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Feeling and dealing with emotions

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Have you ever been so happy or upset that it was difficult to function and go about your daily tasks and responsibilities? Or maybe something was bothering you and you didn’t feel quite right, but you couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. Sometimes it’s easy to identify our emotions, especially when they are very strong or overwhelming, like in the case of grief or joy. Other times, it can be more difficult, such as when experiencing shame or even love.

Identifying our emotions is a first step in managing them, and both are important skills in getting through life’s ups and downs and feeling more in control about how we approach and react to people and situations. Of course, we must feel our feelings. We should acknowledge and celebrate happy times, listen to our instincts if we are afraid, and otherwise give ourselves the time we need to fully experience our emotions. In this post, we’ll focus on and provide support for when we are struggling with nagging or intense emotions.

Recognizing your emotions

You might be wondering why recognizing your emotions and feelings is important. Maybe you think it’s obvious what you are feeling at any given moment. In some cases, it is. Even then, it is important to name the emotion or feeling. This allows you to get what you need from it and effectively manage it so it doesn’t become disruptive in your life. It can be difficult to deal with an emotion and move on if you haven’t identified what it is.

For example—You’re sitting at your desk at work and not feeling like yourself. You’re anxious about the work you must complete. You could sit there and continue trying to push through with the nagging feeling. Or you could take a moment to identify and name the emotion so you can take the appropriate steps to move on from feeling less than your normal self. This could be as easy as saying to yourself, “I am overwhelmed.” Now that you’ve identified the emotion and given a name to it, you can use your knowledge about how to deal with feeling overwhelmed and seek additional help if necessary.

A great resource for helping to identify your emotions is an emotion wheel. Magellan provides a tool you can use here. Print it or keep it open in your web browser so it’s handy when you need to name an emotion that may be distracting you or getting you down.

Accepting your emotions

You’ve recognized and named the emotion you’re feeling. Now what? What do you do to get to a better place of focus and contentment? You can start with accepting what you’re feeling is legitimate and worthy of your attention. And while you may not be happy about the situation that is causing your emotional response, we know that situations will arise that are out of our control. For instance, we may experience negative emotions due to a breakup with a partner, seeing a child make a poor decision, or watching a friend go on the vacation we so badly want. No matter the situation, fighting our emotions only serves to give them more fuel to thrive, which may not be exactly welcomed.

A tool to help you accept your reality and let go of resentments is called radical acceptance. Find more on this technique along with a short video and helpful exercise worksheets linked on our website for Mental Health Month.

Managing your emotions

When we know what we’re feeling, have accepted it, and are giving ourselves grace to deal with it, we’re in a better place to act and feel better. One technique that can help you do this is looking at your thoughts from a different perspective. For example, if you’re feeling lonely, think about the supports that are available to you—some may be just a phone call away. When you flip that lonely feeling and remember there are people who are there for you, your thoughts become more rooted in reality. You can then take action to feel less lonely by calling upon family or friends or searching online for ways to meet new people.

Throughout the often-challenging process of dealing with emotions, it’s important to be kind to yourself and practice self-care. Take time to do the things you enjoy. While you’re doing them, you can revel in the positive emotions you feel in the moment.

Support is also available in the form of mood tracking apps, which can help us understand the stressors and triggers that cause negative emotions. Find a clinically-reviewed list of these apps linked on our website for Mental Health Month.

Finally, when emotions are overwhelming and causing distress in your life, like causing changes in your personality, eating or sleeping habits, it’s important to seek the support of a therapist or other mental health or medical professional. You don’t need to suffer. There is help available that can make a difference.

Additional emotional support resources

For more on recognizing, accepting and managing emotions, visit our website for May Mental Health Month, MagellanHealthcare.com/Mental-Health-Month, and be sure to check out the Mental Health Awareness Campaign Toolkit.



Standing up to Bullying: Bullying-prevention strategies for military children

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April is the Month of the Military Child, which celebrates and acknowledges the children of our service members. While living with a military family member can make children resilient and strong, this lifestyle can sometimes make them more susceptible to bullying in a school setting.

