Advertise on podcast: John E. Martin Mental Healthcare Podcast Series

Occupational health and safety aren't confined to the physical and industrial protection of workers. Most of the time, job responsibilities take a toll on our mental health. By recognizing that workers' emotional and mental struggles are as equally important as their physical pain, Anita Tarab was able to start conversations around it and stir workers to be more open to receiving help.  Anita is the Global Sr. Director of Sustainability, Environment, Health, and Safety at Google Data Centers. She is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of employees and contractors at all Google data centers and construction sites across the globe. She trains company leaders to become more vulnerable, share their stories, and speak from their hearts. In this episode, you will hear how our guest combined her knowledge and experience to drill down the causes of mental health issues among workers in the mining industry and in the tech company she currently works at. Episode Quotes:What differences have you observed as you transitioned from mining to a giant tech company? [00:04:39] There was an absolute focus on safety in mining because we talked about life and death, and indeed, people did die. When you go into tech, and they're going, what do you mean? Will I fall out of my desk chair? But the data centers themselves had a lot of issues, especially with electrical safety, a tremendous amount of power that goes into data centers. What are your responsibilities as Global Senior Director of Sustainability, Environment, Health, and Safety? [00:06:40] We really have three missions, right? Protect the workers or anyone who comes to work on our site, not just Google people, but anyone who comes to work on or near a Google site. And that doesn't mean just a data center. It could mean a leased property or a warehouse. And those are often not Google employees, but I look at it as a moral responsibility to them.  The second part of our mission is to protect the innocent. So nothing leaves our sites, no spills and no air emissions, being completely 100% in compliance with the regulatory requirements, no matter where we are in the world is incredibly important to us. The final leg of that three-legged stool is to protect Google reputationally. I don't ever want to be in the news because of something that we didn't do, or we didn't do correctly, and protecting the environment and protecting people who come in contact with our facilities. What mental health and work-related challenges have you witnessed among workers? [00:08:22] Several years ago, I looked at who we were and said, we're physically protecting people, but are we protecting them emotionally? I looked at the things that drive construction workers or even data center workers or people who are on the road a lot to despair. And I was able to check almost all of the boxes in construction. They're often travelers who live in motels.  It's a very macho environment where talking about your problems and how you're feeling just as not exist, you can see within the construction industry, that the suicide rate is incredibly high. [00:09:57] The data center environment is also similar. Many of our workers come out of the military. It is another sort of very macho environment. Some do talk to each other, but if you're even slightly different if you're gay or BI or trans if you're not white, it is not as fun place to work as it could be. On incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into her team’s work and program. [00:22:34] We've contracted with a group called Black Girl Doctor. It is a team of essentially female Black psychologists who do monthly seminars open to whoever wants to be there but  focused on the Black community to come in and just talk with them and to speak. That's picking up some steam. I believe we need to bring in Spanish-speaking psychologists to do something very similar. Holes for us right now are the LGBTQ community where we really need to start focusing in that

In this episode, we speak with Erica Stephens-Lynch, Global Supplier Diversity Director at Dow (material sciences company) about how companies can contract with and support diverse suppliers. Diverse suppliers are businesses that are 51% or more owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, veterans, and other minorities.  The episode discusses how diverse suppliers can be supported by advocacy groups, health insurance pooling through professional employment organizations, creative payment terms and contracts, and the overall ways in which mental health challenges intertwine with these issues. When supported by well-resourced companies, diverse suppliers can profit and build generational wealth. However, they have a slimmer chance of penetrating the market when larger companies are chosen time and time again. Erica strives to change this inequitable industrial landscape. She builds the capacity and connects small businesses to work with bigger companies. A great deal of Erica's motivation comes from her desire to improve underserved communities. In this episode, you will gain insight into the major challenges that diverse suppliers face in stabilizing their business, as well as the mental health support they need. *Definition Notes:  Widgets are anything such as nuts, bolts, pipes, valves, fitting, or any trinket that is ordered to add to a larger productESG stands for environmental, social and corporate governanceEpisode quotes:What is Supplier Diversity and how does it affect businesses? [00:03:41] Supplier diversity focuses on woman-owned, minority-owned, LGBTQ-owned, veteran-owned, and disabled-owned businesses. Those five groups are the individuals that we are trying to make sure get an opportunity to succeed in the business world. So when you take a look at those different groups, there are particular needs that each of those groups addresses and within those groups, there are going to be different sets of needs. And it's really important because if you recognize they all have been in some way, shape or form underrepresented in the industry. And so what this is doing is trying to make sure that they now get to do business with the industry. They get to do business with big companies, Fortune 500 companies, Fortune 100 companies, and the like and bring their skills, their talents, their innovation to us. What are the biggest challenges for employees of diverse suppliers regarding mental health? [00:36:05] Mental health is something that can impact any one of us. You don't have to be a diverse supplier, you don't have to be in a big business, any individual can be impacted by mental health. The stigma is still there about mental health, but at the end of the day, it's getting better. But along with that, we've also got to understand what those resources are and be able to help direct people to get the help that they need. And that's, I think, the biggest challenge that you have in the industry because we're not focusing on mental health, we're focused on employing people.  Erica Stephens-Lynch encourages MBA students to have an impact on society through their entrepreneurial spirit. [00:49:46] I would just suggest that we start thinking bigger. We become those next diverse companies. We become those fulfillment of gaps in the industry, but we also focus not only on our sales, we focus on others. We focus on the community. We focus on giving back. That would be my biggest suggestion to how do we contribute and how do we move forward from here. Show Links:LinkedInDow Official Website

