Montgomery County, Maryland, has been addressing mental health through workplace wellness initiatives that program leaders say can make a real difference.
Sometimes, one tough day at work can be followed by another, and employees can suffer stress and eventual burnout.
Montgomery County, Maryland, has been addressing mental health through workplace wellness initiatives that program leaders say can make a real difference. That’s especially true in cases where those same employees are dealing with members of the public who are experiencing their own crises.
Lily Rojas, wellness program manager for Montgomery County government, put it simply: Whether it’s police officers or social service workers, “We want them to be able to do their jobs and, in order to do that, they have to be able to take care of themselves.”
Rojas and Amanda Cohill, wellness coordinator for Montgomery County government, are responsible for programming for up to 10,000 employees at 300 locations throughout the county.
Cohill said for first responders, who are often working overtime shifts in high-stress environments, it can be difficult to carve out time to address health care needs and tend to their mental health. In many cases, she said, those employees can find themselves, “really struggling with work-life balance, really not taking time for any self-care, you know — ‘I’ll sleep when I die’ kind of mentality.’”
Rojas and Cohill said first responders aren’t the only ones who face high-stress situations at work.
“People forget about the corrections officers, the animal service workers, the social service workers, the State’s Attorney’s Office — some of the stuff they’re facing is some really scary, nitty-gritty stuff,” Cohill told WTOP, adding that she works to make sure no county employee’s circumstances are ignored.
Making sure that mental health needs are met includes a holistic approach, Rojas said.
“We tackle physical well-being, fitness, nutrition,” she said.
Both Cohill and Rojas said the pandemic ushered in a change in attitude about addressing stress and mental health.
“We’ve been able to promote more services,” to members of the county workforce, Rojas said. And when presented with services — whether in person, online or from a third party — she said, “they have been more open to receiving those services.”
“I think COVID taught us all that we need to focus in on mental health, whether or not we want to. It came at us fast, strong and unexpected, and nobody knew what to do with it,” Cohill said. “I think it also forced everybody to give everyone else a little bit of grace.”
“During COVID, everybody was home, you didn’t have a choice. So if your kid was screaming in the background, or the FedEx guy’s showing up at your door,” there was a time when that might have been seen as “unprofessional,” but Cohill said it showed “we’re all real people dealing with real stuff that is outside of work.”
Montgomery County government recently received Mental Health America’s 2025 Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health. It’s the third year in a row the county has been given the award.
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