Employee Benefits
Building Connections To Support Employee Mental Health
March 4, 2025
When the demands of work and day-to-day life become overwhelming, it’s easy to overlook mental health. Individuals who focus on day-to-day priorities at the expense of mental wellbeing often suffer — and so does their work.
Mental Health Awareness Month begins in May, but to emphasize mental wellbeing as a year-round priority, Alera Group is getting an early start on distributing our new Mental Health Awareness Toolkit.
Designed and refined by our Wellbeing team, the Toolkit is an employer resource to help you and your employees adopt healthy activities, build social connections and erode stigmas that have long hampered discussion of mental health.
Tools for employers and employees
Here’s a summary of what you’ll find in the Mental Health Awareness Toolkit.
For employers:
- A comprehensive guide to developing a mentally healthy workplace
- A 12-month mental health campaign to spark engagement with benefits available through their employee assistance program (EAP)
- Refreshed versions of our sample templates for communication with employees
- Virtual backgrounds and email signatures
- Tips for observing Mental Health Awareness Month
For employees:
- Links to digital mental-health apps
- Educational videos and an expanded menu of recorded sessions from past Alera Group Employee Wellbeing Fairs, including the popular “sound bath”
- The 31-Day Challenge for Positive Wellbeing
The 31-Day Challenge for Positive Wellbeing is a great way to prioritize your own mental health, and we look forward to sharing updates and insights with you on LinkedIn throughout Mental Health Awareness Month. While we designed it with Mental Health Awareness Month in mind, the Challenge is suitable to launch anytime. You might even decide to turn the 31-Day Challenge into a 365-day activity.
About the Challenge
The instructions are simple: “Strive to achieve each day’s activity focused on your own self-care. Place a checkmark next to each item you complete.”
Most of the activities on the checklist are easy to incorporate into your routine:
- “Practice deep breathing.”
- “Start a new book.”
- “Make a cup of tea.”
- “Share a smile.”
Others may be more challenging but equally meaningful:
- “Sign up for a volunteer opportunity.”
- “Create a playlist of your favorite tunes.”
- “Declutter your workspace.”
- “Connect with an old friend.”
We won’t give away the activity for Day 31, but let’s just say it opens the door to that possibility of a 365-day challenge.
Employers as champions for mental health
Employers play an important role in supporting employee mental health. By promoting a culture of inclusivity, encouraging open communication, providing opportunities for connection and sharing important mental health resources, organizations can build the foundation for sustained mental wellbeing.
We hope you find value in our Mental Health Awareness Toolkit for Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond. An organization’s dedicated efforts on mental health are invaluable, as they empower individuals to thrive both personally and professionally.
About the authors
Andrea Davis
Director of Wellbeing
Alera Group
Andrea Davis is committed to helping organizations build a strong culture of wellbeing through innovative strategies and evidence-based practices. Andrea partners with her clients to create tailored wellbeing programs that are holistic in nature, with the goal of ensuring that employees have the tools, resources and environment needed to feel supported and empowered to achieve their best health. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a BS in engineering and is certified as both a health coach and thriving workplace culture consultant.
Contact information:
Gretchen Day, MPH, MCHES
VP of Health Innovations and Advanced Strategies
Alera Group
In her role at Alera Group, Gretchen Day satisfies her passion for public health by working with businesses and their employees to improve workplace culture and influence change in their healthcare delivery system. Ultimately, her goal is to help individuals access better quality healthcare while advancing innovative thinking to bring about change in the way healthcare is delivered. Gretchen earned her Master of Public Health degree from the Penn State College of Medicine and certification as a master certified health education specialist from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.
Contact information:
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