Supporting Seasonal Staff with Mental Health

Each week at Cornerstone, we have the opportunity to discuss challenges and innovations with travel and experiential education leaders. Together, we share and gather insights on the current industry-wide obstacles and best practices. 

In a recent meeting, many Cornerstone members had questions about supporting seasonal staff with mental health. Particularly given that it’s Mental Health Awareness Month, we wanted to share some of the collective findings from these informal discussions. 

How does Duty of Care apply to mental health (for seasonal staff, in particular)? 

Cornerstone is founded on the belief that protecting human lives is not intellectual property, but a shared responsibility. As a travel or experiential education operator, you understand this concept quite well and likely incorporate this philosophy into your hiring, training, operations, and management practices.  

Our industry’s duty of care - the moral and legal obligation of organizations to its participants - also extends to full-time and seasonal staff equally. Whether they be trip leaders, group leaders, tour leaders, or instructors - those who interface daily with your participants are the eyes, ears, and voice of your organization. 

So what happens if your organization’s eyes, ears, and voice aren’t able to practice self care or if they aren’t feeling supported in their remote work? What if they don’t know where to turn when they themselves require leadership? Needless to say, single points of failure can create some pretty nasty consequences for your program experience. 

There are plenty of ways these hard-working adventurers can unintentionally neglect their mental health as they manage the group. 

In addition to serving as the representatives of your organization, these staff have a never-ending to-do list in a complex work environment. Most seasonal staff (who tend to be somewhat nomadic) may be used to adapting to different countries, languages, cultures, and organizational structures - but that doesn’t make it easy. In addition, serving as the group leader for days, weeks, or months on end is not only physically and mentally taxing, but can also take an emotional toll. 

Let’s take it even one step further - beyond the everyday needs of all participants, these individuals have to be prepared for crisis response and manage unpredictable (and sometimes scary) situations. 

We can all imagine (or remember) what it feels like to manage these scenarios when we are already rundown or burnt out. Instead, they need to be mentally agile and alert. And it’s up to you to ensure they take care of themselves, in addition to participants, before an issue snowballs into a crisis.

It’s crucial for your business (and, we hope, your conscience) that you take care of the front-facing individuals in the field and make tools available to them. 

How have the needs and expectations for supporting staff mental health changed in 2022?

Even if you have returning staff this year, it’s important to note that things may have changed. 

Perhaps you’re welcoming your first seasonal staff back since you last operated programs in the field (maybe even one or two years ago). These staff may remember the “old” ways of doing things, but in addition to briefing them on what’s new, we must keep in mind that they’re human beings that have grown, changed, and adapted to nearly insurmountable challenges in their lives and careers.

In a report on how COVID-19 affected employee mental health in the travel industry, it turns out that social support (or lack thereof) played a big role. “Pandemic-induced panic negatively affected well-being among respondents who had poor or moderate levels of social support, while the negative effect was nearly erased among respondents with strong social support.” (National Library of Medicine, Psychological tolls of COVID-19 on industry employees) 

For new and returning seasonal staffers, they’re likely joining you with new worries, fears, and concerns. While it’s not your responsibility to assuage every fear, it is the organizations’ duty to create an environment in which they feel comfortable sharing these concerns, over-communicating about potential issues, and requesting access to tools for good mental hygiene. 

It’s okay to not be okay. Creating an environment in which each individual has support to share that they’re struggling is key to preventative mental health. 

In a recent discussion, Cornerstone Mental Health Director Gary Robinson elaborated on the cultural shift in willingness to discuss mental health issues more openly and a greater acceptance of seeking help:

"We’ve seen a gradual increase in staff across the board feeling comfortable talking to their supervisor about their mental health needs. This is positive - if they’re seeking preventative help, they’re less likely to have a crisis down the road. You can do certain things in training, make sure they take days off, but rarely do the organizations carry that conversation into the field as they begin to work with participants.”

How do you address mental health in staff training? 

You likely already address mental health throughout your leader or staff training, but do you only discuss how to manage participant mental health? It’s time to expand the discussion to include staff. 

