1. With a little help from my boss: Mental health awareness training for leaders
Jennifer K. Dimoff, PhD
Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017

4. Mental Health: What is it?
Diagnosable illness
Requires professional intervention or treatment
Disrupts one’s life, work, and/or relationships
Mental Illness
Mental Health Problems
Mental Health
Compromised health and wellbeing
Distressing and cognitively taxing
If recognized, can be alleviated through support and professional help
4 minutes
So, before we delve into this in great detail, here are the basics:
Mental health is not merely the absence of illness or disease. Rather, it is a state of positive wellbeing, where someone is able to perform well, cope with daily stressors, and adapt normally to change.
When someone’s mental health is impacted, they may develop a mental health “problem” or “condition”, which is not a diagnosable illness, but still compromises their health—both physically and mentally—and their general wellbeing. Mental health problems are things like “chronic stress” and “burnout” or “adjustment disorders”, such as the period of time after someone undergoes a significant change in their life—the death of a loved one, divorce, even a recent marriage. If the warning signs of mental health problems can be recognized early, the individual can get support and help so as to prevent the escalation or prolonging of symptoms.
If recognition and intervention doesn’t take place, it’s possible that the mental health problem will turn into a mental illess, which is diagnosable and often requires a combination of both pharmacological and psychological or psychiatric treatment. Things such as “cinical depression”, “generalized anxiety”, “schizophrenia”, “bipolar disorder”—these are all mental illnesses. The earler these are recognized, the better.
Keeping all of that in mind, I am going to refer to both mental illnesses and mental health problems with the blanket term of “mental health problem” because it encompasses everything—and also because we don’t really need to know if it’s an illness or a problem—from a workplace perspective, we just need to know that there is an issue and that an employee is struggling. We can leave it up to the psychologists and doctors to determine the more specific issues.
Not just the absence of illness
State of positive wellbeing
Ability to perform, cope,
and adapt normally
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017
World Health Organization, 2012

5. The Problem: Poor Employee Mental Health
Prevalent
1 in 5 Americans will experience a significant mental health problem every year (CDC, 2014)
Costly
$150 to $300 billion in losses each year—attributable to absenteeism and productivity loss (American Institute of Stress, 2005)
Stigmatized
2 in 3 people don’t seek help due to the fear of being discriminated against (MHCC, 2012)
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017

6. The Solution: Resources
Organizations have vested interest in the health of their employees
Employer Resources
Physical health programs
Health and wellness initiatives
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
Industry and Community Resources
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017
U.S. Department of Labor, 2005

7. Problem with the Solution?
1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental health problem every year
Of full-time employees report having to deal with straining challenges
MHCC, 2012; National Behavior Consortium, 2013; Randstad, 2014

8. Total Cost : $7,400,000 Spillover Work Issues Absenteeism
Performance Issues
Interpersonal
Burnout
Safety Problems
Direct Costs = $2,200,000
140 claims X 66 days X $200/day = $1,850,000
140 prolonged claims X 46 days X $50/day = $320,000
Spillover
Health Issues
Heart Health
Sleeping
Illness
Disability
Indirect Costs = $5,200,000
Absenteeism
Presenteeism
Reduced Productivity
Medication and counseling
Life Issues
Stress/Emotional
Relationships
Legal/ Financial
Addictions
Adapted from Burnstein & Dimoff, Conference Board of Canada, 2013

9. – Dr. Matthew Burnstein, Chief Medical Officer at Bell Aliant (2013)
“But all of those costs pale in comparison to the human cost for the individual and their family.”
– Dr. Matthew Burnstein, Chief Medical Officer at Bell Aliant (2013)

10. Mental health problems are management problems
65% of managers say they could do their job more effectively if they had employee mental health training 80% of managers believe it is part of their job to intervene when an employee is showing signs of mental distress. Only 33% of managers know how.
Ipsos-Reid Report, 2012

11. What do you know? Where do you go?
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017

12. Action AWARENESS Recognize Improved Literacy Decide Reduced Stigma
Increased Confidence
Recognize
Decide
Assist or Direct
Accommodation
Return-to-Work

13. MHAT: The Main Messages
LESSON #1: Detection is NOT diagnosis.
LESSON #2: Treat people as people—Get to know your employees and their “version of normal”.
LESSON #3: As a leader, focus on:
Performance
Workplace
Behavior
LESSON #4: Openly communicate about mental health, mental health problems, and available resources.
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017

14. MHAT Delivery: Scientific Design & Evaluation
Baseline Survey
Survey #2
Survey #3
Training
Intervention Group
Control Group
Objective Assessment
1 Week
24 Hours
2 Months
9 Months
Objective Assessment
Jennifer K Dimoff • Copyright 2017

15. Dimoff, Kelloway, & Burnstein, 2016

16. MHAT Evaluation: Cost-Effectiveness
Mental Health Claims: Pre & Post Training
Reduction of 19 days per claim = millions of $$$ in savings
Dimoff, Kelloway, & Burnstein, 2016

17. MHAT Evaluation: “Face Validity”
95%
98%
91%
“This seems like a topic we need to incorporate into our Safety Meetings. Keeping it in the forefront makes it easier (and not as scary) to talk about mental health at work.”
“Every leader should be trained. Even if they only experience one person with health issues or short term disability, they need to know how and what to do. I feel this training would be beneficial to all leaders. It provides a better understanding of the issues and stigmatism around mental health issues.”

18. Why mental health training for managers?
Mental health problems are management problems
Customization is key.
Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate! You need to know that it worked!
By investing in a few, you can help many.

19. “It’s not just mental health awareness training…it’s more like human awareness training.”

20. My colleagues and I are interested in partnering with local organizations to help introduce the MHAT and/or other programs that will help improve the lives of working Americans. Together, we can make a difference!
Please contact me at for more information about this potential opportunity or visit for more information about existing programs.