Why MASStrong Belongs in Every Hospital Right Now
By Liz Friedman, CEO & Co-Founder of GPS Group Peer Support
Across Massachusetts, hospital leaders are trying to solve a crisis that becomes more visible—and more painful—every month: Healthcare workers are carrying more than any human being should. The system is stretched thin, the workforce is exhausted, and the burden on clinicians has reached a point where survival often feels like the highest attainable goal.
What I continue to see, from one hospital system to the next, is not a lack of dedication. It’s the opposite. I see a workforce so committed to their patients that they silently absorb the moral injury, the grief, the daily exposure to trauma, and then they show up again the next morning.
We all know that this isn’t sustainable. But we also know that waiting for the system to fix itself is not an option.
That is the core of GPS’s MASStrong model: Bring immediate, accessible, trauma-informed support directly to the people doing the hardest work in healthcare.
And when clinicians say yes to this kind of support, even once, the impact is unmistakable.
What Hospitals Are Asking For
In every one of my meetings with hospital leaders—whether clinical directors, DEI teams, psychiatrists, residency program leads, or behavioral health administrators—I hear the same two needs repeated again and again:
- Support our workforce.
Frontline staff, residents, nurses, techs, and counselors are carrying an extraordinary emotional load. They need structured, confidential spaces to process what they experience at work. - Build internal capacity.
Hospitals want their teams, especially those without advanced clinical training, to have the skills to run therapeutic, trauma-informed groups well and confidently.
MASStrong is built for both.
The model strengthens resilience through facilitated support groups and trains clinicians, counselors, and behavioral health staff to become skilled group facilitators themselves. That dual approach is not a luxury, it’s a workforce sustainability strategy.
Hospital leaders always ask me the same question:
“Will people actually come?”
The answer is yes, if the institution makes space for it.
When support groups are embedded into existing structures like department meetings, grand rounds, team huddles, etc., attendance rises, stigma drops, and people experience the benefit immediately.
When Leaders Model Self-Care
One of the most consistent patterns I’ve seen is that when institutional change is needed, start with the leaders. Leaders are carrying their own accumulating exhaustion and grief, even if it’s not always noticeable. When they experience the GPS model—really experience it—the insight is immediate.
Hospital leaders have a better understanding of what they have been missing. They realize that they need this support and their workforce needs this support.
That moment is the turning point.
A Direct Message to Healthcare Providers
If you are working inside a hospital right now, whether you are a resident, attending, counselor, nurse, tech, social worker, or leader, I need you to know that you are not meant to carry this alone. The distress you feel is not a personal failing. It is a natural human response to doing profoundly difficult work in an under-resourced system.
You deserve spaces where your experiences can be spoken, heard, and held with care.
You deserve support that strengthens your resilience rather than asking you to simply endure.
And you deserve the same compassion you offer to others, every single day.
MASStrong exists for you. And together, we can bring it into every hospital that needs it.
Bring MASStrong to Your Workplace
GPS’s MASStrong program offers free GPS trainings, support groups, curriculums, and toolkits for Massachusetts medical, behavioral health, and community care workers and organizations. Eligible organizations can also apply for GPS partnership support and grants up to $10,000.
