Written by Christina Falahee
With everything that is going on, there is a lot of uncertainly and change, and with that, a lot of changes in our mental health. Maintaining mental health is important because it can affect thoughts, feelings, and actions.
As an employer, offering resources to help with mental health not only shows that you are investing time and effort into your employees, but also helps maintain productivity and employee morale.
Mental Health can often be seen as a “taboo” to talk about at that workplace, because there can often be a perception of “weakness” in needing assistance. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, because having the strength to utilize resources around you will only better your mental health and resilience.
Need some ideas? Here are a few:
Talk to your employees: Getting to know your employees by asking questions and checking in can help establish a “baseline” so you are able to better detect if something is going on and help when needed.
Offer an Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Having an EAP (and marketing it) can connect employees with confidential, trusted professionals who can help them during their difficult times.
Offer Educational Seminars: Knowing what to look out for with mental health is half of the battle, learning about mental health and tips can help reach those who need it. Worried about low turnout? Host the class in webinar style and record it. Even if someone cannot attend live, they could access this at a later time.
Communicate options: There are many free resources that are available, and having a third-party vendor communicate directly to employees can help to decrease the stigma of using these resources.
Have a Health Risk Assessment in your Wellness Program: A health risk assessment (HRA) is a questionnaire employees can take as a part of their wellness program. This provides aggregate information about the group as a while (meaning no individual information would be shared with the employer). It can also provide insight for those taking the assessment into their current state of mental health and provide tips.
If you would like assistance with offering resources or expanding current service please feel free to contact Health Plan Advocate at info@healthplanadvocate.com or 616-575-0211 extension 203.