Suicide and mental health in the workplace are still taboo topics—until now. In this powerful and deeply human episode, Lisa and Gretchen break down why silence can be deadly and how one conversation might save a life.
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🧠 Episode Summary:Lisa and Gretchen dive into one of the most unspoken issues in today’s working world—suicide in the workplace. Drawing from 45+ years in corporate America and years of mental health advocacy, they unpack how leaders and peers alike can identify warning signs, offer real-time support, and create a work culture that doesn’t just talk the talk, but actually protects people. If you manage a team, work from home, or simply care about people, this is a must-listen.
✨ Lessons Learned:
- Warning signs of suicidal ideation and burnout often go unnoticed—especially in remote or hybrid work settings.
- Mental health support starts with conversation and genuine connection, not a handbook.
- Managers must normalize check-ins, encourage open dialogue, and stop stigmatizing “mental messy.”
- Creating psychologically safe workspaces can literally save lives.
00:00 – Trigger Warning & Intro
01:40 – Why We’re Talking About Suicide at Work
03:00 – Lived Experiences: Lisa’s Corporate Journey
08:20 – Warning Signs Managers Must Watch For
13:50 – Recognizing the Signs in Yourself or Coworkers
17:45 – Remote Work: Even Harder to Spot the Signs
20:00 – What to Say & How to Ask the Right Questions
23:45 – The Power of One Honest Conversation
26:15 – Lisa’s 988 Story: From Crisis to Connection
28:30 – What Companies Must Do Differently
30:45 – Final Thoughts: Change Starts at the Top
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The Survivors is brought to you by our friends at the Help Hub. This
00:00:05
podcast mentions suicide, mental illness, grief and loss and may be
00:00:08
triggering for some listeners. So please take care of your mental well being
00:00:12
by pausing or skipping any sections that feel uncomfortable to you. And if
00:00:16
you or someone you know is struggling, please call 988 for support.
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That's funny. I was not at all paying attention to the countdown
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just now and I was talking about something so dumb and all of a sudden
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I turn back and here you and it's three, two, one. Hi, Jay.
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Hey, girl, how you doing? I'm doing all right. I'm doing great. Hey, cheers,
00:00:38
Cheers, cheers. If you can see us,
00:00:42
if you can see us, we have our matching Survivors mugs. We
00:00:45
do. Tell us if you want one
00:00:49
because we only have two, so we'd have to make
00:00:53
one for you. But if you want one, shout us out and we'll maybe start
00:00:56
making them for the whole world. I would love that. That would be fun. I
00:00:59
think that would be fun. So here we are
00:01:03
firmly into season two, which is mind blowing in and of
00:01:07
itself. And we wanted to talk about something
00:01:10
today that you and I, outside of this podcast have been doing
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an absolute ton of talking about. And we've been
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doing most of our talking with our partner
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Kalmari, online mental health resources and, and
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support. And we're doing a lot of work with them around an
00:01:29
area that's so important and so underserved and
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it's suicide and mental health in the workplace that
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is such an underserved, I think
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category. Do you agree? 100%.
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I, you know, it happens more than it than you
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think. It's just not, it's not talked about. It's so sad that it's not
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talked about and it's not handled well. I know. And that's one of the things
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that you and I have kind of rededicated ourselves to is spending a
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lot more time talking about how to improve
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mental health and wellness in the workplace. And it's so funny because, like how you
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and I come to this podcast as two different kinds of
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survivors with two different lived experiences.
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We also come at that, at that topic
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of mental health in the workplace in two different ways. I've
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been in so many different types of professional environments. I've been in the office
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environments. I've been in a school system for
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over 13 years, which is a very, very unique kind of
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work environment for all the teachers out there. You know what I'm talking about. And
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I also have spent the better part of the last. God, it's gotta be seven
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or eight years now working from home. So I could literally be buck naked right
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now from the waist down. And I'm not going to get fired
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because unless you stand up, unless I stand up right, then the. What is it?
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The FCC will, will probably shut us down. But
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I have my own different perspectives.
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But you have spent. How many years has it been that you were
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in the workplace? 45 years in corporate America.
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That's insane. God, I feel insane. Yeah,
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but, but what's so exciting now is that you have started this brand
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new chapter of your life, not just with this podcast and with your
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other podcast shit that goes on in our heads, but now you are a
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founder. You're a founder of your own company,
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shows your solutions and it's.
