Information travels instantly. While this might help raise awareness and reduce stigma, it also means myths about mental wellbeing can spread just as fast as the truth. You might hear conflicting advice on social media or outdated ideas in the workplace that make it hard to know what to believe.
To support your teams effectively, you need a foundation built on evidence. We have compiled 10 facts about mental health that cut through the noise. These insights are designed to help you understand the reality of mental health conditions and take practical action.
Fact #1: People living with mental health conditions can succeed at work
A diagnosis does not determine a person's capability or potential for professional growth. Many successful leaders, creatives, and innovators manage anxiety, depression, or other conditions while performing at the top of their fields.
Why it matters
When we assume that a diagnosis equals an inability to work, we fuel mental health stigma. This fear of judgment often drives employees to silence. They may delay seeking care or hide their struggles until they reach a breaking point, which ultimately leads to burnout or absenteeism. Judging performance based on health status rather than output deprives organizations of valuable talent.
Fact #2: Mental health benefits can deliver measurable ROI
Behavioral health isn’t just a wellbeing line item. When employees can access the right level of care quickly and outcomes are tracked, mental health becomes a real lever for containing medical spend.
Why it matters
A peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open study found 1.9× ROI (net of program fees), a 14% reduction in physical health claims, and $1,070 in net savings per participant in Year 1. That’s the core business case: Better mental health care doesn’t just increase behavioral health utilization, but it can reduce avoidable downstream costs in the rest of the plan.
Fact #3: Mental health conditions are treatable. Many people improve with evidence-based care.
Recovery and symptom management of mental health conditions are very possible. Effective treatments exist and allow people to regain control of their lives.
Why it matters
If people believe their suffering is permanent, they are less likely to seek help. Spreading the message of hope and recoverability is critical. It shifts the narrative from "suffering" to "managing" and empowers individuals to advocate for the care that works for them.
Fact #4: Prevention and early support can reduce risk and severity of many mental health challenges
Proactive measures can prevent symptoms from becoming debilitating. Unfortunately, healthcare systems often focus on acute care, stepping in only when someone is in severe distress.
Why it matters
Addressing stress, burnout, and early symptoms of anxiety or depression can significantly alter the trajectory of a person's health. Employees with untreated depression incur 149% higher annual healthcare costs than their peers. On the other hand, proactive behavioral health interventions can reduce physical health claims by 14% and drive $1,070 in net savings per participant in just the first year.
Fact #5: Most people with mental illness are not violent
The truth is that people suffering from mental illness are accountable for only 3-to-5% of violent crimes, and are in fact 10 times more likely to be the victims of violence.
Why it matters
Stereotypes deepen social exclusion and make discrimination more acceptable. It makes people afraid to seek help or disclose their condition to friends, family, or employers for fear of being viewed as a threat.
Fact #6: Mental health affects every workplace
Half of the world's population will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetimes. This is a widespread public health reality that touches every demographic and industry.
Why it matters
Ignoring the prevalence of mental health challenges leads to presenteeism, where employees are physically at work but mentally disengaged due to illness. It also impacts organizational culture. When companies pretend these issues don't exist, they miss the opportunity to build resilience and engagement.
Fact #7: Seeking mental healthcare shouldn’t put someone’s job at risk, and legal protections may apply
In many regions, including the U.S., laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities, including mental health conditions.
Why it matters
The fear of professional retaliation is one of the biggest barriers to care. Employees worry that if they use their benefits or take leave for mental health, they will be passed over for promotions or fired. This fear keeps people sick and prevents them from accessing the support they need to recover and return to full productivity.
Fact #8: Mental health and physical health are deeply connected
Mental health and physical health are deeply connected. They are not two separate systems. They constantly influence one another.
Why it matters
Whole-person care is the correct approach. Stress can manifest as headaches, muscle tension, or digestive issues. Conversely, dealing with chronic pain or a serious diagnosis like diabetes can trigger depression. Recognizing this link encourages a more holistic approach to wellness.
Fact #9: Mental health access is a real barrier
Wait times and provider shortages are common. Even when someone is ready to seek help, finding an available provider who takes their insurance can be incredibly difficult. "Just get help" is often easier said than done.
Why it matters
When access is slow or confusing, employees don’t get “mild” support. They get late support. That delay:
- Increases acuity
- Drives more LOAs and crisis escalations
- Quietly raises medical and pharmacy spend through comorbidities
For benefits leaders, access isn’t a nice-to-have feature of a network. It’s the difference between a preventive benefit employees actually use and a reactive system that only shows up when problems are already expensive and disruptive.
Fact #10: Mental health leaves are a business continuity issue
Unplanned leaves (especially mental health leaves) are often a downstream signal that something broke earlier: Workload strain, manager capability gaps, delayed access to care, or a fragmented support system.
Why it matters
HR leaders track mental health leaves because they’re an operational shock to the business, creating coverage gaps, disrupted productivity, and reduced ability to deliver for customers. For benefits leaders, the goal isn’t to “reduce leaves” by discouraging them; it’s to build a clinically sound, employee-trustworthy pathway that supports timely evaluation, appropriate care, and a stable return to work, while giving leaders the visibility (at an aggregate level) to prevent repeat scenarios.
10 steps you can take to improve organizational support
- Reduce friction to first appointment: Focus on a single entry point to care, with clear eligibility, fast booking, and a support path for dependents.
- Turn leadership modeling into a strategy: Equip executives and people leaders with specific, safe language that normalizes care without oversharing or pressuring employees. Then reinforce it through manager training and comms moments that matter.
- Measure and manage like a core business priority: Track utilization and outcomes by employee segment (frontline vs. corporate, regions, managers), watch leading indicators like time-to-care and repeat engagement, and use those insights to target outreach before stress shows up as attrition, incidents, or leave.
- Strengthen clinical quality: Vet partners for measurement-based care, outcomes tracking, and provider quality standards.
- Design benefits that support continuity: Reduce drop-off with fast follow-ups, easy rescheduling, care navigation, and coverage structures that don’t penalize ongoing treatment when it’s clinically appropriate.
- Operationalize crisis-ready support: Confirm you have a clear escalation model (24/7 options, vendor protocols, and internal response roles), and train managers on what to do when someone may be at risk.
- Track leading indicators, not just crises: Monitor early signals (engagement/utilization, time-to-first-appointment, repeat visits, high-stress hotspots, and leave precursors) and use them to target interventions before issues escalate into LOA (leave of absence), emergency room visits, or productivity loss.
- Normalize support: Talk about EAPs and mental health benefits as openly as you talk about physical health insurance.
- Focus on output: Managers should evaluate team members based on their work performance and results, not on assumptions about their health.
- Offer accommodations: Simple adjustments, like flexible hours for therapy appointments or noise-canceling headphones for focus, can empower employees to thrive.
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