Manage Your Mental Health

Through­out my career coach­ing CEO’s and exec­u­tives, around the world, one of the most fas­ci­nat­ing learn­ings I’ve had is how men­tal health can change so quick­ly, and in ways that peo­ple don’t see coming.

We are all just one or two life events way away from a men­tal health cri­sis. It’s like nobody can sur­vive two or three head shots from a box­er like Mike Tyson.

When we break a bone, we go to the ER and get some­body to fix it. And when we break our brain or spir­it, we need to go to the men­tal health ver­sion of the ER which is a ther­a­pist or psychologist.

It’s easy to slip into that red zone of men­tal health. And, this year, amidst all the chaos around us in the world, I’ve noticed I am draw­ing on very spe­cif­ic tools and tech­niques to man­age my men­tal health.

Men­tal Health Month in the US, May 2025

Men­tal Health Week in Cana­da, May 5 to 11, 2025

So, I’d like to share with you some resources, in case you or any­one you know needs help:

1. Men­tal Health Con­tin­u­um. This mod­el is very help­ful to assess how you and those around you are doing, and an indi­ca­tion of what you could do. For exam­ple, the yel­low zone is an ear­ly warn­ing, the orange zone means you need to dou­ble-down on your resilience rit­u­als and book an appoint­ment with a pro­fes­sion­al, and the red zone means you need more seri­ous help, now, to get you through.

2. Men­tal Health First Aid (MHFA). Using the ALGEE mod­el (Assess, Listen, Give reas­sur­ance and infor­ma­tion, Encour­age appro­pri­ate pro­fes­sion­al help, and Empow­er with self-help strate­gies) MHFA pro­vides prac­ti­cal, step-by-step guid­ance about what to do if you or some­one else are hav­ing a men­tal health cri­sis. Learn more about ALGEE in action here and how to talk to your team about burnout here.

3. Here’s a sto­ry about ​“John”, a CEO who gener­ous­ly offered to tell the sto­ry of his debil­i­tat­ing burnout so that oth­ers may rec­og­nize them­selves and get help, soon­er than later.

4. Here is an inter­view with a CEO Michael Wend­land, who was very will­ing to share the sto­ry of the close call with his men­tal health. When he reached out to me for help with a chal­lenge in his busi­ness, it was clear he was also in crisis.

5. Men­tal Health Asso­ci­a­tions. Many men­tal health asso­ci­a­tions, around the world, pro­vide free, 24-hour cri­sis sup­port, 365 days of the year and men­tal health education.

In Cana­da & the US:

Call the 9−8−8 hot­line for men­tal health & sui­cide pre­ven­tion support.

6. Many com­pa­nies offer access to free coun­sel­ing through employ­ee assis­tance pro­grams. Although the com­pa­nies know how much usage these pro­grams get, they know none of the details, so con­fi­den­tial­i­ty is ensured.

7. Your Oxy­gen Mask First. I wrote this book to help lead­ers to not just sur­vive but thrive in lead­er­ship and in life that includes man­ag­ing their men­tal health. Check out these chap­ters for prac­ti­cal tools:

• Chap­ter 3 Dou­ble Your Resilience
• Chap­ter 6 Deal with Your Emo­tion­al Junk
• Chap­ter 7 Man­age Your Men­tal Health

8. And here’s the webi­nar ver­sion of my men­tal health/​resilience keynote, which I’ve deliv­ered more than 100 times.

The Chal­lenge

• What might you do to strength­en your own men­tal health?
• Who do you know who could use some addi­tion­al sup­port now?

Oth­er Blogs

• Man­ag­ing Your Men­tal Health in Tur­bu­lent Times
• How to Dis­cuss Burnout with Your Team
• Odds Are Your Team is Strug­gling & Not Telling You
• Find a Great Men­tal Health Practitioner

Old­er Podcasts

• Exec­u­tive Burnout: How Do You Know When You Need Help? Part 1
• Exec­u­tive Burnout: How Do You Know When You Need Help? Part 2