10th October 2025 – World Mental Health Day 2025 highlights the need to support the mental health and psychosocial needs of people affected by humanitarian emergencies. The EU Horizon Europe-funded project PROSPERH demonstrates how workplaces can be health promoting environments during times of crisis as workplaces rapidly evolve.

PROSPERH – Promoting Positive Mental and Physical Health in Changing Work Environments – is research coordinated by the University College Cork’s School of Public Health and the National Suicide Research Foundation. The project is developing a multi-level intervention specifically designed to enable workplaces to promote and improve the mental and physical health of their workforces. Improved mental and physical health in the workplace is a protective factor that can prepare a workplace to maintain functionality in times of crisis or emergency.

The Impact of Public Health Emergencies on Workers

The workplace landscape has been fundamentally shaped by recent emergencies, from the COVID-19 pandemic to economic upheavals to climate-related changes. These events exposed how quickly traditional mental health support systems can become inaccessible, precisely when they are needed most. PROSPERH's multi-level intervention approach addresses this vulnerability by building resilient support networks that function across individual, peer and organisational levels, providing a continuity of care during both routine and crisis situations.
When emergencies occur, some employees will face mental health challenges, a key question is whether they will have access to the support they need. Research conducted by PROSPERH shows that workplaces with embedded, multi-level mental health interventions can maintain service accessibility even during unplanned events, protecting both individual wellbeing and organisational resilience.

Emergency-Resilient Mental Health: The PROSPERH Framework

Drawing on expertise from 18 international partner organisations, PROSPERH combines occupational health, public health epidemiology, psychology, implementation science, and health economics to create a comprehensive workplace intervention designed to function in a changing work environment. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that mental health support strategies remain accessible and effective, whether employees are dealing with daily work stress or navigating major catastrophes.

Building Tomorrow's Workplaces

This World Mental Health Day, PROSPERH challenges organisations to review how they protect the mental and physical health of their employees and consider, in the context of global uncertainties that are reshaping the world of work, how their workplace can support their workforce in a crisis or emergency. PROSPERH is developing a multi-level intervention that will provide European organisations with evidence-based resources to strengthen mental and physical health services –helping them to emerge strong as their workplace rapidly changes, through their commitment to providing mental and physical health support.

For more information, visit the PROPSERH website.

Media Contact
Carolina Piña
European Alliance Against Depression
carolina.pina@eaad.net