Internewscast Journal Internewscast Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of Deadline reports looking; This Post: Addressing Hollywoods Mental Health Crisis: Leading Programs like Calm, HeadSpace, and Thrive Make Strides in Managing Workplace Stress in Big Media first appeared on Internewscast Journal
Mental Health Resources in the Media Industry
Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of Deadline reports looking at how current upheaval in the media & entertainment industry is impacting mental health. Today: Big media companies and resources they offer their employees in a fraught time.
“There’s more focus on mental health in the workplace than ever before,” says Jason Richmond, VP of Sales Solutions at HeadSpace, a popular mindfulness and meditation app that offers corporate clients mental health coaching, therapy, and psychiatry. “We were all dealing with a pandemic, then dealing with the aftermath.”
“Companies are taking care of employee mental health and putting it on the same footing as physical health,” agrees Danny Shea, chief brand officer of Thrive, a platform that encourages employees to take micro steps like breathing, stretching, or brief rests on the job to help reduce anxiety. HeadSpace and Thrive are joined by a growing group of businesses and nonprofits, from the Calm app to online therapy provider TalkSpace to corporate wellbeing platform Grokker and organizations like NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, that offers mental health resources to companies to expand the breadth of resources offered to staff as mental health services exploded across industries during Covid.
Entertainment was hit hard again, and again. A big side effect of Hollywood strikes was a roller coaster of unemployment: Waves of company layoffs keep coming in downsizing and mergers amid a messy, ongoing streaming revolution. AI is making people nervous. Inflation and the highest interest rates in decades are punishing. So help is needed.
A look across the biggest media companies reveals a new digital arsenal backstopping insurer-provided therapy sessions — and stalwarts like gym discounts and Wellness Weeks. Calm, the meditation and relaxation app familiar to many, launched in 2012 and began offering corporate packages in 2019. Business skyrocketed the following year, which was one of pervasive existential dread. It now works with 3,500 organizations including NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., and others across entertainment, technology, construction, retail, law firms – you name it – who offer employees the app free as a mental health benefit. Overall the app has about 150 million downloads.
“Covid was a low point for us as a nation and as a world. Companies reached out, wanted to get Calm into the hands of their employees,” said Nina Bankar, VP of Customer Success. It was a knee-jerk reaction then “because they had to do something. What’s been amazing is how many still want to invest in it, because it’s no longer a band aid, but an integral part of their benefits strategy.”
HeadSpace supports about 4,000 organizations with about 100 in media including Disney and Paramount, Sony, Vox Media, BuzzFeed, and the NBA, and about 300 in tech. It also saw a big jump during Covid and demand has stayed high. It launched in 2010 and has about 100 million downloads in 90 countries. Its corporate clients see employee engagement of more than 30% across its services, a big number, and probably a bit higher in media and tech, Richmond says. In its last annual Workforce Data Mind Survey, 67% of respondents across industries said work was impacting their physical health. About a third said work was their biggest stressor, above personal lives. Some 80% appreciate it when their company leaders speak out about personal mental health. This story pertains to people who have jobs, unlike those in the entertainment industry who don’t. But nothing is sure in today’s media landscape. With layoffs, employees grieve for axed colleagues while worrying that they’ll be next.
Is it a bit of a paradox that companies are trying to assuage anxiety they create? “Here’s how I look at it. Businesses are businesses. And they have times of growth and times of contraction. And the economy is what it is. The cost of borrowing money has gone up. We’re seeing layoffs, a lot of layoffs,” says one executive who works with companies on employee mental health. “It’s part of the natural flow of business. Your ability to take care of the people who remain is paramount.” (No pun intended.)
The newfound corporate commitment to mental health is a cultural shift. But it’s also a practical one. Rising anxiety, stress that are contributing to health issues, and a chronic national sleep deficit are not good for productivity. That’s where digital technology platform Thrive Global stepped in. Founded by Arianna Huffington in 2016, it now has about 200 business customers, mostly large companies including Paramount, Disney, and quite a few other media and tech firms. Thrive’s mission is to improve health and productivity outcomes in large part by helping employees track behaviors throughout the workday from food to movement to stress management to connecting with others, factors that chief brand officer Shea says define healthy individuals and a healthy culture. It works through a company’s internal workflow channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams and tries to get staffers to take regular one-minute breaks, or resets, that help with stress, as do breathing exercises or other actions Thrive has studied with researchers from Stanford University.
“Our platform is built on micro steps, these tiny things that people can do right away to build healthy habits. We don’t tell people to walk 1,000 steps, we simply say, ‘Can you find a minute to stand up and stretch between meetings?’” But, he stressed, there’s nothing “warm and fuzzy” about that. “We’re helping executive teams and employees recognize the critical importance of wellbeing to productivity.”
Earlier this year, Disney posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, and Huffington “hosted a thoughtful conversation on ‘Thriving Together,’ focusing on the importance of investing in our creative wellness.”
“To work in any industry these days, and certainly in media and entertainment, requires working with and navigating uncertainty. I think uncertainty is part of the game of work in 2024,” one exec in the field notes, calling it “essential to nurture the resilience of your employees.” That was one big lesson of Covid, “You can’t just begin nurturing in times of crisis.”
