Anne Moss Rogers’ Workplace Wellness Programs:
So what mental health issues are your employees dealing with?
From what I see, a lot. And all of this affects retention, work environment, safety, productivity, and absenteeism. And how can corporate mental health speakers help you achieve that workplace wellness culture?
- Parents who lose a child have to come back to work. But do they feel supported?
- Do people feel a sense of connection and belonging, a foundation of good workplace mental health?
- What about parents dealing with a child who is struggling? Or a spouse who is struggling? What about grief and loss?
- Do you have employees who struggle with anxiety or depression?
- What about workplace issues that have erupted as a result of people being emotionally dysregulated? Hybrid cultures and building relationships?
- Do your employees know what EAP resources are available to them? Are they using them?
- What about work/life balance? Are your employees using their PTO or driving themselves to a point of diminishing returns and burnout?
EAP = Employee Assistance Programs
DEI = Diversity, and Inclusion
PTO= Paid Time Off
The pandemic pushed mental health into the spotlight
Employees need to be able to ask questions and find available resources. And we need mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace to be a topic worthy of attention. In short, we need psychological safety, which means that people feel work is a safe place which can mean different things to different people.
The topic title for this corporate mental health event was The Emotionally Naked® Truth About Suicide. This one was a 2-hour hybrid event and had several pauses for questions and answers.
My most popular workplace mental health topic is Emotionally Naked® Workplace Wellness which is customized per workplace HR or Safety goals and revolves around bolstering a culture of connection and belonging, the foundation of a healthy workplace environment. A highlight of this presentation is practical strategies for managing stress and stressful relationships and finding ways to reframe difficult situations so you see them as opportunities to learn and succeed.
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..”
Below are the results from the “I struggle with” activity
Since it was a hybrid event, these are post-its are from both in-person and online participants that illustrate what employees are dealing with.
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 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.
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.
Im an HR manager in a large company with lots of offices all over the world. If we hire you can we record it so our employees at other locations can hear it? We have an office in Australia and I want them to see it, too. Thatnks for what you do.
Yes! Definitely. Thanks for reaching out. I’ve often done mental health presentations for companies through their virtual platforms while also having a live audience.
It was great having you come to speak. I now know what to look for in the office with my co-workers and also with my family.
Thank you, Everett. And I appreciate your volunteering for the roleplay part of the exercise.
I was so moved by your presentation at our company women in business ERG on mental and health suicide. The addiction part was really helpful too. I have been struggling wiht my daughter’s suicide attempt and now I have all kinds of resources and feel more hopeful.
Thank you Antonella. Your comment means so much to me.
I know Leslie! Small world.
I really like that game with the post-it notes. I’m going to give that a try in my ERG at work.
It is very revealing and people feel they are not alone. An ERG is a great place to try it out!
I used to think mental health was bunk. I know better now and I’m advocating bringing in a mental health speaker. Can we chat? I’d love to talk about some strategies on how to get management to see the importance of mental wellness. We’ve lost one employee to addiction, we’ve had two lose someone to suicide and one person left on mental health leave.
Jaimie. I’d love to chat about speaking on mental health at your workplace. I have your email so I’ll send you a message.
I really want to bring you into our company. I just sent you a contact form. We have 20k employees throughout the US and this mental health issue is coming up a lot.
Thank you.
Do you speak to ERGs? WE are looking for a mental health speaker for two of our ERG groups for spring of 2023.
I do Zachary. Thank you for asking. My contact form is here. https://annemossrogers.com/contact-mental-health-speaker-anne-moss-rogers/
I look forward to hearing from you.
We were thinking of doing a mental wellness walk for our company next may. We lost one employee to drugs and another to suicide this past year. Could you speak at that walk?
Absolutely, I speak at company walks, fundraisers, awareness events and internal events. I see your email. I’ll reach out if that’s OK.