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And it. And you're taking all of what you've experienced, all of what
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you've learned from that workplace experience
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and you are passing it on to other companies, other HR
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departments, other C suites, and you're giving people
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the benefit of that experience. And so one of the things that you and I
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talked about offline before we started recording was that we really just wanted to dig
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into the more significant issues. The kind of top level issues
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of this conversation are, in our opinion, recognizing the warning
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signs. First of all, we're talking from two different
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perspectives. We're talking from the perspective of being
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a manager and looking at warning signs within
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your staff and then also being the employee
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and looking at warning signs not only within yourself, but within your colleagues and your
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coworkers. And then how do we offer support
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in that professional environment, which can be for a lot of reasons, really
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scary to do. Maybe this is, I think this might be a good point
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for you to talk about why people try
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to just wear the mask at work
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as often as people do. Why are people so afraid to talk
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about what's really going on? That's, that's such a good point.
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You know, for me, I, you know, I'm an extrovert,
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so I would show up to every meeting with a smile on my face whether
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I felt good or not. But there's so
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much shame and a perceived weakness if you look like
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you're, you don't have it all together in today's corporate world. The problem
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is, is that that awareness
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needs to come top down, right? So from the CEO
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all the way down to the employee, that it is okay to talk about your
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mental health, to have those open conversations. And there's
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so much fear in the workplace now that people don't want to do that. Right.
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They don't want to appear weak. They don't want to appear like they can't
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do their job. And, you know, the job market's
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really tough right now, and people are just sitting there and sucking it
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up, and that's the worst place to be. And that's
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kind of how it was for me, you know, when the company that I loved
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got acquired in the hostile takeover.
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It was hard. It was hard to show up in a meeting and
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be positive and. Because on the inside, like, I was just
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pissed every single day and I was like, how can this be happening? And
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that's how people feel now is like they are just showing up
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to show up. They may not be mentally all there
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because, but they're just there to get a paycheck,
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you know, and that's a crappy place to be. Yeah, I completely
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agree with that. And I think too, just jumping back to what you said
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about the job market itself, I
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think the reason why people are just sucking it up and taking it and
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staying silent and grabbing that paycheck is because they
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know that there's a world of other people out there ready
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to probably take over their job, willing to do it
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for less just to have a job, and who may even be
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inclined to sacrifice more or take, you know, I don't want to say
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abuse, but in some cases, like be overworked and underpaid just to
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have that job. So it's like if you don't perform
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and you show any weakness or any
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kind of fallibility, you're out. And, oh, there are 10
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people waiting outside the door to fill your spot.
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And that, you know, you know, who owns that, that's owned by the company
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itself. You know, they, the mentality of you are
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replaceable. Show up, do your job. Like that
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sucks, all right? Because in today's environment, because the world is
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literally on fire, not only do the employees have their day to
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day work and their day to day stress, but there's a lot of stuff
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coming at them externally. And so now they have to
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sit at a job that they probably hate and getting yelled at by their manager
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every single day and gaslit and all that
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and just trying to hold it together. There are people sitting
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at their desk right now saying, I just want to die.
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Like, I cannot keep doing this. And
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it makes me sad that that is where society is pointing
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towards right now. There are a few companies out there that really do take mental
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health seriously, but they are far and few. Between the
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one company I worked for truly A unicorn company, like they
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were the role model for every other company out there. But you know, it
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doesn't take much to change that environment and change
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the trajectory of how things are turning out in your company right
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now. Well, that's one of the reasons why you started your
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company. It is, I mean, shows or solutions is really out there
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in the world. Among other things, to help
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guide and support that C suite and management
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team and HR group in creating an environment
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where there is mental health first aid
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factored into the day to day equation. And that's.
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You're out there pioneering that. You're out there doing that. So as the person
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who's out there with your company doing this actively,
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what are some of the warning signs? I think people need to
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recognize the warning signs. And I want to ask you this question. And
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it's a two part question and if you forget one of the parts, I'll be
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here to remind you. So it's a two part. It's a two part question. I
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feel like I'm in school. I know. It's okay, you'll be fine. It's. Consider cheating.
00:09:03
I'm helping you cheat. Okay, Number one, the warning signs that a
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manager should be looking for with their staff is part one.
