Editorial Open Access
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Aug 19, 2022; 12(8): 1002-1003
Published online Aug 19, 2022. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i8.1002
Meeting employees where they are: The rise of workplace mental health services
Gaddy Noy, Ravi Navin Shah, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, United States
ORCID number: Gaddy Noy (0000-0001-8050-5196); Ravi Navin Shah (0000-0001-5611-1269).
Author contributions: Noy G and Shah RN contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gaddy Noy, DO, Assistant Professor, Doctor, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, 3985 Broadway Street, New York, NY 10032, United States. gn2296@cumc.columbia.edu
Received: February 24, 2022
Peer-review started: February 24, 2022
First decision: April 18, 2022
Revised: May 28, 2022
Accepted: July 8, 2022
Article in press: July 8, 2022
Published online: August 19, 2022
Processing time: 175 Days and 6 Hours

Abstract

Many key organizations have called attention to the importance of addressing workplace mental health. In this Open Forum piece, two academic psychiatrists present recommendations from their experiences providing psychiatric care in a corporate setting. A literature review using the PubMed database was performed. The search found no peer review articles that discuss the topic of employer-sponsored mental health services outside of traditional employee assistant programs. Based on first-hand experience, the authors of this forum describe key issues and best practices to ensure employer-sponsored mental health services are a successful treatment for patients and mental health providers alike.

Key Words: Employer sponsored mental health; Employee mental health; Psychiatry; Corporate wellness; Workplace mental health; Mental health

Core Tip: The importance of mental health has been ever present in our society and has been highlighted during the stress of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. As corporations continue to recognize the value of a mentally healthier workforce for their employees, their business and their bottom line, it would behoove corporate business to implement embedded psychiatric services with integrated models and enhance the wellness of their community; providing easy access, affordable and timely mental health services. Our experience sheds light on the benefits these services can offer.



INTRODUCTION

Many key organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and American Psychiatric Association have called attention to the importance of addressing workplace mental health[1-3]. Employers recognize the toll of mental illness on their employees (less productivity, increased absenteeism, increased substance use, increased medical comorbidities)[4]. As the idea that a mentally well workforce is good for the bottom line has gained more traction, a growing cadre of corporations are contracting with mental health companies like Modern Health (valued at > $1 billion), Lyra Health (valued at > $2 billion), Ginger (valued at > $1 billion), Spring Health (valued at $200-500 million), and others to provide mental health services directly on-site or via telehealth as an employee benefit[5]. These employer-sponsored mental health services create a platform in which corporations link employees to mental health providers (therapists and/or prescribers) via either employee assistance programs or in-network service providers.

CONCLUSION

The importance of mental health has been ever present in our society and has been highlighted during the stress of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. As corporations continue to recognize the value of a mentally healthier workforce for their employees, their business and their bottom line, it would behoove corporate business to implement embedded psychiatric services with integrated models and enhance the wellness of their community; providing easy access, affordable and timely mental health services. Our experience sheds light on the benefits these services can offer.

Footnotes

Provenance and peer review: Invited article; Externally peer reviewed.

Peer-review model: Single blind

Specialty type: Psychiatry

Country/Territory of origin: United States

Peer-review report’s scientific quality classification

Grade A (Excellent): 0

Grade B (Very good): B

Grade C (Good): 0

Grade D (Fair): D

Grade E (Poor): 0

P-Reviewer: Byeon H, South Korea; Rivas JC, Congo S-Editor: Wu YXJ L-Editor: A P-Editor: Wu YXJ

References
1.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  Mental Health in the Workplace. [cited 2019 April 10]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/tools-resources/workplace-health/mental-health/index.html.  [PubMed]  [DOI]  [Cited in This Article: ]
2.  World Health Organization  Mental health in the workplace. [cited 2022 Jan 23]. Available from: https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/mental-health-in-the-workplace.  [PubMed]  [DOI]  [Cited in This Article: ]
3.  American Psychiatric Association Foundation Center for Workplace Mental Health  The Leading Resource for Workplace Mental Health. [cited 2021 May 23]. Available from: https://workplacementalhealth.org.  [PubMed]  [DOI]  [Cited in This Article: ]
4.  Rothermel S, Slavit W, Finch RA.   Center for Prevention and Health Services. An Employer’s Guide to Employee Assistance Programs: Recommendations for Strategically Defining, Integrating and Measuring Employee Assistance Programs. Washington, DC: National Business Group on Health; 2008. Available from: http://www.easna.org/documents/PS2-NBGRecommendationsforDefiningandMeasuringEAPs.pdf.  [PubMed]  [DOI]  [Cited in This Article: ]
5.  Landi H  Ginger banks another $100M to ramp up partnerships with health plans, government payers. Fierce Healthcare. [cited 2021 Mar 24]. Available from: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/ginger-banks-another-100m-to-ramp-up-partnerships-health-plans.  [PubMed]  [DOI]  [Cited in This Article: ]