The Army’s Adolescent Support and Counseling Services (ASACS) program is a wonderful resource for military families looking for bullying awareness and prevention tactics. The ASACS program provides confidential counseling for adolescents and families to help them thrive while supporting a loved one stationed overseas.

Magellan Federal provides 23 ASACS counselors and four Clinical Supervisors at 22 Department of Defense schools worldwide and is intimately familiar with bullying issues that are prevalent within the military adolescent population. If you are a teacher, counselor, parent, or caregiver, here are some effective techniques our counselors have used to educate and help safeguard military children against bullying.

Educate with Games with Prizes

Create a bullying awareness event to open a discussion about what bullying looks like and how to take action. Have students write down what they would do if their friend was bullied on a sticky note wall and participants spun a wheel to answer questions about bullying scenarios to win a prize. This helps children understand how to identify bullying and actionable skills they can call upon to get help.

Bullying awareness event
Have students write down what they would do if their friend was bullied on a sticky note wall.

 

Encourage Role Play
We have also found success with conducting lessons on healthy communication through role play. Ask kids to create skits to demonstrate different communication styles. These will help participants identify assertive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and passive communication, body language, and appropriate social filters to promote healthy communication and dialogue.
Then discuss how other communication styles could be hurtful and why social filters help to improve relationships and decrease instances of bullying.

Organize a Kindness Event
Organizing a school-wide prevention activity can help promote kindness and gratitude on a greater scale. Encourage students to write notes to friends, students, teachers, and staff about what they appreciated about that person. One of our recent events had about 700 messages written!

Kindness Event
Students to write notes to friends, students, teachers, and staff about what they appreciated about that person.

 

Schedule Ongoing Discussions
Conduct mini lessons on topics such as bullying prevention and empathy building. Setting aside a scheduled time to chat about bullying-related topics will keep it top of mind and build trust. These talks can also be used as an alternative to detention.

Bullying is a serious issue for military children, who may be more vulnerable in school settings due to their unique lifestyle. As caregivers, educators, and advocates, we must collaborate to provide resources and support to create a safe and inclusive environment for all children. By implementing these effective techniques, such as educating through games, encouraging role play, organizing kindness events, and scheduling ongoing discussions, we can equip military children with the necessary skills to identify and stand up to bullying. Let’s continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our military children, not just in April — but every day.



Doc Talk: Discussing Depression in the Black Community with Dr. Beall-Wilkins

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Discussions about mental health in the Black community shouldn’t be limited to Black History Month in February and BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month in July. The conversations and action steps geared toward providing education, support, and resources require a year-round effort.

A recent article published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, shares that although Black people have made great contributions and achievements in the United States, “they continue to face many health disparities that adversely impact their overall health and well-being,” which have been “exacerbated by impacts of the COVID-pandemic, ongoing racism and discrimination, and police violence against and killings of Black people.”

What impact do these factors have on the mental health of individuals in the BIPOC community? Magellan’s medical director Rakel Beall-Wilkins, M.D., MPH shares her perspectives on depression and suggestions on ways to be supportive.

What is depression and what are some signs or symptoms?

Dr. Beall-Wilkins: Depression is a clinical illness characterized by:

  • Prolonged periods of low or sad mood.
  • Loss of interest or pleasure in activities.
  • Changes in appetite, sleep or energy levels.
  • Feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness.
  • Thoughts of death or suicide.

Depression can be caused by medical illness, substance abuse, and stressful social, academic, or occupational situations, but it can also develop more readily in individuals who have a family history of depression or other mental health conditions.

Other signs of depression may include:

  • Withdrawing from social activities, relationships, or hobbies.
  • Escalating drug or alcohol use.
  • Declining self-care in the form of poor personal hygiene and grooming.
  • Expressing feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and/or helplessness.
  • Neglecting to attend to chronic medical conditions or maintain follow-up with healthcare providers.

How does depression impact individuals in the Black community?

Dr. Beall-Wilkins: As of 2020, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 6% of Black American adults and 12.9% of Black American adolescents experienced a major depressive episode within the last year. Despite increasing levels of depression within the Black community, studies also show that Black Americans are less likely than their White counterparts to receive psychotherapy or medications for their depressive symptoms. This disparity is largely attributed to limited access to healthcare coverage and culturally competent behavioral health providers, as well as pervasive cultural stigma.

