Partnership for Workplace Mental Health
E-Update, August 2008
SAVE THE DATE
- DMEC�s 4th Annual Behavioral Risk in the Workplace Conference
- New Mental HealthWorks Available - The latest issue of Mental HealthWorks is now available online!
This latest issue features the following articles:
- Kansas City Law Firm Looks at Depression Initiative Four Years Later
- Lawyers Begin to Recognize Depression in their Ranks
- Employers Identify "Behavioral Risk" As Growing Concern
- Alcohol Problems Seen Most Often in Hospitality/Construction Industries, But There's a Solution
- Partnership's Database of Employers Innovations Online! More and more businesses understand why they should address mental health at the workplace, and are looking for ideas for how to take action. In response, the Partnership developed an online, searchable database that profiles employers� innovative programs and practices called Employer Innovations Online.
- Results In from Recent Employer Behavioral Risk Survey. DMEC recently released results from their 2008 Employer Behavioral Risk survey conducted in collaboration with the Partnership. The results reinforce that behavioral risk management continues to be of importance and key stakeholders are moving the concept forward. Employers see the value of early and targeted intervention to address behavioral health and reported:
- Adult ADHD�s Impact on Workplace Warrants Attention. A study from the online edition of the
Journal of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine found that adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity (AD/HD) disorder perform fewer
days of work per year than people without the condition. Individuals with the disorder "find it difficult to concentrate
due to their distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsivity, or forgetfulness. Workers with AD/HD, compared with workers
without the condition, put in 22.1 fewer days a year -- nearly a month's worth of workdays.
Study authors suggested that "adult AD/HD might be a candidate for targeted workplace screening and treatment programs, because cost-effective therapies exist which could improve some aspects of affected workers' performance." They wrote, "It might be cost-effective from the employer perspective to implement workplace screening programs, and provide treatment for workers with AD/HD." Learn more from WebMD�s coverage of the study, or access the study here. - Study indicates working overtime may raise risk for anxiety, depression. Working overtime appears to raise the risk "for developing anxiety and depression," according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. After examining data on "1,350 overtime workers and 9,000 with normal work hours in Norway," researchers found that "[m]en who worked 40 hours a week or less had a nine percent �possible� depression score on standard screening questionnaires, while 12.5 percent of their counterparts who worked overtime showed signs of depression and anxiety."
- Mental Illness Costs U.S. billions in lost earnings. A new report shows that serious mental illness costs Americans at least $193 billion a year in lost earnings alone. Funded by NIMH, a survey found that respondents with a serious mental illness reported receiving about 40 percent less in earnings than those without serious mental disorders. "The results of this study confirm the belief that mental disorders contribute to enormous losses of human productivity," said lead researcher Ronald C. Kessler of Harvard University.
- New Podcast on Lawyers and Depression Available. Dr. Reef Karim speaks with Daniel Lukasik, an attorney from Buffalo, N.Y., who lives with depression himself and is working to assist his colleagues in the legal community also living with this disease. Mr. Lukasik founded the Committee to Assist Lawyers with Depression and launched www.lawyerswithdepression.com. His mission is to dispel the stigma that surrounds mental illness in the legal community, and help other attorneys understand they are not alone with this illness.
March 18-19, 2009
Riviera Resort & Spa, Palm Springs, CA
Plan to attend DMEC�s annual conference focused specifically on behavioral health. The 2009 Behavioral Risk in the Workplace Conference, Optimizing Productivity Through Behavioral Interventions, is a two-day intensive conference that delves into nearly every aspect of behavioral workplace risk. It provides actionable ideas, practical advice, and proven strategies to help you succeed in managing and preventing behavioral risk. For more details and to register, visit DMEC�s Behavioral Risk in the Workplace conference site.
The Partnership for Workplace Mental Health is proud to be a strategic supporter of the Behavioral Risk in the Workplace conference.
PARTNERSHIP NEWSShare Mental HealthWorks with your colleagues! Through your affiliation with the Partnership, we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to share our free quarterly newsletter with your colleagues. Simply send contact information (postal and/or email addresses) for your colleagues to mhw@psych.org and they will be added to email or print subscription list.
Employer Innovations Online is an easily navigated, user-friendly tool describing actual practices of leading companies in key areas, such as screening and education, Employee Assistance Programs, disability management, and wellness programs. Each case study in the database describes the practice(s) of one employer, such as American Airlines, DuPont, JPMorgan Chase, Pitney Bowes, and Sprint. Visit Employer Innovations Online now!
Are you doing something at your workplace to address mental health? We invite you to participate in this exciting new initiative! Have you found success with a specific approach from which others can learn? Interested companies and organizations can submit their innovative approaches to workplace mental health online at http://www.workplacementalhealth.org/search.aspx or contact Mary Claire Leftwich at (703) 907- 8561 or mleftwich@psych.org to arrange to share your story � we�ll do all the work for you!
Expanded application of depression screenings, up significantly to 35% of respondents (up by 26%.)
Increased use of a mental health professional (MHP) for disciplinary programs (up 11%.)
Increased use of EAP on disability management committees (up 15%.)
Thank you to our employers partners who participated � your contributions made this effort a success! For more information, and to read the survey report in full, visit the Partnership website.
WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH NEWSFor more information, visit www.healthday.com
To read this article in full, visit the NIMH website
INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIESThis podcast is part of "The Down and Up Show," made possible by the Depression is Real Coalition. For more information, and to download at the podcast for free, www.depressionisreal.org.