So what are your employees dealing with? From what I see, a lot. And all of this affects retention and productivity. Parents who lose a child have to come back to work. But do they feel supported? What about parents dealing with a child who is struggling? And since the pandemic what about grief and loss? Addiction issues? Do you have employees who struggle with thoughts of suicide?
The pandemic pushed mental health into the spotlight and employees need to be able to ask questions, and figure out where the resources are. And we need mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace to be a topic worthy of attention.
I want to offer a special thank you to Leslie Hanson because it’s not always easy to encourage a big company to embrace the topic of suicide, mental illness, and addiction, or to encourage them to invite a corporate mental health speaker into the workplace to discuss these uncomfortable topics.
The topic title for this event was The Emotionally Naked Truth About Suicide. This one was for 2 hours which had several pauses for questions and answers. Thank you Dominion employees for your engagement and questions, your comments, and index cards. 🙂
Below are the results from the “I struggle with” activity in person and online that illustrate what employees are dealing with.
The post-it notes are from attendees who named one thing they were struggling with. Usually, it’s that one thing that keeps someone up at night. The testimonials first and then the post-it project.
Feedback from employees at Dominion Energy on the topic of suicide prevention in the workplace and at home
“I’m proud of the Company for prioritizing mental health initiatives and enabling employees to attend. It helps our workplace as well as our communities to provide education and tools to DE employees.”
“The speaker was able to pour out so much valuable and helpful information because of her own experience. I learned so much, particularly about being a good listener, being aware of possible signs of a troubled person who may be suicidal. I feel more comfortable letting a person know that I care and ask the important question to help them get help!”
“Anne Moss Rogers is a courageous and dynamic speaker. It was beyond admirable to listen as she relived her son’s suicide while she has persevered with purpose to save and touch others. It is remarkably selfless in the way she honors her son by sharing unimaginable loss and her continuous long journey. We were fortunate to have her speak.“
“This presentation was fantastic. Holding more of these presentations will help break the stigma of mental illness and promote engaging, transparent conversation.”
“What a powerful presentation. I definitely learned that suicide is not selfish – instead it is the only way out to stop the pain.”
“This presentation was a very personal and engaging approach to a difficult subject. Suicide has touched Dominion recently, and the presentation helped me to understand how others might be feeling as well as how to identify and approach the topic with others. I also found the material extremely helpful as a parent.”
“Very informative. Our ERG (PRIDE) did a lunch & learn several years ago (pre-COVID) which was educational in nature. I really like this format as it was personal, raw BUT still very informative. I have been on the helping/coping side of colleagues struggling and contemplating with self-harm thoughts – it is tough..”
Activity-“I struggle with…..”
We are looking for a speaker on suicide prevention for our workplace. It has affected many of our employees, their children and as HR manager I’m not sure how to manage some of these conversations so I’ll reach out thru your contact form. Thank you.
I got your message Margaret and have responded. I look forward to speaking with you.
My name’s Eric and I just came across your website – annemossrogers.com – in the search results. I was looking for a mental health speaker for our company. And I was wondering since we have employees worldwide if you could come onsite and do the presentation for our team here but we could make it available to others in our company virtually. We are looking for workplace suicide prevention but also have a lot of parents who are stressing out about their kids and mental health issues. Including addiction.
Eric- Contact me through my speaker form here: https://annemossrogers.com/contact-mental-health-speaker-anne-moss-rogers/ I can send you a proposal based on what you are looking for. I definitely have done many hybrid events as a mental health speaker for the workplace. A lot of companies are looking for support in the area of mental health lately. Thanks for commmenting.
I met you at the corporate mental health event we had recently. I immediately recognized one of the phrases as being one my daughter has used and asked directly about suicide like you suggested. And she was so relieved and grateful. Thank you. The book you recommended and the videos have really helped. I have signed up for NAMI family to family and when I mentioned that to my daughter, she was very touched that I was trying to learn more so I’d be better support. I just wanted to thank you.
I’m so grateful you took the time to come here and leave this comment about the suicide prevention presentation at your business. Thank you. I’m so glad it helped. And I appreciate your buying Diary of a Broken Mind book. I just read your review and I’m so touched.
I’m in the entertainment industry in California. So we could use a speaker on-site and also some guidelines for a new show we are launching. I already reached out through your contact form. I look forward to hearing from you.
Mental health and work is a growing topic for oneself as well as parents and their kids and families. I see your message in my inbox Damien. I will email you back to set up a phone call and then I can send a proposal. Thank you.
