How to Create a Helpful List of Mental Health Referrals for Your Employees
Creating a list of mental health resources for your employees shows that your company is willing to acknowledge mental health, rather than ignore it or stigmatize it. It also shows a desire to support your employees. While this will require some homework on your end, it will save your employees time which they will appreciate.
When creating your referral list, keep in mind that there are a variety of services that your employees might be needing, depending on the circumstances. Your company can create a mental health referral list that covers a range of needs.
And, I know….companies might feel weird about talking with employees about their mental health because of HR stuff. We get it! Know that you can provide all employees with a resource list, not because they necessarily need these resources at the moment, but because you want them to have access to the information and resources if ever they or their family members or colleagues need it.
Here are some great community referrals you can research and/or share.
Mental Health Referrals for Crisis or Emergency Situations
988 is the new number for mental health crises. It’s a 24/7 crisis hotline that your employees can call any time of day. When they call, they’ll be connected with a trained professional who can assist them. When we provide our clients with this phone number, they sometimes look at us funny, but I like to remind them that this is a great number to know about if ever they’re in a situation where they need to support a friend, family member, or colleague and don’t know how. Just share the number and encourage your friend, family member, or colleague to call. You can support them by being there with them when they do (if that makes them feel more comfortable).
Mental Health Urgent Care Centers
You and your employees probably already know about urgent care centers for physical health concerns. Now, there are a number of mental health urgent care centers. Do your research on mental health urgent care centers in your area and include them on your list. Some allow for walk-in appointments while others allow you to schedule in advance. Unlike regular urgent care centers, the mental health urgent care centers might have more limited hours of service.
Here at LifeSpring Counseling Services, we often share information about Sheppard Pratt’s Mental Health Urgent Care or the University of Maryland’s Mental Health Urgent Care Center because both are located in the Greater Baltimore area like we are. These mental health urgent care settings will evaluate individuals to determine the most appropriate level of care. From there, they’ll provide an appropriate referral which might be hospitalization, a day program, an intensive outpatient program etc.
911 or Emergency Room Visits
In any emergency, you and your employees always have the option of calling 911 or going to the local emergency room. These are great options for situations that are incredibly urgent. If someone is experiencing serious and active thoughts about hurting themselves or others, these 2 options are the way to go. As always, it is important to stay calm when assisting someone in an emergency situation.
Pro-Bono Counseling Services in Maryland–FREE Outpatient Counseling Services for the Uninsured or Under-Insured
If you are a Maryland based company, and you know that your employees’ health insurance is not that great, you might want to let them know about the Pro Bono Counseling Project in Maryland. They provide free outpatient counseling services to people who are uninsured or those who are under-insured. Even if your Maryland-based company provides amazing insurance, your employees might like to know about this resource anyway. They might have friends or family members who need counseling services but can’t afford them.
Local Outpatient Mental Health Therapy Services for Non-Urgent Situations
If you want your employees to seek out mental health counseling services when they need it, then it can be helpful to provide them with a list of outpatient mental health counseling practices that you’ve already vetted and determined are a good fit for the people who work at the office. This part will require you to do a little bit of research, but identifying polite, professional, and responsive therapy practices who accept your employees’ insurance and who make scheduling a therapy appointment easily will be much appreciated by your employees.
We’ve written two other blogs on “Questions to Ask” and Observations to Makewhen researching and reaching out to these therapy practices.
Keep it simple!
While there are a number of other mental health services that could be included on this list to be more comprehensive, we realize that the person creating this resource list for your company is likely not trained in therapy or mental health. If you have these services listed on your referral list, you’ll likely be covering the most important bases. Why is that? Because if one of your employees utilizes one of the urgent or emergency resources listed above, the providers they come in contact with will likely connect them with the next-best resource. If your employee works with an outpatient therapist, that therapist will likely refer them to a higher level of care or to medication management services if they believe that is necessary. So, we don’t want to make this list too complicated for you, especially if you are just getting started. After a while, you may decide to add more resources to your list. Starting out, though, it’s ok to keep things simple.
Resources you can share immediately!
If you are a Maryland-based company looking for resources that you can share with your employees immediately, know that our Baltimore County-based group counseling practice is happy to support your employees’ counseling needs. We are an insurance-friendly counseling practice that accepts CareFirst, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna/Evernorth, United/Optum Behavioral Health, and Johns Hopkins EHP health plans.
You can share the following resources with your employees immediately:
LifeSpring Counseling Services’ Counseling Services: Schedule online at lifespringcounseling.net 24/7 or call 410-497-8451 Monday-Friday between 9 AM and 5 PM to schedule by phone.
Private, Mini Podcast Series: Get answers to your most pressing questions about starting therapy by signing up for our newsletter and the Starting Therapy podcast series. (Link to podcast–that will get them on the newsletter)
Mental Health Resources at LifeSpring Counseling Services: From free therapeutic coloring pages, blogs written by therapists, to journals to help people make the most of therapy, we’ve got your employees covered.
We’re here to help you support your employees’ mental health and your Maryland-based company!
The two go hand-in-hand!
Workplace Wellness Programs
LifeSpring Counseling Services offers Workplace Wellness Services that include educational workshops, experiential workshops, and retreats. If you believe that your workplace could benefit from these services, you can 1. share this information with your supervisor or company CEO, or 2. if you are the person in charge, just fill out this form.
Think we can help?
If you are a Maryland-based company who is looking to support your employees’ mental health, we invite you to check out our Corporate Wellness Services, our General Counseling Services for Children and Adults. Regardless of where you are located in Maryland, we are able to provide telehealth services in Maryland. If you are looking to collaborate with our office in a more official way, please feel free to contact Melissa Wesner, LCPC at melissa@lifespringcounseling.net. Know that you can also share our mini podcast series called Starting Therapy with your employees as well. It answers the most commonly asked questions that we receive here at LifeSpring Counseling Services.
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Interested in Counseling for Burnout or Compassion Fatigue?
If you’re a Marylander who knows that counseling is the direction you need to take, the therapists at LifeSpring Counseling Services are here to help. We offer online counseling services for mindfulness, depression, anxiety, trauma, and grief and loss. We also offer Brainspotting as a specialized service, and Brainspotting can be done online, too!
Here’s how you can get started! Online and in-person counseling for burnout and compassion fatigue aren’t the only services offered at our Monkton, MD office.
The counselors and social workers at our Maryland office also offer counseling services for trauma, grief and loss, boundary setting, communication skills, and difficult life transitions. We also offer specialized counseling services including Brainspotting and spiritually-integrated counseling. Because we are located next to several local universities, we also work with college students and international students.
