Mental Health Referrals From Institutional Workplace Advocates
Mental health advocacy is a powerful form of support that connects employees with the right resources and services. Therefore, organizations wanting to nurture and support mental health in the workplace could make significant improvements by creating an advocacy role. Advocacy could also enable both employers and employees to navigate complex procedural mazes by informing them of their rights.
Managers or HR professionals can be trained in advocacy, as well as in mental health first aid, which can involve learning about active listening, crisis de-escalation, and making referrals. Furthermore, institutional workplace advocates can enhance your organization by recommending certain policy changes.
This article will delve more into how advocacy supports employee mental health, with particular attention to how different referrals work. It explores:
- The role of advocacy
- Who can become advocates in the workplace
- How advocates make different kinds of referrals in the workplace
- The different employee rights advocates should be aware of
What Is Mental Health Advocacy in the Workplace?
Many professionals in the workplace choose to take on advocacy roles alongside their main job function. But before we explore who can advocate for mental health in the workplace, we’ll first explore what it means to advocate.
Advocacy is like a bridge; it connects people who are finding it hard to cope with their mental health to different types of support. So a key element of advocacy is signposting people to the resources and care that they’re entitled to. For this reason, advocates must have a grasp of legal and organizational policies pertaining to mental health,[1] such as confidentiality at work and reasonable accommodations policies.
It can be extremely daunting to think about accessing mental health support. So, for those with severe mental health difficulties or those who are facing large socioeconomic disparities, advocacy can be extremely powerful. It can provide allyship, guidance, and empowerment to help people navigate the confusing and often stigmatizing care systems.[1]
In summary, advocates:[1]
- Amplify the voices of the people they support
- Equip people with resources and knowledge
- Support people with healthcare decision-making
- Protect the people they support from discrimination
- Increase access to services
- Challenge social stigma
- Safeguard the rights of those they support
- Advocate for policy change
Mental health advocates do not give their personal opinions, make judgments, or make decisions for someone.[2]
If your organization doesn’t yet provide mental health advocacy, this is a strong way you can create a nurturing and supportive workplace culture. As we’ll explore next, many professionals can be trained in mental health advocacy, such as HR professionals and mental health first aiders (MHFAs).
Who Can Advocate for Mental Health in the Workplace?
There are several types of professionals in the workplace who can advocate for good mental health policies, identify those who are finding it hard to cope, and carry out workplace mental health interventions. The most common candidates include:
- Mental health first aiders (MHFAs)
- Human resources (HR) professionals
- Union reps
- Managers and supervisors
These types of workplace mental health advocates can play a powerful role in supporting and referring employees to mental health services. Within a workplace context, their main responsibilities include:
Providing Immediate Support
Advocates in the workplace can also be trained to manage mental health crises at work. This involves learning to spot the signs that someone’s in crisis, initiating non-judgmental conversations, de-escalating the crisis, and coordinating emergency support.[3]
Learning how to do this involves developing a sense of the appropriate language to use, the ability to assess urgency, and knowledge of the appropriate services to contact. For example, if you need to call 911, it’s important that you request officers with Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.[3]
As mentioned, an awareness of legal rights is an important part of advocacy. If it’s necessary to call the police, you can do as much as possible to respectfully advocate for the employee to receive a mental health response. However, the officers will have broad discretion over next steps, such as whether the person is taken to the ER, issued with a warning, or arrested.[3]
Additionally, being transported to the hospital can be very distressing, especially if law enforcement officers use handcuffs. If it’s safe to do so, it could be a better option to contact the employee’s family or friends to transport them instead.[3]
Making Referrals
A key part of being a workplace advocate is referring employees to appropriate forms of support. Having a good understanding of local clinics, therapists, and specialist services can make this process much easier.
Immediate support might mean referring an employee to 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline.[3] However, most of the time, you’ll likely refer employees to workplace mental health support services, telehealth providers, or those in the local area.
Referrals to workplace mental health services typically follow a strict procedure. These types of services could be occupational mental health programs or workplace behavioral health services and are well-integrated into workplaces. For example, employee assistance programs (EAPs), which we’ll explore in more detail next.
Other workplace-specific forms of support include mental health resources from HR, which could provide a great deal of information about symptoms, treatment types, and lifestyle changes.
You might also refer employees to external services, which won’t require a strict referral procedure. In these cases, it’s just about having a conversation with an employee to discuss their options and getting the go-ahead to put them in contact.
Coordinating With Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
Workplace mental health programs are becoming increasingly common, with the most common being an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental health. These services can offer short-term therapy, assessments and evaluations, and referrals.[4]
As an advocate, you should get familiarized with your company’s EAP, how it works, and the services it offers. Then, you can accurately inform employees about what they can expect. Remember, EAPs won’t be able to support everyone. Those with more severe or specific mental health conditions may need an external service, so make sure to communicate this to the employee and EAP, so they receive an assessment.
Understanding Employee Rights
As an advocate, you should know what treatment employees are legally entitled to, as this can affect many aspects of their mental health experience. For example, whether they can take leave, how their medical information is protected, and what happens if they report discrimination.
Here’s a non-exclusive list of employee rights to give a brief overview of what they entail:[5]
- Employees and job applicants cannot be treated unfavorably because of their mental health conditions. Therefore, employers cannot ask about mental health conditions before offering a job to someone. An employee also cannot be treated unfairly due to their mental health in any way throughout the course of their work.
- Those who work for covered employers and who have serious mental health conditions are legally entitled to take job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This leave can also be used to care for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious mental health condition.
- In general, employees do not need to explicitly disclose the reasons for taking paid time off, sick leave, or personal days.
- Employer-sponsored health plans should not charge more for mental health services than for comparable medical services. This is in accordance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA).
- Employees have the right to be free from retaliation (negative treatment) when requesting accommodations, taking FMLA leave, reporting discrimination, and raising concerns about their health plan’s coverage.
- Employers can only request medical information when it’s job-related, such as for reasonable accommodations or protected medical leave. However, health information must be kept confidential and stored separately from the employee’s regular personnel file.
Managing Leave and Return-to-Work Processes
Supporting both mental health leave for employees and their return-to-work transitions are important roles for advocates.
Both of these events carry risk for discrimination and unfair treatment. But, as mentioned, there are legal protections for both of these events. Understanding these legalities enables advocates to promote fair workplace treatment, even if it is managers who carry out the administrative components.
For example, advocates can support leave and subsequent reintegration by making recommendations for things like flexible or remote working to ease the transition.[3]
Supporting Reasonable Accommodations
Reasonable accommodations are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and these can include a wide range of adjustments.[6]
For example, someone may need to eat at their work station to offset the side effects of medication. They might also need more frequent breaks, a reduction of workplace noise, organizer software, or a modified job description, to name a few.[6]
Crucially, reasonable accommodations can typically be made at a very low cost, encourage employees to return to work more quickly, and act as incentives to retain talented staff.[6]
Mission Connection: Employee Mental Health Support
At Mission Connection, we understand how mental health difficulties can make it much more difficult to show up to work and carry out routine responsibilities. But no one should have to continue to find it hard to cope at work when they’re entitled to compassionate and effective mental health support.
Whether you’re an employee experiencing mental health difficulties at work or acting in an advocacy role for others, you can reach out to us here at Mission Connection. We provide numerous types of in-person and remote psychotherapeutic approaches, employee mental health resources, and partial hospitalization services.
Browse our website to learn more about what we treat, our different facilities, and symptoms with a self-test. Alternatively, contact us today to begin planning treatment.
