Adding Perspective to Employee Mental Wellness: A Population Health and Psychoeducational Approach to Screening and Care Connection.

This article focuses on the integration of the Perspectives of Psychiatry approach into the Johns Hopkins Balance program, an employer-based mental health engagement initiative designed to identify and connect employees at risk for mental health conditions to appropriate care. The Perspectives of Psychiatry approach considers four domains—disease, dimensional, behavior, and life story—to provide a comprehensive, individualized understanding of mental health, which was incorporated into the Balance program's screening, psychoeducation, and referral processes. In a retrospective cohort study of 913 employees from three U.S. employers, 94% completed the assessment, and 14% engaged in care concierge visits, with referrals primarily made for those identified as high risk through combined standardized assessments and self-rated concerns. The study found a strong correlation between standardized risk assessments and self-rated concerns, and the addition of psychoeducational content helped identify additional employees at risk who were not flagged by standardized measures alone. While the program showed promise in assessment completion and risk identification, engagement with follow-up care remained limited, highlighting the need for improved strategies to support employee participation in mental health services.