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Part two is the warning signs that
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either you yourself are not okay or someone around you is not okay. So let's
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start with what should management be looking for in terms of
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warning signs that someone's not okay? So there's really
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five, right? And you can see this through a manager's
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lens. If you hear an employee talking and they're talking
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about death or wanting to die, saying things
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like, I wish I weren't here, everyone would be better without
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me. You know, what's the point? Okay, that is the number one. If you
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hear of anybody saying those words, please,
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please, please encourage them to call a crisis
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hotline. Whether it's 988 or the other crisis lines that are out there,
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give them that information. If you find that your
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employee is withdrawing or isolating,
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especially like if they are an extrovert, right? If these are
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people that would show up every day with a huge smile on their face,
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you know, life of the party. If you see them kind of pulling back
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from like their friends or coworkers, if they're kind of like
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skipping, you know, meetings or declining to go out
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on social activities, check in on your employee, they may
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not be okay. It takes a simple conversation. But you want to have
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that conversation as a one on one and not in their
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cubicle or around their coworkers. That is, that's a great point. That is
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a personal conversation that does not need to take place
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around anybody else. Can I add one thing to that? I think that's,
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that's a very, very important point you just made about
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doing it candidly, doing it offline. The other thing I
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want to add to that is, and I'm using kind of the
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reference I have because I'm a crisis counselor with the Trevor
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project. Ask open ended questions. Don't
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just take the person into a private space and say, hey,
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how you doing? Are you okay? And then they say, sure, I'm great. And
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then the meeting is over. Ask open ended questions that
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encourages them to really, to really answer with intention.
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Yeah. Like a question that you can lead with is like, how is your mental
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health today? How, how have you been taking care of yourself?
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Things that they actually have to answer. Because as an extrovert with my
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mask on, I wouldn't open up if you asked me, hey, how's your
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day going? My typical response would have been, I'm living the
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dream. And I would leave it at that. Another thing
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you want to look for is if there's any sudden mood
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shifts, like they go into a deep sadness or they start,
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start to get like really angry or you know, just dramatic
00:11:53
changes in their demeanor. Keep note of that.
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Maybe something is going on that they are A, too afraid to go
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to you about, B, ashamed of what, what
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they're feeling. Or three, they are just checked out.
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And if that's that number three, that they're just checked out,
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that's a huge red flag. Another thing
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is if they lose interest in what they're doing, it happens every
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single day for me. Like I didn't lose interest,
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but what was happening with me is they were taking bits and pieces of my
00:12:25
job away from me because they knew I was retiring early.
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Don't do that. Okay. Because also does make us feel crappier than we
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already did. And then if you notice
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that they're not taking lunches, they're not eating,
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if they look like disheveled or
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just kind of checked out, take them aside, take
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them into a safe space. Right. Your office may not be a safe space for
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them. Maybe that brings up some anxiety. Maybe take them out to a
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park or invite them to a lunch. Check out and
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see how they are physically doing.
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Yeah, These are all just so hugely valuable
00:13:07
because a lot of people just don't know
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what to be looking for. Even management doesn't know what to be looking
00:13:15
for. And it's really scary. I know that it's scary to. If
00:13:18
you're a manager and you're responsible for a team, it's
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response, it's a big responsibility and it's. It can be very intimidating
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to know the right ways to approach people
00:13:29
in certain situations. And especially when you're talking about mental health, it can be very
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precarious because you don't want to say something that
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puts someone in a worse mental headspace. You don't want
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to say something that is going to cause
00:13:45
them to be afraid to communicate. I mean, there's so many different
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reasons why. It's just a really tricky position to be in as a manager.
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And also too like a lot of people just, we kind of have
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blinders on a lot of the time when you're at work, especially if you're in
00:13:58
an office, you're doing your job and you've got your little
00:14:02
blinders on and you're doing your thing in your office or your cubicle and you're
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not really paying that much attention to either your own behavior in some cases
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or the behavior of the people around you. So I think these are incredibly
00:14:13
valuable. And also too, we're talking about in the
00:14:16
workplace. So, yeah, there's a physical aspect to what you
00:14:20
and I are talking about, like in an office setting, but we are
00:14:23
living in a hybrid world where you and I are not the only people doing
00:14:27
what we're doing remotely and through a screen. And I feel like
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in a lot of ways, and I'd love to know what you think about this
00:14:34
because I know you, you telecommuted for a very long time. There is just
00:14:38
as much, maybe even more of an urgency
00:14:42
to check in with your people who are not physically present there. Because it's
00:14:46
even easier to put on a mask when you're just looking at someone in a
00:14:49
little square on a little screen and you don't know what is going
00:14:53
on outside of that little box. And that person
00:14:57
doesn't have colleagues to talk to and to vent to and doesn't have an HR
00:15:00
department to just run down the hall to. So this
00:15:04
applies to anybody who might be listening, who is on the other
00:15:08
side of the screen every day, you know, four or five days a week.
