HelpHow the NAMI-NYC Workplace Mental Health Collaborative Transformed Alight’s Approach to Employee Wellbeing
“There’s CPR for the heart, but for mental health, words save lives. When you have the courage to ask someone, ‘Are you okay?’ it can change everything. I’ve seen it happen.”
– Xan Daniels, Alight Solutions
When Xan Daniels, Vice President of Inclusion and Diversity at Alight Solutions, first joined the NAMI-NYC Workplace Mental Health Collaborative, it was during a moment of realization both personal and professional. “We realized that toughing it out wasn’t enough. We needed help, and we needed language, tools, and confidence to talk about mental health differently,” Daniels recalled.
That insight became the foundation for Alight’s transformation. What began as an HR challenge, in terms of how to support employees in distress, grew into a cultural shift that reshaped how Alight approaches mental health across the organization.
For Daniels, one of the most powerful aspects of the Collaborative was the opportunity to learn alongside peers from other companies. “Managers often don’t want to say the wrong thing. Mental health conversations can feel fragile,” she explains. “But hearing how other organizations are navigating similar challenges gave me confidence to bring new ideas to our leaders.”
Through the Collaborative’s steering committee, Alight gained access to shared best practices, expert-led discussions, and open dialogue about complex topics, including suicide prevention and crisis response in the workplace. Daniels describes these sessions as “group therapy for leaders,” where honest conversation sparked creativity and innovation.
Since partnering with NAMI-NYC, Alight has seen a significant cultural change: mental health is now part of everyday workplace conversation. “Before, people only talked about mental health if there was a diagnosis or during Mental Health Awareness Month,” Daniels noted. “Now, it’s simply part of how we talk about health. There is no health without mental health.”
This shift has been fueled by employee-facing trainings on topics like burnout and self-care, which not only increased participation but also empowered employees to advocate for themselves. “After trainings, employees started asking, ‘What are we doing about this?’” Daniels says. “That kind of advocacy creates momentum and permission for organizations to do more.” One tangible outcome has been the success of Mindful Mondays, a weekly guided meditation series that began modestly but now draws a crowd.
Through the NAMI-NYC Workplace Mental Health Collaborative, Alight Solutions has moved from reaction to leadership, creating a culture where mental health is not a crisis response but a shared commitment and ongoing conversation.
To join the NAMI-NYC Workplace Mental Health Collaborative or learn more about our workplace programs, fill out our form and we’ll be in touch.