Future of Health Care 2020

THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE // BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
DIAGNOSIS: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Covid-19 concerns just added to an
Marie Story, corporate wellbeing consultant at Walsh Duffield Cos. Inc., says the stigma of mental illlness gets in the way of people receiving help.
JOED VIERA
BY ANNEMARIE FRANCZYK
Contributing writer
For employers reluctant to recognize
the impact of depression, anxiety
and stress among their workers, the
Covid-19 pandemic might push them
into full mental-health programming
when the economy reopens.
Companies must first embrace
that mental health is affecting operations,
and the increasing trends of
opioid addiction and suicide might
force the issue. Some have seen rising
use of their employee-assistance
programs and employee claims data
around mental-illness diagnoses and
treatment.
“They are being treated, and that’s
a good thing,” said Marie Story, corporate
wellbeing consultant at Walsh
Duffield Cos. Inc. “There needs to be an
extra step to create a culture, to make
sure that the employers are supporting
them.”
But many employers are not doing
so, Story said. For many, the stigma
and the shame that come along with
mental illness may be getting in the
way. Ignoring problems only makes
things worse.
“Something that could be addressed
simply and inexpensively festers and
gets more difficult and expensive to
treat,” said Kenneth Houseknecht,
executive director of Mental Health
Advocates of Western New York.
The value of an investment in mental
health could be a motivation. For
every dollar put into scaled-up treatment
for common mental disorders,
there is a return of four dollars
in improved health and productivity,
according to a May 2019 report by the
World Health Organization.
Recent statistics around that point
to a severe level of workplace mental
illness, pre-Covid-19.
RRThree-quarters of workers
reported suffering from work-related
stress.
RRA quarter of all workers indicated
they are depressed.
RRMore than half say anxiety and
stress affect their work performance.
It should not be a surprise that
workforce surveys had indicated that
most employees were interested in policies
and procedures regarding mental
health, Houseknecht said.
“It’s been on everyone’s radar well
before coronavirus,” Houseknecht
said. “If we had a workforce already
dealing with anxiety, depression and
stress, this is just going to accelerate
and exacerbate it. There will be
even greater urgency and immediacy
to address the mental illness in the
workplace.
“Employers: Will you be anticipatory
and take a positive approach and
take a productive approach and create
a mental-health culture, or will you
just deal with issues as they come up?”
Lindsay Herndon, BryLin Behavioral
Health System’s director of outpatient
services, said an organization’s
leadership should be intent on becoming
aware of how employees are functioning
in the workplace.
“The way you treat your staff, the
more willing they will be to take on
extra duties,” she said. “If they’re there
just there to get a paycheck, they’re not
going to be productive.”
Communication can stem the problems
that can lead to mental distress,
Herndon said.
“In the workplace, you get rumors
that fly around, like ‘Oh my god, are
they talking about me? Is my paycheck
safe?’ That’s when mental-health
problems break in,” Herndon said.
To jump ahead of potential problems,
BryLin engaged in two communication-focused
initiatives to help
administrators open the lines with
staff.
One was a survey that asked
employees to rate workplace environ-
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