00:15:12
Your mental health is also at risk too, and you need to be
00:15:15
checked in on just as much. Struggling
00:15:19
with your mental health, Feeling lost, overwhelmed, or just
00:15:23
alone? Well, you're not. Welcome to the Help Hub,
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00:15:34
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00:15:49
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00:15:53
those challenges the same way. So whether you're looking for crisis
00:15:56
support, downloadable resources, or an extensive
00:16:00
archive of mental health related articles and videos, we've got you.
00:16:04
From episodes of the Survivors Podcast for Suicide Loss Survivors,
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00:16:12
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00:16:15
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00:16:19
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00:16:27
That is so true. And you know one thing that managers and companies
00:16:31
can do is during your one on ones and make them like consistent one
00:16:35
on ones. Don't be like we're going to do a one on one and then
00:16:38
let's skip the next three months. Keep it consistent. I'm going to just
00:16:41
keep saying that because of everything being on fire right now.
00:16:45
It wouldn't hurt to have those once a week and maybe have
00:16:49
a little checklist of things you talk to your employee about.
00:16:53
Like super high level just to get a sense of how they're
00:16:57
feeling. Are they having a major life stressor? You know,
00:17:01
even if they work from home, people still get divorced. They could be
00:17:04
seriously ill. Keep those things in mind when you're talking
00:17:08
to the employee. If you notice that maybe they're giving
00:17:12
stuff away, that's huge. If they are, start talking
00:17:16
about their burden. Maybe somebody's taken a whole bunch of days off this
00:17:19
month and they feel like they're a burden to the team.
00:17:23
Keep note of those things because that could be a sign of something
00:17:27
is really wrong with your employee and you want to be able to
00:17:30
give them as much assistance as possible. And the employee can
00:17:34
certainly contact the EAP lines, they can certainly contact
00:17:38
any of the crisis hotlines. They're available
00:17:42
24 7. But if you have that connection with your
00:17:46
employee, that is a tight connection, right? You trust them
00:17:49
to work remotely and do their job. But if you see that
00:17:53
they're completely checking out, like maybe they don't want to come on camera anymore. Maybe
00:17:57
that used to be their thing. They would come on camera. They do all the
00:18:00
funny emojis. Maybe they're not doing that anymore. Did they get
00:18:03
reprimanded? Do they have something else going on? Ask those
00:18:06
questions because when people start to check out,
00:18:11
it's a slow Trickle. And that's what it was for me. It was
00:18:14
a slow trickle, but they were also, like, ripping the carpet up
00:18:18
underneath me, and I didn't have enough time to
00:18:22
react. You know, as an extrovert,
00:18:25
it kind of sucked. Same like, same with, like, with COVID
00:18:30
Covid sucked for every extrovert out there. It was like our own personal
00:18:33
hell. Yeah, those are all really good points. And you started
00:18:37
touching on another part of this that I wanted to move us
00:18:41
into, which is how to offer support. You talked about eaps, what
00:18:44
I want you to do. I know what that is. You know what that is.
00:18:47
Somebody else may not explain what an EAP is and
00:18:51
how people can utilize that. So an
00:18:54
EAP is Employee Assistance Program. Most
00:18:58
companies have them. It comes with your insurance, and it is free.
00:19:02
It is anonymous. You contact that phone number and. And you can talk
00:19:06
to them about what's going on. In a lot of cases, you have access to
00:19:09
free therapy, or they'll help you find a therapist,
00:19:13
but they'll give you the resources that you need. It's free
00:19:17
and it's something that your company offers. And
00:19:20
don't be worried that your company's going to find out that you contacted the
00:19:24
ap. It is private information. It's all covered under
00:19:27
hipaa, so they can't ask. You know,
00:19:31
you are. You're an employee, but you're also a human
00:19:35
right? And as humans, we're messy and life gets
00:19:39
in the way. And, you know, if you.