I was struggling with a lot of issues with my oldest son. Not grt for my productivity. After you did your mental health talk at our company I practiced words from that script two of my coworkers read and I feel more confident talking to my kids now including suicide. I was so afraid of planting the idea in their heads. So I bought your book and my son saw it and asked to read it after me. He did and we had a one and a haf hour talk. The lyrics in taht book helped him understand his own feelings and it helpled me understand his. He read it in less than two days. I bet I haven’t had a talk with my oldest son like that in years. Thank you
Oh my gosh that’s just what I was hoping to hear after I wrote that book. I wanted it to help people understand the issue from multiple angles. Thank you for finding me and posting the comment.
I saw you speak and I asked the question about my son. I started the conversation as you said. It has taken a bit of time but like you said i was patient. And he really opened up yesterday. I am really grateful
Mason I remember your story. I am amazed you could make those changes and he has opened up.
We have a company with about 1,000 employees. Our workforce seems to struggle with how to end the day and taking their PTO. Is that something you can work into the presentation?
Hi Joseph. Thank you for commenting. It’s definitely something I stress. We can’t reset our brains and we tend to reach diminishing returns if we don’t take our PTO. This is vital to our mental health. By the way, I see your contact form. And I’m replying now. 🙂
Thank you for your presentation. My partner has been struggling and your tips really helped me understand from his point of view and find suppport for myself
I’m so glad I could be of help Jacob. Thank you for your attendance and for participating in the role-play conversation.
I would love to bring you into my company and just sent a request form. I hope to hear soon.
I see your email and just replied Lily. Thank you.
I am a manager in the hospitality industry which was hard hit by covid. So now our managers are struggling to find and keep staff and that’s triggering more distress. I just sent you a form and probably well want a focus on the addiction and substance abuse part, too. That’s been a big issue and i see that you address this too. Would love to have a conversation.
I see the message Luiz and I just left you a VM. I’d love to address this mental health challenge with your managers
We are interested in the Emotionally Naked Workplace Wellness for our team and we are in the insurance industry. Have you spoken in that industry about mental health?
I have. I have spoken to Markel and just sent a proposal for another insurance company.
We are an association of managers who need to fulfill a requirement for mental health training. We are part of the hospitality industry so mental health, retention of our workforce and the lack of workers is a huge stressor for us. Do you address how we can manage that kind of anxiety and what we can do to make our workplace more stable? I’m not sure that’s the right word but I’m guessing you will know what I maen
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You are the third person from this industry to make an inquiry this week. So yes, I am definitely focusing a lot on the hospitality industry. Insurance companies seem to be the next in line. Anyway, so I just sent a topic for a group of managers and for them it’s something like this:
What can managers and leaders in the hospitality sector do to ensure that their employees are maintaining positive mental health and well-being?
More info is here: https://annemossrogers.com/mental-health-speakers-for-workplace-why-hire-one/
Emotionally Naked® Workplace Wellness
For Managers in the hospitality industry
We know emotionally healthy employees perform better, are absent less, and are more likely to stay. That is why companies are focusing on the mission, “In order to achieve, you have to put wellness first.”
This upstream commitment of workplace wellness creates a prevention and retention culture that focuses on connection and belonging, building resilience, and maximizing self-care so employees have the tools and resources to manage adversity and anxiety before reaching burnout.
Attendees will learn practical strategies to retain and connect with employees, model coping skills for adversity, healthy self-care strategies, and how to address the challenges of an industry with a transient workforce and a demanding culture.
This presentation offers practical and creative strategies for managing one’s own mental health as well as others including how to build a wellness culture that fosters connection and retention.
Takeaways:
• Small, creative, and doable strategies for big changes in workplace wellness
• How to create a culture of connection so employees don’t want to leave
• How to allow others to feel heard and therefore feel valued
• How to create more stability in a traditionally party hard work culture
• Life events that make people more vulnerable to despair
• How to be a leader when life/work is chaos
our group of managers were inspired by your talk on mental health. we just surveyed our employees so thanks for that suggestion.
