Mental Health America encourages employers to apply for its Bell Seal
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Mental Health America (MHA) today began accepting 2025 applications for its Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health Program, the nation’s leading certification for employers committed to creating mentally healthy workplaces.
Now in its sixth year, MHA’s Bell Seal program evaluates eligible employers according to four components: culture, benefits, compliance, and wellness. In 2024, the 271 Bell Seal recipients spanned 19 different industries—from healthcare and the public sector to financial services and manufacturing—and ranged in size from three employees to more than 1.5 million workers across 39 states.
Since 2019, more than 500 employers have applied for the Bell Seal, representing a combined workforce of 4.3 million employees.
“Normalizing mental health as a journey we are all on is a decades-long best practice in our world. Many leaders understand this, and are positively impacting worker health by leading the charge and investing in their own mental wellness,” said Suzi Craig, MHA’s Vice President for Workplace Mental Health. “It’s exciting to see employers adopting this, and several mental health best practices, into the strategic approach of their workplace wellness efforts.”
Workplace wellness is more than an HR buzzword; research shows that investing in employee well-being correlates with improved business outcomes. According to the World Health Organization, depression and anxiety among workers leads to a loss of $1 trillion in productivity and an estimated 12 billion workdays.
MHA’s Bell Seal certification has four tiers: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. To ensure the program remains comprehensive and reflective of the latest research and employer feedback, the updated 2025 Bell Seal criteria includes the following new topics:
- Transparent compensation policy
- Inclusive hiring practices
- Recovery-ready practices
- Accommodations request process
- Critical incident response and support
- Effective communication from leadership for difficult conversations
- Social and emotional peer connection
- Physical work environment
As more employers choose to prioritize the well-being of their employees, MHA has identified key best practices among its Bell Seal recipients. In 2024, these trends included more leaders sharing their own lived experiences with mental health and substance use conditions; improved investment in mental health insurance benefits to achieve parity; and development of worker-led peer resource groups, according to MHA’s 2024 Workplace Mental Health Report.
“Through the application process, we realized how much we were doing to support our employees,” said Jennifer Gregory, Human Resources Manager at Barilla America, a Platinum Bell Seal recipient. “It was rewarding and motivating to know that our work aligned with other organizations striving to put their employees first.”
To learn more and apply for Bell Seal certification, visit mhanational.org/BestEmployers. Applications close on April 4, 2025.
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About Mental Health America
Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-driven nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being, resilience, recovery, and closing the mental health equity gap. Mental Health America’s work is driven by its commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of whole person health, including prevention services for all; early identification and intervention for those at risk; and integrated care, services and supports for those who need them. Learn more at MHAnational.org.