Free mental health resources you can give your employees today
Mental health in the workplace. It has been our focus all month and we hope to drive a lasting shift in the mentality of any business leader who has been sticking with our posts this month. One element that has really stood out to us is the prevalence of employees that will struggle with a mental health issue contrasted with their belief that there is room for their struggle in the workplace.
76% — the percentage of employees who will struggle with a mental health issue in the workplace
63% — think their company isn’t really helping
67% — find it challenging to access the care and resources they need
The numbers don’t look good. From depression to high levels of stress, the American workforce needs to start taking the mental health pandemic seriously. If you are a business leader who sees those numbers and wants to take immediate steps to support their employees mental health and create a culture that keeps your people safe, here are some resources that you can point your employees to today.
Headspace
Available as both a mobile app and an online portal, Headspace provides both mindfulness techniques and guided meditation across a variety of scenarios. Looking to get a better night’s sleep? Trying to deal with the stress of an average work day? Trying to be more present and aware in meetings? There is an asset in the Headspace library for almost every situation. Available resources include guided meditation, mind and body workouts, articles, animations and videos.
Visit Headspace
Down Dog
Physical activity plays a huge part in maintaining a healthy mental state. Down Dog is an app that offers a variety of fitness solutions that are customizable to each user. From relaxing yoga to sweat inducing HIIT workouts and barre, the app allows customization across fitness levels, duration and even what music is playing. A free trial is available and there are several affordable monthly subscriptions.
Visit Down Dog
Meditation Time
Work can be a high-stress, time consuming environment where it feels like every minute needs to be used to the fullest. One way that you can boost your employees’ mental health is to give them both the time and the space to take a few minutes for themselves to breathe and collect themselves.
The Daily Calm series is one great resource for meditation, providing 10 minute videos that are free to access on Youtube. Developed by a leading sleep and meditation app, this channel, in conjunction with a quiet, private space in your workplace can be a wonderful asset for your people.
Visit Daily Calm
Audio guides for mental wellbeing
The National health service in the United kingdom has enlisted doctors across the nation to create a repository of free audio guides for mental wellbeing. Short and digestible, these guides are designed to help cope with low mood, depression, anxiety, confidence at work and more. Everything is free, and these guides can be a great starting point for boosting your employees mood and mentality.
Visit NHS
Apple Watch + Breathe
If your employees have access to an Apple Watch, one resource that you could encourage them to utilize is the Breathe app. The goal of the app is to encourage us to set aside moments throughout the day to breathe and intentionally choose mindfulness.
Installed by default on the watch, the app can provide daily notifications, reminders and the benefits are numerous: reduce anxiety, help with burnout, pain relief, and less negative thought patterns.
Visit Breathe App
Get outside
A double win for your organization could be taking advantage of guided walks and outdoor activities near you. Whether it’s a guided walk around your city or a local park, give your employees opportunities to combine physical activity and getting out into nature. Simply google “ guided walks in *your city here*” and browse the outdoor activities around your workplace and get your team out of the office, and into the outdoors.
Mind
Another great resource from our cousins across the pond, Mind is a leading mental health charity offering an expansive library of resources for mental health. From information and guidance to personal support, your people can find access to videos, guides, research, advice, treatment options and services that will advocate for them.
It gets even better. Mind has created a separate resource library specifically for business leaders who want to drive a workplace culture that better supports the mental health and wellbeing of their teams.
Living Life to the Full
Another exceptional resource library, Living Life to the Full has courses and online resources that teach resilience in challenging circumstances and try to improve well-being. From anxiety and depression to long term diagnoses, LLTTF is a totally free resource set developed by cognitive behavioral therapy experts that draws millions of visitors each year. It can help your employees tackle challenges in the workplace and help them feel happier and more confident each day.
Visit LLTTF
There are countless more resources to take advantage of when looking to create an environment in your workplace that drives psychological safety and mental health and wellbeing. But hopefully, this list gives you some places to start.You and your organization are unique, as are the challenges you and your teams face. If you have any questions about your culture and how to drive change in your mental health sphere or any other dimension of your organizational culture, we would love to connect with you.
Head to www.ledgestone.com/contact to get in touch!
