Wellness & Well-being Highlights May 12th
Wellness & Well-being Highlights
for the
Week of May 12, 2025
This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at the importance of the psychological contract between employee and employer—to how both the NFL and NHL fail to protect their players—to the revival of a mobile shower service for STL’s unhoused communities.[1] This week I would like to take this opportunity to examine the concept of psychological safety.
Over the past few weeks, I have been in meetings where terms beyond worker wellness and well-being have been mentioned more than once. These interrelated terms include psychological safety, psychological first aid, culture of care, and wounded worker. In the interest of space and time, I will mainly cover the first term: Psychological Safety. This can be described as a shared belief within an organization where individuals can express themselves, share ideas, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of negative consequences (i.e., judgment, retribution, etc.). Prior to COVID, one proactive Canadian contractor made mental health a priority when it addressed psychological safety in the workplace by “building a culture of inclusion that allowed employees to bring their authentic selves to work.”[2] Wherein, it recognized this journey as a gradual one that would eventually pay off in increased productivity, creativity, and innovation. In essence, how you treat your internal customers (employees) impacts your external relationships with clients and customers.
Meanwhile, here are brief explanations of the remaining terms:
Psychological First Aid- is a humane and practical way to provide people in distress (following a traumatic event) immediate support in order to reduce initial distress and foster adaptive functioning. It is NOT counseling or treatment.
Culture of care- is an environment, such as a workplace, where individuals feel valued, supported, and cared for. It emphasizes relationships, compassion, and a sense of belonging over solely focusing on rules or performance metrics.
Wounded worker- toxic workplaces can cause workplace trauma. An accumulation of negative emotional experiences stemming from negative workplace incidents may impact one’s mental health. As a result, employees can bear lasting mental health issues, known as “work wounds”.
One can easily see the connections between these 4 terms. With May being Mental Health Awareness month, let’s reflect and act on how our workplaces can become safer.
Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/
Sources: [1]https://www.slcl.org/events/dignity-wheels
Falls / Life & Death / Govt Intervention
Fixing the Broken Workforce Psychological Contract
Trade War’s Impact on Workers’ Psychological Safety
UK Football Team / Contractor / Suicide Prevention
Trump pulls plug on MO’s Martin
Trump’s Cuts Impact on Trump Voters
Conflict of Interest / Starlink / Tariffs
Immigration / Worker Shortages / Construction
HS / Trades / Living Wage Careers
Upcoming webinars, etc.
Dignity on Wheels (Mobile Shower Service)
Supporting those At-risk (5/12)
Handling Crisis & Trauma (6/10)
NEW: Construction Mental Health Safety Guide
NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact jgaal@moworks.org with related questions or comments.
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