New Publication Advances APA’s Business Outreach Efforts

Advancing its commitment to building communication channels to corporation executives who make decisions about health care coverage, APA has just mailed the first issue of a new publication titled Mental HealthWorks to 10,000 of these decision makers.

The quarterly publication is also being sent to 15,000 APA members and is available at no cost to other members who request it.

The publication’s focus is on mental health issues in the workplace, including the value of providing workers with comprehensive coverage for mental illness treatment. Its goals, according to editor Sam Muszynski, director of APA’s Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing, are “to facilitate dialogue between psychiatry and business, to provide current information and resources on how business and psychiatry are addressing workplace mental health issues, and to improve our collective efforts toward a mentally healthy and productive workforce.”

In its first issue, Mental HealthWorks offers articles on the toll that depression takes in the workplace, one company’s view of its “investment” in mental health care, and factors employers should consider when choosing coverage for prescription medications. It also includes an article that briefs psychiatrists on job-related issues about which they should question their patients.

The publication is a joint effort of APA and the American Psychiatric Foundation, in collaboration with the National Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, an APA-founded coalition of professional and government organizations and major corporations. The cost of mailing the publication is covered by an unrestricted educational grant from the company Cyberonics.

The publication Mental HealthWorks is posted on the Web at www.workplacementalhealth.org. Additional information is available from Sandra Hass by phone at (703) 907-8595 or e-mail at [email protected]. ▪