May was Mental Health Awareness Month — it’s a great time to raise awareness, reduce stigma and prioritize self-care. It’s also a great time to underline the importance of balance within the company culture and reassess what we’re doing to support our teammates inside and outside of work. Even more important, though, is the continuation of this work in June, July, and beyond. That’s why we’ve made every month mental health month at Medix.

In our last blog, I touched on why Medix began to implement soft skills assessments into our culture: to help our teammates grow where they want to grow. To help them realize their full potential. To discover where they will be happy, and I don’t mean solely at work.

Our culture grows with people who are emotionally and mentally thriving. Mental health is at the forefront of our core purpose of positively impacting lives. Thankfully, that focus is becoming the norm in this new work environment worldwide.

One of the results of the COVID-19 pandemic was that more people are prioritizing balance, personal relationships, and our relationships with ourselves. As I mention in my book, Culture Through Crisis: One Team’s Commitment to Winning with Purpose, our desire has always been to have Medix be the second-safest place for our teammates—second only to their homes.

In 2020, we doubled down on being intentional and transparent, assuring our Medix family we value them. I talk about how this organically became our mission in the book, but here’s how we’ve continued to center mental health in 2023 — during May and beyond!

Mindful May

This year marked our third annual Mindful May, with this year’s theme about how your surroundings can impact or detract from your mental health. Each year, we choose a theme and create a calendar with resources, worksheets, ideas, and education on ways that our employees can prioritize their mental health every single day.

For example:

Mental Health Days

Every Medix teammate is given six mental health days a year - this is in addition to their allotted paid time off hours. Understandably, this benefit is valued highly among our teammates.

We ideally want these to be planned because we don't want mental health to be something our teammates only take care of when things have already gotten bad. At Medix, we believe mental health should be proactive.

You should always be taking care of your mental health wellness, so we love to see teammates plan those in advance and say, ‘'You know what, two Tuesdays from now, I'm setting aside time to care for me and my mental health."

It’s been very popular, with some teammates saying they’re relieved to feel that Medix supports their health and well-being. It’s sparked some great conversations about prioritizing mental health and what folks do on their mental health days to turn off.

Some examples of how our people use these days include :

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

We’ve built the importance of mental wellness into our culture. We’ve put our money where our mouth is, and we plan to continue to build this out for years to come!

How will you prioritize your mental health, and that of your employees, today?