The Issue

Globally, we are facing a growing public health crisis. Here in America, roughly one in five adults struggle with a mental health condition at any given point in time – in other parts of the world that number jumps to one in four. The ripple effects of these challenges touch families, affect professional communities and impede corporate productivity. In addition, mental health challenges affect all demographics – men, women, young, old, all nationalities, all racial groups and all income levels. If you haven’t been directly affected by a mental health challenge, someone you care about has. Further, these issues are not checked at the door when an employee comes to work. Nor is this an insignificant financial burden on corporations. Based on data from 2010, the global direct and indirect economic costs of mental health disorders were estimated at $2.5 trillion. Importantly, the indirect costs ($1.7 trillion) are much higher than the direct costs ($0.8 trillion), which contrasts with other key disease groups, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Both direct and indirect costs of mental disorders are expected to double by 2030.

Corporations Change Direction gathers companies from a variety of industries that share a common goal—addressing the emotional wellbeing of their workforce. Participating businesses have demonstrated an interest in addressing these issues to ensure the health and wellbeing of their employees and their organization. And each is well positioned to elevate this conversation and drive industry‐wide transformation.

On November 7th, 2019 at the Global Summit on Mental Health Culture Change in NYC, a Work Environment round table discussion of leaders from notable corporations, business, and organizations emphasized that emotionally healthy employees are more productive than those who are suffering from unaddressed mental health challenges.  In other words, good mental health is good for the bottom line.

In 2019, Give an Hour and the Campaign to Change Direction launched the Emotional Life Skills℠ program which is available to businesses in the corporate environment.