At the surface level, generational differences in mental health at work are apparent as each generation brings its unique set of values, experiences, and expectations to the workplace….
In this conversation, I speak with Melissa Doman who brings a fresh take on how organizations might bridge these gaps. Her two takeaways:
Move toward each other.
Explore differences to find agreement.
A growing focus in the media, policy circles, and research is emerging on the correlation between work and suicide. Specifically, a growing body of robust evidence links various psychosocial working conditions and job stressors to suicide. Diverse perspectives exist on the current state of evidence concerning causality and intervention, as well as the most suitable policy and practice responses. In this podcast episode, I interview two global experts who share their views from an occupational health & safety (OH&S) standpoint concerning work-related suicide, with a primary emphasis on the potential for working conditions to serve as modifiable risk factors or protective elements in the context of suicide among the working population.
We define work-related suicide as a suicide death that is entirely or partially connected to work or working conditions. We also consider the working conditions of the individuals who died by suicide.
We discuss:
How is work-related suicide defined from an OH&S standpoint?
What are the potential work-related contributors to suicide?
Sharing vulnerabilities as a leader in the context of culture change and mental health at work can include discussing challenges faced, lessons learned, or personal growth experiences. When you are transparent and authentic about the struggles you've faced as a leader and how you've navigated them, you can create a more relatable and trusting work environment….
In this episode, I model vulnerability by sharing my embarrassing anxiety-fueled outtakes as I was fairly star-struck by my guest Newton Cheng.
Newton is a family man, a world champion powerlifter, and the Director of Health + Performance at Google.
Learn why Newton doesn’t like the saying “Bring your whole self to work.”
Newton shares these two takeaways:
Vulnerability can be built like a muscle; saying: "I don't know how to be vulnerable" is being vulnerable and
Start with seeing the human first — treat everyone first as just another human in a certain context.
This episode covers the perfectionist's paradox in leadership.
In the relentless pursuit of perfection, leaders often find themselves entangled in a web of unattainable standards. The paradox of perfectionism, touted as a virtue, becomes a silent accomplice to the insidious clutches of depression. Unveiling the facade of flawless leadership, this podcast episode explores the hidden struggles beneath the polished exterior….
My guest today is Dr. Margaret Rutherford, a clinical psychologist and the author of “Perfectly Hidden Depression: How to Break Free from the Perfectionism That Masks Your Depression.” Her two actionable takeaways are:
Reflect on the question, “Is your perfectionism constructive or destructive?”
Get off the treadmill…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports record increases in quit rates, emphasizing the urgency of addressing manager burnout.
…on one hand, stress and burnout among managers not only negatively impact organizational culture but also hinder their ability to foster employee engagement in a highly competitive labor market. On the other hand, the manager’s voice in the workplace mental health movement is essential to it’s success.
In this podcast, I interview Justin Azbill, the Director of National Environmental Health and Safety for Milwaukee Tool and we talk about his experiences with life-threatening burnout and how he turned that pain into the purpose of helping others. His two takeaways for addressing burnout:
Be proactive, not reactive.
Start and end on a positive note.
In neuroscience we often say “what fires together, wires together.”
Imagine your brain is like a big network of roads. These roads are made up of tiny parts called neurons. Neurons are like messengers that help your brain send and receive information. When you learn something new or experience something, like riding a bike or learning a new word, certain neurons in your brain become active…
In this episode, I speak with Sue Stock, an Executive Coach with expertise in neuro-transformation. She shares these two actionable takeaways:
Tip #1 Metaphors challenge the mind
Tip #2 Cross the river and shift your thinking
According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, people with debt are three times more likely to experience suicidal intensity because of the debt. A study by Northwestern Mutual found that 44% of Americans states that financial worries were their #1 stressor, with about one in four stating like they felt depressed about money at least once a month.
Sometimes improving your mental health looks like going to a therapist; sometimes it looks like going to a financial mentor. What most people don’t realize is that many Employee Assistance Programs (“EAP”) have financial counseling services for this reason.
In this episode, I speak with Robert Khachatryan about financial wellness and its connection to mental health. He shares these take-aways:
Provide the tools for financial preventative care.
