As humans, our overall health is significantly affected by our natural and built environment: where we are born, live, learn, work, play, and congregate all influence our health. While we often think of these environmental factors (sometimes called the “social determinants of health,” or the “vital conditions for well-being”) as relating largely to our physical health, it’s important to consider the effect of our environment on our mental health and well-being as well.
Look Around, Look Within as we consider every part of our environment and its effect on our mental health and well-being. Some aspects of our environments may be outside of our immediate control while in other areas we have the potential to make change.
We all have mental health, and we all have unique environments. Making our environments as healthy as possible goes a long way in improving our mental well-being. We all benefit from stable environments, strong communities, and ready access to needed services.
Please take time to utilize the tools, resources, and programming provided to find ways to adapt your surroundings to improve overall health and well-being, as well as ways to cope when change seems out of reach.
Look Around, Look Within
Having a Healthy Home Environment
Neighborhoods and Towns
The Outdoors and Nature
Safe and Stable Housing
WORKSHEET: Shaping Your Home Environment
WORKSHEET: Opening Your Mind to the Outdoors
Additional Resources from Mental Health America - Podcasts, Articles, and Webinars
Additional Resources
Adapting After Trauma and Stress
Processing Big Changes
Podcasts:
Dealing with Change
I Don’t Want to Change
Getting Out of Thinking Traps
Practicing Radical Acceptance
Podcasts:
Does Being Positive Make You Happy?
Taking Time for Yourself/Self-Care
Dealing with Anger and Frustration
Resources for Supervisors and Managers
Safe and Welcoming Work Environments
To provide a safe and welcoming environment for employees who live with mental illnesses, employers should consider:
- Providing mental health training for managers to develop supportive and emotionally intelligent people managers
- Promoting positive workplace mental health from the top down
- Encouraging managers and supervisors to check in with employees and encourage time off, as needed.
- Assisting employees with workload management and guidance
- Notice signs of employee stress or burnout
Tips for Employers on how to support employees.
For more information on how to provide a safe and welcoming environment for employees who live with mental illness, please visit MHA’s website at www.mhanational.org/workplace or review the following articles:
What is emotional intelligence and how does it apply to the workplace?
What additional resource supports can we offer?
Information on this page is referenced from Mental Health America (MHA): Mind the Workplace Health Survey 2022.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resources
It is essential for culture and identity to be a part of the mental health conversation.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Online Resources Specific to These Communities
Asian American and Pacific Islander
Black/African American
Hispanic/Latinx
Indigenous
LGBTQI
People with Disabilities
Strength Over Silence
Stories Of Courage, Culture And Community
In this ongoing docuseries, NAMI highlights perspectives on mental health across backgrounds and communities. Through candid and courageous stories of lived experience, these mental health champions share their resilience and recovery, emphasizing the importance of culture and identity in the mental health movement.
Webinars
Additional Helpful Sites/Resources






Mental Health America Resources
The Employee Assistance Program is fully operational and available to any UConn employee or family member. For 24/7 Assistance, Call 888-993-7650.
Anthem members have access to LiveHealth Online for telehealth services, including behavioral health.
Getting Help Resources for Behavioral Health from CT Clearinghouse, a program of the CT Center for Prevention, Wellness and Recovery