Lost revenues as a consequence. Did you know the cost of this mental health crisis? “Across the United States economy,” Laurie says, “depression is the leading cause of mental health and costs the nation $210.5 billion annually.” That is a considerable amount of lost revenues. Caregivers and family members dealing with mental health put in roughly 32 hours/week providing unpaid care. The shame and stigma are masked in secrecy. We need to help find access to care for people and normalize mental health conversations in the workplace. 

This research tells us that we can no longer avoid difficult conversations about mental health in the workplace. Asserting self-leadership to address your own mental health prepares you to take the needed risks to redesign your work culture. What would a work culture that promotes resiliency, compassion, empathy, and empowering people to speak up look like? You can create your own courageous plan. That is where the fun comes in. DOWNLOAD

 Genogram as a resource. In getting trained as an Arise interventionist, Laurie was introduced to the Genogram. It is a tool to gather four to five generations’ worth of information about substance use, psychological factors, and physical health from your family tree. Laurie uses the Genogram as an intervention technique discovered by Murray Bowen in the 1970s as part of his family systems model. Laurie says, “I help people understand that substance use and mental health challenges likely didn’t start with the user. Others suffered from addiction in prior generations, too.” This creates a larger context for understanding and is a shame resiliency technique.

You can use the Genogram to break things down by reminiscing with family members about family gatherings, uncover patterns of communication, and learn how challenges were handled. For instance, what traditions are in place when someone dies? How did the family deal with sudden death and trauma-based situations? How was addiction talked about or addressed in your family of origin? You could discover the resiliency level in your family tree and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Laurie has other insights worth hearing, too, like normalizing mental health conversations.

Normalize Mental Health Conversations in the Workplace

Have you ever had a speaking engagement where you walked away wondering why that came out of my mouth? That is the case in this conversation. I was wondering why I spontaneously brought up a big Trauma at age 14. The accident happened on our family’s dairy farm. A workplace we don’t always associate as a typical workplace. Family businesses have that kind of feel, casual and deeply personal, complicated with generations of communication styles interwoven into how the little traumas and big traumas are addressed. In my case, like the tendency of our country, we addressed the situation and moved on. No one wanted to talk about it. Ten years later, I experienced PTSD. There are long-term consequences to not addressing the mental health crisis we are in.

Other gems to listen for:

• Where to start as a business owner. Simple things you can do that don’t cost anything.
• Ways you can rethink your work culture.
• Learn what behaviors to notice when someone is coping in an unhealthy way.
• Statistics from Laurie: 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience a mental illness each year (20% of our population). Half of all lifetime mental illness starts at age 14 and 75% by age 24. We need to talk openly about our feelings.
• I explain Dr. Ralph Kilmann’s Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) that measures five ways people deal with conflict measuring assertiveness and cooperativeness. 
• You have permission to use the tool I created to recognize, acknowledge, and investigate how you feel: WeMentor Self-Awareness Mentoring Journal.