May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which spotlights mental health resources and information in an effort to “fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support people with mental illness and their families,” according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Poor mental health and stress can affect an employee’s job performance and productivity, how they engage with their work, their communication with coworkers, and their physical capability and daily functioning. The workplace is a key location to identify people at risk and connect them to treatment, as well as put in place support for employees’ well-being.
While creating and offering workplace mental health support and services may sound like one more item on a burnt-out HR professional’s never-ending to-do list, these important services impact your company’s bottom line. Here’s a few resources to help HR professionals:
- CalHOPE: This program’s Together for Wellness collaborative offers wellness tools, including ones that educate and provide stress management and coping skills.
- Center for Workplace Mental Health: The center has several toolkits employers may find helpful, including its “May is Mental Health Month” toolkit and another supporting employees on the return to the workplace transition.
- Empower Work: This national nonprofit provides free, immediate, confidential support for work challenges via text or web chat.
- Kaiser Permanente Business Mental Health and Wellness: This health care provider has articles on how mental health conditions impact individual employees as well as businesses, including strategies on how to pick a mental health app for your workforce wellness program.
- Mental Health America: This nonprofit has online mental health tests that can quickly and easily help you determine if you’re experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition, like depression, postpartum depression, anxiety, addiction and more.
- National Council for Mental Wellbeing: The council manages Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) — a peer-reviewed and evidence-based training that has taught more than 1.5 million Americans and often is free thanks to state funding.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-TALK (8255): Sharing the lifeline as a resource in your workplace is not only easy, but it also grows public awareness, increasing the chance that someone in emotional distress will reach out for help.
- Right Direction: This turnkey initiative raises awareness about depression and other mental health conditions.
By addressing mental health issues in the workplace, employers can reduce health care costs for their businesses and employees.
Katie Culliton, Editor, CalChamber
CalChamber members can read Contribute to Employees’ Well-Being: Mental Health Resources on HRCalifornia. Not a member? See what CalChamber can do for you.