I’m the HR manager for our corporation and we have over 22k employees. We have a lot of parents especially that are worried about their kids and I was wondering if you can do the live part on site in our meeting room and broadcast it to our employees in other states through our platform? I also wanted to know what to do to be able to know who is at risk at work and would be interested in some personal consultation with our HR team. Mental health has become a primary focus since it’s what we are hearing about more often lately.
Erika- I see your email in my admin panel I’ll reach out to you. To answer your question, I can definitely do a presentation on employee mental health that includes suicide prevention and substance misuse and addiction onsite and broadcast to your other offices. And I can consult with you and even have scripts for your staff so we can roll play to help everyone become more confident on how to address these issues. Look for an email from me and thank you for commenting. I know you must feel a bit overwhelmed regarding the topic and I promise to make you more comfortable in this space.
Our employees witnessed a suicide from their office window. About 30 of them watched as this person fell to their death from the top of our building. How they got access is still under investigation. I am the one who is tasked with figuring out next steps including the email I need to write. I just filled out your form for a consultation. The topic has come up before as we lost one of our own employees to suicide last year. Thanks for what you do. I didn’t even know where to start.
I was at this workshop. I really appreciate it. I recognized some of what you said and had a good conversation with my son. I listened!
Thank you for attending Frank. Yeah. I preach “Listen more and lecture less.”
So our workplace has had two employees who’ve lost a child recently and then we lost a gentleman who was just about to retire in our department a year ago. We had been planning a retirement party and next thing you know we were going to a funeral instead. I think it’s time we had a discussion on the signs and such. Do you do that?
You bet, Perry. I have your email here so I will reach out. It looks like you have a big company so I can be in person on-site and also broadcast it virtually for the benefit of your other employees.
Our internal women’s group has alerted me to this topic so we’re just looking into it. It might be a hard one to get approved but I’m going to try!
Let me know when they do. I’d be happy to help. Maybe a pilot with one of your locations?
I just filled out your speaker form as we need a speaker on mental health in the workplace. I hope to hear from you soon. We are looking at November 2022.
I see it Alex. I’ll call you, too. Thanks for your interest in the topic of mental health in the workplace.
Can you share any video from this event?
It’s not on youtube but I can share the video privately. Use the contact form and I will get that to you. Here is the contact form: https://annemossrogers.com/contact-mental-health-speaker-anne-moss-rogers/
you spoke at a conference a friend of mine attended. He is such a tough guy and you really must have had an impact. I wish my company would do this for us. How do you suggest I get started?
I’m not sure what kind of company you have but most my requests come from: HR managers, safety managers/directors and employees that head up the affinity groups within a work culture or ones that have been impacted by mental health and behavioral health concerns like suicide, addiction, depression, anxiety, grief and loss. I hope that helps. Let me know if you want more information.
When you were at dominion you answered my question and just knowing the tips you shared has really helped. I also saw others in my workspace who had issues with there kids and i made some new friends and we talk still. I also signed up for that nami family class you said in the resources. thak you
I remember you. Thank you for coming and I’m glad I could help
Do you have any strategies or ideas on how I can get my company to present this topic? I’m in HR and my mother committed suicide 12 years ago. I want to bring this topic to my company becaue our department is always dealing with people who have someone (kids mostly) who is depressed or suicidal?
William-I do have some solid strategies for getting a mental health speaker into your workplace. I’ll reach out to the email you have here and list some ideas. We can also get on a call and brainstorm.
I recommended one client do an anonymous company survey and seeing the data of those who are struggling or have kids who struggle will help make that happen. Also I can send a proposal and include the reviews which are strong. Usually there are a lot of employees who report that they feel proud of their company for tackling a difficult subject. And that works well. Look for my email shortly.
My sister has struggled so much and I was only looking at it from my perspective of how exhausting she is. But your talk helped me frame it differently and our relationship has changed for the better. Thank you for coming to talk to my company. You were live in our new york office so I watched online.
Thank you for your feedback Erica
Thank you for this. I saw you at our company presentation (not this one) and I recognized my son’s cries for help that i didnt know were cries for help and we were able to say the right things and to intervene.
That makes me so happy. I appreciate your showing up!
I’m head of safety and I just reached out to you regarding a conference next year. Looking for someone on this mental health subject.
Replied Christina. Thank you.
We so need this in our company!
Let me know who to reach out to Kimberly.