Mental Health Activities in the Workplace

By Kimberly Kafafian

With January being Mental Wellness Month, it’s the perfect time to promote employee wellbeing with activities designed to reduce stress and foster a healthy mindset. While I encourage you to offer such activities throughout the year, highlighting them during this month is a great way to let your workforce know that you care about their mental health, which goes a long way in boosting morale and engagement. 

Choosing the Right Activities for Your Workers

There are many types of mental health boosting activities. In order to resonate with your workforce, it’s important to take the time and choose the activities that best suit it. When devising mental health strategies, I like to incorporate a variety of activities in order to connect with, and benefit, all types of personalities. For example, while some workers may appreciate a yoga session, others would much more prefer a book club or a chair massage. The goal is to help employees prioritize mental health so they can recharge and refresh, so you want to offer an activity for everyone. 

Mental Health Activities for In-Person and Remote Teams 

Yoga Class

Schedule a beginner yoga class that encourages employees to breathe and stretch, reducing tension and fatigue and improving mental clarity and productivity. It’s OK if you don’t have a large space to hold the class, many yoga studios can teach desk classes.

Mindfulness Session

Whether an in-person workshop or a virtual lunch and learn for remote workers, a guided mindfulness session can bring calm, boost creativity, and teach stress resilience.  

Walking Club

Walking provides a host of health benefits from improving mood and increasing energy to reducing stress levels. Creating a club will encourage employees to get outdoors and join in the camaraderie. 

Book Club

Reading is a great way to escape from the daily stressors and relax. In fact, it’s been shown to reduce stress by up to 68%. Pick a location, schedule a date and time, have employees vote on book selections, order the books, and get started. Remote workers can join in virtually.

Mental Health Workshops

Bring in guests who will talk about mental health and stress management topics. Experts are best equipped to provide strategies and share resources for meeting life’s challenges and improving work-life balance.  

Team Building Activities

Simply taking a break from daily tasks is a stress buster. Organize team building activities such as a game, virtual happy hour, cooking class, or volunteering for a local organization.

Art Classes

Immersing oneself in art is a great mood booster. Organize a drawing or painting class for artists of all levels. You can hold it during work hours or opt for an after hours sip and create.

Gratitude Challenge

Expressing gratitude can transform your mindset. Set up a gratitude challenge where workers journal three things they are grateful for each day.

The above are just some examples of mental health boosting activities you can do in the workplace. I encourage you to create activities in which your workforce will want to participate. Reach out to management teams for their suggestions. Remember, the goal is to incorporate activities that will connect with all types of personalities.