Parasol’s founders Diana and Ranelle sit down with Jessica to discuss current challenges in workforce sustainment and development in public health and health care that they are seeing at conferences and with clients right now. Brene Brown’s new book, Strong Ground, served as their inspiration for sharing this conversation with their LinkedIn colleagues.
Audio of interview with Jessica.
Q&A: Navigating Turbulent Work Environments in Healthcare and Public Health
Q: Diana: Brene Brown’s new book, Strong Ground, got us thinking about the workforce we talk to most often and the challenges they are facing. The book introduces “turbulent work environments” as spaces where uncertainty (the foundation of anxiety), risk, and emotional exposure collide. In healthcare and public health, this feels timely, especially with staff burnout and challenges to perceptions about their work on the rise. How do you define this turbulence, and why does Brown’s concept feel so timely?
A: Jessica: Turbulence in these fields is the perfect storm of external pressures (like political volatility, funding gaps, and public scrutiny) and internal struggles (moral injury, emotional overload, burnout, and blurred boundaries). Brene captures this in Strong Ground as a landscape where people feel “untethered” or constantly bracing for the next crisis. What makes this timely is the sheer scale of exhaustion: we’re seeing professionals in public health and healthcare leave because their wells have run dry. Brown’s core message is that vulnerability isn’t weakness but the bedrock of courage and helps us reframe this. There is no vulnerability without risk. Turbulence isn’t just a problem to fix; it’s an invitation to build resilience through connection, not isolation.
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Q: Ranelle: I have a three part question for you. Many employees feel trapped between their mission to serve and the toll of turbulence and uncertainty. Do you have ideas to help them cope without quitting? What practical steps can staff take to protect their wellbeing? Is quitting the answer sometimes?
A: Jessica: Resilience starts with “reckoning with emotion” or naming what we feel (like overwhelm or grief) instead of numbing or ignoring it. When we are in a space of resilience, we can withstand difficult conditions or situations and be more able to work through the conflicts and challenges we may be facing intra-or-inter-personally. This may mean the difference between deciding to leave a role or system, and allowing us the gift, albeit the necessity, of true exchanges of ideas, feelings and solutions that are forward-moving.
For your audience, this means:
- Practicing micro-moments of self-compassion: When stress hits, pause and say, “This is really hard right now,” or “This is a moment of suffering,” instead of pushing through. It’s not selfish; it’s sustainable. Self-compassion also unlocks our ability to show compassion to others, which furthers the connection within a team, system, or organization.
- Setting boundaries as an act of courage: Brown calls boundaries “the key to self-love.” Additionally, they are kind (to others) because they are transparent, and keep us out of resentment due to boundaries being knowingly or unknowingly crossed. For example, managing expectations around after-hours email or protecting lunch and other breaks can move being logistical and move into honoring one’s values and worth. It is also critical for each of us to identify our internal capacity for work, stress, energy, and so on, and honor it without judgment to ensure we don’t push too far and unwittingly violate our own boundaries.
- Seeking “story stewardship”: Share experiences with trusted colleagues to combat shame and find the universality in our experiences, which normalizes the pain and promotes connection. As Brown says, “Shame thrives in silence.”
These steps aren’t about avoiding turbulence. Often, we don’t have that luxury, but they are more about learning to navigate it without drowning.
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Q: Diana: Leaders are often blamed for turbulence or expected to have all the answers. What is your approach to guiding leaders through chaos, and how can organizations better support their leaders?
A: Jessica: Brown emphasizes that leaders must “model vulnerability” to create psychological safety and promote creative work. In turbulence, the bravest thing a leader can do is say, “I don’t know,” or “I’m struggling too.” This disarms shame, blame, and invites collaboration. But organizations often fail leaders by not providing them with tools to foster this. Trauma-informed strategies include:
- Training leaders in “empathy in action”: Teach them to listen without fixing, and acknowledge emotions (e.g., “This is tough. I’m here with you”).
- Building “resilience reservoirs”: Encourage leaders to take real time off and model self-care. Burned-out leaders can’t pour into others. Exhausted leaders, who themselves are burned-out, frequently struggle with tending to their teams, causing communication to break down and connection and trust to be lost.
- Redefining “strength”: As Brown writes, “Courage is contagious.” Leaders who embrace their humanity empower teams to do the same, reducing turnover. It is important to remember courage isn’t the absence of fear – it’s choosing growth and change over comfort.
Q: Ranelle: From an organizational lens, what trauma-informed practices should these disciplines adopt to align with healthier practices? How can they transform turbulence from a liability into a catalyst for growth?
A: Jessica: Brown’s work teaches that organizations must move from scarcity (fear of loss or there not being “enough”) to abundance (trust in collective strength). Trauma-informed practices include:
- Creating “connection anchors”: Regular, structured check-ins where staff share wins/challenges without judgment. This builds the “belonging” Brown cites as critical for resilience. She notes in other work that belonging is not the same as “fitting in,” which requires us to morph and change to match or resemble the others in the room, forgoing authenticity, and emotional honesty.
- Reforming “hustle culture”: Audit workloads and eliminate “productivity theater.” Reward sustainability, not just sacrifice, and combat the belief that being busy is a badge of honor.
- Investing in “vulnerability infrastructure”: This means counseling access, peer support groups, and leadership training that destigmatizes mental health, which invariably will show up in the workplace. When organizations do this, turbulence becomes a shared challenge to solve—not a burden to bear alone. Teams stay because they feel valued, not just needed or used.
Q: Diana: Finally, what’s the hopeful takeaway you might offer for these fields which feel “on the brink”? How can employees and organizations reimagine their relationship with turbulence?
A: Jessica: Brown’s core message is that “turbulence is not the end of the story.” In group counseling, we call this phase of working together “storming and norming.” It is painful, but it is temporary. In Strong Ground, she reminds us that the most beautiful, innovative work happens in the “messy middle,” when we stop fighting the storm and learn to dance in the rain. For employees, this means recognizing that their worth isn’t tied to endless endurance, performance, or productivity. For organizations, it’s a call to build systems where people truly matter more than metrics. The hope? That by embracing vulnerability as strength, healthcare and public health can become beacons of what Brown calls “wholehearted” culture—where turbulence is met with resilience, and no one has to walk alone.