Articles

Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace

It is estimated that the average person will spend approximately one third of their lives at work, which comes to 90,000 hours over the course of a standard lifetime. Therefore, mental health in the workplace is an important topic to consider. The first full week of October was established as Mental Health Awareness Week by Congress in 1990, while October 10th is designated by The World Health Organization (WHO) as World Mental Health Day. World Mental Health Day, an international day for global mental health education, awareness, and advocacy against social stigma, was first celebrated in 1992 in more than 150 countries.  

These designations are given to raise awareness of mental health education and depression awareness, and we would like to provide some ideas to further enable our members’ current workplace health strategies:

• Ensure that mental health is covered by your company’s health insurance plan, and then begin promoting these services to employees.
• Many insurance plans also offer Employee Assistance Programs, which are work-based programs that offer mental health assessments, short-term consulting opportunities, referrals to specialists, and follow-up services to employees.
• Always offer a friendly and open human resources environment where employees feel safe to discuss issues throughout the week.
• Organize:
  • a mental health seminar lead by a wellness professional, and encourage all to attend
  • an office outing focused on a team-building activity such as community volunteering
  • a weekly award hand out (i.e. – “The Duct Tape Award” for the person who fixes everything, or “The Pearly White Award” for the person who smiles the most)
  • a “Mindful Monday” or “Wellness Wednesday” where everyone brings in a healthy potluck lunch item or walks together over part of the lunch break