Is it possible for someone to experience depression that is triggered by external factors and societal issues, such as violence, police brutality, political unrest, and racism? If so, how?

Dr. Beall-Wilkins: Yes, it is possible for depression to develop as a result of exposure to sociopolitical strife. In fact, during the week following the highly publicized death of George Floyd in May 2020, rates of depression and anxiety spiked from 36 to 41% among Black American respondents to the Census Bureau’s 2020 Household Pulse Survey.

Likewise, a 2018 study published in The Lancet found that police killings of unarmed Black Americans resulted in an increase in poor mental health days among Black American respondents. Though they may not know the victims of these circumstances personally, it is very common for Black Americans to collectively internalize the trauma of these events and feel despair over the possibility that a similar fate could befall them or their close family members and friends. Moreover, the repeated nature of these events can elicit sadness, hopelessness, and fear that things will never change.

What are tips for an individual that recognizes they are showing signs of depression?

Dr. Beall-Wilkins:

  • Visit your doctor and seek treatment: Regularly follow up with a primary care provider to ensure there are no untreated or undertreated medical conditions that may contribute to the development or worsening of depressive symptoms.
  • Stay connected: Stay connected to close friends, family, and spiritual community for support.
  • Diet and exercise play a role: Eat a balanced diet and engage in physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day, three times per week.

Resources:



Your Body: More Than an Image in the Mirror

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The body is an amazing instrument. Major organs work together to allow you to breathe, convert food into nutrients, move in space, reproduce, protect yourself or heal from illness, and perceive and make sense of the world around you. While the body is capable of so much, why do many individuals dislike their bodies? The answer to this question is more complicated than it may appear.

What is Body Image?

Body image is a term that describes thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about one’s body (Hosseini & Padhy, 2022).

Specifically, body image is defined as:

  • How you see your body, including your height, shape, and weight, and individual body parts,
  • What you think and believe about your body,
  • How you feel about your body, and
  • What you do to address your feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about your body.

Body image is an important component of overall wellbeing and influences how people function on a day-to-day basis. Body image exists along a negative/positive continuum and may change at any time. When realistic expectations, acceptance of and/or satisfaction with the body occur, a positive body image is experienced. Conversely, when thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the body are inconsistent with an ideal image one forms in their mind, a negative body image occurs (Office of Women’s Health, 2021; National Eating Disorders Association [NEDA], 2021).

How is Body Image formed?

The development of body image is a complex process. It begins in early childhood and evolves over time. The process consists of interactions between external and internal factors (Hosseini & Padhy, 2022; NEDA, 2021).

  • External Factors: Cultural/Environmental/Social—Messages from parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and the media influence beliefs and assumptions about the body. Comparisons to others coupled with a culture that focuses on beauty, perfection, and anti-aging may contribute to shaping opinions about the self. This is often seen on social media as it often perpetuates that beauty and perfection are the ultimate goals, with filters and editing tools creating a distorted reality. The constant bombardment of images promoting youthfulness can make individuals feel inadequate and self-conscious about their appearance. Traumatic experiences (accidents, sexual/physical assault, emotional neglect) may impact body image. Developmental milestones such as transitioning from child to adulthood, starting a family, dealing with adult children leaving home, and aging/retiring from work may increase the probability of fluctuating body images.
  • Internal Factors: Personality/Emotional/Psychological—Anxiety and depression, and personality characteristics such as perfectionism, rigid thinking, and high expectations of self may influence or reinforce body image.

Tips on Achieving and Maintaining a Positive Body Image

Your wellbeing is in part, dependent on your body image. Therefore, working towards and maintaining a positive body image benefits your physical and psychological health, as well as your relationships with others. These recommendations may help you in your journey (NEDA, 2021) toward an optimal body image.

