is required.

    Meet the providers

  • Professional Development

    We’re dedicated to supporting faculty and trainees in their growth and wellbeing. Our office provides free and confidential counseling, consultation, and coaching for faculty, physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, medical residents, medical students, biomedical graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.

    Services

    • One-on-one assessments and consultations
    • Short-term counseling and coaching
    • Group sessions
    • Referral assistance

    Make an Appointment

    Learn more

  • UAB Resources

    UAB offers an array of resources for individual and collective wellness. The Office of Wellness has compiled and organized these based on our five dimensions of wellness:

    Emotional: Resources to help cope effectively with life’s stresses, create satisfying relationships, and develop the ability to adapt to change and difficult times

    UAB Employee Assistance & Counseling Center: offers free, confidential support services to all UAB employees and their immediate household. Includes 15 free counseling and life coaching sessions

    UAB Medicine Office of Wellness: Ph.D. and M.D. wellness champions offer conversations for growth & wellbeing. Available to faculty, physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, medical residents, medical students, biomedical graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows

    Hopeful Healing: monthly support group for coping with chronic illnesses, offered through EACC

    Coping Conversations: monthly virtual discussion to provide tools for coping with life’s stresses, offered through EACC

    Physical: Resources to help take care of one’s body for optimal health and functioning 

    UAB Employee Wellness: provides resources and opportunities to help employees live well

    eMedicine: offers on-demand, virtual healthcare

    Urgent Care: offers quick, convenient access to healthcare for non-life threatening illnesses and injuries

    UAB Medicine Addiction Recovery: offers individual, group, and an Intensive Outpatient Program for alcohol and substance use disorders. Classes and events, as well as recovery resources are also available

    Sleep/Wake Disorders Center: provides advanced testing, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep disorders

    University Rec Center: offers gym memberships, outdoor rentals, group classes, personal training, and intramural sports

    UAB Walking Trails: eight routes offering a variety of distances all over the medical and academic campus

    Weight Loss Medicine: offers services to individuals looking to lose weight and keep it off

    Tobacco Cessation: offers individual and group coaching, as well as online resources, to help quit smoking

    Intellectual: Resources to help recognize one’s creative abilities and expand knowledge and skills

     UAB Learning & Development: offers opportunities to enhance professional development for UAB faculty and staff

    LinkedIn Learning: online learning resource platform that helps employees learn business, technology, and creative skills. UAB offers free membership to benefit-eligible UAB employees.

    Art Therapy: monthly virtual art group, hosted by EACC

    Occupational: Resources to help one find a sense of satisfaction and enrichment with work that allows for meeting current and future financial obligations

    UAB Ombuds: provides confidential, impartial conflict resolution assistance to UAB faculty, staff, mentored graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows for University related conflicts

    Financial Wellness Program: offers personalized counseling, educational seminars and additional resources designed to help employees cope with financial stressors, build financial skills and feel confident about their future

    UAB Incident Reporting: report car accidents, on-the-job injuries, property damage or hospital/clinic incidents

    MyHealthRewards: earn up to $350 for healthy behaviors. Available to all benefit-eligible employees that are enrolled in a medical plan

    UAB Employee Perks Program: allows UAB faculty and staff to save money (real estate, travel, retail, electronics, etc.)

    BWell App: explore wellness events on campus and UAB resources. App offers a customizable self-care plan, habit tracker, and a section for “finding calm” that includes breathing techniques, yoga and more.

    myStrength app: provides access to web and mobile tools for increased emotional health and wellbeing

  • Take 5 Tuesday

    UAB Medicine Office of Wellness provides tools and resources each week through a weekly wellness email: Take 5 Tuesday.

    The communication aims to strengthen the mind, body, and spirit through local and national resources. Resources are offered across all five dimensions of wellness: emotional, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, and health.

    Subscribe to the weekly email here.

GME Wellness Resources

  • Help with mental health

    Help with mental health

    Wellness Support Services

    Wellness Support Services in the Office of Wellness (formerly the Professional Development Office) offers confidential consultation and coaching through conversations for faculty, advanced practice providers, medical residents and fellows, medical students, biomedical graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows. 

    • Make an appointment: call 205-731-9799 or email Alisa Palmore
    • There is no charge for this service.
    • No referral is required.

     

    Employee Health Provider Health Officer, Sandra Frazier, M.D.

