Tips for prioritizing mental health and wellbeing

We've all felt it one time or another—the pressure and stress to perform and the draining impact it has on our lives. In a recent Pulse Check question, mental health and burnout was the top cause of stress for our client's members.

We know burnout and other mental health concerns impact our clients, like you, with increased turnover, rising healthcare costs, and lost productivity. 

So what can you do to overcome these challenges? How can you boost awareness with your leaders and members? Don't worry, Virgin Pulse has you covered! Check out these tips:

1. Review our latest toolkits

• Mental Health in the Workplace: Are you equipped to handle today's challenges?
  
  In our 2023 Global Survey: Workplace Health & Wellbeing Priorities report, the results unequivocally highlighted the continuing need for employee mental health support.
  
  The bad news? Workers are tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. For employees to thrive, employers must build benefits relevant to today's challenges. The good news? These benefits really work. 
  
  
  To help you give your people the mental health support they need and deserve, we've put together this guide to mental health benefits to help you build a relevant, inclusive, and impactful approach. 
  
  
• 2024 Mental Health Toolkit
  

  A collection of tools and resources to help better support employee mental health
  We're helping organizations like yours destigmatize mental health and provide inclusive mental health support to help employees thrive. To better support you, we've compiled our top actionable mental health resources for HR leaders all in one place. 
  
  

2. Add Journeys to your program

Journeys are multi-week, guided courses that help members successfully form and adopt new healthy habits through a highly personalized and persuasive experience. Here are a few Journeys you can add to your program: 

• Growing Emotional Awareness: If you experience many emotions in one day, you are not alone. We’re humans – and sometimes our emotions take over. Of course, some are more pleasant, while others can be intense, or confusing. It’s not always easy to identify and manage emotions. By practicing awareness, you can learn how to understand and deal with emotions around you and your community.
• Returning to Your Workplace: Whether you took extended time off from work or worked from home, getting back into a routine can be challenging. The good news? There are things you can do to make the process easier while also managing daily expectations.
• Care for Yourself While Caring for Others: Caretakers often face unique challenges. They’re strong people with a lot on their plates. Self-care doesn’t always come easy! Even if your days are spent caring for others, your wellbeing remains essential. The healthier you are mentally, emotionally, and physically, the better you can support those who need you.  Start small. Become aware of the ways you can give back to yourself. Discover tools, techniques, and practices that you can use to give yourself a boost, even on the most tiring days.

3. Build in weekly breaks for you and your members

After periods of intense focus, giving yourself a break is essential. Download this calendar invite to save time on your and your members’ calendars. Use this time to get up and stretch, go for a short walk, connect with coworkers socially, listen to music, close your eyes for a few minutes, meditate, or eat mindfully without distractions. 

4. Tie stress awareness and mental health together

Part of being aware of your mental health includes identifying what triggers you to feel stressed and implementing ways to overcome or work through that stress. Check out our latest blog post for stress-reducing healthy habits and journeys and ways to revamp your virtual or in-person work environment.

5. Learn from your peers

• See how Children's Hospital of Philadelphia offers meaningful choices to increase mental health awareness, engagement & outcomes, leading to 33% of members now engaging with mindfulness tools (including RethinkCare) and 80% of Health Assessment completers report feeling more productive at work.
• Discover how Northern Arizona Healthcare gave back more than just mental support to their community, with NAH colleagues collectively achieved more than 65,000 mindful minutes and raised $5,000 to be donated to a local non-profit organization.
  

6. Check out these resources from one of our VP+ global partner, RethinkCare:

• Podcast: How to talk to your kids about mental health
• Article: How to prioritize your mental health
• Article: How mindfulness can improve mental health
• Tip sheet: Supporting your child’s mental health
• Article: As hiring remains a challenge, employers must keep mental health needs in focus
• Tip Sheet: Tips for children with ADHD
• Article: How to avoid burnout at work
• Article: Grow the good in your brain to fight stress

Here to help you prioritize mental health & wellness at your organization