  • Remember your body is merely the shell in which your emotional, physical, and spiritual person resides. Your body does not define you.
  • Take care of your body. To function properly, your body needs a consistent dose of nourishment, including food, physical activity, and social relationships.
  • When thoughts about your appearance start to overwhelm you, remind yourself of all the things your body can do. Your body allows you to move through space, view the world around you, problem-solve, experience different emotions, and connect with others.
  • Limit negative media influences: Unfollow sites that equate extreme body types (for example, very thin or very muscular) with happiness. This includes unfollowing people and influencers on social media that put a focus on unrealistic body images. Receive information on healthy dieting from your doctor, not the media. Observe the contents of advertisements with critical eyes and ears before making impulsive decisions to adopt the message or purchase the item.
  • Surround yourself with positive people and messages. Being with people you trust and receiving messages that inspire you help to prevent an unrealistic body image.

Be mindful of signs that may signal a path toward a negative body image. It is normal to engage in some of these behaviors every now and then. However, if you find that these activities are starting to interfere with or prevent you from accomplishing routine daily activities, it may be time to discuss these issues with your doctor. Avoid these behaviors:

  • Looking in the mirror multiple times a day.
  • Believing that happiness is equated to physical attractiveness.
  • Comparing your appearance to others.
  • Avoiding social situations because you are not attractive enough.
  • Wearing loose or bulky clothes to hide your body shape.
  • Engaging in extreme diets.
  • Declining invitations where eating is involved.
  • Refusing to be part of a photograph or editing photographs of yourself before sharing them.
  • Approaching hygiene needs or shopping for clothes with dread.
  • Feeling depressed or anxious, or having trouble concentrating after you eat.
  • Asking friends and family about their opinions regarding your appearance.

An ideal body is not measured by how you look. An ideal body is one that functions optimally and allows you to embrace what life has to offer. Slowly shifting your thoughts from self-criticism to ones of appreciation and respect may improve your overall wellbeing.

References



Doomscrolling: When staying up to date becomes harmful

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Introduction

When disasters or tragedies occur, people seek information from traditional news sources and social media. Staying up to date is part of being an informed citizen, and while consuming media can be beneficial in moderation, “doomscrolling” — exposing yourself to a never-ending stream of distressing information — could be negatively impacting your overall wellbeing.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the constant flow of negative information but can’t bring yourself to turn away from Twitter, you are not alone. For 50 years, Magellan Federal has helped more than three million civilian employees and their families enhance their emotional wellness and reduce stress. The following information and tips can help you to avoid doomscrolling if your social media usage is getting in the way of your wellness.

DoomscrollingDoomscrolling Defined

Doomscrolling (also known as doomsurfing) is the term used for persistent and excessive reading of negative news online. It was popularized by Quartz reporter Karen Ho in 2020 during the lockdown at the height of the COVID pandemic. Like many of us,  Ho struggled with compulsively reading upsetting news about the ongoing pandemic. She would send nightly tweets (pictured right) to her followers encouraging them to take a break from doomscrolling bad news and to get a good night’s sleep (8).

Doomscrolling Characteristics — What to Look Out For

Doomscrolling differs from regular social media usage and has four main characteristics that makes it a distinct activity.

  • This is a persistent activity that becomes habitual.
  • It is caused by environmental factors.
  • The sessions are multiple hours, and the user often loses track of time.
  • The content viewed is negative, distressing, and timely.

While typical social media usage may have one or more of the above-mentioned factors, all factors are present for doomscrolling. Further, a study used to create a doomscrolling scale found the activity was highly associated with “online vigilance, problematic internet/social media use, and FOMO” (fear of missing out) (13).

Reasons for Doomscrolling

Fear of the unknown is the primary motivator driving people to engage in doomscrolling, however, multiple factors may contribute to and perpetuate their fear.

Biological Imperative

During times of crisis or tragedy, people gather information to reduce uncertainty, create a plan, and attempt to exert some measure of control over the situation (17). This behavior is rooted in survival instincts related to paying more attention to negative information than positive and scanning the environment for danger to protect one’s family (14).

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

While FOMO typically refers to anxiety experienced as a result of seeing an exciting or interesting event happening elsewhere, FOMO also applies to doomscrolling. With no end to social media posts, there is always one more piece of information that could be read.

Perpetuating the Cycle

With doomscrolling, the information collected on tragedies and disasters that was meant to reduce uncertainty and allay feelings of anxiety instead increases these feelings, particularly when the events are beyond one’s control. As we scroll, we’re flooded with information that for the most part, we can do nothing about, except to keep scrolling and sharing, perpetuating the cycle. As a result, we feed the paralyzing loop of information that can lead to feelings of helplessness and despair (11).

