In this final installment of our three-part series on employee mental health, we focus on something concrete: the resources likely already available to your employees, why so few are being used, and how HR professionals and managers can help bridge that gap.
(You can find our previous articles here and here.)
For most employees, the path to mental health support at work is unclear — not because the resources don’t exist, but because awareness and access have lagged behind availability. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)’s 2025 Workplace Mental Health Poll tells a consistent story: Only 53 percent of employees know how to access mental health care through their employer; roughly one in four aren’t sure what their employer offers; and fewer than one in three have received any training on available resources — despite more than 80 percent saying such training would be helpful. According to Mental Health America, 98 percent of mid-to-large-sized companies offer employee assistance programs (EAPs), yet utilization hovers around 4 percent annually. This isn’t a resource issue. It’s an awareness and communication problem.
Understanding the Utilization Gap
Low utilization is not always a reflection of need. In many workplaces, employees remain hesitant to access support because they worry doing so could affect how they are perceived professionally, impact advancement opportunities, or signal that they are unable to handle the demands of their role. Clear communication about confidentiality, privacy protections, and leadership support matters.
Practical Tools Already in Your Toolkit
Here are some ideas for resources to help you get started:
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): The EAP is the most common and most underutilized mental health resource in most organizations. Most EAPs provide free, confidential support across a broader range of needs than many employees realize: short-term counseling, financial guidance, legal referrals, and crisis support at no cost to the employee. What many employees and employers don’t know is that EAP coverage frequently extends well beyond the individual employee. Depending on the plan, coverage may include spouses and domestic partners, dependent children, and extended family members in multigenerational living situations. That coverage can be meaningful — and most employees have no idea it exists. It’s worth reviewing your specific EAP contract to understand exactly who qualifies.
- Telehealth Services: Telehealth mental health services have expanded significantly in recent years and are now included in most major health plans. For employees who work nonstandard hours, live in rural areas, or find scheduling a traditional appointment difficult, a phone or video session removes barriers that would otherwise keep someone from getting support.
- The AgriStress Helpline (833-897-2474): For agricultural employers and employees, this service is currently available in Arizona, Oregon, Montana, and Washington, and provides 24/7 free confidential support from counselors trained specifically in farm and ranch stressors — financial pressure, weather-related loss, and the particular isolation that characterizes agricultural work.
- The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Available to anyone, at any time, by call or text. It’s free and worth making sure your workforce knows about.
- SAMHSA Resources: For employees who don’t have access to an EAP, meaningful support is still available. SAMHSA’s free “Find Support” tool helps individuals locate mental health professionals and programs regardless of insurance status, and the SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) provides free, confidential referrals 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Roles of Supervisors: Listen and Connect
Let’s pause here to acknowledge that supportive conversations are not the same as evaluating requests for reasonable accommodation or leave, which should still follow the organization’s established HR and legal processes. If an employee raises mental health issues to explain why they’re not meeting performance expectations or if the employee engages in threatening behavior, supervisors should pull in Human Resources. Your HR team is best equipped to evaluate whether to launch an interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and when to seek legal advice from your company’s Vigilant Law Group employment attorney (if you’re a Vigilant member) or other legal counsel.
When an employee is struggling with personal issues, the role of an HR professional or supervisor is not to diagnose, fix, or manage the employee’s personal life — it is to listen, respond with care, and connect the employee to appropriate support. (To the extent those issues are impacting the workplace, though, you can set work-related expectations and consider reasonable accommodations. Members: Contact your Vigilant Law Group employment attorney for specific advice.)
What employees need most in that moment is not an expert. It’s a person who takes them seriously, responds without judgment, and knows where to point them. NAMI’s 2026 research finds that 84 percent of employees believe their direct manager is responsible for cultivating that environment. Also, employees at companies offering mental health training are significantly more likely to feel supported (86 percent vs. 70 percent). In practice, that might look as simple as a supervisor who notices something seems off, finds a quiet moment to check in, listens with compassion, and says: “I want to make sure you know what’s available to you — can I share some information about our EAP?” It doesn’t require clinical training — just attentiveness, comfort with the conversation, and knowing what resources to reference.
How to Build a Supportive Culture
That kind of interaction — simple, human, and low-stakes — is a good model for everything that follows. None of it requires a significant budget or a formal program. It requires intention, consistency, and a willingness to make mental health a consistent part of how your organization operates. Here’s where to begin:
- Know what you offer: It’s difficult to point employees toward resources you don’t fully understand yourself. HR teams and supervisors should understand what mental health resources are available through the organization’s EAP, medical plan, leave programs, and community partnerships. They should know who is eligible, how services are accessed, and what barriers employees may encounter when trying to use them. An annual benefits email or open enrollment packet is how most organizations communicate mental health resources, and it’s one of the least effective ways to ensure employees actually know what’s available to them. Reaching your full workforce doesn’t require a sophisticated communications strategy. It requires consistency and variety. A card with a pay stub, a reminder at a staff meeting, a posted flyer in a common area — small, repeated touchpoints across different formats are far more effective than a single annual communication. And when managers reinforce that message directly with their teams, it carries considerably more weight than anything arriving from HR alone.
- Equip your managers: Knowing what to say — and what not to say — when an employee is struggling is a skill, and it’s one that can be taught. Brief, scenario-based training that walks managers through how to recognize early signs of struggle, hold a supportive conversation, and connect employees to available resources gives them the confidence to act when it matters. Without it, even well-intentioned managers often default to silence or avoidance, not because they don’t care, but because they aren’t sure what’s appropriate. Many EAP providers offer this training at no additional cost. It’s worth asking yours if you haven’t already. Some employers have also found programs like Mental Health First Aid at Work helpful in giving managers practical frameworks and language for responding appropriately.
- Don’t wait for a crisis: The most effective support rarely looks dramatic — it’s a timely check-in, an offhand mention of available resources, or a manager who notices and says something before things get harder. Normalizing the conversation in ordinary moments is what makes it possible for employees to ask for help before they desperately need it.
Moving Forward Together
We started this series with a simple premise: that honest dialogue and incremental progress is the most practical place to begin. The resources many of our members need to support their workforce are largely already in place. The opportunity is in making sure those resources are known, accessible, and connected to a workplace culture where employees feel safe enough to use them.
As always, we’d welcome your perspective. If something resonated, if you’re trying an approach that’s working, or if there are topics you’d like us to continue exploring, please reach out to us.
