Category Workplace Issues

What do Farmers, Construction Workers, and Police Officers Have in Common?

Families for Depression Awareness

Unfortunately, higher rates of suicide than many other occupations. Workplace mental health programs can help.

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Business Two-for-One. Supporting the Mental Health of Employees Improves Profits.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

For employers seeking to reduce the financial and human costs of mental health issues, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

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Should Providers Ask, “How’s Your Financial Health?”

Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio
Vice President, Health and Wellness, Prudential

Money may not be the root of all evil but it can be the root of a lot of problems, including mental health problems. But for clinicians, talking about it is taboo.

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Know Your Workplace Rights. Put Protections in Place Before They Are Needed

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act will cause every state to lose jobs, says Josh Bivens. How can you be successful at work and protect your job when you live with a mood disorder?

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Depression Costs the Country Billions in Lost Productivity.   It’s Time We Started Helping People Get Back to Work

Sagar V. Parikh

Sagar V. Parikh, M.D., FRCPC
University of Michigan, Medical Director, NNDC

Care for Your Mind acknowledges and appreciates the collaboration of the National Network of Depression Centers in developing this post.

Work is a significant part of daily life. Whether or not a person feels comfortable on the job influences their overall well-being—and our society’s economic health. For anyone suffering from depression, work-related productivity is a key indicator of health status, one we can’t afford to ignore.

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The Worst Day of My Entire Life (So Far)

By Michael Rafferty
Families for Depression Awareness Volunteer

June 18, 1992 was the Worst Day of My Entire Life (so far). The parenthetical disclaimer is important, but more about that and the day itself a little later.

I am an extrovert. I’m quick with a joke, trending toward the irreverent or sarcastic but just as often self-deprecating. When someone needs help with something, I’ll offer mine. I will celebrate a colleague’s success–sometimes with suppressed envy but, among the Irish, envy is a high compliment.

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Can Organization Handprints Improve Employees’ Mental Health?

Eileen McNeely

Eileen McNeely, RN, C., M.S., PhD.
Co-Director Sustainability and Health Initiatives for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

It has long been recognized that physically healthy employees are good for an organization’s financial health. To that point, discounts on gym memberships which began as an innovative employee perk, are increasingly common as employers look for ways to incent employees to adopt healthy life-styles. Behind these perks is the continuing increase in employee health insurance premiums.

According to a 2015 HealthAffairs report with references to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average health insurance annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage in 2014 was $17,544 per employee. In an effort to keep the rising cost of health insurance premiums in check, employers have deployed a variety of financial incentives such as discounts on employees’ share of health insurance premiums for:

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How to Get What You Need For Workplace Success

Tips for seeking ADA accommodations
Mark Siegert, PhD

If you are struggling with a mental health issue, you may be inclined to hide your condition from your co-workers or employer; and you might worry that sharing behavioral health information could alienate you from your peers and that it might damage your career.

While these considerations are serious, there is a comforting piece of reality you should know: many of your co-workers are also struggling. Recent research suggests that at any given time, 20 to 25 percent of the workforce has a diagnosable mental health condition and 18 percent has an active substance abuse problem. That means that right now, one out of every four or five employees has a mental health issue. Picture your co-workers in a room. Yes, on average, at least one out of every five has, or if diagnosed would have, a mental health diagnosis.

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