Create a financially safe space.
Is “stress” all bad?
No.
In fact if you didn’t have any stress in your life you would be bored — and may even feel a little purposeless. Humans need to be challenged mentally and physically. The good side of stress — or Eustress — is what helps us grow and even reach peak performance. It’s where we are thriving.
But sometimes our stress levels tip from Eustress to Distress. Unchecked distress can lead to other mental health challenges like exhaustion, burnout, and crises.
In this episode, I speak with Battalion Chief of the Raleigh Fire Department and founding member of North Carolina’s Peer Support Program, Dena Ali . We talk about the stress continuum and its impact on work performance, and how a powerful antidote for stress is something we often forget to do: PLAY!
Most workplaces agree that having a mental health program of some kind is good for their workers, and in turn good for their mission; however, most don’t know what to do besides get the benefit of an Employee Assistance Program. In this special extended episode, I speak with my right hand woman Dr. Jodi Jacobson Frey. Jodi and I co-chair the Workplace Suicide Prevention and Postvention Committee and have collaborated for almost 15 years on how best to support workplaces in developing a robust worker well-being culture. In this episode, Jodi covers these three takeaways:
Take a good organizational look in the mirror
Don’t just check a box
Back it up — bring your plans to life
In this episode, I speak with the Vice President of Field Culture and Inclusion at Clayco, Dan Lester. Dan is also a tireless mental health advocate. In our conversation, we start to connect these workplace challenges in meaningful ways and get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Three takeaways:
1. Work to see ALL of the people around you. Even the ones that push you out of your comfort zone.
2. Get in the game. Behave until you believe.
3. Don't forget about yourself. You are the answer to your problems.
Impact entrepreneurship (aka “social entrepreneurship”) happens when we bring together the mission and heart of a charity model of change and the efficiencies and accountability of a business model. In “Corporate Social Responsibility” models, the main focus is often still profit, but in impact entrepreneurship the “profit” is sustainable impact for the common good.
In this episode, I chat with Michael Martin, Google’s APAC Energy, Infrastructure & Sustainability Data Center Portfolio Manager and the Founder - John E. Martin Fellowship & Mental Healthcare Challenge. Michael shares his lessons learned in sparking innovation in workplace mental health with national social enterprise-style innovation challenges among some of our brightest groups of students.
Here are his three tips:
1. Vulnerability = courage.
2. We don't fail, we learn.
3. Catch people doing good things.
International researchers and advocates from the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s Workplace Special Interest Group are working on a BIG idea.
What do we do when work kills?
How do we — as a global community — take urgent action in order to define, recognize, investigate and prevent work-related suicide?
What are “work-related suicide” deaths? Suicide deaths that are caused in part or in whole by work-related factors.
The IASP Workplace special interest group has highlighted the need to move the workplace focus in suicide prevention from seeing the workplace as simply the venue where interventions can occur but also a place and a connection that interacts with individuals’ suicidal intensity. What happens when there is a causal link between workplace and suicidal intensity is it enough just to identify individuals and treat or should the workplace itself be treated. This podcast episode discusses the suicide prevention benefits of acknowledging suicide as a potential consequence of psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
While the workplace can offer a sense of purpose and belonging when working well, it can also be a place fraught with psychosocial hazards that increase distress and despair than can lead to suicide. Research shows that exposure to psychosocial job stressors including lack of autonomy, lack of variety, effort-reward imbalance, bullying and discrimination at work are linked to an elevated risk of suicidal behavior.
Historically, governments and employers have largely attributed suicide risk to personal and medical issues, but with this emerging research we must also acknowledge the workplace contribution. In this podcast I speak with world thought leaders Jorgen Gullestrup of Australia and Prof Sarah Waters of the UK about this paradigm shift and our need to define, measure and regulate suicide deaths related to work.
Starting his career in the construction industry, Jorgen saw first-hand the impact of suicide on the workers, their families and friends. He also experienced suicide intensity first hand and decided to take action.
Jorgen founded the MATES in Construction program and within the first five years saw an 8% reduction in Queensland construction industry suicide rates was achieved.
