scholarly journals "Are we doing enough": An evaluation of the utilization of employee assistance programs to support the mental health needs of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author(s):  
C. Darren Brooks ◽  
Jeff Ling

The purpose of this study was to examine EAP utilization as a result of the pandemic. Specifically, it looked at whether the EAP utilization has increased in a post-pandemic environment, whether demographic factors age, gender, or race/ethnicity influence EAP utilization, and how employers promote EAP benefits to support employee mental health needs during the pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harleen Dhami ◽  
Yukari Seko

For years, the stigma around depression has caused many to suffer in silence. Since its launch in 2010, the Bell Let’s Talk campaign, started by Canadian telecommunications giant Bell, has aimed to change the narrative around mental health. With Bell coming under fire for overlooking employee mental health needs and even firing staff as a result of requesting time off, this Major Research Paper explores how the 2020 Bell Let’s Talk campaign mobilizes support and selfdisclosure among Twitter users or whether it is simply another instance of corporate profitization. Analyzing tweets one week before, the day of Bell Let’s Talk and one week after, it is suggested that the campaign does not instill a significant increase in supportive tweets on the day of. Rather, it appears that users engage in self-disclosing their experiences with depression and share resources and ways to cope on the day of the initiative. Comparatively, self-disclosure and support does not appear to be sustained beyond the day of the initiative.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harleen Dhami ◽  
Yukari Seko

For years, the stigma around depression has caused many to suffer in silence. Since its launch in 2010, the Bell Let’s Talk campaign, started by Canadian telecommunications giant Bell, has aimed to change the narrative around mental health. With Bell coming under fire for overlooking employee mental health needs and even firing staff as a result of requesting time off, this Major Research Paper explores how the 2020 Bell Let’s Talk campaign mobilizes support and selfdisclosure among Twitter users or whether it is simply another instance of corporate profitization. Analyzing tweets one week before, the day of Bell Let’s Talk and one week after, it is suggested that the campaign does not instill a significant increase in supportive tweets on the day of. Rather, it appears that users engage in self-disclosing their experiences with depression and share resources and ways to cope on the day of the initiative. Comparatively, self-disclosure and support does not appear to be sustained beyond the day of the initiative.


BMJ Leader ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
Julia DiBenigno ◽  
Michaela Kerrissey

BackgroundAlthough the COVID-19 pandemic exposes frontline caregivers to severe prolonged stresses and trauma, there has been little clarity on how healthcare organisations can structure support to address these mental health needs. This article translates organisational scholarship on professionals working in organisations to elucidate why traditional approaches to supporting employee mental health, which often ask employees to seek assistance from centralised resources that separate mental health personnel from frontline units, may be insufficient under crisis conditions. We identify a critical but often overlooked aspect of employee mental health support: how frontline professionals respond to mental health services. In high-risk, high-pressure fields, frontline professionals may perceive mental health support as coming at the expense of urgent frontline work goals (ie, patient care) and as clashing with their central professional identities (ie, as expert, self-reliant ironmen/women).FindingsTo address these pervasive goal and identity conflicts in professional organisations, we translate the results of a multiyear research study examining the US Army’s efforts to transform its mental health support during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We highlight parallels between providing support to frontline military units and frontline healthcare units during COVID-19 and surface implications for structuring mental health supports during a crisis. We describe how an intentional organisational design used by the US Army that assigned specific mental health personnel to frontline units helped to mitigate professional goal and identity conflicts by creating personalised relationships and contextualising mental health offerings.ConclusionAddressing frontline caregivers’ mental health needs is a vital part of health delivery organisations’ response to COVID-19, but without thoughtful organisational design, well-intentioned efforts may fall short. An approach that assigns individual mental health personnel to support specific frontline units may be particularly promising.


1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-14
Author(s):  
Lynn C. Koch ◽  
Phillip D. Rumrill

The article explores non-traditional employment settings for rehabilitation counselors. The authors describe career outlooks for and responsibilities of rehabilitation counselors who work in mental health, substance abuse treatment, geriatric rehabilitation, medical/allied health case management, employee assistance programs, disability management, and private practice/consultation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Harrington

Mental health counselors (MHCs) are employed in a variety of professional settings, among them community agencies, schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, clinics, treatment centers, government, military, employee assistance programs, insurance or managed care companies, and private practice. Arguably, private practice is the setting where the potential for career gratification and self-direction is most counterbalanced by vocational and financial vulnerability. This article introduces the Special Issue of the Journal of Mental Health Counseling (JMHC), Contemporary Issues in Private Practice, and highlights the paucity of scholarly literature dealing with private practice; recalls the historic challenges between the research and clinical communities related to field-based research and collaboration and accurately quantifying the actual number of private practitioners; and reflects on the recent past and future of private practice counseling.


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