Mental Health Resources Offered by Major Media Companies
Disney
Resources available to employees to support mental well-being include behavioral health resources available for those enrolled in a Disney medical plan, which covers appointments with therapists and psychiatrists. The company offers mindfulness, sleep, and personal resiliency apps to guide employees through self-care and stress management with Headspace, Thrive Global, and Grokker to reduce stress or anxiety and to improve sleep, nutrition, or fitness routines. Its Employee Assistance Program offers confidential counseling sessions, even if not enrolled in a Disney medical plan. The program, available for all employees as well as family and household members, offers free short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services for personal and/or work-related problems.
Fox Corp.
Employee assistance program offers employees and their families complimentary support and solutions for living well at home and at work including monthly webinars on parenting, mental health awareness, and well-being. Employees and their dependents receive confidential support, including in-person or online counseling, for up to eight sessions per issue per year. The company offers onsite counselors in New York and L.A. experienced in coaching and counseling clients with various work-related and personal concerns. Belongs to National Alliance for Mental Illness’ Workplace Mental Health Collaborative, which among other things, provides access to research, tools, and resources to inform best practices in mental health. Other mental health training includes Beyond Burnout on skills to foster resilience and nurture mental health and safeguard from workplace burnout. Managing for Mental Health in the Modern Workplace provides managers with skills to discuss mental health challenges with employees. Linkedin Learning: A full catalog of high-quality learning courses from LinkedIn Learning, such as: Improving Your Mental Health at Work; Achieving High-Performance During Times of Stress; Aligning Your Values with Work, Life, and Everything In Between; How to Beat Workplace Loneliness. Calm App: Fox provides free access to Calm. Calm makes it easy to learn how to meditate, improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, and sharpen focus. The subscription gives employees and up to five family members or friends unlimited access to a full library of content. Bright Horizon Family Webinars: Free monthly webinars offering actionable advice for today’s families. Topics include navigating your child’s early years, managing life as a working parent, caring for elder loved ones, and Returning to Work After Parental Leave.
NBCUniversal
Comcast’s NBCUniversal covers 100% in-network and works to help employees find in-network providers. For those wanting to go out of network and/or find their own provider, the plan design makes it more affordable – lower deductible and better coverage. Employees and household members have access to 10 free counseling sessions per year even if they are not enrolled in our medical benefits. Onsite therapists are located at all Comcast NBCUniversal headquarter locations. Trauma specialists are available as needed in crisis situations in all U.S. and non-US locations. The Calm app is offered at no cost to all employees.
Netflix
Information found in the benefits section of its website under the heading Mental Health: “At Netflix, we know you want to produce work you are proud of. In order to perform your best, you have to feel your best. Mental health is important to your overall health which is why Netflix offers various programs to support you and your dependents.” Globally, it provides access to mindfulness and meditation as well as free counseling and coaching sessions. Other benefits at Netflix are different than most places. New parents generally take 4-8 months of parental leave, the company said. It has no prescribed 9-5 workday and no vacation policy per se “so you can observe what’s important to you — including when your mind and body need a break.”
Paramount
Resources include Employee Assistance Program – free professional short-term counseling to help employees and their families navigate any work, personal, family, or relationship issues. Onsite counselors are offered at five of our office locations in the U.S. and 24/7 via phone. Available globally to full-time employees and non-staff. Headspace: Free access to 1,000+ hours of content to help with stress, anxiety, sleep, focus, fitness, and more. Available globally to full-time employees and non-staff. Headspace Care: Free on-demand, confidential emotional health coaching with certified behavioral coaches 24/7. Available to full-time employees and their dependents 13 and older in the U.S. (18 and older globally). Thrive Global: Free access to this behavior change tool that supports exercise, sleep, stress, and even money management. Available globally to full-time employees and non-staff. RethinkCare: 24/7 free access to tools and resources for employees and their families to help care for children with learning, social, or behavioral challenges, but anyone who needs parenting support can benefit. Virtual appointments with skilled parenting experts for strategies tailored to a family’s needs. Available globally to full-time employees and non-staff. United Healthcare: Virtual and in-person counseling with a licensed mental health professional for depression, anxiety, stress, grief/loss, relationships, and more. Available to U.S. full-time employees who are UnitedHealthcare members.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Provides corporate employees and their dependents, as well as production cast and crew, a full continuum of personalized mental health and emotional wellbeing benefits through multiple third-party global partners at no cost. In addition, the studio retains a corporate wellness professional who supports both studio lot employees and productions, in order to maximize mental health resources in all settings. All Sony Pictures’ productions, both features and television, receive Respect in the Workplace training, which includes an overview of the wellness benefits provided to each production and instructions for accessing this support and care. For certain productions, a wellness professional may also be assigned to the location for the duration of the production as appropriate.
Warner Bros. Discovery
Provides employees a variety of mental health resources, services, and programs, offering mental health support through benefits plans alongside a separate Employee Assistance Program (EAP) globally, live and on-site mental health programming. WBD’s EAP provides employees with 24/7 confidential mental health support, including with 1-1 counseling and self-service support guides and resources. Employees have access to a global virtual wellness app that gives them 24/7 access to expert-led fitness, yoga, mindfulness videos and more and an online community of experts and enthusiasts. The company’s health and wellbeing teams offer regular live, virtual, and in-person mental health and wellbeing sessions for all employees, led by experts across topics ranging from burnout to stress management, sleep, digital detox, the mental health aspect of financial wellness, and more. These sessions are usually recorded so that employees unable to join live can view at their leisure. Customized training and learning programs are also made available to specific groups of employees to support their mental health in relation to the nature of their work, from employees dealing with news and sensitive content, to shift workers, to editors working in dark production suites, and more.
author Internewscast