“Talking about mental health at work,” “Starting the conversation,” and “Shattering the stigma” seem to have become the rallying cries echoed across every corridor of corporate culture as leaders look to “unlock” or “champion” workplace wellbeing within their organizations. But how often are these phrases backed by appropriate action? How often is it that these phrases—if only seemingly—are reduced to lip service? Put another way: How often are employees made aware of the support resources available to them through their workplace? And how often are they made to feel comfortable enough to actually access them?

As it stands, current estimates posit that while nearly 90 percent of employees have access to mental and emotional wellbeing offerings through their place of work, less than a quarter actually use them. And there are plenty of well-known factors that contribute to this—one of them, of course, being the stigma that surrounds mental health and help-seeking. But also contributing to this discrepancy is the lack of internal communication about the support that’s available to employees; or, more specifically, the lack of promotion of these services by the employees themselves that permit workers to feel safe or comfortable enough to reach out for help and enable them to conceptualize exactly how these services can effectively meet their own unique needs.

As most organizations know by now, it’s an employee’s peers, more than anyone else, who establish the culture of the workplace. And as our own findings reveal, nearly 75 percent of employees say that they would first turn to their coworkers—ahead of their supervisors, HR managers, or EAP—for help during a mental health crisis. This makes what they have to say or think about mental health especially important: if staff harbor stigmatic beliefs about mental health, then stigma will prevail in the workplace, along with all its harmful consequences which include distressed employees failing to receive the support that they need. Likewise, if staff are unfamiliar with the resources in place to assist workers through mental health challenges, the outcome is likely to be the same.

The bottom line: If an organization wants to champion wellbeing, then its workforce has to champion wellbeing. And as many can by now attest, this is easier said than done. In order to build a network of champions, organizations need to ensure that appointed employees can effectively balance this new role with their existing duties; they need to ensure that appointed individuals possess enough insight or lived experience needed to relate and empathize with struggling peers without risking retraumatization. Additionally, they must ensure that employees have the most up-to-date information regarding wellness topics and can effectively signpost colleagues to the appropriate source of support. And most importantly, they need to make sure that the champions they appoint are committed to their roles, providing a reliable, constant support system for struggling employees to turn to.

It’s a multi-pronged strategy that requires meticulous and cohesive efforts from all involved—certainly a challenge for organizations already working toward other business objectives. And that’s precisely why Workplace Options has developed its own Wellbeing Ambassador Program—to help organizations effectively carry out this comprehensive and sustainable approach to championing wellbeing at work, namely by taking the burden off leadership’s shoulders and streamlining the process to building that network of peer ambassadors.

Components of the Wellbeing Ambassador Program

Through WPO’s first-of-its-kind, internationally accredited program, organizations gain access to the following core elements:

• A Wellbeing Assessment – because every organization is an ecosystem, each with its own set of stressors, risk factors, deficiencies, and needs
• Management Training – because creating a culture of care starts at the top
• Ambassador Training & Ongoing Support – because creating a sustainable culture of care takes time, consistent effort, an adaptive mindset, and continual growth and improvement

What makes WPO’s program so unique and so essential for organizations hoping to cultivate a culture of wellbeing in their workplace and back up what they say with action are the wellbeing assessments that WPO completes before starting to train or deploy ambassadors. As David Stace, Director of Clinical Policy and Best Practice, asserts, it’s these assessments that move the program a stage beyond lip-service: “If there’s no investigation into the overall state of the union, then the program just becomes another bolt on. Employees think, ‘Oh, this is just another fad that we won’t hear about,’” he explains. “But by conducting surveys and one-on-one interviews, it makes employees sit up and realize, ‘Oh, my organization actually cares and is taking this seriously.”

Moreover, the assessments are what assure employees that the ambassador program will be tailored to their specific needs and concerns; a program truly aimed toward helping them thrive, rather than simply saving face or earning the organization a few extra brownie points. This in turn helps to generate awareness and genuine interest in the program, as Stace maintains: “It actually gets employees interested in wanting to be an ambassador; it gets buy-in. When they see the effort that’s being put into making sure that this program is customized to their specific environment, that’s when they really start to believe in the program and the positive, tangible benefit it can have—and that’s when they want to get involved. They want to be a part of that culture change. And so, I find that the rate of people that go through our training and commit to the program is very similar to the rate of those who put forward their initial interest.”

