The Work, Stress, and Health Conference (formally the 10th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health) began today in LA. The conference is focused on Total Worker Health (TWH) which is the integration of occupational safety and health with wellness and wellbeing. Attendees are learning about recent research, and practitioners are attending to learn new ways to develop and implement TWH programs in the workplace. A picture of the audience at the opening session is shown below.

In the opening session, the keynote speaker (LaMontagne from Melbourne) summarized the research literature reporting the low but significant incidence of employees with poor mental health in the workplace. Stress is associated with depression that affects employees’ performance at work and of course also at home.  Some of that stress occurs at work.

This conference runs through Sunday. Several scientists from the Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center are attending and making presentations about their initial findings in pilot research conducted in the first year of the projects. More on that later.

For more information about TWH, see CROETweb topics.