Mental Health Challenges
Sadly, we are seeing increasing rates of brain health challenges around the country and likely the world. Problems that existed before having been amplified by the pandemic and the social isolation we are all experiencing. The impact of this is not just confined to adults and employees but permeates throughout our society all the way to our children. Being at home with your family is not the same as social interaction with your tribe of peers – in the case of children lack of interaction with children their own age has a negative impact.
For employers and schools, you need to take account of the whole family which includes children up to the age of 26. We expect to see an increased incidence of brain health challenges in the extended family. Employers and wellness programs need to look across the whole family and provide as much in the way of suitable resources and support to help employees, students, and the extended family. Perhaps developing new programs and adding more resources to help the extended family, learn from those that are delivering better support and apply this going forward. Don’t stop at the employee but extended this to the spouse, children, and beyond.
Join Dr Luis Saldana, Fred and myself for our COVID Insights to Action Discussion webinar taking place every Wednesday at 4pm ET. Our training modules are available to help businesses, education facilities and employers get their employees, staff, customers and students back to work and school safely in the context of COVID19
Raw Transcript
Nick van Terheyden
Hi, this is Dr. Nick, I’m the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
Fred Goldstein
And I’m Fred Goldstein with accountable health here helping employers think about the broader issues of how you keep your employees healthy and move forward. Post COVID.
Nick van Terheyden
So, interesting report, actually, really kind of sad to see increase in suicide rates in the school districts in Vegas this week, Fred, thoughts?
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, it’s really something that is troubling, as you mentioned, and we really need to begin to consider this, I know that the school district is looking at how they reopen and is moving back to reopening the schools. Because obviously, this this schooling from home has been very stressful for students. And as we can see, with that information and data, it’s led to an increase in suicides, which is something we really need to focus on. And particularly employer groups, because often they’re running these employee health improvement programs, well being or wellness programs, and really focused on their individual employee, or perhaps the employee and spouse, but less focused on the children. And obviously, there’s a way to put in programs and reach those individuals and help them and help parents as well understand, from recognizing risks, to looking at the broader issues of various interventions and approaches and being sure that you have appropriate mental health care services in place to meet that need. So it’s something I think as we go forward, employers need to begin to consider a bit more and get involved as well. Your thoughts on that, Nick? Oh,
Nick van Terheyden
so first of all, this assumes that employers should be in the business of health. And you know, if you haven’t read or heard me talk about this, I think that that’s probably not the world’s greatest idea, I don’t understand. Well, I do understand why I think it’s our opportunity to actually remove that. But in the intervening time, if you are responsible, you definitely need to take account of this, it is not just your employees, if you’re saying I’m providing health care, you’re providing health care for the whole family. And that includes children up to the age of 26. I think that change with the health care reform that we saw the accountable Health Care Act, but it goes far beyond that. And here’s the thing about COVID, that really strikes me. So yes, we’re at home, and we’re together as a family. But the reality is that we all need association with our own tribe or group. And that’s what’s lacking in this isolation is, it’s no good to be at home, if your tribe is your parents, from a child standpoint, because you need that association at the same age group, the same kind of interest, you know, parents are great, and you know, those relationships can all be good, they can also be bad, but you need interactions that really support that sort of mental health. And we’ve taken that away. I don’t know what the status is around all the states. I know, in my state, it’s all virtual. The idea that that is fulfilling any kind of social interaction is of course, absolutely not the case. I think we’re going to see this massive increase in suicide, we’re certainly seeing it in brain health. How do you take account of that? And what do you do? What do you think?
Fred Goldstein
Yes, I think you’re right. And the issue of whether or not employers should be in the insurance space is obviously a political issue in this country. And something, I think it gets brought up quite a bit, and we’re facing now. But the question also becomes, as an employer, imagine the impact on your workforce productivity for the individuals that go through these tragedies, or trying to deal with this type of stress at home, and how do you help them Because ultimately, it’s going to benefit them, which is the most important piece, but it’s going to benefit your workplace as well. And so looking broader, you know, obviously, there are EAP programs and things like that, but they tend to not have high engagement. So you’ve got to look at this, we’ve been trying to D stigmatize mental health for a long time in this country. There’s some real good work around that by the Kennedy forum founded by former congressman Patrick Kennedy. And it’s worth taking a look at how they’ve worked with large employers and others to try and de stigmatize mental health. Be sure that the approaches and treatment are there that are available as per the mental health care Parity Act. So these are all things that employers need to consider. But it would be time right now to begin to take a look at your programs that you’re running and plan to run in the future and see, have they adjusted for these changes that we’re now seeing in the world? And are they adjusted to begin to address those issues to help those individuals need this help. So it’s going to be an interesting thing to watch over the next couple of months. But really, as an employer, it’s an important area that needs to be seriously considered now.
Nick van Terheyden
So I’ve got to ask a question, can you think of a single employer that actually focuses or has any kind of real intent or specific program that is around the children, all the the kids of their employees? Are you familiar with anybody that really says or does that
Fred Goldstein
I haven’t seen them as strongly as the programs that may be addressing the adult in the situation. And obviously, some of that’s because of legal issues and age and things like that. But not that I’ve looked at everybody, so there may be some out there. And they’re clearly some companies that are doing really good work around mental health, I know that GE, and some others put in these programs to try and raise and elevate awareness, recognition. And I recall one of the medical directors saying at a conference, I knew we were having an impact. As we talked about what we call the 20, or 25%, I can’t remember what it was, who were, you know, suffering from various mental illnesses, when I’ve watched a group of three people say, Oh, you’re one of the 20, or 25%. So it was beginning to get recognition in a good way and not be looked at poorly. And that’s the start to solve this problem. And then obviously, the move into kids just like you’re talking about.
Nick van Terheyden
So I think, you know, as I address this, I’m always of the view that you have to consider the whole. And that’s really the whole family unit, so that spouses as well, so you can’t sort of discount that. And here’s what I would ask if you’re listening to this, and you’re familiar with some programs that are doing that, let us know, we’d love to know about this, there’s certainly, you know, desire to learn from existing experiences, maybe there’s some people that have positive experiences with you know, and I’ll say I, you know, point to my blog post, it’s a little bit old now, but I call it brain health, because even the word mental, has associations that are negative. And, you know, I’ve tried to sort of reflect that in some of the words, I still use the word mental health, or the words mental health, in part because people don’t understand or reconcile brain health. But, you know, changing the terminology, I think, is important. But if you’re familiar with any systems, or anything that’s doing good work, we’d like to know, we want to learn from that. And certainly, as part of the advice that we’re trying to provide, we’re including all of that. And that’s part of the things that, you know, you need help with, you’ve got to take account of this, if you thought it was bad before, it’s only going to get worse for certain. And you’re going to need some help. So join us come look at the website, you can hear this and find about about some of the services. And we talk about these things, you know, COVID related and otherwise, at our weekly webinars, so join us on the weekly webinar, it’s an opportunity to ask questions, and also to contribute as well.
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, great point. And obviously, the use of terminology is critical. And as we move to termed as you talk about brain health, or behavioral health or other things well being is another one that’s really important to consider, because it does make it easier to discuss. So that’s a great point, Nick. And with that we’ll close out this week, if you’d like more information about our services related to COVID, or the broader issues of employee health improvement, which is what that is built upon. And we can help you with that as well go to veilig health.com. The link is right below here. And we look forward to this again, as Nick said to hearing from you if you have any ideas or suggestions. So thanks so much. This is Fred Goldstein with the Campbell health.
Nick van Terheyden
This is Dr. Nick, I’m the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