00:19:43
If you feel the signs, like just checking yourself out, like you're
00:19:47
withdrawn, you're talking negatively to
00:19:50
yourself. You keep saying to yourself, you want to die, Pick up that
00:19:54
phone and call 988 or a crisis line. Honestly, the world
00:19:58
is a better place because you're in it. And what is happening
00:20:02
today may not be as bad tomorrow, but
00:20:06
you can't put all the onus on your employers to help you out
00:20:10
of this. You have to take some of that onus on yourself. But for
00:20:13
employers, please, if you can do these
00:20:17
four things that can honestly help somebody that's thinking
00:20:20
of taking their life, don't ignore the
00:20:24
subtle signs. Ask them
00:20:27
directly, are you thinking about suicide? Listen without judgment
00:20:31
when I say listen without judgment. Listen with your ears and not with your
00:20:35
mouth, and encourage them to reach out to
00:20:39
988 or a mental health professional.
00:20:43
So when I said about asking directly, you want to do this in a
00:20:46
safe space with them. If it's nice outside, take them outside
00:20:50
and talk in a park. Because I can tell you, for me, like, I Did
00:20:53
not want to go to my manager's office. I didn't want to go to a
00:20:56
conference room and I didn't want to have that conversation around my,
00:21:00
around my teammates and everybody else.
00:21:05
Be kind, be gentle. Because we are in
00:21:09
a very fragile state and we don't
00:21:12
need to be felt. We don't need to be felt like we are a burden
00:21:16
to the company because we are coming to work with some mental messy.
00:21:21
Yeah, those are just golden nuggets
00:21:25
as far as I'm concerned. And we can't say them enough. And
00:21:29
they apply as much to the management
00:21:32
and C suite as they do. Any of these things
00:21:36
apply to your teams as well. So the point
00:21:40
of this conversation is that it's
00:21:43
a collaboration. Everybody needs to be doing their
00:21:47
part. Part. The workplace environment has
00:21:51
to provide a sense of security and support and the
00:21:55
employees need to be forthcoming
00:21:58
when they're not. Okay? So everybody has to be working
00:22:03
together and creating
00:22:06
that workplace culture where mental health conversations
00:22:10
are safe and supported. Like you said, you said it a few minutes ago.
00:22:14
It is a lot easier than we realize.
00:22:18
We overcomplicate things. Like you and I. I mentioned at the
00:22:21
beginning of the episode that we do a lot of work with Calmry
00:22:25
and we're focusing in particular on mental
00:22:29
health in the workplace. And one of the things that you and I have started
00:22:33
to do with Calmry is to do like a monthly
00:22:36
mental health check in conversation where we're picking and choosing different
00:22:41
diff mental health related issues to talk about for like 15 or 20 minutes in
00:22:44
a webinar. Well, we've talked a bunch about how
00:22:48
employers should have. And I'm using air quotes. If you're just listening to the audio
00:22:51
of this, people should be doing fireside chats. You know, you've,
00:22:55
you've suggested that in the past of weekly monthly group get
00:22:59
togethers where everybody can sit together and okay,
00:23:03
maybe everybody's not like bearing their full
00:23:06
soul out in the open with all of their colleagues, but you
00:23:10
know what it's like. You guys know what it's like when one
00:23:13
person says, ugh, I'm just not okay, or something happened with my kids
00:23:17
or da, da. All of a sudden 10 people are like, oh my God, me
00:23:19
too, me too, me too. It gives people permission
00:23:23
when one person, that's what we're out here doing. G and I are out here
00:23:27
talking about this hard, taboo,
00:23:31
incredibly awkward subject so
00:23:35
that it gives people permission to do it
00:23:39
elsewhere. And that's what employers can do by
00:23:42
gathering people together in the same room. So People don't feel disconnected. People
00:23:46
feel like we're here together. We should
00:23:50
function in some ways as a team or a unit or as a quote, unquote
00:23:53
family. And it's okay to not be okay at work and outside
00:23:57
of work. And you know, the other thing is, don't make it weird. Don't make
00:24:00
it weird for the employer. Because if you make it weird,
00:24:04
they may come to one of those meetings and then never come again.
00:24:07
Right? Like, be cognizant of, like,
00:24:11
where they are in their own mental health journey. And
00:24:15
I just read something that if you're in an office space and
00:24:19
if this happens, if you've ever noticed someone pulling away,
00:24:23
sitting down for weeks, or saying little things like, you won't have to
00:24:27
worry about me much longer, these are red flags. Don't
00:24:30
wait, check in. You could be the reason that they stay.
