Caring for Yourself

Life can present challenges from time to time. That’s why we offer programs aimed at supporting you when you need help or want to improve your overall wellbeing. If you’re experiencing a challenging situation in your life, Harvard’s work/life supports may be able to help.

Recovering from Illness or Injury

If you are recovering from an illness or injury, you may find that you need help managing your daily activities until you get back on your feet. Harvard's back-up care services are available to support you in these situations. The following resources can help provide assistance:

  • Any eligible employee who faces a disruption that requires a brief absence may use Care.com Back-up Care services for self-care. A professional caregiver can come to your house or to the hospital and provide company, light housekeeping, and/or cooking services while you get back on your feet.
    • Note: To use any service provided by Care.com, Harvard faculty and staff must first acknowledge and accept a waiver of liability. The process of agreeing to the terms of the waiver is now done through PeopleSoft. The waiver language and instructions for pre-registering can be found in the Waiver and Registration Instructions document. Please begin by reviewing it and following the instructions.  Please go to the Care.com Overview page to learn about all that Care.com offers.
  • If you are eligible, the SOURCE Program may help you to cover some of your costs by reimbursing you up to $350 of back-up care expenses paid to an eligible provider.
  • You can also find an extensive list of health care topics on Harvard's EAP site.

Maintaining Wellness

Many Harvard wellbeing resources are available both in-person and virtually.

  • The Office of Work/Life provides Harvard University's benefits-eligible faculty and staff mindfulness and wellbeing courses each month.  The Monthly Program Flyer provides descriptions each month and the Program Calendar (Harvard Key required) provides a seasonal list of all programming with links to register. 
  • Harvard University Center for Wellness – Offers yoga, meditation and movement classes, as well as discounted rates for massages and accupuncture sessions.
  • Harvard Recreation – Offers Zumba, yoga, barre, dance, and strength and conditioning classes.
  • Harvard’s Fitness and Wellness Discounts – Harvard’s two medical plans, HUGHP and BCBSMA, provide a fitness reimbursement to members of up $150 per year per policy for membership at gyms/fitness facilities, including instructor-led group classes. Access to Harvard’s programs and facilities for overall wellness provide essential opportunities to exercise, manage stress and stay healthy. Facilities are convenient to campus and memberships are inexpensive.
  • Your Life Well Lived – Harvard's wellbeing newsletter provides links to many more resources and benefits to boost resiliency and provide relief.

Family & Other Concerns

Harvard's EAP extends its support to staff, faculty, and household members. Whether you have personal concerns or you're concerned about a family member or relationship, you can reach out to the EAP for a confidential discussion and recommendations to other services.

The EAP is prepared to handle your concerns, including, but not limited to:

  • Mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse
  • Marital or relationship concerns
  • Communication problems
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug, alcohol, and gambling problems
  • Legal, financial, and debt counseling

For more information, please contact the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Mental and Emotional Wellbeing

It’s important to acknowledge as we are working in new ways at Harvard, we are also adapting to new realities and disruptive changes in many realms of life. We should expect feelings and emotions about these events to carry into the work arena; they may be expressed in indirect or subtle ways.

Awareness of and access to resources that could help may be impeded by the reluctance of our colleagues to share personal concerns that may be interfering with their work performance or quality of life, such as:

  • bereavement (including anticipatory and prolonged grief);
  • medical issues and chronic health conditions;
  • exacerbation of old behavioral health problems or the emergence of new ones (especially depression, anxiety, insomnia and substance use disorders);
  • tension or conflict with household members;
  • domestic violence;
  • food insecurity;
  • homelessness.

Regular reminders of available supports – irrespective of individual concerns – are important in reducing stigma and bias, fear of reprisal and ambivalence about help-seeking in general. Departments and units should remind employees to care for themselves and to explore the resources they have available to them. In addition, these resources can be of help:

  • Harvard’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Harvard’s EAP has resources for coping with grief, supporting others, self-care and working from home. This is in addition to their broad range of convenience and crisis services, which include free financial and legal consultations. Harvard’s EAP offers multiple ways to access services.
    • Chat option for sensitive and other conversations where privacy is challenging or asynchronous consultations may be necessary
    • Telehealth option for individual counseling and assessment.
    • Get support anywhere, anytime with KGA MindTide – the friendly, self-help app that can lead you toward a life of less stress and anxiety.
    In addition, managers may receive unlimited consultations from Harvard’s EAP to support them as they deal with a range of issues related to teams and individuals, as well as personal concerns that pose challenges to their effectiveness as managers.
     
  • Mindfulness Programming – Mindfulness can increase physical and psychological resilience and the ability to respond skillfully to stressful situations. Mindfulness programming is entirely virtual and offers multiple programs, designed to meet the evolving needs of the workforce and their families.
  • Ten Percent Happier app – Harvard University offers benefits-eligible faculty and staff free access to the Ten Percent Happier mindfulness app.
  •  Your Life Well Lived – Harvard's monthly wellbeing newsletter provides links to many more resources and benefits to boost resiliency and provide relief.