Human Resources
HR Lunch & Learn – Disrupting Distrust and Toxic Stress in the Workplace: A Path to Greater Well-being
Our well-being relies on our ability to navigate uncertainty in challenging times. Unfortunately, uncertainty combined with relentless change can be a potent and potentially harmful mix. This mix can brew distrust and toxic stress in the workplace. Noticing. Naming. Disrupting. These are key to individual, team, and organizational well-being and key to effective and exceptional delivery of our services.
In this session you will:
- Identify the impacts of distrust and toxic stress on individuals, teams and organizations
- Consider impacts in the context of your work and your experiences at work
- Learn about ways to cultivate trust and disrupt toxic stress
About the Speaker:
Darrow Brown (he/him) is the Chief of Inclusion, Belonging and Well-being at Washington State Department of Health (DOH). He leads the Center for Inclusion, Belonging and Well-being (CIBW), an office DOH established in July 2023. Darrow is also serving a term as one of two co-chairs for the Rainbow Alliance Inclusion Network (RAIN) Business Resource Group (BRG).
Darrow is a career-changer, starting out with a long career in information technology, before remaking his professional life in social work, behavioral health, employee assistance programs and workplace bullying and violence prevention.
Born and raised in Rochester, NY, Darrow describes himself as “a human being living at a busy and sometimes chaotic intersection of Black, gay. male, spouse, parent, friend and servant leader”. Moving from Baltimore, MD in 2018, he, his spouse, two wannabe-crafty teens and two very needy dogs now reside in University Place, Washington.