    As the UAB Medicine Provider Health Officer, Dr. Frazier provides assessment and evaluation, coaching, triage, brainstorming, and referral assistance for those dealing with both professional and personal issues that may be hindering them from being at their best.

    • Make an appointment: Email sfrazier@uabmc.edu.
    • Sessions are help primarily via Zoom.
    • Services are provided at no charge and no referral is necessary.

     

    UAB Employee Assistance and Counseling Center 

    The UAB Employee Assistance & Counseling Center offers free, confidential support services for UAB employees and members of their immediate household. The EACC's services are designed to help you identify, understand, and resolve work-related and personal issues to help you achieve a successful work/life integration. 

  • Help with financial health

    Help with financial health

    UAB Financial Wellness Program

    UAB Financial Wellness offers personalized counseling, educational seminars and additional resources designed to help employees cope with financial stressors, build financial skills and feel confident about their future.

    EACC Financial Wellness

    The UAB Employee Assistance & Counseling Center offers free financial counseling services to help you develop a personal financial assessment and take control of your finances. To schedule a one-on-one appointment with an EACC counselor, call 205-934-2281. Virtual appointments available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 1-4 p.m.

    Life Happens Video Series

    Produced by the Cleveland Clinic for their own trainees, this series of short videos features experts discussing topics geared toward GME trainees, like estate planning, negotiating contracts and consolidating personal debt.

  • Access to primary care

    Access to primary care

    UAB Primary Care

    For quick access to appointments with primary care, call 205-975-4YOU (4968). You will need to share that you're a resident or fellow when scheduling an appointment.

    UAB eMedicine

    UAB’s team of clinicians treats more than 20 common medical conditions virtually. Most appointments take just 15 minutes, and healthcare teams typically send your treatment plan within an hour of your visit.

  • Better nutrition and fitness habits

    Better nutrition and fitness habits

    Healthy Eating at UAB

    Resources for the UAB community for healthy eating, including information on healthy food options at on-campus dining locations and a hub of recipe ideas.

    Live HealthSmart Mobile Market

    To bring healthy and affordable food to Birmingham residents, Live HealthSmart Alabama has created a Mobile Market. Each week, the Mobile Market will visit communities in Birmingham.

    Active Living at UAB

    Take advantage of everything UAB has to offer to help keep you active and healthy — including onsite walking trails, fitness classes and discounts on tools to get you moving.

    University Recreation

    UAB University Recreation provides fitness, wellness, and recreational opportunities for the UAB community and beyond. All employees are eligible for a one-week free trial.

    Free Exercise Classes at Railroad Park (weekdays March through October)

    Sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, the Get Healthy on the Railroad program offers a variety of weekday exercise classes, like Hip Hop Cardio®, Bootcamp, Zumba, Yoga and Family Fun Friday.

    UAB Employee Assistance and Counseling Center Programs & Events

    UAB Employee Assistance and Counseling Center provides informative classes, seminars and group exercise at no cost, open to all eligible UAB employees and members of their immediate household.

    Related articles:

    Five tips for eating healthy on a budget (AMA)

  • Help managing stress

    Help managing stress

    SMART training (resilientoption.com)

    The four modules are science enabled to decrease stress, and help you manage and overcome adversities.

    Wellness Support Services

    Wellness Support Services in the Office of Wellness (formerly the Professional Development Office) offers confidential consultation and coaching conversations for faculty, advanced practice providers, medical residents and fellows, medical students, biomedical graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows. 

    • Make an appointment: Call 205-731-9799 or email alisapalmore@uab.edu
    • There is no charge for this service and no referral is required.

     

    Well-Being Index

    The Well-Being Index is a web-based tool used to evaluate multiple dimensions of distress in just 9 questions. It is designed to measure burnout, allowing users to compare their scores to their peers as well as track progress over time to promote self-awareness. It is 100 percent anonymous.

    The index measures six dimensions of distress and well-being: likelihood of burnout, severe fatigue, suicidal ideation, quality of life, meaning in work, work-life integration, risk of medical error, drop-out risk, and overall well-being. 

    Access Code: UAB TRAINEES

    UABWell App

    UABwell allows students and employees to build a customizable, personalized self-care plan, along with a habit tracker, so they can track their progress. UABwell also features an integrated calendar that locates all the campus mental health events, organizations, and departments all in one place.

