Psychological First Aid for Employee Support & Mental Health

Around the time of last year’s World Mental Health Day, I was struggling to deal with disenfranchised grief related to the passing of my beloved dog, Autumn. While grief generally refers to the emotional response related to any type of loss, such as the loss of a friend or loved one, “disenfranchised grief” specifically refers to grief that is not usually openly acknowledged, socially accepted, or publicly mourned. Examples of disenfranchised grief include:

• Loss of a pet

• Perinatal losses

• Bodily injuries

• Loss of more distant acquaintances

• Emotional disruption from global events

How can employees address disenfranchised grief?

Psychological first aid (PFA) gives managers a proven framework for supporting employees who face hidden losses. As the Minnesota Department of Health notes, PFA is “an evidence-informed approach that is built on the concept of human resilience” and “aims to reduce stress symptoms and assist in a healthy recovery following a traumatic event, natural disaster, public health emergency, or even a personal crisis.”(source)Disenfranchised grief is an issue for which organizations, including my own organization at the time, often struggle to adequately provide resources. Partly this is due to the grief being minimized, but it's also due to the fact that the people experiencing it understand that its supposedly “lower” level of importance marginalizes their struggle and forces them to shoulder their burdens in silence.

Recognizing that there was a need to bridge this gap, I recalled an idea developed by the Cleveland Clinic called “ Code Lavender .” This was a crisis intervention tool used to support people in the hospital. Patients, family members, volunteers, and healthcare staff can call a Code Lavender when a stressful event or series of stressful events occurs in the hospital. After the code is called, someone on the Cleveland Clinic’s Code Lavender team responds within 30 minutes.

These interventions are deployed when challenging situations threaten:

• Unit stability: Maintaining team cohesion during crises.

• Emotional equilibrium: Supporting individual mental health.

• Professional functioning: Ensuring immediate responsibilities are met.

Code Lavender uses evidence-based relaxation and restoration to help people make sense of a situation until lasting solutions emerge.

Research shows that Code Lavender doesn’t prevent burnout or stress. Instead, Code Lavender functions as a form of psychological first aid. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, psychological first aid is an evidence-based approach to help people of all ages and their families after traumatic events.

How can colleagues support each other during tough times?

My own idea, later dubbed “Code Autumn,” applied psychological first aid to a hybrid/remote setting.

• I partnered with a colleague who joined every client-facing Zoom meeting.

• If grief surfaced, I could mute, step away, and let the colleague cover until I returned.

• We expanded the practice across the department so anyone facing a difficult issue had similar backup.

Not all organizations can afford a sophisticated intervention process like the one the Cleveland Clinic deployed. However, a program like this — formalized through outreach rather than informal, under-the-table processes in which people still feel compelled to keep silent about their grief — is quick and easy to implement. Code Autumn also ensures a level of support is immediately available to an employee who is new to the company, their role, or a team, and may not have a social network to lean on yet. This an important benefit, as Great Resignation trends are still going strong and more new hires are coming into organizations than at any given time than in the recent past.

Code Autumn is highly specific and tactical regarding what the person needs, which is far better than just telling someone you think might be struggling to “let me know if you need anything." While well-meaning, a remark like that can be both too vague to be helpful and unnecessarily intrusive into the personal details of someone’s life. Deployment is seamless: Code Autumn was introduced across my department on a single meeting call and utilized thereafter.

What defines this targeted intervention?

Psychological first aid centers on five conditions that help people regain equilibrium:

• Safety

• Calm & Comfort

• Connectedness

• Self-Empowerment

• Hope

It is important to remember that a program like Code Autumn, like Code Lavender, is not a long-term solution, only front-line psychological first aid. Used properly, Code Autumn can:

• Ensure a consistent, high-quality work experience for colleagues, customers, and other professional stakeholders

• Provide a quick and convenient way to let colleagues know you need support, without being forced to share private details

• Serve as a stepping stone in the process of “getting back to normal” and working at full capacity

• Function as a tangible and visible way to provide colleague support

It's important to note that this sort of intervention is not a replacement for taking time off work when needed, a way to get training, or a means of securing work coverage if you’re not available for an important assignment. Instead, Code Autumn helps by:

• Operationalizing a colleague support culture

• Creating a safe space while allowing the person to reacclimate to work after they have taken time off

• Not asking as much of the support person as someone you asked to “cover for me,” because this support person might not need to be involved and can be free to multi-task unless they need to intervene

• Creating a significantly less disruptive environment for customers or colleagues by having designated “point people” on the meeting

• Requiring less “catching up” to do from the person who needs temporary support

How can employee listening amplify grassroots mental health solutions?

When I posted about Code Autumn on LinkedIn, I was heartened by the number of people who reached out to me to discuss my idea as well as more general issues related to disenfranchised grief in the workplace. Although I proposed this idea through other channels, it shows the kind of bottom-up insight Perceptyx can capture. A crowdsourcing listening strategy invites all employees to co-create and prioritize mental-health solutions in a psychologically safe way.

The need for more solutions, both big and small, is urgent: as the Harvard Business Review observed in 2021, "the future of workplace mental health demands culture change — with more vulnerability, compassion, and sustainable ways of working."

What should you know about psychological first aid?

And if you are currently experiencing grief — disenfranchised or otherwise — know you are not alone. If you need immediate help weathering your storm, please reach out to this free resource that's available 24/7.

PFA is a proven way to comfort people after a crisis. It helps them feel safe, calm, and connected, then guides them to further support if needed. PFA centers on three quick actions: make sure the person feels physically and emotionally safe, connect them to people and resources that can help, and lower stress by sharing clear facts, listening, and offering practical support.

Any trained coworker — manager, peer, or HR partner — can use PFA skills. A clinical license is not required; the key is listening, ensuring safety, and linking the person to ongoing care. Code Autumn, described in this article, is one example. A teammate joins client calls and is ready to step in if the grieving employee needs a break. The quick backup reduces stress for both the employee and the client. It's important to remember that PFA offers immediate, short-term support. If stress or grief continues, employees should use the company's employee assistance program or another mental health service.

To learn more about how Perceptyx can help you hear what your employees are telling you they need, please schedule a meeting with a member of our team.