Why offer mental health services at work?

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By Elizabeth Belliveau

The research is overwhelming: healthy and well workforces produce better work. However, while many companies and work environments have invested in the physical well-being of their employees, with the likes of wellness initiatives and corporate fitness challenges, the emotional and mental health well-being of employees is still a relatively unspoken and misunderstood concept. While many companies include mental health benefits within their company benefits packages, many employees cite difficulty accessing quality mental health care, such as long wait lists for evening appointments and difficulty balancing responsibilities while fitting in their own mental health services. Many provider agencies in the Worcester area report wait lists of up to six months for clients to be seen for an intake, leaving many workers struggling in the interim.

Research tells us that providing services for employees that target overall health and wellness in an integrative and accessible way is key to improving and sustaining workers’ performance, and could reduce issues that plague businesses, such as low career satisfaction. Just as many schools have moved towards an on-site model for counseling services for their students, large companies can look to provide both on-site group programs for workers, and individualized therapeutic services for those workers who need a more specific treatment plan.

Examples of on-site programming include mindfulness skills trainings, which increase productivity and task-centered abilities, stress reduction programming, parenting support and skills, or gender-specific coping and support groups (for example, an over 40 women’s support group). Some workplaces have already adopted recovery groups on-site, as well as anxiety and depression management services.

For employees who require more intensive services, it may be beneficial to offer access to a licensed therapist who can meet with the client at a time convenient to both the worker and company. Additionally, human resource or employee relations departments can seek relationships with local agencies that accept their benefit package and agree to see their workers off-site in timely manner. Helping to coordinate care for workers sends the message that company is willing to provide for their workers during vulnerable times, and utilization of a third-party vendor will reduce employees’ fears around confidentiality, as the therapist will abide by the oath of their profession, and the employer will not have access to medical records, in keeping with state laws.

Bridging the gap

Bridging the gap between the place of employment and mental health care can seem tricky, but viewing the workers’ needs through a medical model can actually help the process: Many companies offer eyeglass screenings and blood pressure screenings as a tool to support early detection and expedite access to care. In the same way, on-site mental health screenings can serve as a preventative and targeted tool for the facilitation of services for workers.

Often, the early detection and systemic value of connecting workers to care has benefits that far surpass the span of services for the worker.

Elizabeth Belliveau is a clinical social worker and owner of Enlightened Interventions LLC, a Worcester-based integrative wellness practice that specializes in corporate wellness programs. Belliveau employs a holistic treatment approach that encourages achieving full functionality in life. She has extensive experience providing consultations and clinical supervision to practitioners and advising on program and service development. Belliveau is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Boston College Graduate School of Social Work.

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