The CopeNYP program: A model for brief treatment of psychological distress among healthcare workers and hospital staff

• Published in: General hospital psychiatry 2021-11, Vol.73, p.24-29
• Main Authors: Kanellopoulos, Dora, Solomonov, Nili, Ritholtz, Shira, Wilkins, Victoria, Goldman, Rachel, Schier, Maddy, Oberlin, Lauren, Bueno-Castellano, Christina, Dargis, Monika, Cherestal, Stephanie, Gunning, Faith
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19; Crisis Intervention; Humans; Pandemics; Personnel, Hospital; Psychological Distress; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0163-8343; 1873-7714
• DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2021.09.002

In the midst of the Spring 2020 initial surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, members of the Psychiatry Department of Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital rapidly created and implemented a brief, behavioral skills-based intervention program, “CopeNYP”, to address the immediate mental health needs of the employees of the hospital and medical school. We describe the development, implementation and evolution of this telehealth-delivered program staffed primarily by in-house clinical psychologists, postdoctoral fellows, pre-doctoral interns and counselors who were redeployed or volunteered their time to provide urgent support for employees. We discuss the challenges and lessons learned in providing brief, skills-based psychological interventions for employees subjected to chronic stress. As the impact of the pandemic became prolonged, employees faced compounding stressors including social isolation, fear of infection, grief and loss, and sequelae of COVID-19-related illness combined with work-related demands. Our goal is to present our program design, implementation, and utilization as a blueprint for other institutions that would like to develop an evidence-based clinician-staffed psychological intervention program to support ongoing employee mental health needs. •The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to acute and chronic emotional distress in healthcare workers and hospital staff.•We describe the development of CopeNYP, a telehealth delivered psychological intervention for hospital employees and healthcare staff.•Utilization data indicated that CopeNYP was well accepted, mainly by frontline staff but also by a wider distribution of hospital employees.•Engagement with CopeNUUYP also varied with local peak COVID-19 related hospitalizations.•We present challenges and opportunities of launching an in-house psychological support service for hospital employees and staff.