Additional benefits of the wellbeing assessments include:

• They allow WPO to make recommendations for additional services based on the psychosocial hazards that are identified—strengthening the level of support provided to employees
• They enable clinicians to center the training around the top presenting issues and workshop scenarios that ambassadors are most likely to encounter
• They help clinicians and the participating organization discern exactly how ambassadors can be leveraged to mitigate identified risks
• They help clinicians determine which employees are best fit to take on the role of ambassador

Likewise, the management training component further helps to ensure that the ambassador—and by extension, the value it places on wellbeing—is truly embedded in the culture of the organization, and not just simply tacked on. Comprising a 90-minute workshop, the training components aims to:

• Raise managers’ awareness of the importance of employee wellbeing and the factors that influence it
• Teach them how to proactively promote the wellbeing of their teams
• Coach them on how they can effectively use ambassadors to achieve company-wide wellbeing

As Mary Ellen Gornick, Senior Strategy Advisor, contends, while it’s one’s peers who serve as the beating heart of an organization’s culture, it’s the leaders who set the tone. They’re the ones responsible for giving employees the green light to discuss wellbeing at work; who reassure workers that they will be supported both as ambassadors and as individuals in need of assistance.

“At the end of the day, employees look to their managers to determine what behaviors and attitudes are accepted—better yet, rewarded—in the workplace,” Gornick explains. “When managers convey a well-rounded understanding of their employees’ needs and furthermore demonstrate a strong commitment to making sure that these needs are met, that’s when employees are inspired to get involved themselves and become that beacon of support for their peers. A caring and understanding workforce requires caring, understanding leaders.”

And finally, it’s through the training and ongoing support provided by WPO’s own team of clinicians that ambassadors can gain that comprehensive knowledge needed to effectively support their colleagues.

During the course of the 12-hour, 2-day training, ambassadors develop competencies in key areas essential to both the program and to their specific work environment, including:

• Stigma and harm reduction
• Wellbeing promotion
• Critical incident intervention
• Active listening
• Confidentiality
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Collaboration
• Communication

Thanks to the structure and content of the training, WPO ensures that those who volunteer to serve as ambassadors are best suited for the role, demonstrating a profound awareness of both the importance and delicate nature of their duties. Given the potential exposure to critical situations like suicidal ideation or self-harm, it is crucial for organizations to ensure that appointed ambassadors possess the necessary emotional, behavioral, and methodical aptitude to provide timely and sensible peer support and make appropriate referrals to the right services.

And it’s that last point that makes the ongoing support that our clinicians provide so integral to the development of a successful and sustainable network of ambassadors, and what makes teaming up with a wellbeing solutions provider so vital for organizations hoping to transform their discussions about wellbeing at work into tangible culture change.

As Vani Moodley, one of WPO’s global trainers, explains, “I like to use the analogy that becoming an ambassador and receiving a certificate is like getting your driver’s license. You really learn how to drive when you get on the road. Likewise, here we are presenting ambassadors with theoretical and practical knowledge, but the real learning ground is on the road or in the journey of practicing as an ambassador.”

“To that point,” she goes on, “the continuous support and monthly peer sessions led by our trained clinicians allow ambassadors to ask any questions that they might have following an experience they had with a peer. It offers them a chance to debrief about challenging situations they might have gone through, and exchange tips, insights, and success stories with other ambassadors. And it enables them to receive professional guidance on how to improve moving forward, and continuously monitor their performance and experience as ambassadors to ensure the role is mutually beneficial to them and to their peers.”

“I think that is the most important aspect of the program,” adds Lorene Lacey, WPO’s Director of Global Crisis Response. “Because not only can we give them support if they’re concerned about a colleague who has approached them or concerned about how they might be able to help, but we can also provide support if they’re concerned about their ability to manage their own wellbeing.

“We have the ability to support the supporter, in other words,” she explains, “and reduce compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma—issues that other ambassador programs not connected with an EAP often struggle with. And that’s what I believe makes our program so indispensable to organizations: because the last thing you want to do is burn out your ambassador team.”

From ‘Starting the Conversation’ to ‘Leading the Movement’

For some time now, organizations have strived to initiate conversations about mental health and wellbeing at work. Today, the challenge lies in how to sustain them.

By investing in WPO’s Wellbeing Ambassador Program, organizations can ensure that employees engage in the right, most effective conversations about wellness at work. They can guarantee instant, on-site access to someone at their level who can connect them to the right source of support without the fear of judgment or retaliation. And they can subsequently enhance the utilization of wellbeing services offered by the organization.

Most importantly, by investing in this program, employers can inspire long-lasting, positive health and wellness outcomes for their workforce, creating a safe and empowering workplace for all; one that truly champions wellbeing, and lasts for years to come.