MENTAL HEALTH

Before the pandemic, Utah’s rates of depression exceeded the national average. Since the pandemic began, mental health challenges at home and across the nation have only increased. From 2019 to 2020, nationwide symptoms of anxiety tripled (from 8.1% to 25.5%), and depression symptoms nearly quadrupled (from 6.5% to 24.3%). Call volume to the University Neuropsychiatric Institute increased nearly 25% in May 2020. But there’s good news: never before has there been such a concerted effort from business, government, and non-profit leaders to prevent suicide and improve the mental and emotional well-being of Utahns. Take for example the Huntsman family’s $150 million commitment in 2019 to improving mental health through the establishment of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. Or the state’s new Live On Utah campaign, driven by the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition to provide crisis resources statewide. Or the creation of new non-profit organizations like Room Here, dedicated to normalizing the conversation around mental health by wisely reframing it as “mental fitness.” In addition, Utah Community Builders — the Salt Lake Chamber’s non-profit social impact foundation — launched a new statewide initiative in late 2020 called “Workforce Resilience through Mental Fitness.” Leaders in mental health, advocates and experts in clinical care and upstream wellness, and pioneering CEOs have joined together in this campaign to empower Utah businesses to improve the mental fitness of their employees. A hallmark piece of this initiative is the new “Suicide Prevention in the Workforce Employer Toolkit,” created in partnership with the Utah Department of Health, Utah Department of Human Services, NAMI Utah, the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition, and Live On. This toolkit gives businesses helpful information and resources for crisis intervention, as well as midstream and upstream preventative efforts. Utah Community Builders and the Salt Lake Chamber also partnered with groups like Blunovus and SafeLane Health to offer Chamber members exclusive free or discounted access to a library of wellness content, employee mental health assessment tools, and more. The goal is simple: for each business in Utah to take steps today to help uplift the mental fitness of their employees. The impact is tremendous: creating a culture of mental fitness in the workplace can help save lives by preventing suicide — but it also has untold benefits for all of Utah’s workforce through better mental and emotional health. This positively affects the workplace, but also ripples through our families, communities and entire state. So, if you’re a business leader not sure where to start, review the Suicide in the Workforce Prevention Toolkit and other Workforce Resilience through Mental Fitness content, and consider these three simple steps:

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR BASELINE. How are your employees doing right now? Are the resources you already provide actually helpful?

2. IMPLEMENT A PLAN OF ACTION. What are the key steps, and who are the key players in your organization who need to be on board to move this forward? 3. TRACK AND MEASURE RESULTS, ADAPTING AS NEEDED. How can you use both operational and experiential data to measure the success of your efforts? Next to our home environment, our workplace arguably has the biggest impact on our mental and emotional wellbeing. The private sector is perfectly poised to help pull Utah out of the current mental health crisis that has been so severely exacerbated by the pandemic. With the new information and tools at our disposal to do just that, Utah’s business leaders can make 2021 the year that permanently changes the trajectory for Utahn’s mental health, and foster a culture of mental fitness for all.

To download the suicide prevention toolkit and learn more, visit slchamber.com/workforceresilience.

Imagine you are walking along a river and hear a cry for help from someone drowning. You are startled but excited as you dive into the water to save him. Using all your strength, you pull him to shore and start administering CPR. Your adrenaline is racing as he starts to regain consciousness. Just as you are about to get back on your feet, another frantic call comes from the river. You cannot believe it! You dive back into the river and pull out a woman who also needs life-saving care. Now a bit frazzled but still thrilled that you have saved two lives in one day, you mop the sweat from your brow. When you turn around, however, you see more drowning people coming down the river, one after another. You shout out to all the other people around you to help. Now there are several people in the river with you – pulling drowning people out left and right. One of the rescuers swims out to the drowning group and starts teaching them how to tread water. This strategy helps some, but not all. Everyone looks at each other, completely overwhelmed, wondering when this will stop. Finally, you stand up and start running upstream. Another rescuer shouts, “Where are you going? There are so many people drowning; we need everyone here to help!” To which you reply, “I’m going upstream to find out why so many people are falling into the river.”

When it comes to suicide prevention and mental health promotion, most of the focus is on pulling people out of the water. Many find themselves exhausted while resources are depleted, and everyone keeps throwing in the life preservers and performing other heroic deeds. Upstream interventions – like shifting culture, building skills that support wellness, and making environmental changes – can help prevent people from falling into the stream in the first place. If we are only focused on the downstream rescue, then we will never get ahead of all the crises demanding our attention. To be truly impactful and reduce suicides in Utah, we must find a balance between upstream, midstream, and downstream approaches.

UPSTREAM: Bolster workplace protective factors that can prevent mental health problems from occurring.

MIDSTREAM: Detect early signs and symptoms of mental health and suicide prevention needs before they become more severe and refer employees to resources.

DOWNSTREAM: Respond in a safe and effective way when mental health or suicide crises occur to promote employee healing and return to organization’s mission.