How An Emotional Wellbeing Program Can Help Employees Cope During COVID-19

Emotional well-being and mental health programs can help employees manage their stress and anxiety during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Although mental health is taking a back seat to physical health during the coronavirus pandemic, the forced lockdowns, high levels of unemployment, and a staggering number of deaths are causing a lot of mental distress in our communities. 

According to The Conversation, adults between 18 and 44 years old have experienced a tenfold increase in serious mental distress in 2020 compared to 2018. That’s why employers should begin implementing emotional wellbeing programs to support their employees during these challenging times. 

Below, we’ll show you how emotional wellbeing programs can help your employees reduce stress and anxiety, develop emotional resilience, and help them adjust to their new working environment. 

Reduce Stress and Anxiety

For employees to maintain a healthy emotional state, it can be very helpful to have professional resources that educate and provide research-led tactics to manage stress and anxiety.

According to Joseph McGuire, a psychologist with John Hopkins Medicine, “Knowledge and preparation can help reduce feelings of panic. Individuals can use information from trusted resources to develop personal plans of action.”

CoreHealth offers such resources, with the ability to select a number of professional emotional and mental wellbeing programs from an integrated marketplace. For example, Healbright, a popular tool for mental wellness in the integrated marketplace, provides video-based mental wellness resources featuring licensed mental health professionals. Employees who are struggling or seeking help can use the service to learn more about stress and anxiety.

Healbright also provides scientifically proven therapeutic techniques to participants so they can learn how to manage their problems. Techniques offered by Healbright, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), help employees manage their problems by changing the way they think and behave. 

 

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Courses are also self-paced so employees can learn at the rate they please. Mental wellness programs also include content from other disciplines like meditation, mindfulness, neuroscience, and positive psychology.

Develop Emotional Resilience 

Experiencing feelings of helplessness is quite common during a major global crisis. According to the Disaster Distress Helpline, there was a 338% increase in call volume from February to March 2020. This represents an 891% increase from March 2019.

While maintaining emotional health is especially difficult during a pandemic, there are tools that can help. For example, there are online clinically validated mental health risk assessment tools like MindQ, which can assess your stress coping and degree of emotional resilience. MindQ can help you identify your existing stress coping profile and show you effective strategies to build mental resilience.

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Another tool for building mental resilience is behavior change techniques. For example, Pro-Change Behavior Systems, a self-directed program on CoreHealth’s integrated marketplace, delivers results by individually tailoring online interventions, text messages, and dynamic web activities. This provides a continuous, steady dose of behavior change medicine, increasing the program’s effectiveness and engagement.

 

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Embrace Change and a Positive Mindset

Unfortunately, your employees’ routines and expectations are being significantly disrupted during the COVID-19 crisis. As their employer, it’s vital you help them adopt a positive attitude, embrace change, and make wise, healthy decisions. With remote work, reduced hours, and young children at home, your employees are going to need to alter their existing schedule and embrace change in the best way they can.

Edington Associates, a web-based, self-leadership training program available in CoreHealth’s marketplace, can equip employees with the life skills they need to adopt a positive mindset and make healthy decisions. Edington Associates goes beyond educating participants. Their goal is to motivate employees to embrace good health by first practicing four critical life skills so they can be more accountable for their life and health. These science-based, easy, and time-efficient modules focus on resilience, self-leadership, change management, and healthy-decision making. These life skills teach both individuals and teams the skills they need to handle their current difficult circumstances 

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Conclusion

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on almost every part of our society. It has shut down businesses, caused significant layoffs in multiple industries, and forced remaining employees to work from home. These changing circumstances are extremely stressful for many people. As an employer, you must recognize the effects and negative impact of stress and anxiety. Encourage employees to take care of their health and provide them with the right resources to manage their stress levels, develop emotional resilience, embrace change, and move forward with a positive mindset. If you’re interested in a suite of resources and web-apps that can help your employees boost their emotional wellbeing and mental health, contact us today.