Resources

More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for heart disease, stroke, and many other illnesses. Making healthy changes in the workplace, where so many of us spend our day, is an important way to help keep people healthier. A 2010 study showed that improving the types of foods and beverages served and sold in the workplace positively affected employees’ eating behaviors and resulted in net weight loss.

Designate a Nutrition Champion

Designate a Nutrition Champion who coordinates your organization’s nutritional health effort

• Cleveland Clinic - Boost Workplace Wellness with Nutrition Programs
• Spectrum Wellness - How to Promote Proper Diet & Nutrition in Your Workplace

Implement Nutritional Policy

Improve the culture of food at your company

• National Business Group on Health
• American Heart Association Recommended Nutrition Standards for Procurement of Foods and Beverages Offered in the Workplace

Follow National and/or Federal Nutrition Guidelines

Follow online sites like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and more.

• CDC Workplace Health Resources

Provide employees’ info and resources

Offer employees information and resources on healthy nutrition and food choices at work and at home (e.g. bulletin boards, websites, intranet, etc.)

• Nutrition: How to Make Healthier Food Choices
• USDA ChooseMyPlate
• Health and Human Services Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Stay well-watered

Offer employees information and resources on proper hydration at work and at home (i.e. bulletin boards, websites, intranet, etc.)

• Cleveland Clinic - Dehydration Avoidance: Proper Hydration
• How to Fit Hydration into Your Workplace Wellness Strategy

Offer nutrition education programs

Eating Poorly Takes a Toll on Productivity.

• Healthy Eating, Exercise Linked With Workplace Productivity
• How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label

Staying active is one of the most important things a person can do to help curb obesity, lower your chances of heart disease, and live healthy. Yet we know that in the workplace we’re more susceptible to long hours of sitting with very little movement. The following resources can help you and improve your workplace policies around physical activity.

Designate a Physical Activity Champion

Designate a Physical Activity Champion who coordinates physical activity efforts for your organization

Implement a Workplace Physical Activity Policy

• Work Well NC - Move More
• Work Health Research - Physical Activity in the Workplace

Allow Time for Physical Activity During the Work Day

• Health.gov Physical Activity Guidelines
• Workout to Go: Mini Exercise Guide

Offer / Promote Walking Programs

Offer/promote walking programs, including walking/standing meetings.

• 7 Powerful Reasons to Take Your Next Meeting for a Walk

Provide Access to Discounted or Subsidized Wearable Devices

Provide access to discounted or subsidized wearable devices, such as a Garmin vívofit®, to employees.

• Garmin Health
• Three Inevitable Impacts of Wearables in the Workplace

Advertise Physical Activity

• Steps to Wellness: A Guide to Implementing the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans in the Workplace
• Run816

Host Team/Individual Competitions

• Fostering a Workplace Culture of Physical Activity
• 11 Corporate Fitness Programs that Lead the Pack

Participate in the Kansas City Corporate Challenge

• Kansas City Corporate Challenge

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, and increases the risks of developing heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and more. It’s the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. Employers can dramatically cut their tobacco-related healthcare costs when they provide services to help their employees quit smoking and implement smoke-free workplace policies.

Designate a Tobacco Cessation Champion

• Office Champions Tobacco Cessation National Dissemination Project 
• American Lung Association Sample Tobacco-free Workplace Policy
• Smoking Cessation in the Workplace

Implement a workplace tobacco policy

• Tobacco Use in the Workplace: A Model Policy
• Cancer Gold Standard Sample Tobacco-free Workplace Policy
• The Balance Careers Smoke Free Workplace Policy for Your Company
• International Well Building Institute Smoking Ban

Offer written information to employees about tobacco cessation

• CDC Report: Smoking by Industry, Occupation, & Gender
• CDC Smoking Fast Facts and Fact Sheets
• American Lung Association Help Employees Stop Smoking

Offer tobacco cessation support programs for employees

• Great American Smokeout Event Tools and Resources
• SmokeFree.gov
• American Heart Association Resources to Help You Quit Smoking
• American Lung Association Supportive Healthcare Services for Employees

Offer tobacco cessation support programs for family members of employees

• Why Start Smoking Cessation Program Within Your Company
• The Community Guide Tobacco Control Programs

With the siren calls of email and texts from our mobile devices and laptops, it’s become increasingly difficult for many of us to separate work from our personal lives. Checking email in bed, texting through dinner, and taking work calls on the weekend and during vacation time have become common practices. While it’s probably unrealistic to eliminate all after-hours work activity, there are ways employers can support their staff and create an environment that supports a true work-life balance.

