Wellness programs can close the mental health care gap

ORLANDO, Fla. — Robust employee wellness programs can impact the outcome of workers’ compensation claims, according to panelists who spoke at the Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference on Wednesday.

Increasingly, HR professionals are being called upon to assist with compensation claims, particularly in the mental health field, by enlisting the help of an employee assistance program, said Carmen Penney, workers’ compensation manager in Collegedale, Tenn. , for the transport company US Xpress Inc. .

“In my role, I’m dealing with a truck driver on a terrible day; he may have been in a car accident and catastrophic things could have happened,” she said. “And so for us, a lot of times the EAP (provides) somebody who’s there and can listen and help that person.”

Marsha Wood, director of environment, health and safety, occupational health and medical management in Chattanooga, Tenn., for Rivian Automotive Inc., an electric vehicle maker, said wellness programs that offer mental health services have proven essential for her company.

Rivian is in the process of hiring a second licensed clinical social worker to work in its on-site clinic, she said, adding that there is a waiting list for workers who want to speak. She said she believes improved mental wellbeing services can help prevent injuries. And when they do, having programs in place can “directly help the life of your application.”

“Especially in the area of ​​compensation, you have employees who may be losing time and earning less wages; their daily lives are affected financially and they are stressed,” she said. “The financial stress on well-being alone can be very critical to recovery. And I’ve seen cases where this has gone horribly wrong not because of what the employer is doing inappropriately, but more because of what the patient is going through. The sooner we can identify that … we can connect them to employee programs and just some routine intervention techniques.”