Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace

Through evidence-based information, participants will learn how organizations may support their employees’ positive mental health—discovering the impact of mental health and its symptoms on the organization, including the financial impacts of positive and negative mental health in the workplace. Participants will gain tools to support positive mental health through examples of workplace policies and programs, and strategies to assess the current mental health status and on-going impact of those efforts. Finally, participants will gain high level knowledge on high-risk behaviors and warning signs of unsafe mental health concerns in the workplace and actions to take.

Learner Outcomes

After completing this program, students will be able to:

• Summarize the increasing recognition of the role of mental health in our daily life, including at work
• Define common mental health terms, diagnoses, and symptoms
• Connect directly the impact of positive mental health in organizations to culture, employee performance, financials, and retention
• Compare drivers of positive and negative mental health behaviors and policies in the workplace
• Apply knowledge and gain tools to promote positive mental health in the workplace through policies, programs, and communication
• Assess current mental health status and strategies in workforce now and going forward
• Identify high risk/unsafe mental health behaviors and symptoms in the workplace and what actions to take

Course Outline

1. Mental Health Statistics

• Mental health statistics over time
• Current state of mental health statistics
• Statistics and impacts of mental health in the workplace

2. Comparing Positive and Negative Drivers

• Negative drivers to mental health
• Positive drivers to mental health

3. Common Mental Health Diagnoses

• Overview of clinical definitions of depression, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse disorder, and dementia
• Behaviors and symptoms of depression, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse disorder, and dementia

4. Impact in the Workplace

• Connection of mental health to culture of the workplace
• Connection of mental health to employee performance, engagement, and retention
• Connection of mental health to financial outcomes in the workplace

5. Creating Programs, Policies, and Strategies

• Examples of policies to drive positive mental health in the workplace
• Examples of programs to drive positive mental health in the workplace
• States with Mental Health Laws: Georgia Mental Health Parity Act
• Explaining leadership with compassion
• Communication strategy of available resources and policies for awareness
• Discuss and brainstorm strategies with fellow participants that they may implement in a 15-minute breakout session

6. Assessments

• Assessment tools and strategies to gauge current and on-going state of employees' mental health
• Assessment tools for the impact of policies, programs, and strategies
• Confidentiality

7. High Risk and Unsafe Behaviors

• Terms of other mental health illnesses including psychotic disorders
• High risk symptoms and behaviors of psychotic disorders, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse disorder, and dementia
• Actions to take, when, and how
• Examples of policies, procedures, and legalities in implementing a safe environment

Resources

Resources to be shared for participants to consult optionally to support learning

• CDC - Mental Health
• Forbes: The Importance of Mental Health Support in the Workplace
• Vyond: Mental Health in the Workplace | Promoting Wellness and Self Care
• WHO: Mental health in the workplace – Q & A (Questions and Answers)
• WHO: Mental Health and Substance Use
• Springer Link - Mental Health Article
• Journal HSS (PDF)