Designate a Work-life Integration Champion

• iesOpinion Work-Life Balance

Implement a Workplace Policy that Addresses Mindfulness and the "Whole Person"

• Seven Tips for Merging 'Mindfulness' Into the Workplace

Implement Policies Supporting Flexible Work Hours and Schedules

• A Guide to Job Flexibility at MIT

Implement a Policy that Provides both Men and Women Paid Parental Leave

• How Everyone Benefits When New Fathers Take Paid Leave

Create a Dedicated Onsite Private Space for Mothers Who Wish to Breastfeed or Pump

• Protecting, Promoting, and Supporting Breastfeeding: A Public Health Imperative

Encourage and/or Allow for Employees to Participate in Philanthropic/Community Organization Events During Company Time

• Silicon Valley Community Foundation Volunteer Time Off Program and Policy
• United Health Group Social Responsibility

Be a Trauma-informed Workplace

• National Center for Biotechnology Information: Building a Trauma-Informed Workforce

Allow Untracked/Unlimited Paid Time Off

• Forbes: The Best Reason Ever to Take a Two Week Vacation
• CNN: No More Excuses: Take a Day Off

Provide Free Educational Resources to Support Employees' Wellbeing

• CDC: Well-Being Concepts
• Wellbeing Strategies in the Workplace
• Science-Based Health & Wellness Resources for Your Community

Provide Free Educational Resources, Coaching and/or Counseling Services and Support to Employees' Dependents

• Here to Help | Employee Assistance Program

Provide Access to Behavioral Health Resources for Building Resilience and Dealing with Personal Crisis when Needed

• World Health Organization: Mental Health Policies and Programs in the Workplace
• AHA Employer Resources for Success
• ACEs Primer Video
• TEDMED 2014: How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime

Offer Mental Health First Aid Training to Employees

• Mental Health First Aid at Work

Use a Survey Tool to Determine Employee Job Satisfaction/Engagement

• How to Create an Employee Engagement Survey
• Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey

Use a Survey Tool to Assess Wellbeing or Health Risks of Employees

• CDC Workplace Health Resources - Assessment Tools
• Gallup/Sharecare Well-Being Index

When the office is “healthy,” employees benefit just by coming to work. And changes in the work environment don’t have to break the budget.  Poor lighting can cause headaches, eye strain, and tiredness. Colors can impact our mood and have an influence on mental and physical well-being. And plants can help create buffers between stress triggers and employees. Here are some ideas:

Designate a Design/Built Environment Champion

• Workspaces that Move People
• Workplace Design Trends: Make Way for the Millennials
• Ten Key Design Interventions for a Healthier, Happier, and More Productive Workplace
• Trends 360: What Workers Want

Implement Well Build Standards

• International Well Building Institute WELL Building Features
• Delos Well Building Standard
• International Well Building Institute Certification

Implement a workplace policy or process that addresses sustainability

• Working Green: Sustainable Workplace Design Strategies at NRDC
• Sustainable Workplace Alliance
• Greening Offices: 35 Tips to Get You Started

Implement a workplace policy or process that recognizes the impact of lighting on productivity

• Lighting in the Workplace
• OSH Lighting Ergonomics Fact Sheet
• International Well Building Institute: Light

Implement a workplace policy or process that recognizes the impact of places designated for people to connect

• Knoll Workplace Research: Creating Collaborative Spaces that Work
• Office Space Communication Tips and Tricks From a Workplace Anthropologist
• Social Spaces that Work Throughout the Workday
• Work and the Loneliness Epidemic: Reducing isolation at work is good for business

The AdventHealth Community Wellness Department has a variety of programs and resources to help you improve your mental and physical health. From massage services, to support groups and specialty yoga classes, there are so many ways to help you relax, unwind, and rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit! Find more information here on the list of classes, how to enroll or make an appointment.

