Mayor’s Office of Community Health and Thrive in Your Workplace Name WPTI a Workplace Mental Health Champion

In recognition of WPTI’s commitment to improving workplace mental health, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (formerly known as ThriveNYC) and its Thrive in Your Workplace initiative have named WPTI a Workplace Mental Health Champion for 2021. The award recognizes WPTI as part of “a cadre of industry leaders who actively fight the stigma of mental health, support employee mental health, and promote access to mental healthcare.”

2020 and 2021 have been challenging years for workforce development professionals, the human services field, and New York City, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted families and neighborhoods, and destabilized the city’s economy. In this environment, the work of workforce development and human services providers has become more important than ever, as has recognizing and addressing the impact of the current moment on workers and their mental and emotional health. Acknowledging this, WPTI engaged the Thrive in Your Workplace team to support our organization as we began ongoing internal conversations around our mental health and that of our colleagues, and implementing policies and a culture that best supports employee well-being. This work continues to advance, and we look forward to continuing this ongoing effort.

In addition to internal efforts to support staff mental and emotional health, WPTI has continued to provide support to workforce providers around issues of mental health, including how to effectively use a trauma-informed approach in workforce development programming. At a time when participants in workforce development system have experienced profound, multifold trauma, this work is more important than ever. WPTI will continue to build upon our mental health and trauma-informed offerings, in order to better support workforce providers as they continue to work with New York City’s jobseekers in 2021 and beyond.