Building a Resilient Workforce : Opportunities for the Department of Homeland Security: Workshop Summary

Every job can lead to stress for a variety of reasons. How a person responds to stress in the workplace can be determined by the workplace environment. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has raised concerns that long-term exposures to stressors may reduce individual resilience and negatively affect employee's physical and mental well-being. DHS employs a diverse staff that includes emergency responders, border patrol agents, federal air marshals, and policy analysts. These employees may be exposed to traumatic and disturbing information as part of their jobs. Additionally, many positions within DHS require employees to have a security clearance, which can make it difficult to seek assistance. To explore DHS workforce resiliency, the Institute of Medicine hosted two workshops in September and November 2011. The September workshop focused on DHS's operational and law enforcement personnel, while the November workshop concentrated on DHS policy and program personnel with top secret security clearances. The workshop brought together an array of experts from various fields including resiliency research, occupation health psychology, and emergency response. This document summarizes the workshops.