00:24:35
Take that to heart. Because when you get to
00:24:39
that point, just from my own personal.
00:24:42
All the crap that happened with me,
00:24:46
one conversation, one conversation could have helped me, but
00:24:50
as an extrovert, I didn't open up. But the problem was,
00:24:54
for me is I didn't know what was going on inside me. I
00:24:58
just didn't feel right. So as a team lead, as a
00:25:01
manager, as a coworker, as a family member, as a friend,
00:25:06
listen for those words. One conversation, one conversation. And
00:25:10
pointing them in the right direction could be the reason that they are here
00:25:14
today. Well, I mean, I've said this before and I'm
00:25:17
sure in the months and years to come in this community we're
00:25:21
building, I'm going to say it a million more times. You are like the poster
00:25:24
child for 988. Because, yes, okay, granted,
00:25:27
you didn't say anything at work. You didn't say anything in at home. You didn't
00:25:31
know how to articulate what you were feeling. You were super dysregulated and didn't know
00:25:34
what to do with it. And I say a big giant. But you
00:25:38
did know about the 988
00:25:41
Crisis and Suicide Lifeline, which is free, which is
00:25:45
24, 7, 365. And you did know about
00:25:49
that. And you did call and you talk a lot about. Well, one
00:25:53
conversation can change someone's life for the better.
00:25:56
Can. Can pull them out of that
00:26:00
place of desperation that happened to you. This is what G
00:26:04
is talking about, you guys. One simple conversation. It was because
00:26:07
of that conversation that you realized there was hope. And it was because of that
00:26:11
conversation that you hung up with the 988 operator and 20 minutes later
00:26:14
had already Booked an appointment with a therapist. Am I right? Yep.
00:26:18
Right. Okay. But you know, for me, what helped with that
00:26:22
and you know, I'll say it again, two months before all the,
00:26:26
all the shit went down, I'd remember reading about 988
00:26:29
in an article. Believe me, when I look at myself, I would be, I would
00:26:32
have thought I would have been the last person to contact that phone number.
00:26:36
I'm a strong person, I have a good heart. But I'm also an
00:26:40
empath and I took all that crap in and didn't take care of
00:26:43
myself. So part of the mental, like the suicide
00:26:47
awareness part at work is you need to make
00:26:51
sure that you give your employees that time to recover.
00:26:55
They have mental health days. Yeah, they can take them as
00:26:58
a PTO day or as a sick day, but allow people to have
00:27:02
a mental health day because sometimes we just need to check out for a
00:27:06
day just to reconnect, you know, think
00:27:10
about what's going on in our
00:27:13
heads. You know, you need to bake mental wellness into your
00:27:17
mission and values. And that's why I keep saying it starts from the top
00:27:21
down. If you do not have buy in from your CEOs or your
00:27:25
board members, it's never going to work. But
00:27:28
mental health is not going away. Thoughts of
00:27:32
suicide are not going to go away. Thoughts of
00:27:35
feeling like they are a burden, those are not going to go away.
00:27:39
Stress and anxiety is not going away. Stress and
00:27:43
anxiety are huge right now. There's so much of it
00:27:47
just outside of the work environment. Then you come into work
00:27:51
and you gotta meet KPIs and you have your
00:27:54
manager saying you're not doing your job right or like you are
00:27:58
replaceable. Okay, stop. Stop saying that.
00:28:01
If you want to make your bottom line help with your
00:28:05
employees, mental health first. And that comes from
00:28:09
somebody who's been in corporate America for over
00:28:12
45 years. Listen
00:28:15
to your employees. Have those mental health check ins,
00:28:20
have wellness ambassadors. If somebody
00:28:24
in your office has taken their life by
00:28:28
suicide, maybe, just
00:28:31
maybe, don't send out an email to your employees
00:28:36
letting them know somebody died by suicide. You know what?
00:28:39
That is not the way to do this. The way to do this is
00:28:43
you can either have a company meeting. If you're a
00:28:47
virtual company, have it over. Zoom.
