November is Men's Mental Health Month in the US

It’s great to get back into the rhythm of in-per­son keynotes and work­shops relat­ed to Your Oxy­gen Mask First. Hav­ing real con­ver­sa­tions with suc­cess­ful CEOs, entre­pre­neurs and exec­u­tives about men­tal health and the strug­gles that we all face, is always an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence – and I appre­ci­ate the lead­ers who come up after­wards to share their sto­ries with me. That’s not always easy or com­fort­able to do.

Whether vir­tu­al­ly or live, I love open­ing that con­ver­sa­tion so that when – not if – peo­ple hit a men­tal rough patch, it’s eas­i­er to talk, reach out and get help. There’s com­fort in know­ing they’re not the only one and strug­gles don’t need to be kept secret.

Talk about men­tal health and resilience

Most suc­cess­ful entre­pre­neurs and lead­ers I work with seek help when they need to.

If someone’s mind or spir­it is bro­ken from too much stress, pres­sure or pain, it’s crit­i­cal to talk about it (as uncom­fort­able as it may be) and get pro­fes­sion­al help.

It’s fun­ny that there’s no shame or judge­ment about going to a doc­tor if we’re phys­i­cal­ly ill, the den­tist to fix our teeth, or a gym to make our body fit­ter. Yet, there’s a soci­etal stig­ma about peo­ple who need help to make their minds stronger and healthier.

So, after these ses­sions, I find it excit­ing to see lead­ers go back and share their sto­ries with their teams, mak­ing it eas­i­er for oth­ers to open up. We must make sure that men­tal health and per­son­al resilience is a part of the con­ver­sa­tion in your company.

Did you know?

Since it’s Men’s Men­tal Health Month in the US, here are some facts:

• Over 6,000,000 men suf­fer from depres­sion each year.
• Male depres­sion often goes undiagnosed.
• Men are more like­ly to report fatigue, irri­tabil­i­ty, loss of inter­est in work or hob­bies, rather than feel­ings of sad­ness or worthlessness.
• More than 4 times as many men as women die by sui­cide in the U.S.
• Approx­i­mate­ly 1 in 5 men devel­op alco­hol depen­den­cy dur­ing their lives.

-Men­tal Health America

• 6 out of 10 exec­u­tives and board mem­bers who suf­fered men­tal ill-health dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic turned to poten­tial­ly unhealthy cop­ing mech­a­nisms such as alco­hol and gam­bling instead of seek­ing help.
• Over 80% of busi­ness lead­ers sur­veyed showed symp­toms such as fatigue, low moti­va­tion, mood swings, and sleep difficulties.

-Exec­u­tive Well­be­ing Index in 2021, BUPA/​The Cor­po­rate Governor’s Institute

The Amer­i­can Heart Asso­ci­a­tion esti­mates that, by 2030,

men­tal health issues will cost com­pa­nies $6.1 tril­lion annually.

As I talk about in Your Oxy­gen Mask First (Chap­ter 7, Man­age Your Men­tal Health) this Men­tal Health Con­tin­u­um mod­el is very help­ful to assess how you and oth­ers around you are doing:

Image Source: BC Emer­gency Health Services

The Chal­lenge

• What are you going to do to help make men­tal health a pri­or­i­ty in your world – for your­self, your fam­i­ly and your team?

If you want to open the con­ver­sa­tion in your orga­ni­za­tion with an all-com­pa­ny work­shop or keynote, vir­tu­al­ly or in per­son – or for an indus­try event – please let me know.

Addi­tion­al Podcasts

Lead­er­ship & Men­tal Health Dur­ing COVID 19

Addi­tion­al Blogs

Tak­ing a Men­tal Health Break

Man­ag­ing Your Men­tal Health in Tur­bu­lent Times

Is Men­tal & Emo­tion­al Health a Pri­or­i­ty in Your Boardroom?

The Psy­cho­log­i­cal Price of Entrepreneurship

Lawrence & Co’s work focus­es on sus­tain­able and enhanced growth for you and your busi­ness. Our diverse and expe­ri­enced group of advi­sors can help your lead­ers and exec­u­tive teams stay com­pet­i­tive through the use of var­i­ous learn­ing tools includ­ing work­shops, webi­na­rs, exec­u­tive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achiev­ing lead­ers to have it all – a great busi­ness and a reward­ing life. Con­tact us for sim­ple and impact­ful advice. No BS. No fluff.