Beyond a basic mental health module, infuse a supportive and open dialogue about wellness into each aspect of the training. In addition to providing Emotional First Aid Training, and mental health crisis response training, consider opening the floor to discuss appropriate ways for staff to seek their own mental health support. 

Sometimes, this starts with providing a safe space for individuals to be themselves in the organization’s culture and the host environment. Live out your DEI policies by encouraging staff to share more about themselves and their perspectives. If your staff is coming from one country to work in another, maybe this may also include creating space to discuss how mental health may be viewed in your destination, cultural norms and how they may affect individuals working there, or how to deal with racism, sexism, or homophobia.

Cornerstone Executive Director, Dave Dennis, emphasizes that staff training is an opportunity for business leaders to model what they expect from seasonal staff in reference to their participants. Ask yourself, are you and your managerial peers reinforcing and modeling the empathy, leadership, and self care that you expect from seasonal staff? 

Leaning heavily on the social component of training can also be a preventative measure - by allowing staff to construct support networks. They should feel comfortable leveraging relationships with supervisors and peers for mutual support. The goal is for seasonal staff to feel that they’re never alone or isolated, a pitfall which often leads to poor mental health. 

“All employees should be equipped with the knowledge to help them understand mental health and identify signs of poor or declining mental health in themselves and their colleagues.” (World Travel & Tourism Council, Mental Health Guidelines for Staff) 

One final tip: Creating a shared language during training helps facilitate effective communication when mental hygiene declines. Offering step-by-step escalation guidelines and verbiage can further exemplify that you expect your staff to come forward with concerns (something like this Mental Health Continuum may be helpful). 

What do you look for during regular “check-in’s” with remote staff? How can you tell if someone may need support? 

Check in’s with seasonal staff work best when they’re authentic and consistent. 

“Develop feedback systems that allow employees to share if and how the current systems are working well and not working well to meet staff needs.” (World Travel & Tourism Council, Mental Health Guidelines for Staff) 

Within these conversations, it’s up to the supervisor to create a space for addressing participant issues and logistics as well as a personal touchpoint.

Says Cornerstone Executive Director, Dave Dennis: “Video calls for program check-ins are best whenever possible - this helps you see beyond the words you may be hearing through the phone or seeing in an email. In addition, pay attention to the physical and non-verbal cues. Does the individual staff member look tired, stressed, or concerned? Are they distracted or showing uncharacteristic signs contrary to their normal habits as you’ve come to know them? These visual cues can go a long way and leadership should take time to inquire about changes in behavioral patterns.” 

These check in’s are best done with regularity, rather than as a reactive measure to a crisis or issue that has arisen. 

“How do we routinely and intentionally do check in’s with staff to make sure they’re on track mental health-wise?” says Gary Robinson, Cornerstone Mental Health Director. “Factually, they’re usually young people (close to Gen Z) and have similar upbringings and issues as many participants. We better become very intentional in terms of offering mental health support to staff. We need to not wait for issues to develop, but get preventative with intentional outreach."

When devising your program schedule, you might consider plugging in time for staff and student self-care activities. Some self-care (journaling, yoga, listening to music) can be done privately, but include anyone who is interested so that self care becomes normalized. During the interview process, consider asking which self care activities they may be willing to lead. When an organization prioritizes, rewards, and creates time for regular self-care for students and staff, many mental health care challenges become easier to manage. 

In Conclusion

No doubt about it, there will be more studies and impact reports on how COVID-19 has hit our industry in the coming years. 

“Given that the tourism and hospitality industry is among the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic, the topics of unemployment and its impacts deserve more attention.” (National Library of Medicine, Psychological tolls of COVID-19 on industry employees) 

Paired with the cultural shifts in mental health and the nature of trip leading (both fun and exhausting!), it’s critical that we observe and support seasonal staff even more. 

Have a best practice or another thought on how to support seasonal staff? Reach out and let us know! 

Need more support or want customized training on this topic organized for your operation? Contact us at info@cornerstonesafetygroup.org to get started!