    Related articles:

    3 coping strategies to helping medical residents manage stress (AMA)

    Feeling stressed? Overloaded? There's an app to help with that (AMA)

  • Visit the GME Wellness Center

    Visit the GME Wellness Center

  • Access to lactation areas

    Access to lactation areas

    Dedicated lactation spaces at UAB

    UAB supports lactating parents by providing private, dedicated lactation rooms throughout campus for employees, students, and visitors. View lactation rooms on the campus map.

    View a spreadsheet of additonal resident & fellow specific lactation areas in UAB Hospital and on campus.

  • Self-screening tools to gauge wellbeing

    Self-screening tools to gauge wellbeing

    SMART training (resilientoption.com)

    The four modules are science enabled to decrease stress, and help you manage and overcome adversities.

    Professional Quality of Life (ProQol) Self-Test 

    The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) is a 30 item self-report questionnaire designed to measure compassion fatigue, work satisfaction and burnout in helping professionals, including health care workers.

    Life Stress Test (Compassionfatigue.org)

    This assessment presents life events/scenarios and asks you to score the points of each event you have experienced over the past 12-24 months to determine your likelihood of experiencing life-stress related illnesses.

    Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

    The PHQ-9 is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression.

    Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) (Counselling Resource)

    This 16-question assessment measures factors across 9 different criterion domains for major depression.

    Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)

    MBI is available by contacting the GME Office at 205-934-4793.

  • Help with substance abuse

    Help with substance abuse

    Substance Abuse Screening (ASSIST) (VA.gov)

    Screening questions will ask about your experience of using substances across your lifetime and in the past three months. 

    Alcohol Use Screening (AUDIT-C) (VA.gov)

    Four-question AUDIT-C screening focuses on symptoms of alcohol dependence.

    What to do if you have a problem with drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

    NIDA provides resources for recognizing substance abuse disorder, finding help and treatment options and understanding privacy in substance abuse treatment.

    What to do if someone you know has a problem with drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

    NIDA provides resources for recognizing if an adult friend or loved one has a substance abuse disorder, along with information about finding treatment options and support.

  • Help identifying colleagues at risk for burnout or self-harm

    Help identifying colleagues at risk for burnout or self-harm

    The Dean's Council for GME and the Graduate Medical Education Office encourage residents and faculty members to alert your Program Director, the GME Office, and/or other personnel when you are concerned that another resident, fellow, or faculty member may be displaying signs of burnout, depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, or potential for violence.

    Need Help? If a person is in immediate danger or has attempted suicide, call 911 or the UAB Police Department at 205-934-3535.

    UAB CARES

    UAB CARES Suicide Prevention Initiative assists the UAB community in finding the help they need.

    Make the Difference: Preventing Medical Trainee Suicide

    This four-minute video advises medical students, residents, and fellows on how to support each other, express concern to peers, and encourage help-seeking behavior (on behalf of the ACGME, Mayo Clinic, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention).

  • COVID-19 specific resources

    COVID-19 specific resources

    ONE UAB Medicine COVID News & Updates

    UAB Medicine intranet page dedicated to COVID-19 policies & other relevant updates for UAB Hospital. Blazer ID and password are required.

    UAB United

    Important COVID-19 updates and resources for the UAB campus community.

    Well-Being in the Time of COVID-19 (ACGME)

    ACGME shares COVID-specific resources for supporting trainee wellness during the coronavirus pandemic, including the COVID-19 Well-being Resource Library and the COVID-19 Well-being Idea Exchange.

  • Perks for UAB employees

    Perks for UAB employees

    UAB Perks Program

    UAB Employee Perks Program allows all UAB faculty and staff to save money just for being a UAB employee.

  • Other resources

 

UAB Pathology Wellness Initiatives

Arts in Medicine Art Therapy

Arts in Medicine Art Therapy

UAB Pathology Softball Team

UAB Pathology Softball Team

Education Retreat

Education Retreat

UAB Football Ticket Giveaway

UAB Football Ticket Giveaway

 

UAB Pathology Wellness Committee

 

Brandi C. McCleskey, MD

Brandi C. McCleskey, MD

Faculty Wellness Champion
Email

Christina Crowe, MA

Christina Crowe, MA

Staff Wellness Champion
Email

Falone Amoa, MD, MS

Falone Amoa, MD, MS

Resident Wellness Champion
Email