How’s your team’s mental health holding up right now? With many of us working from home (and the fact that those struggling mentally and emotionally often conceal it very well), it may be difficult to tell. Still, organizations can do lots of things to support workers who aren’t in a good place. First, normalize the discussion around mental health at work (more on that in part 2 of this mini-series). And second, practice awareness by pointing people who need help in the right direction.
Today, we’re making that effortless with this curated master list of mental health resources. Share them with your staff members, and encourage them to pass the word on to friends and family!
Online Counselling and Mental Health Specialists
BetterHelp
BetterHelp is a hub of 20,000 licensed therapists specializing in various mental and emotional wellness topics, from depression and anxiety to eating disorders. The process is simple and straightforward: users fill out a questionnaire that helps match them with the right therapist. From there, help is available whenever and wherever needed.
Availability: Counsellors are all in the United States. However, their services are available worldwide. Be aware of timezone and language differences!
Talkspace
A valuable resource for individuals, couples, and teens, this platform has multiple flexible plans, depending on one’s lifestyle and stage of life. Therapy can be incredibly expensive, so they also partner with organizations through Talkspace for Business to make mental healthcare more convenient and affordable in the workplace.
Availability: Based in the United States, but they have many Canadian patients as well!
MDPAC
This organization is a non-profit professional association dedicated to developing and upholding the psychotherapy standards practiced by its members all across Canada. Since the pandemic started, they’ve maintained a collection of COVID-19 resources to help individuals and families through the challenges. This list also includes the contact details of psychotherapists who are currently accepting patients.
Availability: Canada
Suicide Prevention Helplines
Crisis Services Canada
Canada’s national suicide helpline makes sure that emotional help is always available, no matter where someone is in the country. They also provide free resources to teach people how to spot the signs that someone is contemplating self-harm and how to provide support.
Toll-Free: 1-833-456-4566
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (United States)
For those in the United States, The NSPL is a network of crisis centres that provide mental and emotional support, 24/7. Mental health struggles come in many different forms, so they work hard to make sure there’s something for everyone, including:
- Disaster survivors
- Veterans
- Suicide loss survivors
- Etc.
Toll-Free: 1-800-273-8255
Colleges and Universities
Learning institutions also often offer low-cost therapy for anxiety disorders and other mental health challenges. Call the psychology, psychiatry, or behavioural health department and inquire about sessions with graduate students who can provide supervised services at a lower cost as they gain counselling experience. Just remember that these sessions aren’t always open to the public.
Self-Help Books and Workbooks
Coping With Stress, Anxiety and Depression
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks: A step-by-step guide that teaches the basics of cognitive-behavioral therapy and how to manage depression and anxiety.
The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety: This workbook gives a deep insight into new ways to think about anxiety and provides techniques for coping with stress and worry in life.
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Designed to teach people how to manage their emotions, this book helps readers build skills in four key areas: distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook: There’s nothing wrong with being shy. But if shyness or social anxiety keeps you from building meaningful relationships with others, advancing in your education or career, or simply living your best life, this workbook offers a comprehensive program to help you confront your fears and become actively involved in the world.
Building Self-Love and Self-Esteem
The Self-Esteem Workbook: This book launches off the premise that building and maintaining healthy self-esteem is crucial for happiness in life. Its text and exercises steer users away from seeking external validation and teach them how to embrace their inherent worth.
The Self-Love Workbook: A tool for those battling with self-hating thoughts and low confidence, this book guides people on a journey of self-acceptance. Its pages are a map to understanding and articulating one’s own needs, goals, and emotions.
Apps and Classes
Do Yoga With Me: This online platform has tonnes of FREE classes and exercises to help people harness the power of yoga and guided meditation for stress relief, sleep improvement, and overall brain health.
Calm App: Calm has a simple goal: to make the world healthier and happier. Users can mediate, take masterclasses by world-renowned mindfulness experts, listen to calming music, and much more.
TED Talks
TEDTalk features countless discussions about approaching mental wellness topics and how to achieve emotional health and stability. Some of our top picks include:
- How to Live to Be 100+
- There’s No Shame in Taking Care of Your Mental Health
- The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise
- Why Do We Sleep?
- The Power of Vulnerability
Thriver Mental Wellness Library
Last but certainly not least, Thriver’s mental wellness platform is chock-full of virtual activities and experiences to support psychological wellbeing across your teams. The most popular experiences include our:
- Stress and Burnout Workshop: Wellness experts teach about the long-term health effects of stress and provide stress management techniques.
- Food and Mood Session: Learn how the foods we ingest help or hurt our brain health. Our certified nutrition host walks us through how to eat our way to a better mood.
And there’s plenty more where those came from!
“Sometimes Needing Help Looks a Lot Like Being Okay.”
Summer’s around the corner, so the sunshine and clear days will melt the blues for many folks. For others, the change in season will offer little to no relief, and it’s just another season to get through. You don’t have to be a mental health expert to help. Sometimes all you have to do is be willing to listen and point people in the direction of the resources available.
Hey, did you catch Episode 12 of the Thriver Podcast? Valeria Latman (our VP of Marketing with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology) discusses why psychological safety is critical for all work environments and how everyone can learn to support each other.