AdventHealth Behavioral Health has both Inpatient and Outpatient Services. We are committed to helping you find hope with solutions and treatments for depression, grief, trauma, addiction recovery, or other behavioral health issues. The multi-professional team provides a caring and compassionate approach, helping you to reclaim your true self. Find more information here on the mental health services available and to make an appointment.

Alive and Well Communities is a nonprofit organization, based in Missouri, focused on activating communities in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois to address the trauma experienced by their residents. We are dedicated to shifting cultures and systems and helping people develop pathways to healing, well-being and equity.

Allied InclusionWorks, an Allied Global Services Company, is the first end-to-end disability inclusion solution, helping connect inclusive employers to talented job seekers. Our exclusive process and solutions meet your businesses where you are in your disability inclusion journey and level you up depending on your specific needs and desired outcomes.

The InclusionWorks team has worked with some of the nation’s leading brands and brings over 50 years of combined experience in disability inclusion and human resources. We provide customized consultation and training programs including disability awareness, outreach/recruitment strategies, reasonable accommodations/interactive process, self-identification, building an inclusive culture and more.

Alternatives EAP offers professional services to specifically support employees, supervisors, managers, and HR specialists in the workplace. We provide access to needed expertise and critically important resources to help you successfully navigate delicate issues. Our programs are designed to help employees live healthier lives at work and at home. The benefits we offer are provided by your employer for you and your eligible dependents.

CommCARE is a network of Community Behavioral Healthcare Providers. We connect, manage, and deliver behavioral healthcare solutions.

Comprehensive Mental Health Services is an organization of professionals dedicated to helping people transform their lives.

CoCulture partners with premier companies to strategize and implement a culture of holistic wellbeing. We’ve recognized that by being intentional about building your company culture, it enables you and your teams to execute on critical business strategies. A positive culture can transform an entire organization and brand. By using a research-based approach we are able to make lasting impacts on the lives of your employees – ultimately making your company stronger by cultivating a culture where employees are happy, healthy and thriving in their daily lives.

Disability:IN GKC is a business led organization that helps advance disability inclusion in the workplace and marketplace. We do this by providing consultation, educational events, tools and resource focused on outreach, recruitment, hiring and retention of workers with disabilities. We help connect our business partners and community agencies who serve candidates with various disabilities to bridge the gap between job openings and candidates seeking employment. We also offer an online job board designed specifically to connect candidates to our business partners. Training is customized for businesses to address their specific inclusion needs but some have received training on disability inclusion awareness, managing workers with disabilities and return to work/retention of workers with disabilities.

FirstStepForHelp.com is a free service to meet the needs of our community. We focus on the state of Missouri, but we extend our reach across state lines to include the entire Kansas City metro. Our highly-trained, Master's-level clinicians accept and handle calls from anyone who needs help. Multilingual. Always Confidential. The 24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Hotline.

Since 2006, GateWay of Hope, a faith-based non-profit, has been serving women in the greater Kansas City metro. We are one of 2 "women only" non-profit counseling centers in the 7 county area. We serve women from ages, 15 and older. Our mission statement, "We lead women to discover hope, pursue healing and live in wholeness through counseling, coaching and support groups," encapsulates our desire for all women to live safe, healthy and emotionally resilient lives. Our vision is to be the premier place where women transform their lives and create new legacies.

Johnson County Mental Health Center (JCMHC) is the gateway to mental health in Johnson County, Kansas, providing comprehensive mental health and substance abuse services to county residents at locations in Mission, Shawnee, and Olathe. Services include 24-hour mental health emergency services, psychiatric rehabilitative services to adults, children, and families, residential and substance use disorder services, medication services, and prevention services. JCMHC offers a sliding fee scale for Johnson County residents and services are provided according to each individual's ability to pay. More information about JCMHC and our services can be found at jocogov.org/mentalhealth.

Leadership development, coaching, training, consulting, and facilitation.

