Closed captioning is provided with this program

The American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) are pleased to announce a two-part series titled Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Unemployed Individuals. This series will focus on the mental health needs of unemployed individuals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought increased awareness to the significant impact job loss and unemployment can have on mental health. This series is designed to highlight emerging evidence-based approaches that can be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of unemployment on mental health and substance use.

This webinar will characterize the epidemiology of mental health symptoms in relation to economic stressors and describe an intervention to address mental health concerns among job-seeking individuals. Presenters will describe the complex relationship between unemployment and mental health concerns in the context of both past economic downturns and the current COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar will also provide information on a treatment protocol tailored to address mental health concerns in individuals seeking services in employment and training settings. The presenters will describe the underlying theory guiding their intervention strategies, as well as key individual and setting level characteristics that inform the use of a technology-assisted approach to increase intervention acceptability and reach. Original webcast date: April 28, 2021

View Part 2 Description 

For additional resources click here.

Learning Objectives

• Describe several ways economic stress can affect mental health symptoms.
• Describe the cognitive behavioral approach used in a study designed to address mental health needs of clients served by two large employment and training centers.

Host: Leslie Hammer, PhD

Dr. Hammer is a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology at Portland State University. Dr. Hammer is the Director of the Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety, and Health, funded by grants from the National Institute for Child and Health and Human Development and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She is also the Director of the Occupational Health Psychology graduate training program at Portland State University that is funded through a training program grant from the National Institute Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). She is the Associate Director of the NIOSH-funded Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (OHWC), one of four centers of excellence in Total Worker Health. Most recently Dr. Hammer was awarded a grant from the Department of Defense to study ways to increase supervisor support and enhance employment for veterans reintegrating into the workforce.