The executive’s role has expanded beyond traditional business metrics to include the profound responsibility for collective well-being. This shift requires leaders to confront their own mental health with a candor rarely seen in prior generations, understanding that authentic leadership begins with self-awareness. At the same time, they are tasked with creating work environments that actively support the mental well-being of their staff, moving beyond superficial wellness programs to deeply integrated support systems.
Post-pandemic, engaging in open conversations about mental health needs and challenges with employees has become not just a best practice, but a necessity. Yet, for many executives, this is unfamiliar territory, requiring new skills in empathetic communication and resource allocation.
Beneath these visible leadership demands lies a more invisible, yet equally pervasive, layer of stress – the executive as a primary caregiver. Lyra Health, a provider of mental health solutions for employers, health plans and health systems, recently released their 2026 Workforce Mental Health Forecast. It highlights the findings that employers are focused on developing workforce resilience as 65% say mental health–related leaves are increasing. On top of this, more than tenfold increase in benefits leaders ranking caregiving and family stress as a top workforce issue. The data points to a significant shift, indicating that the mental health burden associated with caregiving is a growing, pervasive issue, reflecting economic strain.
WHAT IS THE INVISIBLE BURDEN?
Dr. Alethea Varra, Chief Clinical Officer for Lyra Health, shares that, “Caregiving stress has always existed, but this year we’ve seen a significant shift. Executives find themselves under two-directional pressure, simultaneously caring for their teams and their families, often with precious little space for personal recharge.” This includes managing the mental health needs of spouses, siblings, aging parents and children.
Varra emphasizes, “Caregiver strain isn’t something people can just turn off. It shadows them through the workday, as they juggle demanding, emotionally draining responsibilities both at work and at home. It impacts performance, increases burnout risk, and contributes to extended leaves. At the same time, many caregivers are hesitant to speak up at work, worried that acknowledging the strain might be seen as a lack of commitment.”
WHY IS MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSIBILITIES SO DIFFICULT?
“The cost of care, the emotional weight of social unrest and rising anxiety around AI—all of it adds background pressure that makes already overwhelming circumstances feel impossible to manage,” explains Varra. “And when they look for help, they run into the same predictable barriers: long waits, specialists with no openings or support that doesn’t line up with their schedules. The system assumes families can bend around it, but the truth is most can’t.”
Varra goes on to share, “Most people are doing everything they can, but they’re often navigating these challenges with very limited support. Benefits leaders consistently tell us that employees struggle to find support that fits what families actually need. And anyone who’s tried to secure mental health care for a child or teen knows how quickly hope can turn into overwhelm—specialists booked out for months, out-of-pocket costs, few clinicians trained in child or adolescent care and appointments scheduled in the middle of the workday when most can’t step away.
WHAT KIND OF RESOURCES SHOULD EXECUTIVES CONSIDER?
Families that do get meaningful help tend to have access to a combination of shorter wait times, coaching for parents and enough flexibility at work to attend sessions. But the reality is that many caregivers are still arranging support outside typical hours, squeezing it into evenings and weekends, which doesn’t really relieve the strain so much as relocate it.
53% percent of benefits leaders report rising child and teen mental health claims, and nearly 9 in 10 say quality care for kids and teens is hard to access. On top of that, 90% say employees struggle to find benefits that are actually tailored to caregiving. So even as the need grows, support remains fragmented.
The light in this resource-challenged tunnel is that more organizations are cropping up to help navigate these unique needs. Tynan Mason, co-founder of Higher Grounds, an in-home teen counseling, elite behavioral and intervention management service, notes, “People are feeling profoundly overwhelmed and chronically challenged, leading many to retreat into self-preservation. We work with a lot of parents who are also busy professionals to help them embed real support systems in the home for them and their kids.”
Mason describes lessons learned through the work they do about what really delivers impact on well-being in the home. He advises caregivers to critically evaluate mental health and support programs to ensure they focus on long-term, effective solutions rather than merely managing symptoms. “Seek out holistic, in-home interventions that address root causes.” Many organizations think there’s no money in the cure so their whole business model is based on keeping the challenges alive.
Mason emphasizes Higher Grounds focuses on building systems and infrastructure in the home that enable healthier patterns that can be reinforced and managed by the parents so that they eventually don’t need as much support. “We offer access to coaching and interventions that provide parents with concrete, consistent behavioral strategies. This includes techniques like ‘talk less, do more,’ removing emotion from interactions, and consistently applying positive reinforcement, as opposed to solely relying on traditional talk therapy.”
“90% of the work I do with our board-certified behavior analysts is really to track behavioral patterns with the parents, graph the antecedents of problem behaviors, but show them how they’re responding. We help parents focus on understanding and correcting underlying behavioral patterns,” Mason outlines.
WHAT SHOULD COMPANIES DO TO SUPPORT THEIR EXECUTIVES & WORKFORCE?
Some organizations are beginning to turn the tide. Varra shares that, “46% of benefits leaders say expanding family support is their top priority for 2026.” The companies making progress are stepping in before someone is overwhelmed. They’re building systems that help people stay steady rather than recover from collapse. We’re seeing companies:
- Catch burnout earlier through better monitoring of absenteeism and disengagement
- Redesign workloads and roles to remove chronic stressors that push people toward leave
- Expand access to specialized care, especially for kids and teens
- Offer parent coaching and make caregivers part of the care plan
- Support managers with realistic expectations, expert consults, and peer group support
What’s really missing is a proactive, whole-family approach that includes caregivers as part of the care plan. “When we support the entire family, not just the identified patient, everything becomes more manageable,” advises Varra.
To effectively address this multifaceted challenge, companies must adopt proactive and holistic strategies. Some key actions include:
- Prioritize a Whole-Family Approach: Recognize that employee well-being is intrinsically linked to family well-being. “What’s really missing is a proactive, whole-family approach that includes caregivers as part of the care plan,” Dr. Varra points out. This means supporting not just the identified patient but the entire family unit.
- Expand Access to Specialized Care: Acknowledge the severe shortage of accessible mental health care for children and teens, and work to provide benefits that offer shorter wait times and specialized support. Organizations are now making ‘expanding family support’ a top priority.
- Redesign Workloads and Roles: Proactively identify and alleviate chronic stressors within the workplace that contribute to burnout. This includes monitoring for absenteeism and disengagement as early warning signs.
- Support Managers: Equip middle managers with the tools, training and resources they need to support their teams effectively, including realistic expectations, expert consultations and peer support. Managers themselves are burning out at alarming rates, facing their own responsibilities at home while holding teams together.
- Promote Proactive Support: Shift from a reactive approach to mental health crises to one that emphasizes early intervention and prevention. Offering proactive support through therapy, coaching and flexibility can make an enormous difference, especially for caregivers balancing their own demanding roles with supporting someone in crisis.
- Promote Holistic Wellness as Foundational: Mason advises to, “Integrate physical health, including proper nutrition (e.g., avoiding sugar and processed foods) and regular exercise, into overall mental well-being strategies for employees and their families.” Too often the mental health is approached in a vacuum causing support systems to miss the environment in which it’s being built or dismantled.
- Acknowledge Cumulative Stress: “Understand that external pressures such as economic strain, social unrest and anxiety around AI are compound existing mental health challenges. Any solution must account for this cumulative stress,” explains Varra.
The modern executive’s journey is undeniably demanding, requiring an intricate dance between leading with strength and demonstrating vulnerability, driving organizational success while nurturing human well-being. By embracing a comprehensive, empathetic and proactive approach to mental health for themselves, their employees, and their families, leaders can transform these challenges into opportunities for creating more resilient, engaged and ultimately, more human-centric organizations.
