Tag: employee assistance program

Find Your Calm: Tools for Everyday Well‑Being

Published on by Abigail Miller1 Comment

April is Stress Awareness Month, a reminder that everyday stress can take a toll on both mental and physical health. Learning to manage stress effectively is an important part of maintaining overall well-being and happiness. MSU offers a variety of resources to employees to help you feel more balanced.

  • NEW – Calm Health App: Recently launched in late 2025, the Calm Health app is available at no cost to MSU employees and eligible dependents, offering personalized, psychologist-developed programs and tools to help manage stress, improve sleep, and support overall mental and physical well-being.
  • Campus Meditation Map: Beal Scholar Anhad Viswananth created this incredible meditation map to highlight the best spots to meditate around campus.
  • Fitness Resources to Stay Active: Watch your stress dissolve as you become more active this spring. Warmer weather is on its way, and it’s the perfect time to get outside and run, kayak, walk, or swim.
  • University Health and Wellbeing (UHW): UHW supports our university community with health and well-being equitably woven throughout all aspects of Spartan life. They offer a variety of resources for employees, including:
    • Midday Moves:  Take a break from end of the semester stress with a Finals Flex stretch, mobility, and mindful movement routine. Bring an exercise mat or a towel. Two ways to join: in-person at the MSU Library or via Zoom.
    • Desk Decompress: Join one of these 30 or 15-minute virtual classes to relax and decompress while stretching and strengthening the wrist, shoulders, and spine. Join on a Monday for a full-body movement, or a join on a Thursday to work upper-body throughout April. 
    • Spartan Resilience Education Programs: University Health and Wellbeing provide opportunities for any Spartan, anywhere, to develop or strengthen the skills needed to effectively respond to their unique collection of challenges. Through a variety of media and teaching formats, they seek to ensure that resilience education is accessible, inclusive, and ever-present as part of the “Spartan Experience.”
    • Employee Assistance Program: The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential short-term counseling and referral service provided at no cost to MSU faculty, staff, graduate assistants, retirees, and their insurance-eligible dependents who are located within the state of Michigan. Classes and resources to help reduce stress are updated on the EAP website often.
    • Listen to the Wellbeing at MSU podcast to hear from leaders across MSU.
    • View all UHW events, webinars, and more.
  • Walking at MSU: There are many things to see and do on MSU’s 2,100-acre campus. Join these MSU campus walking tours and make the most of our beautiful campus and gardens.
  • Breaking Free from Stress Course: This course offered by HR’s Organization and Professional Development department will help you learn how to be less reactive to other people and events and live your life from a deeper perspective of common sense and wisdom.
  • How to Disconnect From Work: Taking time away from work, in the forms of breaks, vacation time, or strengthening boundaries around employees’ workdays, is important. View these resources to learn more about balancing your time and work schedule.

A Commitment to Wellbeing at MSU


As announced by MSU University Health and Wellbeing, Michigan State University was recently recognized as one of Michigan’s Best and Brightest in Wellness, earning the Best of the Best Large Business honor in 2025. This award, presented by the National Association for Business Resources, celebrates organizations that prioritize the health and wellbeing of their communities.

From mental health support and resilience programming to campus-wide wellness initiatives, this recognition reinforces MSU’s commitment to creating a supportive environment where Spartans can thrive.

Stress can look different for each individual, so take care of yourself using these resources and beyond. Have another resource you’d like to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

Three signs: Don't Give Up, You are not alone, You matter

Happy World Mental Health Day!

Published on by MSU Human ResourcesLeave a comment

October 10th is World Mental Health Day! While mental health is one of the foundations of health and well-being, it can often fall low on our list of priorities. The World Mental Health Organization declared this day as an opportunity for all to talk about their own mental health and what needs to be done to make mental health care more accessible.

Good mental health is vital to our overall well-being. Yet, one in eight people globally is living with mental health conditions, which can impact their physical health, well-being, livelihood, and how they connect with others. Mental health conditions are also affecting an increasing number of adolescents and young people.

Work should never get in the way of maintaining good mental health; however, a busy schedule may make resources appear inaccessible. In honor of World Mental Health Day, here are some resources you can use at MSU and in your personal life.

MSU Resources

University Health and Wellbeing: Supports our university community with health and well-being equitably woven throughout all aspects of Spartan life. They offer a variety of resources for employees, including:

  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Available through University Health and Wellbeing, MSU employees or retirees and their benefits-eligible dependents have access to the EAP, which provides confidential counseling at no cost. To best fit your schedule, EAP offers both virtual and in-person appointments. 
  • Spartan Resilience Educational Webinars: From understanding shame and building shame resilience to setting healthy boundaries and navigating hard times, these webinars are here to help!
  • Move More @ Work: An ongoing campaign facilitated by University Health and Wellbeing’s Health Promotion and Engagement office. Browse offerings, learn more about on-campus opportunities, and get moving more at work! 
  • Worklife Wellbeing: Check out the Worklife Wellbeing seminar options to see what you might want to learn more about.
  • Mindful State: An emerging university-wide, collaborative initiative to help Spartans learn the benefits of mindfulness and access resources to develop or strengthen their mindfulness practices.
  • MSU Counseling and Psychiatric Services: If you’re looking for resources to support students, Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) provides comprehensive mental health support to MSU students through counseling and psychiatric care.

Teladoc: Benefits eligible faculty, staff and their dependents currently enrolled in an MSU health plan have access to Teladoc – an online medical care service that gives you 24/7 access to a healthcare professional via web, phone, or mobile app in minutes. Teladoc’s services extend to behavioral health (anxiety, depression, grief counseling, etc.) for eligible individuals over the age of 18.

Local Resources

24-Hour Crisis Services (Walk-In and Mobile):  The City of East Lansing provides walk-in or mobile crisis counseling and mental health assistance around the clock.

University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Behavioral Health Services: Sparrow Hospital offers psychiatric and behavioral health services, including holistic care in an external environment and art, music and yoga therapy. 

You and your mental health matter, so join us in celebrating World Mental Health Day by taking charge of your mental health with these resources and more. MSU resources and benefits are available to keep you on the path to a healthy body and mind. Learn more about World Mental Health Day on the World Health Organization website.