Joseph- I think you have my email. Please share the results from that mental health survey if you would. I’d love to hear what they are.
Can you send me the resources document for the mental health event you did for our company?
Absolutely Violet. I see your email in the admin panel so I know the company! Look for it in your inbox shortly.
We seem to be having the most problems with change in our organization. Remote, then hybrid and now everyone’s anxious about coming in three days a week.
I hear that a lot. They settle in and the routine is disrupted and with so many changes personnel get irritated and dysregulated. Thanks for posting a comment Cindy. If you need someone to do a program, reach out.
We have a very transient workforce and providing mental health resources has been very challenging. Do you have any resources we can share?
I don’t know what state you are and assuming you are in the US so here are the national resources.
So 988 is the crisis hotline and they can call if they are struggling with a substance misuse issue, eating disorder, or suicide. 741-741 is the crisis text line. In addition, there is something called warmlines in every state. These are staffed by peers who’ve lived with mental health conditions including addiction, gambling issues, and more. https://warmline.org/warmdir.html#directory (home page is here https://warmline.org/) Then if they are struggling with managing a family member with mental health issues there is NAMI which is in every state. They have family support groups and peer support groups.
Anne- I just sent you a message to figure out how to approach management about this topic. I’m a safety professional and it’s a growing problem but we need support from the top or it will continue to be fractured efforts from the folks managing the employees.
I see it in my inbox Orlando. I’ll send some dates. Looking forward to speaking with you.
We had a suicide at work recently. I feel really numb and forgetful and so unproductive. This person was two offices from me and I didn’t even know she was hurting that much. From the outside it looked like her life was ideal. Management has been so focused on pushing us back to normal and i’m frustrated with the fact taht they’ve not even addressed the elephant in the room.
Jenny- I’m so sorry you are going through this. Stigma thrives in an environment where there is not a conversation on the subject. If I can help in any way, let me know. The numbness is common after a grief event. And so are the other symptoms you mentioned. Management is often wanting to “get back to normal” and gloss over the whole thing with the thought that you will all just forget it. It’s not the right way to tackle it. And if they continue to not address it, it might be time to look for other opportunities. Always easier to find a job when you have a job and find a company more committed to employee and workplace wellness.
Hi, my name’s Chris Williams, I’m a podcaster, YouTube and side business pro.
I’d be honoured to invite you to be part of our upcoming series on my 12,000 subscriber Youtube Channel. I’m looking for experts like yourself to share your insights and knowledge with our audience.
If you’re open to being interviewed, please email me back to chris@growyoursidebusinesss.com and I’ll send through some more information and next steps.
Looking forwards to hearing back from you,
Thanks,
Chris
Definitely. I’ll reach out, Chris.
Someone in HR at Dominion recommended you. We are going through a big re-org and the change has definitely disrupted our personnel and there is a lot of buzz about people leaving which I’d like to avoid. I read your article about change and those are the steps we need to take. I already contacted you through your speaker form so I look forward to hearing from you. And i am sorry about your son. I lost my sister the same way.
Thank you Jerry. I see the form and I just replied. Talk soon. Thank you for commenting. And I’m sorry you know the pain of losing a loved one to suicide.
Several of our employees were affected by a recent suicide. It wasn’t a co-worker but rather one they witnessed from their window. While we do want you for mental health in the workplace, right now we need you for the suicide aftermath. I hope you got my form.
I got it. I replied. I’m so sorry. You have to feel out of your element with this. What a devastating story. My gosh.
Hey I saw you speak at my company and I tried some of the tactics you mentioned. Thank you. I can tell a difference in my relationships at work. Much of what you said helped me also with my son who has been abusing marijuana. I would love for you to come back and do the parenting class you mentioned.
Our employees are a mixed bunch particularly age. Can you address the issues that each face? So we have some parents who are worried about kids and then younger employees who are just struggling with things like relationships and changes within the corporation.
