OccHealthSci April 2026 Newsletter
- Shaun McGillis
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The latest news, updates, and events from OccHealthSci
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Recovery Friendly Workplace
The Recovery Friendly Workplace is a growing initiative that equips employers with tools and resources to create recovery-supportive environments and strengthen workplace health, safety, and well-being. One-in-ten American workers is in recovery from a substance use disorder—yet most workplaces are unaware of how to support them. In the coming months, OccHealthSci is offering a series of webinars focused on what workplaces can do to support employees in recovery.
Substance Use Disorder in the Workplace—Now What?
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Noon - 1:30 p.m. PDT
Virtual workshop
This 90-minute virtual workshop focuses on the structural elements involved in establishing a recovery friendly workplace. Participants will audit their current environment, explore best-in-class programs and practices, and leave with actionable tools they can implement immediately to create lasting, systemic change.
Professional development
Effective Solutions to Prevent Workplace Stress and Burnout at the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference
Friday, May 8, 2026 9:45 – 10:45 a.m. Oregon Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference registration required
Are you concerned about how the rising levels of stress and burnout are affecting your workplace? Join us for an interactive and insightful presentation on the main causes and effects of work stress and burnout, as well as effective solutions to prevent this problem from a Total Worker Health® (TWH) perspective. This holistic perspective addresses both the physical and mental well-being of workers.
More specifically, you will have an opportunity to learn practical ways to foster a supportive and psychologically safe work environment as part of your existing management practices. These include tools and resources that you can bring to your workplace to create a healthier, more productive, and engaging environment where workers can thrive, positively affecting your organization’s performance.
Session goals:
Explain stress/burnout as a psychosocial hazard and how it affects safety and organizational performance.
Introduce the TWH approach and related strategies/tools to prevent and manage workplace stress and burnout and other psychosocial hazards.
Discuss the utilization of these strategies and available resources, including supportive supervision training for mental health, sleep, and work-life management solutions from a TWH perspective.
OccHealthSci Sponsored Programs
Oregon Healthy Workforce Center
The Oregon Healthy Workforce Center’s (OHWC) looks forward to seeing you at the 2026 SIOP Annual Conference. Join OHWC researchers Leslie Hammer, Jennifer Dimoff and Shalene Allen for the presentation “Mental health supportive-supervisor behaviors: Measurement development and validation” on April 30, at 5:00 p.m. Then, on May 2, at 12:30 p.m., join Leslie Hammer, Shalene Allen and Krista Brockwood for “Evaluating the Incremental Predictive Utility of Family-Supportive Supervisor and Coworker Behaviors on Work-Family Conflict Across Time.” Conference registration is required. See you there.
Learn more about the Oregon Health Workforce Center, including interventions to improve worker health and other resources, current and past research projects, and other resources.
Occupational Public Health & OR-FACE Programs
Learn more about OR-FACE, including our fatality investigations and toolbox talks, by visiting our website. To download and receive new publications including investigative reports and other OR-FACE publications, please join our mailing list.
OccHealthSci Research, Blog and Events
Stay up to date on the latest basic, clinical, and applied research at OccHealthSci, and learn about our partnerships and community engagement at the Oregon and the Workplace blog.
Research and News Briefs
Post-Pandemic Primary Care Burnout Drivers: Interplay of Organizational Constraints, Values (Mis)alignment, and Team-Leader Dynamics
An OccHealthSci research team led by Associate Professor David Hurtado has a recommendation for reducing injuries in hospital settings: get patient safety and employee health systems talking to each other. Learn more about the research team’s recommendations.
Breakfast timing may be a simple tool for managing gestational diabetes
New research from the OccHealthSci and Oregon Health and Science University suggests that earlier breakfasts may be better for managing glucose in pregnant individuals with gestational diabetes. Find out what the team learned.
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) before bedtime: Feasibility and mechanistic pilot study on sleep and cardiac autonomic activity
A new pilot study from researchers at OccHealthSci found a single dose of THC before bed delayed sleep onset, disrupted brain wave patterns and reduce heart rate variability—challenging the popular belief that cannabis improves sleep. Read the paper here.
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