Health and Wellness
We-CARE Faculty Peer Support Program
Health and wellness resources are available to support faculty well-being and work-life balance. These offerings include programs, tools, and initiatives that promote physical, mental, and emotional health, helping faculty stay resilient and healthy while advancing their professional goals within the College of Medicine.
Compassionate Alliances for Resilience & Empowerment Program
The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago is offering a new evidence-based faculty peer support program – Compassionate Alliances for Resilience & Empowerment Program (We-CARE) – aimed at fostering well-being of our faculty and promoting belonging and inclusion. The We-CARE Program is adapted from a similar program developed at the Harvard University which has been disseminated in multiple academic medical centers across the nation. The We-CARE Program offers peer support and collegiality – it is not therapy. The program also connects faculty members with other organizational resources for further support.
The We-CARE Program utilizes trained faculty volunteers (We-CARE Helpers) to support peer faculty members in need of collegial support by providing empathic listening in a supportive environment. Faculty members will be able to confidentially share their concerns and dilemmas in a safe space with emotional support and validation without judgement or fear of retaliation. We-CARE Helpers represent the diversity of our College with respect to clinical/nonclinical appointments, rank, gender, and race/ethnicity. These are colleagues you can turn to when you need someone to talk about issues such as burnout, workplace conflicts, obstacles in career advancement, and challenges to maintaining work-life balance.
Questions? Reach us at wecare@uic.edu
Stephanie Joe, MD, FACS
Memoona Hasnain, MD, MHPE, PhD
We-CARE Co-Directors
Acknowledgements
The We-CARE Program has been developed with generous advice by Dr. Jo Shapiro, MD, FACS from Harvard Medical School; and funding support from the Health Equity Pilot Project (HEPP) and UICOM Dean’s Office. We are grateful to the faculty who have volunteered to serve as We-CARE Helpers in this inaugural launch of the program.
Wellness Resources
- UIC Wellness Center Workshops
- Street Safety for the Urban Explorer
- Conquering Conflict
- Respectful Love: What Does it Look Like?
- Stretching Out Your Stress
- Minimizing Stress, Maximizing Learning
- Study Smart
- Time Management for the Busy Student
- 101 – Self-Care is Self-Preservation
- 102 – Solutions to the Top Self-Care Challenges
- 103 – Stressed? It’s Not Your Fault! Learn Why and How to Manage It
- Imposter Syndrome: Through a Different Lens
- Resources for the 8 Dimensions of Wellness (Physical, Occupational, Spiritual, Environmental, Financial, Social, Intellectual, Emotional/Sexual)
- UIC Counseling Center
- “Breaking Free of the Cult of Productivity”: Podcast
- UIC College of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
As a key goal and strategy within the College of Medicine’s Strategic Plan, we aim to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive UI COM-munity. We will provide resources for students, trainees, faculty, and staff and support cross-college and interdisciplinary engagement and integration. - Faculty Mentoring Program
The UI College of Medicine Mentoring Program is intended to be a useful way to help faculty members excel in their academic environment. Assistance from a well-respected mentor can be an invaluable supplement to the guidance and assistance that a department chair provides during the early years of a faculty member’s career. The program’s success will depend on the faculty mentees, their mentors, the facilitators, and the department chairs all taking an active role in the acclimation process. Online resources are available further describing this program as well as a list of departmental mentoring facilitators. - UIC Human Resources
- UI Health: Information for patients and visitors:
- Pastoral Care
- UIC University Police
Emergency number: 312-355-5555
Non-Emergency: 312-996-2830 - UIC Office of Preparedness and Response: Links to incident reporting
- UIH GME Confidential Hotline
If you have an issue relating to your residency program that you don’t feel comfortable discussing with your chief resident or program director, please call the GME Resident Hotline 312-996-8662. - UIH GME Well-Being
To promote well-being and to foster a sense of community and compassion, we have built this website to assist you to mitigate the effects of stress and prevent burnout. - Employee Assistance Program
This program is available to all UIC employees and is a confidential assessment and referral service that provides problem identification, counseling, and referral services for employees and their families.
Employee Assistance Service (EAS)
365 Clinical Sciences North820 S. Wood St.
(312) 996-3588 - Care for the Caregiver (C4C) Program
- Office for Access & Equity
As part of the Office of the Chancellor, the Office for Access and Equity (OAE), strives to increase access to employment, programs, and services in an environment free of unlawful discrimination and harassment. On the landing page, there are links for reporting various concerns including incidences of bias, discrimination and harassment. This link provides a non-exhaustive list of resources through this website: OAE Resources- Diversity Resources
- Harassment Resources
- Disability Resources
- Grievance Procedures
- Gender Inclusive Resources
- Behavioral Threat Assessment Team
- Dispute Resolution Service
As part of the Office for Access and Equity, Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) provides confidential consultation, facilitation, and mediation services to students, faculty, academic and support staff. DRS also provides consulting services including unit assessments, teambuilding, training and workshops. - Employee Accommodation Policy
Faculty and staff members may make a request for reasonable accommodation in order to perform job duties through the Office for Access and Equity (OAE). - UIC Bias Reporting Tool
In an effort to make UIC a place grounded in inclusion, equity, diversity and justice, UIC students, faculty and staff can report their experiences by using the Bias Reporting Tool. The Office of the Dean of Students, Office of Diversity and/or the Office for Access and Equity will follow-up to offer support and resources to those who have reported bias, discrimination or harassment. By reporting an incident that was experienced or witnessed, UIC is able to gain valuable information about issues impacting the campus community. Forms can be submitted anonymously.