When Employees Thrive, Communities Rise: The Case for a Mental-Health-Centered Culture

Co-authored By: Karen Johnson and Kelly Martin

Since the U.S. first recognized May as Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949, it has become more acceptable to talk about stress, well-being, and burnout at work.

We also know that talking about mental health in the workplace is not the same as addressing it.

In the social sector, the need to prioritize workplace mental health is especially clear. We are a field grounded in care. We support people through crisis, instability, and some of the hardest moments in their lives. The work is meaningful, and it is also complex, emotionally demanding, and can lead to secondary traumatic stress and high turnover. Too often, the environments where this work happens are not designed to support the people doing it.

We’ve built a sector that asks employees to hold individuals and communities through crisis, without building the conditions to hold the employees themselves. 

Many organizations recognize this. They are investing in wellness initiatives and encouraging dialogue about well-being and resilience. These are important steps, but they are not the  deeper organizational culture shifts that are needed for sustainable impact. Workplace mental health is strongly influenced by components of organizational culture such as values and mindsets, norms and processes related to how work gets done, expectations and boundaries, leadership behavior, feelings of connection and community, and whether people feel safe to speak up without fear of judgment or consequence.

Real change doesn’t come from a single training, offering free gym memberships, or implementing a new policy. It comes from a commitment to sustained culture change efforts, which begins with reflection and assessment, mindset shifts, learning, and skill building. From there, the work continues through practicing new behaviors, action planning for ongoing change, and establishing the expectations that will shape and sustain the transformation. 

This is the work we focus on every day at Social Current. In fact, one of our core impact areas is Organizational Health and Workforce Support. Using healing-centered and neuroscience-informed approaches, we partner with organizations to strengthen staff well-being, build healthier cultures, and support employees’ mental health to sustain demanding work over time. As the research and decades of experience tell us, when organizations change their culture, lasting behavior change is possible.

That work often begins with an honest assessment. Not just of survey data, but of the deeper insights behind the numbers. What are staff experiencing? Where are the gaps between what we say we value and what people feel day to day?

From there, organizations can strategically engage in the right kind of training, technical assistance, and consultation that begins to shift organizational mindsets, build knowledge and skills, and offer behavioral solutions. In our experience, understanding how stress affects the brain and behavior at work is a critical foundation for building a culture of well-being and resilience. Organizations can then turn that understanding into action through intentional changes in everyday practices and workplace norms. 

And we know this shift is possible.

In Philadelphia, Social Current is currently partnering with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS), and to-date has trained more than 1,600 staff in workforce well-being and resilience in collaboration with a team of trainers and consultants. Follow-up surveys were administered to training attendees four months after the training, and the data showed that the majority of respondents were applying key concepts and practices from the training to their day-to-day work and relationships.

People reported: 

• Being more intentional about self-care and protecting their energy
• Setting clearer boundaries and feeling more comfortable saying no without guilt
• Pausing before reacting in stressful moments and responding more thoughtfully instead of escalating tension
• Approaching difficult conversations with more clarity and less defensiveness
• Showing more empathy for colleagues and the families they serve
• Using the shared language established during the training to better navigate stress, conflict, and collaboration together

These shifts may seem small, but over time, they fundamentally change how work feels. They create environments where people can do demanding, meaningful work without being worn down.

To be clear, changing behavior is hard, and these examples noted by the Philadelphia DHS employees are worth celebrating. They are a reminder that culture is not alone defined by mission statements, values on a website, or policies. It’s reflected in how we support staff to carry out the mission, aligning action with our values, and how we support each other when the work is challenging. When organizations focus on building a culture that prioritizes employee well-being, the changes are visible, sustainable, and impact staff’s daily experience. 

Mental Health Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to reflect on an important  question: Are we building workplaces that reflect the compassion we say we value?

If we want a sector that can truly support others, we have to start by supporting the people doing the work.

Karen Johnson

Senior Director, Change in Mind
Social Current

Biography

Karen Johnson

Senior Director, Change in Mind
Social Current

Karen Johnson is the senior director of Change in Mind at Social Current. She brings knowledge of the advancing science around resilience, brain development, adversity, toxic stress, equity, and trauma-informed approaches to the complex challenges we face. This expertise, coupled with her 27 years of experience in child welfare, behavioral health, and community services, enables her to successfully partner with leaders, staff, community members, and participants across numerous settings to promote individual and organizational resilience.

Kelly Martin

Director of Practice Excellence
Social Current

Biography

Kelly Martin

Director of Practice Excellence
Social Current

Kelly Martin is the director of practice excellence at Social Current, with an emphasis on applied developmental psychology, workforce well-being, healing-centered approaches, and antiracism. She contributes to systems change across the network through training, coaching, leadership development, and by facilitating design sessions with partners from frontline staff to executive leaders. Kelly holds a master’s in applied developmental psychology, and a bachelor’s in psychology and sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently working toward the completion of Yoga Roots on Location® Certified Yoga Teacher Training, an anti-racist and social justice Raja Yoga teacher training offered through the Yoga Alliance’s 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) Certification.