Winter and Wellness | Raechel Pefanis (Part One)

Employers and workplaces can no longer consider themselves uninvolved in the topic of mental health and wellbeing. As social bubbles continue to remain small, most of us achieve most of our human contact through day-to-day remote work interactions.

The pandemic continues to disrupt many industries and this is especially true in the space of coaching and counselling. It’s important for employers to recognize human connection, support and empathy directed toward their employees are more important this year than ever before.

Raechel Pefanis is a certified professional coach, certified CBT EMDR therapist, instructor, and supervisor. She runs Red Maple Coaching and Counseling and will be joining Dr. Melissa Horne for a second feature in our next episode of Just One Q.

Raechel states it is imperative workplaces address questions of mental health, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, because:

• With winter quickly approaching, pandemic fatigue creeping in and the prolonged effects of remote work taking their toll, it’s time to proactively build better support systems for your employees.
• Collective action on all levels of management is essential to helping everyone move upward on the wellness continuum.
• Breaking the stigma surrounding mental health in general can help boost your workplace culture and your employees’ quality-of-life while at work.

More so now than ever, employees are thinking about how to protect and preserve their mental health. Many organizations have successfully pivoted toward remote workspaces and environments. The next step is to improve the warmness of our teams as we head into colder months.