This is exactly what I do. I’d be happy to speak at your workplace, James. Just reach out and we can have a conversation about your needs and how I might help.
https://annemossrogers.com/contact-mental-health-speaker-anne-moss-rogers/
Do you take payment for placing articles on your site?
Sorry I do not. My subscribers and readers trust that the content I share is not because I’m being paid to show it. I hope you understand.
I see you are coming to Connecticut to speak to our company! I looked you up because I am hoping you will share resources for parents, too.
Your company did include that in the presentation. I’ll email you separately so I have what you need. Or I can go ahead and email you those resources and that way when I’m up there you can ask questions.
Do you address how to cope with the challenges of connection with hybrid teams?
Yes. I’m about to write on that topic! It has created emotional chaos as we learn to build relationships in this new workplace structure. I will say that it has to be more intentional but it can happen if managers make an effort to make it happen.
Our team is struggling with hybrid and all sorts of post-pandemic type issues. REkindling relationships has been hard for our managers. Is that something you address?
It is Willy. I’m about to publish a post this week on that very subject. Thanks for commenting and asking.
What you said in your presentation rang a bell in myhead and i asked my best friend taht night if he was depressed. He hesitated but then he said he had been. we had a long talk after that. thank you so much for the words to say
Wow. Thank you Walt. I really appreciate your taking the time to come here and comment.
I so wish my company would invest something in mental health. Our team is a mess and upper management is stuck in their ways
I am so sorry to hear that David. Do you think if you located some studies about productivity and profits and how that relates to mental health it would help make a case? And if maybe you pitched a specific type of workshop for say, anxiety, and then statistics as I mentioned? Just a thought.
We are looking for a speaker for mental health month. I’d like to talk to someone. Possible ?
Absolutely, you can do the long form if you know more about your mental health event. If you help and conversation to shape the event, use the short form. We can definitely set up a call. Thank you for caring about your employees and their mental health.
Quick Question: https://annemossrogers.com/quick-question/
Speaker form: https://annemossrogers.com/contact-mental-health-speaker-anne-moss-rogers/
I got a recommendation for your website as a valuable mental health resource. I just wanted you to know.
So next month is mental health month. Do you have any ideas on activities for the workplace?
Sure. I just sent you an email Jonathan. This ebook will also offer a lot of ideas. It says “classrooms” but I use a lot of these in my adult workshops. https://25activities.gr8.com/
I work in DEI and we have a directive through corporate to do more mental health training. Do you have classes, like a series online, that I can submit on my proposal?
I do. I am in the process of creating a series like you mentioned pretty much as we speak. Thank you for asking.
So I teach specific coping skills for different situations.
And lately I’m getting more requests from groups of managers to do training on how to create an environment of belonging and workplace wellness. All of that means better retention and profitability because people want to stay where they feel valued.
We keep getting all these courses on productivity and leadership. They want us to be faster, and like machines when really the issue of lower productivity in the company I work at is that management doesn’t give a sh*t about anything but money. It’s like we are not peope with lives. I won’t be there much longer. WHy waste time at a place that doesn’t give a rats ass about my mental health? I happen to look this up with the idea of introducing some mental health topics. I don’t think they’d go for it but I was fantasizing about it. Personally i’m struggling with some depression. I think. I can’t be sure.
Wow Erick- Thank you for being so vulnerable. And you clearly have insight because the root of the issues you talk about are mental health. They think that by going right at the issue of low productivity with productivity training is the answer. It’s far less intuitive and an approach that is rarely successful. I hope you find a place that appreciates you and supports you as you deserve. If you want to take a self evaluation online from a credible source about your depression, this is a good one. https://mantherapy.org/head-inspection/question
I hope our company hires you. I recommended you for a series for workplace wellness we have coming up. I saw you in Pennsylvania last year. Thank you for what you do.
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Kirwin- I really appreciate that. Thank you. Let me know if you want me to follow up and send you anything like a one sheet.