Lockton provides strategies and solutions to employers seeking to improve workforce health, wellness and well-being across the following dimensions: physical, mental, social, cultural, career, and financial. Following a risk assessment, Lockton partners with employers to deploy preventive and responsive strategies and solutions for employers and employees. Example mental health services: HR programs, practices and policies to build a psychologically healthy workplace; benefit plan and wellness program strategies to support workforce mental health, etc. The primary aim of these services is to identify and minimize adverse risks to workforce health and well-being, while promoting healthy workplaces and employees.

The Mental Health Promotion program provides information about mental illness and its treatment in order to eradicate stigma, encourage screening, and translate knowledge into clinical practice to improve treatment and support services. It does so by hosting Educational Events: workshops, presentations, seminars, lunch-n-learns, support groups, conferences, and speaker’s bureau presentations and health fairs. The program works in collaboration with persons with mental illness, their family members, professionals and social service providers to develop and tailor educational programs to meet the needs and interests of the audience. The Mental Health Promotion program helps professionals and the community identify mental health problems early, and to connect people to services and support rapidly, in order to facilitate recovery and improve functioning and quality of life. These sessions provide practical, usable information, build empathy and understanding, and teach concrete strategies which decrease stigma and discrimination, and promote dignity and respect for persons with mental illness.

Our mission is cultivating compassion, wellbeing and peace through mindfulness. Our vision is a kinder, more peaceful, and compassionate world.

Mindful Momentum empowers individuals and organizations with simple, easy mindful practices to improve efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and overall health.

Mindfulness in the Heartland provides education and training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and other mindfulness-based interventions. We offer instruction, classes, workshops, presentations, retreats and community practice opportunities, in Kansas City and throughout the region. The emphasis of our professional work is to foster mindfulness within the realms of parenting, the family, educational settings and the workplace. It is our intention to inspire you to "live as if every moment matters."

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Johnson County is a community that supports people with mental illness and their loved ones. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by mental illness or their family members and friends. We provide programs of support, advocacy and education.

New Directions offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and behavioral health services to help people live balanced, healthy lives. EAP services include counseling, critical incident response, supervisor consultation, digital tools, adult and child care referrals, coaching, financial and legal consultations, organizational training and awareness materials. New Directions’ EAP helps employees and management:

• Be more present and productive at work
• Receive help when they don’t feel like themselves
• Grow personal, career and relationship skills
• Receive care after a traumatic event or diagnosis
• Make healthy lifestyle choices
• Manage performance issues and crisis situations
• Offer preventative care to reduce medical costs

Pauzify partners with companies and organizations across many sectors teaching mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs that enhance well-being, collaboration, leadership, innovation and resilience, leading to improved team performance.

We offer:

• Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence Workshops (half-day, full-day, four and eight week sessions)
• Group Team & Manager Trainings (2-day, with ongoing accountability programs)
• Mindfulness Conferences & Retreats (with keynotes and specialized workshops)
• Search Inside Yourself (SIY) Mindfulness and Leadership training workshops, originally developed at Google as their in-house wellness, performance, leadership program. SIY is taught in more than 150 cities in 50 countries around the world.

ReDiscover is a nonprofit community mental health center that provides comprehensive programs and services for men, women and children whose lives have been affected by mental illness and/or substance use disorders. We also provide training for workplace supervisors/ program managers, as well as facilitation and coaching for organizational strategy and collaboration, strategies on leadership, and empowered work cultures.

Resilience Builders provides transformational learning experiences while coaching leaders and employees on trauma informed and resiliency best practices.

Saint Luke’s LIFEWISE™ Mission - To be the premier provider of a comprehensive suite of services, programs, resources and tools that impact the overall health and wellbeing of all employees that we serve; and to partner with employers in bringing the best solutions for improving mental health, managing health risks and reducing preventable health costs.

Mental health, addiction, and trauma.

A non-profit leader in learning and development since 1989, SkillPath provides professionals worldwide with strategic and innovative training and coaching solutions. Our mission is to provide the highest-quality in-person and digital training for companies and businesspeople around the world, so they can benefit personally and professionally from the experience. Clients include Fortune 1000 companies, the military, government, and major sports leagues. Content includes emotional intelligence, personal development/communication, early stage leadership development, team building, and project/time management. 