Algorithms

It’s no secret that the goal of social media titans like Facebook and Twitter is to have users interact with their products for as long as possible. To that end, these platforms create algorithms to learn their customers’ habits and then customize the online experience to them (15). The more a user interacts with the platform, the more the algorithm “learns” what content to provide, without concern for possible user harm (8). As a result, the curated content displayed for each user plays on their emotions to keep them engaged—even negative ones. Naturally, repeated exposure to distressing content can have a negative impact on mental health.

Risk Factors

Current research findings show that certain individuals are more likely to engage in doomscrolling than others.

  • Men and younger adults regardless of ideological beliefs (13)
  • Those with anxiety or depressive disorders
  • People who score high in neuroticism
  • Those who are addicted to social media (12)
  • Individuals with previous childhood maltreatment experiences

Effects of Doomscrolling

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been multiple studies on the mental health effects of doomscrolling. Recent research findings suggest doomscrolling is associated with:

  • Increased anxiety and psychological distress
  • Lower mental well-being
  • Increased depression
  • Increased phone use
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms
  • Decline in sleep quality

Prevention & Coping Techniques

As with most harmful habits, the best time to address them is before they start. Many of the techniques and tips provided below can be used to both prevent doomscrolling (or any excessive social media use) and also to help reduce doomscrolling once it has become a habit.

Technology Tips

  • See no evil: Provide feedback on social media posts with negative content by using the “hide post” or “block/mute” features. This will provide information to the platform algorithm to provide less of this type of content (9).
  • Set a time: Reduce the amount of time online by using screen timers and stick to no more than 30 minutes as any more has been connected to increased levels of anxiety (3, 17).
  • Scroll with purpose: Picking a specific subject to get information on will not only help meet the new scrolling time limits, but it will also create a sense of accomplishment when the information is obtained (17).
  • Subdue screen colors: As all casinos know, the more flashy and colorful something is, the easier it is to keep someone’s attention. Changing social media settings to “gray–scale” will make the screens more monotone/less visually appealing and can make it easier to stop scrolling (3).
  • Search for the happy: Known as “hopescrolling,” this can lead to more positive thoughts and can help “reset” social media algorithms to show you more positive content.

Beyond Online

  • Connect with others: Share the burden with loved ones and others within your social networks to reduce anxiety (17).
  • Connect with yourself: Perform regular self-check ins by listening to your body and paying attention to how you are feeling to understand when it is time to take a break (16, 17).
  • Connect with the outdoors: Engage in hobbies that involve the outdoors including exercise and fresh air while leaving technology, and feelings of anxiety behind (17).

Clinical Support

  • Nonmedical counseling: Qualified counselors can help create a plan to address the problem. Non-medical counseling is short-term and addresses general conditions of living, life skills, improving relationships, and stress management.
  • For Clinicians: Since clients also consume social media for entertainment as well as coping measures, it may be helpful to work with them to identify alternative hobbies or activities they will enjoy that will not involve social media or other digital technology (10).

Summary

In a global society with a 24-hour news cycle and social media that offers infinite scrolling, there is always more news to consume. People can fall victim to doomscrolling when distressing events occur, leading to increased anxiety and stress, creating a self-feeding cycle that can be difficult to break.

For those wanting to stop doomscrolling, it is important to first acknowledge the behavior, be honest with how it may be affecting your mental health, and be proactive in your approach to modify your actions. No matter what your relationship is with the news, this technique will help maintain a healthy relationship with social media and overall digital wellness.



Crisis Intervention: Navigating Life-Altering Situations

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A life-altering situation is an event that is strong enough to upend long-held routines and can positively or negatively impact an individual’s quality of life. Examples include a death of a family member, marriage, relationship issues, and in more extreme cases, can include natural catastrophes or intense personal losses.

Crisis intervention is an immediate acute intervention after a life-altering situation. This intervention type is focused on reducing the initial distress caused by the event to foster adaptive functioning and coping. Magellan Federal supports Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responders with onsite stress counselors to provide crisis intervention and support to FEMA employees so they can provide critical disaster response to areas in need. We have been supporting FEMA’s disaster response teams for more than 20 years.

