The mission of the Youth Service Bureau of Jay County is to promote resiliency and assist children, youth, families, and staff in achieving their greatest potential. This has been our mission for some time but it has only been in the last year or so that we have added “staff” to our mission. Unfortunately, in this field, it is easy to overlook employees and their needs when the focus is always on how to help our clients. Thankfully there has been a push in the social work field, especially here in Indiana, to focus more on employee wellness. We are pleased to say that the YSB is very aware of the need for, and the importance of, employee wellness.  One of our first steps in this process was to create a wellness committee. Through the efforts of our wellness committee comprised of key employees and multiple board members, we have now been working for over a year on initiatives and programming to improve our staff’s wellness culture. Some of the steps taken have been very small, like putting in a water cooler for employees. However, a small thing like this has been highly impactful as the staff lists this as one of the most important changes that have been made so far! A bigger piece of our wellness initiatives has included agency outings. This is a scheduled activity outside of working times designed to bring everyone together. Right now the plan is to have 4 outings per year. Two outings will include the employee plus 1 guest, one outing for employees only, and one for the employee and their family.  We believe these outings will not only benefit our social wellness but will also help our employees get to know one another as we work to solidify the YSB team. Like many other workplaces, it is not unusual to go months without seeing someone depending on their position and schedule at the YSB.

So far we have had three agency outings. Our first was a Christmas Dinner at the Back 40 Junction Restaurant in Decatur, Indiana for employees and their plus 1. The second was a trip to the Valhalla Axe Hall in Redkey, Indiana for employees only. The third outing was for employees and their plus 1 at a Fort Wayne TinCaps Game. We are very excited about our next agency outing as we have rented the Portland, Indiana Water Park. This outing will be our first one for employees and their families.

The agency outings have been a big hit among staff and have been successful in creating opportunities for staff who never see one another to socialize and get to know one another. We have polled staff on activities they would like to have as agency outings for 2025. With the feedback we have received we are thrilled to start planning the next set of agency outings and to continue our YSB employee wellness initiatives!

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming YSB adventures!