LEBANON – Dartmouth Health has published the latest webinar in its series, Heads Up: A Year-Long Mental Health Awareness Journey. This month, expert panelists discuss the topic “mental health in the workplace.” The video can be viewed at the Dartmouth Health YouTube page.

This segment features Luke Archibald, MD, Addiction Psychiatrist and Director of Addiction Services at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), Steve Cole, Ph.D., Lead Clinical Psychologist and Manager of the Dartmouth Health Employee Assistance Program, and Rusty Fowler, Global Benefits Leader at Hypertherm, an employee-owned manufacturer with facilities in Hanover and Lebanon, New Hampshire. Together, they explore the resources available to workers through employee benefits, how they work and how some companies might consider adopting those policies.

Over the COVID-19 pandemic, Cole said Dartmouth Health has seen an increase in employees using the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that’s available to them, due to a marked increase in anxiety, depression, problems with sleep, and other concerns.

“In addition to absenteeism there’s also ‘presenteeism,’ which is sort of showing up for work but not really being there, not being very productive, being checked out,” Cole said, speaking generally about workers in the United States. “Over 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 and over half of them cited mental health problems as the reason.”

The panel also talked about the ways in which employers or fellow employees can spot potential mental health issues in a colleague, and how to create a company culture that destigmatizes mental health and makes it easier for employees to seek help.

In partnership with the New Hampshire Union Leader and the Seacoast Media Group, the Heads Up series is a mental health awareness campaign that provides online resources, offers fresh perspectives and highlights community events on mental health-related topics.

To learn more about the Heads Up Series, resources on mental health or to view past newspaper feature articles and webinars, visit go.d-h.org/mental-health.

Newsletter