On October 20-21, 2016, the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Hopkins), with support from The Luv u Project, hosted the “Mental Health in the Workplace: A Public Health Summit” (Summit). The Summit gathered researchers, industry and government leaders, journalists, and practitioners in public mental health to identify workplace health promotion practices that are effective and determine where the evidence is insufficient.

A key aim of the Summit was to highlight practical next steps that lead to action with the aim of improving mental health in the workplace and to begin the establishment of a Center of Excellence (COE) in research, practice, and policy. An Advisory Council was formed to brainstorm and provide guidance on several action steps that would move the needle forward in such areas as applied research, dissemination of best practices, workplace training, tools development and establishment of policy priorities for the nation.

To build upon the momentum gained from the Summit, over the next several months, through July 2017, our initiative will focus on the following activities:

 

Project Staff

Rich Mattingly, Founder and President, The Luv u Project.

Ron Goetzel, PhD, Director, Institute for Health and Productivity Studies

Danielle Fallin, PhD, Chair, Department of Mental Health

Bill Eaton, PhD, Professor, Department of Mental Health

Enid Chung Roemer, PhD, Deputy Director, Institute for Health and Productivity Studies

Calliope Holingue, Doctoral Student, Department of Mental Health

Advisory Council

Jacqueline Agnew, PhD – Professor, Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Occupational Health, Johns Hopkins University

Francisca Azocar, PhD – Vice President of Research and Evaluation of Behavioral Health Sciences at OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions formerly United Behavioral Health

David Ballard, PsyD – Assistant Executive Director for Organizational Excellence at the American Psychological Association

Michael Braga – Investigations editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, winner of a 2016 Pulitzer Prize and Carolyn C. Mattingly Award for Mental Health reporting

Andrew Crighton, MD – Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Prudential Financial Inc.

Richard Frank, PhD – Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Economics, Harvard University and Former Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services

LuAnn Heinen – Vice President, Workforce Well-being, Productivity & Human Capital, National Business Group on Health

Kim Jinnett, PhD – Executive Vice President, Integrated Benefits Institute

Debra Keller-Greene – CEO and Founder of Keller Professional Services, Inc. (KPS)

Bob Meyers – President Emeritus, National Press Foundation

Sara Martin Rauch, MS – Director of Strategy and Planning, WELCOA

Pamela Rich – Manager, Institute on Innovation in Workforce Well-being at the National Business Group on Health

Richard Safeer, MD – Medical Director, Employee Health & Wellness, Johns Hopkins HealthCare, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

Dick Saporito – Senior Vice President of Human Resources, PC Connection

Anita Schill, PhD – Senior Science Advisor, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Joshua Sharfstein, MD – Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Training, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

David Shern, PhD – Senior Science Advisor, Mental Health America

Victor Strecher, PhD – Professor and Director for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Peter Wald, MD – Enterprise Medical Director, USAA

Philip Wang, MD, DrPH – Director of Research, American Psychiatric Association