Small Changes Big Shifts empowers people to whole health through balanced daily practices and wellness providers who guide them. The company educates our members who are consumers and professional providers, and offers programs and consulting services in whole-person health. Being healthy and staying well for a lifetime takes more than being diligent in one area. It requires balance and harmony in all areas to create whole person health. Wellness empowerment through lifestyle behaviors means practicing balance and putting the odds in your favor through small changes that make big shifts in whole health outcomes.

Spangler Associates helps organizations address the multiple systems that support individual and organizational resilience and well-being, through assessment, consultation, training, communication development, and executive coaching.

Nurse, Author, Health and Wellness Coach, Certified Flowtrition Practitioner

StressOS, a service of Right Angle Advisors, Inc., is an interactive stress reduction solution that helps people and organizations identify and reduce toxic stress levels and build resilience. People feel better and get healthier; Organizations gain productivity and reduce turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism and workplace injuries; and engagement and satisfaction increase as stress levels improve. Organizations receive an Aggregate Stress Index (ASI), based on individuals’ responses to our comprehensive StressOS Assessment. Our ASI Report offers data-driven insights useful in organizational development, enterprise risk management and compliance due diligence. The CDC reports that work-related stress is the leading workplace health problem. StressOS was created to help people and organizations stress less.

Our comprehensive care model is complex, but our mission is not. We take action to create a community free of family violence. Contact Corky McCaffrey, community engagement coordinator, (816) 587-4100.

TeamTech has provided cross-system facilitation and leadership development services to non-profit and governmental entities in the social service and correctional environments for over 25 years.Services include facilitation and coaching for organizational strategy and collaboration, leader development, and empowered work cultures, as well as training on resilience and neuroscience of trauma. CEO and co-founder Kathleen Harnish McKune can be reached at teamtechinc.com.

Turning Point empowers and transforms the body, mind and spirit of individuals living with a serious or chronic physical illness and their loved ones. We provide innovative, educational services and tools to inspire people to take charge of their illness and live their life to the fullest.

We provide prevention and recovery-oriented mental health and substance use services which are quality assured and person-centered, with increased attention to the “whole person.”

TMC Behavioral Health delivers services through community outreach clinics in the Kansas City metropolitan area as well as at our main location in the Crossroads Art District. Our unique role as a hospital-based mental health center supports a whole-person, integrated health model of service delivery that is increasingly the standard of best practice for healthcare.

All of our mental health services are aimed at assisting clients in managing symptoms of their illness and improving functioning in their day-to-day lives.  Services also provide the support many persons with mental illness need to regain a sense of meaning and purpose in life.

Vision Pursue's mission is to dramatically improve the way people experience life by improving their mindset. Their innovative team of business executives, sports performance experts, and psychology professionals have combined their experience to carefully develop the Performance Mindset™ training system that drives results for organizations. This training system has a proven track record of enhancing wellness, performance, resilience, and engagement.

Workplace Healing LLC provides heart and head-based communication training for employers on how to respond and interact with an employee whose life has been affected by a grief, trauma, or life disruption. The 90 minute H.O.P.E. Workshop presented by Workplace Healing includes four training modules:

H – Heart-Based Healing
O – Opportunities for Healing
P – Personalized Purpose
E – Employee/Employer Engagement

The innovative training from Workplace Healing includes education, interactive activities, and guidelines for corporate leaders, managers, and supervisors regarding the “do’s and don’ts” with an employee returning to work after a life disruption.

Wyandot Behavioral Health Network is a family of organizations serving Wyandotte County, Kansas and beyond that offer a number of mental health resources, including therapy and psychiatric services for adults, children, and families. We adhere to a person-centered, trauma-informed and culturally competent approach, employing therapists, case managers, and psychiatrists trained to help identify strengths, goals, and plans for achieving them. Our Mental Health First Aid training program is available to individuals, organizations, and workplaces. The training provides participants with the tools they need to respond to someone who has a mental illness or may be experiencing a mental health crisis.