What is the Manager Resilience Project?

During TREC's COVID Impact Assessment (Wave 6, 2021-2022), we heard directly from continuing care home (CCH) managers that they were overwhelmed by the stressors and challenges added to their regular workloads by the pandemic. They also shared concerns about the health and well-being of their staff, who were increasingly feeling frustrated and disconnected. Preliminary findings from TREC's most recent survey (Wave 7, 2023-2024) indicate that things have not significantly improved: managers are still struggling and TREC wants to help.

With this project, TREC is collaborating with managers in the sector by supporting further development of their leadership, building communication and research/evaluation skills, and facilitating peer-support networks to promote change.

Funded by Alberta Health (Assisted Living & Social Services), the Manager Resilience Project is a multi-component intervention to support CCH managers in the development of socially intelligent leadership and advanced communication knowledge and skills, and to facilitate the development of self-care and resilience both personally and in their work teams. 

As a result of this project, participants will have the opportunity to take part in a rich suite of professional and personal development packages, including courses, workshops, and peer-support groups.

The intervention has two major PHASES:

Phase 1: A multi-component leadership development program

Phase 2:  A program for managers to co-design (with their staff and the TREC team) initiatives that produce positive change in their work environments

 Phase 1 Overview 

In the first phase, CCH managers participate in an intervention that includes: 

• 5 weeks of coherent breathing practice using TREC’s Coherent Breathing Toolkit 
• Online communication (Connections 101) and socially intelligent leadership model courses (The Five Roles of a Master Herder) developed by Linda Kohanov (https://lindakohanov.com)
• Virtual peer support coaching sessions (10 coaching sessions that align with content from the courses and allow for a deeper understanding and application of core elements)
• 2 in-person workshops

 Phase 2 Overview

During Phase 2 - also known as “INFORM-AB” - participants will use TREC's INFORM model and work with teams in their respective care homes to co-design a specific strategy to support a healthy work environment supportive of staff, residents and their families.

INFORM uses a mix of scheduled and as needed coaching sessions to support and facilitate managers in making changes to modifiable elements in a care unit that will improve performance. INFORM-AB is the third iteration of INFORM. For the Manager Resilience Project, it has been adapted to better suit managers' needs by scheduling of additional workshops and allowing managers to determine collectively what implementation projects they’d like to work on.

Participating managers will each select one of three topics to work on:

1. Improved Communication among Staff
2. Improved Communication with Challenging Families
3. More Effective Workload Management

These topics were identified in advance by participants working together through multiple rounds of voting.

Manager Resilience Project Participants

Participants in this project have been divided into two cohorts. Fifty managers were recruited for each, representing all 5 Health Zones in Alberta.

 Cohort 1 Timeline

Phase 1: Started October 2024 and completed September 2025

Phase 2: Started September 2025 and set to finish Summer 2026

Cohort 2 Timeline

Phase 1: Started June 2025 and set to finish May 2026

Phase 2: To start May 2026 and set to finish in early 2027

Project Evaluation

Alongside the project, TREC is conducting a parallel process evaluation of the intervention to assess the experiences of participants, barriers and facilitators to success, mechanisms of action, and to evaluate intervention fidelity (delivery, receipt, and enactment). Data sources include participant diaries, focus groups, and observation and fidelity checklists. 

As part of participating, managers in both cohorts complete a baseline survey of measurements followed by further surveys throughout the intervention.

For more information, please contact Julie Melville (Senior Team Lead, Field Research & Operations) at jmelvill@ualberta.ca.