The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define mental health as “your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It can therefore affect every stage of life and impact how you think, feel, and act” (2023). Our workplaces play a significant role in our lives and our overall well-being.
When it comes to our camp staff’s mental health and well-being, our goal is not to diagnose or treat them, but rather to connect with and support them. It is important to note that you may sometimes feel uncomfortable or unsafe supporting someone at work, even when acting within your scope of practice. Never be afraid to ask for help if you feel someone needs further assistance or you are unsure of appropriate next steps.
It’s no secret that employees can experience burnout and stress along with many other feelings, both positive and negative. As leaders, we celebrate our staff’s victories, and we join our staff members who may be struggling. We must stay present in the moment, and let our employees know they are not alone. When negative feelings do arise, instead of judging or analyzing them, we can support our staff in making adjustments to feel better — and acknowledge that it’s a sign of strength to know when to ask for help.
The US Department of Health and Human Services Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Health & Well-Being includes five essential points:
- Protection from harm
- Connection and community
- Work-life harmony
- Mattering at work
- Opportunity for growth (US Surgeon General, 2022)
Protection from Harm
The first essential rests on two human needs: safety and security. Safety is protecting all employees from physical and nonphysical harm, including injury, illness, discrimination, bullying, and harassment. Security is ensuring that all workers feel secure financially and in their job future. Companies — and camps — that do a great job of minimizing the fear of failure for staff reduce pressure and anxiety stressors.
Connection and Community
This essential focuses on social support and the need for belonging. Belonging is the feeling of being an accepted member of a group or of connectedness given one’s interpersonal relationships. As leaders, we can create structure and opportunities for employees to build trust and better understand one another. This alleviates loneliness and helps staff across all levels value and empathize with each other while helping one another cope with stress and uncertainty. Maintaining supportive work relationships can improve performance and is associated with employee engagement and innovation.
Work-Life Harmony
The third essential rests on autonomy and flexibility, two definite camp benefits. Organizations that increase employee autonomy (how much control one has over how they do their work) and provide greater flexibility (the ability to work when and where is best for them) see staff members who are more likely to succeed and stay on the job longer. When we set, respect, and model clear boundaries between time on and off the job, staff report a greater sense of well-being. Not penalizing employees for needing flexibility can alleviate anxiety or fears of missing work demands. This helps staff use their downtime needed for rest to optimize their health, productivity, and creativity.
Mattering at Work
This essential centers on dignity and meaning. Dignity is the sense of being respected and valued. When employees’ dignity is affirmed and supported at work, it enhances well-being. Regardless of their position, when people feel appreciated, recognized, and engaged by their supervisors and coworkers, their sense of value and meaning increases, as does their capacity to manage stress. Researchers have also found that staff who receive frequent appreciation at work from colleagues and supervisors are more likely to recognize and appreciate others. This culture has positive effects on everyone’s sense of feeling valued as well as on team performance.
Opportunity for Growth
The fifth and final essential is the opportunity for learning and accomplishment. Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills in the workplace, which often leads to individual intellectual, social, professional, and emotional growth. Without learning or working toward shared goals, staff can begin to feel stagnant, frustrated, and ineffective.
While learning is the process of growth, accomplishment is the outcome of meeting goals and having an impact. Accomplishment provides a sense of competence that reduces stress, anxiety, and self-doubt.
More than ever, employees seek to share their talents in supportive work environments where empathy and compassion are the norms. At camp, we must see staff not only for their work roles, but as whole people. The most effective leaders:
- Express compassion, empathy, and generosity
- Communicate openly, often, and clearly
- Practice human- and wellness-centered leadership by recognizing the connection between individual strengths, growth, and organizational change
We have an opportunity to reinvest in the mental health and well-being of our nation’s workforce. At camp, we can build workplaces that are “engines of well-being” — showing our staff that they matter, that their work matters, and that they have the support necessary to prosper. In doing so, we will foster more resilient, productive, and successful camps, programs, and communities.
When we prioritize our employees’ well-being, organizational health follows, as the most important asset in any organization is its people. That is certainly true of camp. Prioritizing mental health can help our seasonal and year-round staff alike flourish and reach their full potential, which is what camps need to thrive and grow.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, April 25). About mental health. cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
- US Surgeon General. (2022). The Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being. hhs.gov/sites/default/files/workplace-mental-health-well-being.pdf
Brianne Feinour is the camp director at Camp NAC in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
