Announcing Lyra’s 2026 Workforce Mental Health Award Winners

May 6, 2026

At Lyra, we believe that transforming mental health care requires more than just the right tools—it requires courageous leadership. We’re honored to present the Workforce Mental Health Awards at our annual Breakthrough conference, to recognize the exceptional people and organizations who are setting a new standard for employee well-being.

Congratulations to our 2026 winners! Learn more about our awards program and join us as we continue to shape what great support looks like in 2026 and beyond.

Company of the Year: Cummins Inc. 

Awarded to the company that has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to mental health care, achieving meaningful results across its entire workforce. This company thinks about mental health care not just as an employee benefit, but as a company-wide priority.

Through creating and sustaining their It's OK global well-being strategy for nearly six years, Cummins Inc. is making mental health a foundational pillar of corporate culture. By reaching nearly 70,000 employees through a sophisticated multi-channel engagement model, they’ve empowered over 200 employees to share their personal stories, making meaningful progress in destigmatizing mental health at every level of the organization. Their commitment is further solidified with specialized leadership training, and the 2026 launch of the global Mental Health Ally Program, ensuring every employee—from the corporate office to the manufacturing floor—has access to a supportive, informed, and clinically backed ecosystem of care.

Leader of the Year: Joanna Kaup, Benefits Manager, T-Mobile

Awarded to a leader who has consistently prioritized the mental health care of their employees by visibly and meaningfully integrating a mental health care focus into their broader company strategy.

As the strategic architect of T-Mobile’s “LiveMagenta” program, Joanna Kaup led the transformation of a traditional EAP into an integrated mental health ecosystem that now serves as a foundational part of the employee experience. By reducing barriers to care and partnering closely with leadership, she helped shift the organization toward a more modern, accessible, and continuously evolving approach. Grounded in humility and cross-functional partnership, Joanna has driven a grassroots, engagement-focused approach to well-being, ensuring support is not just available, but meaningfully embedded across the organization.

Rising Star Award: AdventHealth

Awarded to a company in their first year with Lyra who is showing exceptional promise and commitment to bringing mental health care to their employee base. 

In its foundational year with Lyra, AdventHealth successfully introduced mental health support to a workforce of 100,000 with a human-centered launch strategy that far exceeded industry engagement benchmarks. By developing custom video content and a specialized Leader Guide grounded in real-world health care scenarios, the organization made mental health care a visible, peer-supported priority. With a network of Health Champions trained as Mental Health Peer Advocates and strong leader engagement, this deliberate approach has built lasting momentum for meaningful cultural change.

Campaign of the Year: Eli Lilly and Company

Awarded to a company recognized for its creativity and effectiveness in driving mental health awareness through a campaign that truly engages and inspires employees.

Eli Lilly and Company’s Campaign of the Year elevated mental health from a traditional benefit to a performance strategy through sustained, peer-led activation. Rather than focusing on a one‑time launch, the campaign embedded Lyra within a broader mental health ecosystem—powered by executive support, mental health advocates, employee resource groups, and integrated health services—making support visible, accessible, and relevant across roles, shifts, and locations. What distinguished this campaign was how it came to life: prioritizing grassroots engagement over top‑down communications, normalizing mental health, and meeting employees where they are. Real‑time utilization insights continuously shaped the strategy into targeted workshops, manager tools, and family‑focused outreach.

Innovator of the Year: Tara Kousha, Chief People and Wellbeing Officer, Catalight

Awarded to a leader who has demonstrated a willingness to push limits and think boldly about the future of workforce mental health. 

Tara Kousha joined Catalight with a vision to adapt high-impact tech benefits into a powerful mental health and well-being ecosystem for the nonprofit sector. As an early adopter of Lyra’s Organizational Health Evaluation for deep root-cause analysis, she moved beyond surface-level observations to uncover the systemic drivers of workforce burnout and distress. This data-driven approach led Tara to pioneer the first pilot of Lyra’s Manager Coaching program. By sharing her insights with the broader community at Breakthrough and in last year’s masterclass, she is ensuring her impact reaches far beyond the walls of Catalight.

Innovative Company of the Year Award: AT&T

Awarded to the HR team that has demonstrated a willingness to push limits and think boldly about the future of workforce mental health.

During a period of significant organizational change, AT&T took a bold, forward-looking approach to embed mental well-being benefits into the everyday employee experience, making mental health a core pillar of workforce support—not simply a “nice-to-have”. Led by the Benefits team, the company took meaningful steps to reduce barriers to access and meet employees where they are. This included creating a simpler front door to care, supported by a $5 million investment to bring roughly 20 licensed therapists onsite at office and call center locations across the country.

Founding Customer Award: eBay

Lyra is proud to honor eBay with the Founding Customer Award. The first organization to champion our mission 10 years ago, they continue to further the cause today. Since launching in 2016, eBay has been a fearless early adopter of essential services like medication management and seamless health plan integration. Now supporting employees across 28 countries, eBay’s impact is measurable: members have completed more than 125,000 care sessions, with 88% improving or recovering by graduation and 96% reporting their care needs were met. This award celebrates a decade of leadership, innovation, and eBay's unwavering commitment to the mental health of their global workforce.