Strong Teams Start with a Strong Culture
Building Resilience in a High-Demand Community Services Organization
Supporting others in complex, emotionally demanding roles takes heart, skill, and strength. This team was deeply committed — but the pace, emotional weight, and ongoing pressures were starting to take a toll.
Leaders knew that real, lasting support couldn’t come from self-care alone. To protect well-being and sustain impact, they needed something deeper: a shift in workplace culture.
The client originally engaged us to provide a workshop for leaders and staff supervisors and four workshops for frontline workers. After receiving exceptional feedback, they invited us back to train a session in a full staff team conference.
Client Context
This community-based organization delivers essential support services in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. Staff regularly hold deep emotional and relational responsibilities as part of their daily work.
Leadership saw that while their team was highly skilled and deeply committed, the demands of the work were intense and sustainable support was needed to protect well-being, resilience, and long-term capacity.
Rather than waiting for burnout and turnover to escalate, they chose a proactive path: investing in their people by creating space for reflection, collaboration, and supportive soft-skill learning.
The Challenge
Supporting others every day takes more than skill — it takes emotional presence, steady energy, and deep resilience. Leadership recognized that to truly support their team, they needed to address several key challenges:
Helping staff manage ongoing stress and emotional load.
Strengthening resilience without placing responsibility solely on individuals.
Providing manager and supervisor training designed to equip them to support their staff’s realities.
Reinforcing a psychologically safe environment for staff to pause, grow and reflect.
Supporting a healthier, more balanced mindset and skillset at work.
Creating a culture of connection and peer support within the team.
The organization wanted a learning experience that felt meaningful, practical, and affirming, with tools that would make a lasting impact.
The Approach
Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development delivered a Manager Workshop to build confidence in supporting frontline staff, a 4-part Self-Care and Resilience Workshop Series for staff, and wrapped it up with a collaborative workshop for all staff teams.
The series was designed to:
Equip managers to have psychologically safe conversations with direct reports that demonstrate support in order to reduce burnout and turnover, while increasing retention.
Provide practical, accessible strategies for managing stress and building resilience on the job.
Normalize and process the emotional realities of high-demand support roles.
Encourage individual and collaborative reflection without judgment or pressure.
Build stronger peer support and team connection in ways that reflect company values and support lasting well-being, on and off the job.
The multi-session format made space for progressive and meaningful learning, allowing participants to absorb and apply new ideas at a sustainable pace, within the real demands of community service work.
The Impact
The workshop series sparked a noticeable shift in how staff related to their work, themselves, and one another.
Participants described the experience:
“I can feel the culture shifting. It's real. You've brought real change. I didn't want anything fake, and you delivered.”
“It was tailored to our company, our people, and our challenges. You met us where we were at every time.”
“Starting with managers and leadership was key. They were equipped to support staff through key challenges, and they were equipped to support staff as they were trained.”
“You asked questions that allowed the team to problem-solve and make it work for them in their situations. This created trust, collaboration and ownership.’
“Perhaps most importantly, staff felt genuinely supported — not just encouraged to ‘cope better,' but invited to care for themselves in ways that honoured the demands of their roles.”
Client Reflection
“Supporting others every day takes heart, energy, and resilience. That’s why we took time to pause, reflect, and care for ourselves too.
These sessions helped our staff recharge, reflect, and strengthen their ability to thrive in high-demand environments. It was a meaningful and engaging experience, and our team showed up with heart and commitment to their own well-being.”
Why This Matters
This case demonstrates the power of intentional, well-structured wellbeing initiatives that:
Help supervisors and managers better support the well-being and success of client-facing staff in both hybrid and in-person roles.
Improve employees’ ability to manage stress and build resilience in high-pressure environments.
Strengthen connection and mutual support within teams and across the organization.
Create opportunities for employees to collaborate on solving problems and developing solutions for long-term buy-in.
Create space for reflection, renewal, and skill-building to strengthen resilience in meaningful ways.
Support long-term sustainability in caring professions, without minimizing the real impact of systemic pressures.
When organizations invest in their people, teams grow stronger and are better prepared to deliver high-quality, compassionate service even in challenging times.
Ready to Support Your Team?
Breakthrough partners with organizations across Canada and the U.S. to deliver practical, evidence-based learning experiences that build resilience, well-being, and a healthier workplace culture.
Confidentiality Disclaimer
To protect client privacy, identifying details such as organization names, locations, and specific circumstances have been removed or altered. The insights shared reflect real experiences, while respecting the confidentiality of our clients and their teams.