Mental Health Matters: Tackling the Taboo of Workplace Wellness

An interview with the nilo.health Co-founder and Co-CEO Jonas Keil

At Freeletics we have always known that physical fitness and health are not enough to lead a happy and healthy life. We believe the key to success is the combination of mental and physical wellbeing. This belief is reflected not only in our product itself but also in our everyday work at Freeletics. “In the last year, it has become increasingly apparent how important it is to take care of one’s mental health in the workplace. The exceptional situation caused by a worldwide pandemic, working in a home office setting, little to no personal direct social contact, and uncertainties that Covid-19 brought into our lives, has definitely taken a toll on us. That is why we introduced Nilo Health in November 2020. With Nilo Experts, employees can work anonymously on any topic, regardless of whether it is work-related or private. We are absolutely satisfied with Nilo’s offer and we are glad we selected it.” Daniela Labus, Director People Operations at Freeletics.

For this reason, we were especially happy to sit down with the Co-Founder and Co-CEO Jonas Keil from nilo.health to speak on why mental health in the workplace matters and how to break the stigma surrounding it.

For someone who has never heard of nilo.health, can you explain what it is?

Nilo.health is the safe space for mental health at work. We offer a platform for employers so that their employees can access mental health support — from 1 on 1 sessions with psychologists to digital interventions and meditations.

Where did the idea for nilo.health come from?

From experiences in our circle of friends, we realized how hard it is to find suitable mental health support and how stigmatized the topic still is — especially in the workplace. Talking and working on one’s mental health is often seen as weak and unprofessional. With nilo.health we are changing that: We normalize talking about mental health at work and provide employees the resources to work on their mental well-being.

What is the benefit for companies to partner with nilo.health?

By cooperating with nilo.health you open the conversation about mental health and show your people that you care about their well-being and that it’s totally ok to struggle sometimes. In such an environment employees start taking a proactive and preventative approach towards mental health. Nilo.health provides employees the tools with which they can then work on their well-being. Obviously, if employees feel better and motivated this also has a positive impact on the overall company performance.

How exactly does the platform work?

Once we cooperate with a company, all employees get access to our platform. Based on individual needs and preferences employees can work on their mental well-being. This could be things like meditations, evidence-based courses for things like stress, uncertainty etc. or 1 on 1 sessions with a suitable psychologist.

Why is mental support SO important?

There isn’t having a mental disorder or not having one. Everybody’s mental health is on a continuous scale between good and unwell and where we are on that scale constantly changes. We believe that mental health should be just as important as physical health and that we should also implement a proactive and preventive approach towards mental health.

What are the most common topics you are dealing with/ people need help with?

Topics that come up on a regular basis are things like stress, uncertainty or work-life balance. Recently topics such as isolation or lack of motivation have been on the rise since the pandemic started.

What does the future look like for

We are really excited to integrate regular well-being assessments into our app. Through that people raise the awareness of their current well-being and can work with the appropriate tools in our app.

“Everybody struggles with some form of mental health challenges from time to time — be it personal or work-related.” (Jonas Keil) — Exactly for this reason it’s important to be more open-minded towards this topic. It’s time for employers to support their employees in their mental well-being by creating acceptance and giving space to work on mental health. We have had very good experiences with nilo.health and are glad that we can support our employees together with nilo.health to lead a happier and better life.