Rebirth of APAF’s Center for Workplace Mental Health

APA and the APA Foundation offer many excellent programs, resources, and benefits to our members. One of the priorities of my year as APA president is to raise awareness of these initiatives and benefits among the broader membership.

One initiative that is making a difference in spreading the word about the importance of investing in mental health care is the Center for Workplace Mental Health, which is under the purview of the APA Foundation. The mission of the center is to help workers with mental illness by inspiring companies to increase awareness of mental health issues and provide better support for employees.

The Center for Workplace Mental Health, originally known as the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, grew out of the idea that APA should be partnering with employers to work on issues related to mental health. I had the opportunity to witness this initiative from its inception while I served on the Council for Healthcare Systems and Financing. In the beginning, many of the conversations we had centered around why employers should even consider offering coverage for mental illness and substance use disorders.

This may seem strange today at a time when parity for mental health and substance use disorders is the law, and when many employers have established employee assistance programs (EAPs), but when this initiative started 15 years ago, the conversation surrounding mental health was, unfortunately, much different. The widespread stigma of mental illness made it difficult to engage with employers on this subject, even when APA wanted to highlight their efforts as success stories.

Today, thankfully, the situation has progressed to the point that not only are many employers willing to talk about mental health, but they also actively seek help from the Center for Workplace Mental Health. This new reality is reflected in the partial name change of the initiative from a “Partnership” to a “Center.” It has evolved into a robust program whose staff and resources help employers work through issues, such as adaptation to and compliance with mental health parity laws, and develop new and better ways to support their employees and give them access to care.

Two ways in which the center facilitates this is through the ICU (Identify, Connect, Understand) and Right Direction programs. ICU is an awareness campaign tailored for the workplace and designed to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. The idea is to foster a workplace culture where mental health can be discussed openly and where emotional health is valued. ICU, sometimes referred to as “I See You,” was initially developed by DuPont’s Employee Assistance Program. DuPont has since donated the program to the Center for Workplace Mental Health, which provides it cost-free to interested employers.

Right Direction was developed by the Center in partnership with Employers Health CoalitionInc. and is a first-of-its-kind program designed to give employers the tools they need to address depression in the workplace.

Many employers who work with the center share their success stories with these and programs of their own design in the form of case studies that can be found on the center’s newly designed website. These in-depth stories are an excellent way to see how varying approaches to ensuring the mental health and well-being of employees achieve effective results in a range of industries.

I have enjoyed watching the evolution of the Center for Workplace Mental Health over the years and the realization by many employers that investing in employees to help them be healthy and happy is key to creating a productive and successful workplace. The Center for Workplace Mental Health does a great job of highlighting this truth to employers, and I look forward to seeing what they are able to accomplish as time goes on. ■