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NOVEMBER AGENT^® NEWSLETTER

Webinar Shares Ideas on Supporting Mental Health at Work

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been driving up stress, anxiety and depression, it’s also creating the opportunity for employers to focus on employee wellness, according to mental health and employee benefits leaders during a recent webinar hosted by The Hartford.

“This is one of the greatest opportunities for culture change and empathy that we’ve ever seen,” said Ken Duckworth, M.D., chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Along with Duckworth, JetBlue Director of Benefits Kristen Brown and Adele Spallone, vice president of clinical operations for The Hartford, discussed The Hartford’s research about mental health in the workplace. The speakers advocated for employers to embrace education about mental health, use communication to dispel stigma and encourage treatment, and leverage innovative strategies to boost employee wellness.

Education

Getting up-to-speed on mental health is a key step for employers who want to update their benefits plan to further support their employees’ wellness, said Brown.

“Engage with an expert in this – whether it’s a broker or whether a mental health expert affiliated with your broker or consultant, whether it’s someone like The Hartford as your business partner who has taken a progressive step in this topic, and get yourself educated,” she said.

Brown also noted NAMI has a number of educational programs.

Communication

Employers should use every day language to talk about mental health and normalize conversations in the workplace about this once-taboo topic. And they should regularly communicate to employees about available mental health resources.

“If we can get to a place of talking more about overall wellbeing – I definitely think that COVID has done that – then people will be more comfortable talking about mental health and seeking care,” Spallone said.

Innovation

Younger workers may more comfortable seeking help via texting or a smart phone app than traditional therapy. The JetBlue director gave the example of a non-traditional benefit that has a mental health element – a sleep improvement program.

Brown said pilots typically are hesitant to use mental health resources. “If I can engage with them around a topic like better sleep patterns, what they don’t realize is that I’m improving their mental health, still caring, and making it comfortable for them to engage.”

Duckworth encouraged employers to foster peer-to-peer support, so that employees can share coping ideas with each other. “We’re all at our first pandemic. What could we learn from each other? That’s a hopeful and empowering message.”

Empathy

Half of U.S. workers surveyed by The Hartford said discussing mental health topics in the workplace will become more accepted as a result of the pandemic. The speakers all agreed.

“This has been the blessing through the pandemic – the ability to think about ourselves as human beings differently and incorporate the sense of wellbeing in the workplace,” said Spallone. “Employees are more engaged and employers more understanding. We really have a higher level of empathy.”

The webinar was a result of The Hartford and NAMI’s partnership to further a national dialogue about mental health and inspire leaders to embrace a stigma-free culture within their companies and communities.

You can watch a full replay of the virtual event here: https://youtu.be/FnvqL5josJo

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