Jorgen holds is Masters in Suicidology and was recently named the winner of the 14th Annual LiFE Award in 2018, recognizing excellence in suicide prevention. He serves as the Co-Chair for the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s Workplace Special Interest Group.
Sarah Waters is Professor of French Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on work-related suicide in France and across the international stage and seeks to understand the complex connections that link contemporary working conditions with the extreme and subjective act of suicide. Her book, Suicide Voices. Labour Trauma in France was published by Liverpool University Press in September 2020.
In her book, Sarah examines testimonial material linked to 66 suicide cases across three large French corporations. She examines ‘suicide voices’ considering how workers themselves describe the circumstances that led them to such desperate extremes in the letters, emails and recordings they leave behind. Why at the present historical juncture do conditions of work push some individuals to take their own lives? What can suicide letters tell us about the contemporary economic order and its impact on flesh and blood bodies? How do suicidal individuals describe the causes and motivations of their act?
Alongside her research, Sarah actively campaigns to improve workplace legislation in order to recognise and monitor work-related suicides. She is part of the trade union Hazards campaign in the UK that lobbies the Health and Safety Executive
She lives in Leeds and is a mother of two teenage boys.
WORK RELATED SUICIDE OVERVIEW: https://research.iscrr.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/297147/Work-related-fatalities-Overview-of-work-related-suicide.pdf
https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/53177/
http://www.hazards.org/suicide/suicidenote.htm
For many, fostering well-being at the workplace historically equated to fitness or weight loss challenges. More recently, many companies have been integrating emotional well-being into their benefits programs by augmenting their mental health support offerings. However, what is often left out of these conversations is the spiritual component of workplace well-being.
Some people may bristle at this notion, thinking all we mean is religiosity at work. Spirituality is related to religion for many, and for others it also means finding meaning, value and inspiration beyond ourselves. How spiritual experiences like these show up at work can really make a difference in one’s satisfaction and happiness.
When we have a “spirit-infused workplace” our souls are nurtured, we have a sense of purpose, and we want to better our society and the world we live in. In this interview I speak with long-time friend Robin Szeliga. Robin has been studying the role of consciousness and self-awareness in leadership and how a richer inner life landscape can help transform a workplace that holds deep meaning and connection for its workforce.
Behind the masks of many of our most impactful leaders there is often a story
– a story of childhood trauma.
While the psychological insights of resilient childhood trauma survivors give them deep emotional intelligence into what makes other people do the things they do, many of these leaders do not talk about their trauma experiences.
What we know about unresolved childhood trauma is that it often has long-term lingering effects. As trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk says, “The Body Keeps the Score.” In other words, the terror and isolation that exists for many children at the core of their trauma significantly impacts the brain in a way that the effects show up later in life as intense anxiety, numbing, and rage.
One of the most important challenges for leaders who are healing from trauma is gaining the skills to regulate the emotions often hijack a traumatized brain. In this podcast, I interview the inspiring leader and trauma survivor Corey Jones. He shares these important actionable take-aways.
A when leaders are their authentic selves, they allow others to see more clearly their own self-identity. Isolating and concealing your true identity is exhausting – and wears on your well-being. When leaders are authentic and model their vulnerability through humility, they become more trustworthy. By building trust, they create psychologically safe teams.
In this podcast I speak with HR professional Julius Rhodes and how we can help drive a caring work culture.
Unaddressed or under-addressed substance use disorders and addictive behaviors result in costly and risky outcomes at work. Most people living with substance use challenges are able to “function” at work, but according to an article published by Harvard Medical School[1], workplaces experiences $81 billion in lost profits due to addictive behaviors. These losses are connected to increases in absenteeism, sick time and turnover and decreases in productivity and quality of work. Furthermore, alcohol and drug use contribute to work-related injuries and fatalities increase both by impairment while working and also the short-term cognitive problems that linger after a heavy night of drinking.
In this episode, I speak with Dana Piscopo of Oracle, a woman in long-term recovery who is advocating for workplace-based peer support for people living with substance use disorders.
