Bloom: Helping Working Parents Improve Children’s Mental Health

In 2021, a survey of 5,406 working parents across the country found that children’s mental health has a significant and direct impact on the workplace. Six out of 10 parents reported feeling very-to-extremely concerned about their child's emotional health and development or behavior over the previous two years.

This study, which was published in a report titled The Great Collide,  was conducted by On Our Sleeves®: The Movement For Children’s Mental Health. On Our Sleeves was founded by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2018 to ensure communities across the country have access to expert-created resources to understand and promote mental health for children.

“Everyone was paying attention to people leaving the workforce, employees’ mental health and their job satisfaction,”  said Ariana Hoet, PhD, the executive clinical director of On Our Sleeves. “No one was looking at the mental health crisis for kids and how that was impacting parents and their jobs.”

The Nationwide Foundation funded the study and, based on the results, asked On Our Sleeves to develop a digital curriculum for working parents to help them support their child’s mental health. That curriculum, Bloom: Supporting You in Growing Your Kids’ Mental Well-Being, was launched last year in four national pilot companies and is now available for all U.S. employers.

“Bloom is an upstream parenting tool that fills a need that no one else is filling,” said Dr. Hoet.

Bloom’s curriculum consists of videos and downloadable guides, and it starts with a Foundation Course to help parents define and understand children’s mental health. The course is followed by a series of questions that determine which of three tracks the parent should take:

• Flourish: a track that covers the daily habits and skills that kids need to flourish and develop their mental wellness.
• Manage: a track for parents or caregivers of a child with a mental health diagnosis who need help and resources to manage that diagnosis while balancing their job and responsibilities with their child’s needs and treatment.
• Protect: a track for families who may be worried about safety and need relevant information and resources.

 Each video is no longer than 15 minutes, and On Our Sleeves adds new resources regularly.

In a survey of parents who completed the Foundation Course, 98% reported they were likely to use something they learned from Bloom. Of that same group, 86% said Bloom helped them think differently about children’s mental health, and 66% said Bloom helped them improve their productivity at work.

“Our hypothesis is if you feel more effective and confident as a parent, you will be more productive at work,” explained Dr. Hoet. “The self-perception from these parents is that Bloom is helping them.”

The curriculum is created through a collaboration between behavioral health experts at Nationwide Children’s and learning and development experts. “It's engaging, it's purposeful and it's written in a way that experts know helps people learn,” said Dr. Hoet.

On Our Sleeves recommends that employers allow parents to complete Bloom at work and provides companies with additional resources to implement the curriculum and advertise its availability to employees.

In 2022, On Our Sleeves published a follow-up study titled The Ripple Effect, which showed that many parents continue to be concerned about their children’s mental health. The study found that more than half (53%) of the 1,975 respondents reported that they have missed work or had their work interrupted (54%) because of issues related to their child’s mental health at least once per month.

“When parents are missing work, we know that children’s mental health isn’t just impacting families, it’s impacting productivity. And when we surveyed working parents, child mental health resources were identified as the preferred employer-offered solution,” explained Hoet. “Bloom supports employees by giving them the tools to support their families.”

Last year, On Our Sleeves launched the pilot version of Bloom in Nationwide Children's Hospital, Nationwide Insurance, Abercrombie and Big Lots. Those pilot companies will continue to offer Bloom to employees this year. On Our Sleeves made the curriculum available nationwide this fall. Bloom is free for small nonprofit organizations and companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Larger companies and nonprofit organizations can purchase the curriculum as a wellness benefit for employees.

“Parents are saying that when companies provide this, it helps them feel valued,” said Dr. Hoet. “We’ve heard from parents that they want this support.”

Bloom launched in October of 2022 and is now available for employers across the U.S.
Visit On Our Sleeves website to learn more or email their team to schedule an introductory call about the program.