We believe crisis intervention is critical to resilience and recovery due to the immediate intervention after a life-altering situation. Immediate intervention can help someone cope with the initial reactions of fear, worry, powerlessness, and/or hopelessness afterward. Here are some tips for normalizing and addressing these needs to improve long-term recovery.

How to Provide Assistance

It is hard to know exactly when and what to say to support someone who has experienced a life-altering situation. In our experience, it is best to reach out and offer assistance early, when the individual is most vulnerable. Here are a few steps that can help to facilitate crisis intervention:

  1. Connect with them on the human level. Focus on listening with compassion and being present for the person while validating their experience and acknowledging their feelings.
  2. Determine if their basic needs are being met. This includes food, water, shelter, clothing, and safety. Assess their immediate needs and connect them to available resources. Addressing immediate basic needs is a way to improve quality of life quickly while providing steps towards recovery.
  3. Help them to identify additional needs they may have. Connect them with practical resources once their initial basic needs are cared for.
  4. Connect them with available support resources. This can include family, friends, neighbors, and community helping resources.

How to Cope with a Crisis and Move Forward

Validate and Acknowledge Your Feelings

It is completely natural to feel overwhelmed after undergoing a life-altering event. Common reactions after a crisis can include strong emotions, numbing, and worry. It’s important to acknowledge and validate that these feelings may come and go in waves and are normal in short durations. Also, remind yourself that these feelings are an expected part of the acceptance and healing process. Identify strategies used in the past to cope, and determine if they would be helpful now.

Break Tasks Down into Smaller Actions

Recovering from a life-altering situation may feel overwhelming and insurmountable to some. The stress from a life-altering situation can affect cognitive and problem-solving abilities, and a survivor may need assistance with making appointments and completing paperwork. It’s crucial in those times to break down needs into smaller action steps. This will lead to small measures of success and increase confidence in coping.

Connect with Social Support

Social support includes reaching out to others in the community such as family, friends, or neighbors for help. It may feel challenging at first due to embarrassment, worrying about burdening others, doubting if support is available, and being too overwhelmed, but connecting with others can accelerate the healing process by normalizing a shared experience and decreasing isolation.

Practice Deep Breathing Exercises

Take time out of the day to practice calming exercises such as deep breathing. Controlling our breath allows our nervous system to regulate and emerge from a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. A simple exercise can be to inhale slowly through your nose and comfortably fill your lungs all the way down to your stomach. Exhale slowly through your mouth and comfortably empty your lungs. You can repeat this five times slowly and as many times a day as needed.

Develop a Structured Routine

Try to develop a structured routine to help with decision-making. This new routine may differ vastly from your previous routine based on new values post-life-altering situations.

Focus on Getting Adequate Sleep

If possible, try to get to sleep at the same time daily. Don’t drink caffeinated beverages in the evening, reduce alcohol consumption, increase daytime exercises, relax before bedtime, and limit naps to 15 minutes, not after 4 p.m. Giving your body and mind adequate time to rest will help fuel positive processing skills and emotional responses the following day.

Limit or Eliminate Alcohol Consumption

Substance use can lead to problems with sleep, relationships, jobs, and physical health.

Know When to Ask for Additional Help

If stress reactions persist over four to six weeks or worsen and impair functioning, it’s a sign to ask for additional help from a community counselor or therapist. It’s important to note that crisis intervention is not therapy. Therapy can help make a diagnosis and can be a long-term commitment with one identified provider with treatment-specific goals.

Acknowledging the Emotional Effects of a Crisis

Whether you were directly involved in the crisis or not, it is normal to experience waves of emotions after a life-altering event. Often, the structure, schedule, and routine in your life have been destroyed, and you are unsure where to start. It’s OK to feel powerlessness, overwhelmed, and even angry. At that moment, it may feel embarrassing or burdensome to ask for help. You are not alone. Know that there are people that can and want to help and getting help early is critical to being one step closer to recovery.

Additional Resources



eMbrace the link between employee engagement and wellbeing

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According to Gallup®, 70% of the population is struggling or suffering, and 70% of employees are not engaging at work. Investing in wellbeing at work is critical to the success of your employees and organization.

