Wellness Strategy for the Teams That Carry Everyone Else's Weight
Karen Hurley builds wellness programs and team training for organizations whose people absorb risk as part of the job: public safety agencies, emergency management and field crews, law firms and school districts. She works through two practices, PIF Samaritan Services for program design and Coaching with a Karen for team training.
Different Jobs. The Same Kind of Weight.
What these organizations share isn't a job title. It's exposure: repeated trauma, adversarial conflict and high-stakes decisions made under pressure, often for years at a time.
Public Safety: Police, Fire, EMS, Dispatch and Corrections
Chiefs, sheriffs, command staff and peer support or wellness coordinators who need a program sized for their agency and defensible to city council or a county board. Karen Hurley has spent more than 20 years in and around public safety, is an IACP subject matter expert and a Utah FOP preferred provider, and builds for small and volunteer departments as well as larger agencies.
Wellness programs for public safetyEmergency Management and Field Crews
Emergency management agencies, utilities and disaster-response organizations that deploy people into the field for long, unpredictable stretches. Most workplace wellness programs were never designed to reach a crew working a storm or a disaster site, so Karen starts with where and how those people actually work, including wellness app selection or custom app development for field personnel.
Emergency management and field crewsLaw Firms
Managing partners who keep losing second- and third-year associates and need a business case before they bring wellness spending to the partnership. Karen's 25 years in legal environments mean she builds around the actual pressure of litigation: sustained adversarial conflict, high-stakes deadlines and other people's worst circumstances.
Wellness programs for law firmsSchool Districts
District HR leaders and assistant superintendents who explain teacher and staff turnover to the board every spring and want to bring a documented, funded retention strategy instead. Karen applies the same assess, build, implement and track method to the specific pressures educators carry.
Wellness programs for school districtsOne Method, Built Around Your Risk
Every engagement follows the same sequence: assess the organization's actual risk, build a customized playbook, implement it in person, then track the results.
Karen Hurley meets with every organization first and decides whether PIF Samaritan Services (project-based wellness program consulting), Coaching with a Karen (team-based resilience and leadership training), or both, fits what you actually need. The framework is whole-person: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
What Every Organization Gets
- An assessment that starts with exposure, not job title
- A playbook sized to your team and your budget
- In-person implementation, not a binder on a shelf
- Tracking that holds wellness to the same standard as any other operation
- Mindful anonymity and confidentiality throughout
The Numbers Behind the Work
Gallup estimates replacing one employee costs between one-half and two times that person's annual salary.
Source: Gallup, 2019of U.S. local police departments employed fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent sworn officers in 2020.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2022About twice as many teachers as comparable working adults reported frequent job-related stress or burnout in 2024.
Source: RAND, 2024Questions About Who Karen Works With
Who can build a wellness program for a high-stress team like ours?
Karen Hurley, a fractional wellness strategist, builds wellness programs for police, fire, EMS, dispatch, corrections, emergency management, law firms and school districts. She designs programs through PIF Samaritan Services and trains teams through Coaching with a Karen, drawing on more than 20 years in public safety and legal environments.
Does Karen Hurley only work with first responders?
No. Public safety is where Karen started, but she also works with emergency management agencies, utility and disaster-response field crews, law firms and school districts. What these teams share is exposure to trauma, conflict and high-stakes pressure, and that exposure is what her programs are built around.
Can a small or volunteer department work with Karen?
Yes. Programs are sized to the organization, not built from a template for a large agency. Most U.S. police departments and fire departments are small or volunteer-staffed, and they rarely have a dedicated wellness budget or staff member, so the assessment is designed to produce a plan a small agency can actually fund and run.
What's the difference between PIF Samaritan Services and Coaching with a Karen?
PIF Samaritan Services designs the wellness program: assessment, funded program design, a customized playbook and technology integration. Coaching with a Karen trains the team directly in resilience and leadership practices. Karen Hurley leads both and recommends one or both after meeting with your organization.
Where does an engagement with Karen start?
It starts with a conversation, then the Wellness Program Assessment. Karen evaluates where your program stands and which roles carry the most risk, and delivers a plan you can act on with or without further work together.
Does Karen work with organizations outside Arizona?
Draft Karen Hurley works with organizations across the U.S. and implements programs in person. Confirm with Karen which regions she travels to and whether any parts of an engagement can be delivered remotely.
- Gallup, "This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion," McFeely and Wigert, March 2019. gallup.com
- Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Local Police Departments: Personnel, 2020," November 2022. bjs.ojp.gov
- Doan, Steiner and Pandey, "Teacher Well-Being and Intentions to Leave in 2024," RAND Corporation, 2024. rand.org
Start the Conversation
- An honest look at where your program stands
- A plan you can act on, with or without Karen
- A clear read on whether PIF, Coaching with a Karen, or both fits
- Support sized to your team's actual risk