Understanding & Addressing Mental Health at Work with Dr. Heidi Roeber
Dr. Heidi Roeber shares real world insight on workplace mental health and what health and safety leaders can do to better identify and manage risk.
May 20, 2026
Health and safety professionals know mental health is an important part of their efforts, but the factors that contribute to mental health challenges can be difficult to identify and address at scale. In this interview, we speak with Dr. Heidi Roeber, who is trained in Occupational Medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Public Health, and shares practical, real‑world insight into how mental health shows up at work and what health and safety leaders can do to better manage it.
Q1: Tell us a little bit about yourself, your qualifications in mental health, and your experience addressing mental health at work.
As a physician trained in Occupational Medicine, Clinical Preventive Medicine, and Public Health, I have experience supporting employee well-being, psychological safety, and workforce resilience in high‑demand operational environments. I’ve worked closely with multidisciplinary healthcare teams to support clinical operations and help organizations integrate mental health awareness into workplace health and safety programs.
This experience has taught me to appreciate the connection between mental well-being, safety, performance, and employee retention. My approach to workplace mental health emphasizes practical, evidence-informed strategies that balance employee wellbeing with operational realities.
It is rewarding to help leaders and teams navigate issues such as stress, burnout, traumatic exposure, workplace conflict, and return-to-work/fitness-for-duty situations involving behavioral health considerations.
Q2: Why is mental health important in the workplace?
Mental health is critical in the workplace because it directly affects employee well-being, productivity, safety, and organizational performance. Three key facts to remember are:
Mental health conditions are associated with substantial lost productivity and healthcare costs for employers.
Psychological distress increases the risk of errors, injuries, and impaired decision-making.
Poor mental health reduces job satisfaction, morale, and organizational commitment.
Mental health in the workplace is more than a clinical issue; it is a performance, safety, financial, and public health issue.
Q3: What are the ways that mental health affects the workplace?
To begin with, it’s important to understand that the relationship is bidirectional: Mental health affects work, and work conditions affect mental health. Mental health disorders are among the leading causes of long-term sickness absence in developed countries. Poor mental health is associated with higher turnover intention, increased disability claims, reduced engagement, and workforce attrition.
Mental health conditions, particularly depression and anxiety, are strongly associated with:
Increased sickness absence
Reduced on-the-job productivity (presenteeism)
Impaired work functioning and performance
Depression has been estimated to cost the U.S. economy over $200 billion annually. Additionally, employers also deal with indirect costs such as productivity loss, which frequently exceed direct treatment costs.
The evidence indicates that depression, anxiety, PTSD, and burnout are associated with reduced attention, slower reaction times, and increased risk taking, directly affecting operational reliability. Fatigue from shift work and excessive hours further elevates the risk of accidents and has been associated with high profile industrial catastrophes.
Q4: Are there industries or job types that are more at risk for mental health issues?
Yes. Mental health risks are not distributed evenly across industries and occupations.
The industries with the highest mental health risks tend to be male-dominated manual extraction (mining, oil and gas) and construction occupations, with paradoxically low diagnosed depression but the highest suicide rates—indicating substantial underdiagnosis and help-seeking barriers related to stigma and masculine workplace culture.
Common psychosocial risk factors across industries include imbalanced job design (high demand with low control), occupational uncertainty, and lack of value/respect. Additional factors include shift work and long hours, workplace violence, and remote/isolated work associated with rotation schedules.
Q5: Are there challenges a business might have with addressing mental health that they don’t have with addressing common physical injuries?
Yes, here are some of the key challenges an organization should consider.
#1 Visibility and Objectivity
Physical injuries are typically observable, diagnosable, and easier to document.
Mental health conditions are often invisible, episodic, and rely on self-report.
Measurement of impairment and recovery is less straightforward.
#2 Stigma and Disclosure
Employees are generally more comfortable reporting a sprain than depression.
Fear of discrimination, career impact, or social exclusion reduces disclosure.
Underreporting complicates early identification and intervention.
#3 Legal and Privacy Complexity
ADA, FMLA, and confidentiality considerations may be more nuanced.
Determining “reasonable accommodations” can be less concrete than modifying a workstation for a musculoskeletal injury.
Concerns about fitness for duty, safety-sensitive roles, and liability can be more ambiguous.
#4 Organizational vs Individual Focus
Physical injury prevention often centers on engineering controls and PPE.
Effective mental health strategies frequently require organizational change (leadership culture, workload design, psychological safety), not just individual resilience training.
#5 Duration and Recurrence
Many physical injuries follow a defined healing trajectory.
Mental health conditions may be chronic, relapsing, or fluctuate with environmental stressors, complicating return-to-work planning.
#6 Resource Gaps
Occupational health programs traditionally emphasize physical safety.
Smaller businesses may lack HR infrastructure, access to EPA, or trained managers.
Integration between medical and behavioral health systems is often fragmented.
#7 Productivity Impact is Less Visible
Physical injury often leads to clear lost-time claims.
Mental health more commonly drives presenteeism, reduced engagement, turnover, and disability — harder to quantify but often more costly.
Q6: How can an organization deal with these challenges? Is it about training, cultural change, or something else? Are there standards for them to follow?
While training and culture matter, in safety sensitive industries, mental health is a safety management system issue. Organizations should treat psychosocial hazards like other safety hazards through the application of the Hierarchy of Controls.
Highest Impact – Eliminate or Reduce Hazard
Redesign excessive workloads
Limit consecutive extended shifts
Improve staffing ratios
Remove production incentives that conflict with safety
Address chronic understaffing
Substitute / Redesign Work Systems
Increase employee influence over their schedule where feasible
Optimize supervisor communication practices
Conduct structured post incident debriefs
Administrative Controls
Mental health policy within the Safety Management System (SMS)
Fatigue risk management program
Supervisor mental health training
Individual Support
(Important but not sufficient)
EAP access
Peer support programs
Confidential screening paired with treatment access
Return to work planning
Q7: What are some mental health resources organizations need to consider having available for their workforce?
Here are five types of resources that can help organizations better care for the mental health of employees.
An Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers short-term counseling (in-person and telehealth), substance abuse support, crisis intervention, financial/legal counseling, and clear referral pathways to ongoing care.
Insurance benefits design that offers robust mental health parity and adequate in-network provider panels to minimize access barriers to mental health care services.
Mental health literacy and training, such as Mental Health First Aid, provides tools for recognizing distress and having supportive conversations in the workplace.
Resilience and coping programs that encourage mindfulness-based stress reduction, sleep, and fatigue management training are also helpful.
A list of local (or national) resources for support offered by health systems, non-profit organizations, or support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
The most important thing is that access to these tools must be easy, stigma free, and operationally practical.
Q8: If you could give one piece of advice to organizations about mental health, what would it be?
Provide education at all levels of the organization to create awareness of mental health challenges and build a culture of psychological safety where people can speak up.
Work to manage fatigue, address distress early, and ensure your leadership visibly prioritizes employee well-being.
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