00:28:51
If you're a hybrid, if you're a hybrid
00:28:56
company, you can do it. Zoom. And in person,
00:29:01
do not communicate that through an email. It is
00:29:05
insensitive. You may think that you're taking all the
00:29:08
emotion out of it, but you're not. You're just
00:29:12
adding to that, you're basically pulling
00:29:16
the pin on a grenade, throwing it into a room, and then closing the door
00:29:19
and walking away. So she's right. There has to be a level
00:29:23
of sensitivity and compassion and. And it starts at the very, very top.
00:29:28
So the takeaway of all of this, the takeaway of this whole conversation, this
00:29:32
whole episode is the bottom line.
00:29:35
Creating mentally healthy workspaces saves
00:29:39
people's lives. So if you're listening to this and you
00:29:43
are in management, pay attention, speak up.
00:29:47
And that is going to create that culture of care. You know, there's
00:29:50
one other we're running over, but there's like four things that
00:29:54
you have, like four things that companies can do, right? They can offer peer support
00:29:58
groups, they can have wellness ambassadors,
00:30:01
they can have a mental check in campaign, and
00:30:05
they can have listening circles after a crisis. And there are
00:30:09
trained facilitators out there that can come into your
00:30:13
company and work with your employees to help them
00:30:16
be okay with what just happened. Because
00:30:20
there's nothing worse than losing someone to suicide
00:30:24
at work. You know, you become a
00:30:27
family and now you feel like one of your family members has
00:30:31
gone and you don't know how to deal with that.
00:30:35
So for the companies out there, pay
00:30:38
attention. That's all I can say is pay attention to your employees
00:30:43
because one conversation could save their life.
00:30:47
Amen. And I think it's also worth saying that anyone who is
00:30:51
in the workplace right now, who is in a position of management,
00:30:55
reach out to G. All of her information is in the show notes how to
00:30:59
reach out to her. You want to pick her brain, Find out what you can
00:31:03
do in your company. See, I'm promoting you. Isn't that exciting? I love that.
00:31:06
But I mean it like you want to talk to the people who can really
00:31:09
help. So make her your first call. Check in,
00:31:13
send her an email. You know she's there to help and so am I.
00:31:17
So we appreciate you being here for 32
00:31:20
minutes and 27 seconds and we'll see you. We'll take, we'll take the
00:31:24
2 minutes and 33 seconds off of next week's. No, we won't.
00:31:28
We're going to keep going. We're done. We're done right now. But we're not going
00:31:32
to stop talking. So, yeah, see you next week, boo. We'll see you next week.
00:31:35
I love you. Love you. Bye Bye. Thanks for
00:31:39
joining us on the Survivors. Remember, no matter how tough things feel,
00:31:42
you are enough. And the world needs you just the way you are. You're
00:31:46
not alone. In this journey. There's a community here and every step forward
00:31:50
counts. We're so grateful you took the time to listen and we hope you'll
00:31:53
take one day at a time. Just know there's always more light ahead.
00:31:58
Thanks for being here, friends. Just remember, help is out there in.
00:32:02
In so many different places. So if you or someone you know. Is struggling,
00:32:06
please call 988 and a trained crisis counselor like me will be
00:32:09
there to help. You can also find an inclusive and. Comprehensive directory
00:32:13
of mental health resources, tools and content at
00:32:16
thehelphub.co. just remember that help is always
00:32:20
just. A call or a click away. We'll catch you next week. In the
00:32:23
meantime, keep surviving. Struggling with your mental health?
00:32:27
Feeling lost, overwhelmed or just alone? Well,
00:32:31
you're not welcome to the Help Hub, your online destination
00:32:34
for mental health resources, content and tools to help you
00:32:38
navigate whatever mental health challenges you are facing in the moment.
00:32:42
At the Help Hub, we offer individualized resources tailored to
00:32:45
your unique needs and community, with over 16 different
00:32:49
categories to find exactly the kind of personalized help you need
00:32:53
when you need it most. Because even though we all deal with many of
00:32:57
the same challenges, we don't always experience those challenges the same
00:33:00
way. So whether you're looking for crisis support,
00:33:04
downloadable resources, or an extensive archive of mental
00:33:07
health related articles and videos, we've got you. From episodes of
00:33:11
the Survivors Podcast for Suicide Loss Survivors and lived
00:33:15
Experience blogs to interactive tools and professional connections,
00:33:19
the Help Hub meets you where you are and helps you move forward with
00:33:23
strength and support. Remember, you don't have to do this
00:33:26
alone. Visit thehelphub.co today.