The impact of wellbeing extends far beyond how employees feel — it affects the number of sick days they take, their job performance, burnout levels, retention rates and the organization’s bottom line.

We will dive into these issues in this blog post, and you can learn by listening to the webinar recording: “eMbrace the link between employee engagement and wellbeing.”  Click here to access the recording.

Organizations should care about wellbeing

Contrary to what many believe, wellbeing is not just about being happy or physically fit. Wellbeing encompasses all aspects of our lives:  how our lives are going, feeling good about our thoughts life experiences and what is important to us.

Poor wellbeing affects employees and organizations:

  • 75% of medical costs accrued are due to largely preventable conditions.
  • $20 million of additional lost opportunity for every 10,000 workers due to struggling or suffering employees.
  • $322 billion of turnover and lost productivity costs globally due to employee burnout.

 In contrast, employees with high wellbeing are more resilient during widespread or personal tough times, less likely to have unplanned days out of the office and more engaged than those with low wellbeing.

Traditional EAPs are not enough

Traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) fall short because they average about 5% engagement and focus mainly on distressed employees. Low utilization and a reactive model leave a large gap to fill to meet the wellbeing needs of all employees. Organizations need a proactive program that benefits all employees.

Learn more in the webinar recording.

Building a thriving culture of wellbeing

Leaders that bring engagement and wellbeing together create a high-performance environment where the two inform and build on one another. Magellan Healthcare and Gallup® collaborated to create eMbrace, a fully integrated, evidence-based solution delivering improved employee wellbeing and engagement across six key areas of their lives: Emotional, Career, Social, Financial, Physical and Community.

Through eMbrace, employees and organizations can measure their wellbeing and discover where they are suffering, struggling, and thriving. Employees receive a personalized plan that guides them to services and resources to help them improve their total wellbeing and lead thriving lives.

Resources:



Helping children feel safe and prepared for a crisis

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The destruction left by Hurricane Ian back in September serves as a reminder that times of crisis can often occur quickly with little or no warning. During these events, parents may be coping with children who feel increased worry and anxiousness. Parents and professionals can help by providing guidance on how to develop an at-home safety plan for times of crisis. Supplying children with the knowledge of what to do if an emergency occurs can reduce feelings of anxiety and provide them with a better sense of control in an uncontrollable situation. Below is guidance that our Military and Family Life counselors share with parents.

Emergency Plan Directions

  • Designate a general meeting place. Establish an agreed-upon safe place to meet if a parent will be unable to pick the child up from school or will not be at home. This could be a neighbor’s house or community meeting space. Children should be reassured that the adult they are with is aware of the plan, and the parent will meet them at the arranged meeting location.
  • Create an emergency backpack. The backpack should have items the child may need in the event of a crisis, specifically, items necessary if an adult was unavailable at the time of the crisis.
  • Compile a list of all emergency phone numbers. These numbers should be programmed into a child’s phone, if they have one, written down at home, and placed in the emergency backpack.
  • Create a social media plan. Social media sites can be very effective in times of crisis. Discuss what social media site(s) will be used for family communication and information if cell service is down.
  • Develop plans for the natural disasters most likely to occur in your area. These plans could include backup locations to go in case the family must leave their home, such as a relative’s house, a community shelter, or another designated safe place.

For even more tips on preparing an emergency plan, refer to the “Make a plan” section of  Ready.gov.

Crisis Conversation Tips for Parents

In addition to creating an emergency plan for their home, parents will also need to discuss crises and other traumatic events, such as natural disasters, with their children. It can be difficult to know how to approach those topics or what to say that will be helpful. Below are tips for engaging in these conversations (Psychology Today, 7.26.22).

  • Keep words and language child-friendly and age appropriate.
  • Initiate the conversation in a calm manner.
  • Leave time for the child to ask questions and remain silent during their questions or requests for clarification.
  • Ask if they have any worries about a particular situation.
  • For even more tips on preparing an emergency plan, refer to the “Make a plan” section of ready.gov.

Creating an emergency plan and having open communication about this topic can benefit both the child and adult and may reduce feelings of anxiety in the child.