Growing up in a predominantly White community, Lee Jourdan knows that an inclusive and psychologically safe space is needed for people of color to reach their full potential at work. Lee graduated with a degree in National Security and Foreign Affairs from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was former Chief Diversity Officer, Global Diversity at Chevron Corporation, where he works to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion for all people in the workplace. Lee is currently an independent board director of PROS Holdings, a provider of AI-solutions, where he serves on the Leadership and Compensation committee. Lee also co-authored From Shoeshine to Star Wars, a book chronicling his father’s life and Black leadership. This episode will touch on the state of mental health of those who served in the military and how Lee Jourdan used his leadership role as chief diversity inclusion executive to increase the representation of women, Black, and more minorities in the workplace. Episode quotes:On being a leader from a young age. [00:02:48] "I continued to be in leadership positions not because I wanted to be a “leader”. I always felt like if there was something that needed to be done, someone kind of needed to start doing it. And as I think through my life, I've had occasion to do that from time to time." How can organizational leaders create an inclusive workspace with psychological safety aspects? [00:30:09] "I created an acronym, F.L.A.V. It stands for feedback, listening, authenticity, and vulnerability, which are the four things I think you need to create that psychologically safe space. As a leader, if you are providing feedback, both constructive and reinforcing, if you're providing that active listening, people know that you're really hearing what they're saying, that you're valuing what they're saying." On promoting mental health to communities of color [00:43:40] "I think the most important thing we can do across the board and particularly in communities of color, is to understand each other better, to do our homework, to do some reading, to pick up a book and just understand other people's perspectives." Advice for people pursuing their goals. [00:50:10] "I've found so many times throughout my career, I would just say yes to things I wasn't 100% sure that I could do. I would step outside my comfort zone, and those turned out to be the best opportunities that I ever had so I continued to do that. What I'll tell you is that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. So, step out of that comfort zone and do those things." Show Links:Lee Jourdan on LinkedInFrom Shoeshine to Star Wars

In this episode, we’ll talk about the accessibility, affordability, and diversity issues surrounding mental health care, including health insurance coverage and provider availability.  Karan Singh is the co-founder and COO of Ginger, a mental health company that provides chat with a trained behavioral health coach within seconds and video appointments with licensed therapists and psychiatrists within days. Karan advocates for a preventative approach to addressing the unmet needs in mental health, including health insurance coverage and diversity and availability of providers. Ginger has recently finalized a merger with the meditation and mindfulness-focused company Headspace, forming Headspace Health. Listen to learn how the merging of technology and mental health care will provide more people access to affordable and more inclusive services. Episode quotes: On why he got involved in the mental health care space and founded Ginger [00:02:59] "Culturally, socially, emotionally, this was the no-go zone for so many people. No one talks about mental health care, and certainly not in a lot of communities of color. As I started to dig into this space, I learned that many communities don't talk about mental health care, but the stigma around mental health is pretty pronounced. And I realized I wanted to have an impact on that. I didn't know exactly how and in what ways, but I got really interested in understanding this intersection of data and mental health care, and ultimately founded Ginger and have been on this adventure ever since, in pursuit of really delivering on that promise." Where do you see the innovation in the mental health space in the next 3 to 5 years? [00:25:51] "I think what we're going to start to see is an increased focus on not just accessibility and affordability, but efficacy. And really making sure that which we roll out works, right? And an increasing focus on science and evidence-based research to demonstrate the impact of these sorts of interventions. I think we're going to start to see more and more of this long tail of interventions if you will. These things that we've traditionally never really considered mental health treatments start to get adopted in small ways where we are able to leverage a lot of the data that we're collecting as a field to figure out what works for whom, when, and how." Thoughts on having a diverse team [00:35:48] "I think it starts from within, first and foremost, which is not only hiring a diverse set of providers but a diverse team at all levels of the organization, including leadership and board of directors. That's been a really big focus of ours and will continue to be a focus of ours to make sure that at every level of the organization, we commit to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging because, ultimately, I think it's the belonging that encompasses the rest. We thought long and hard to make sure that any group we considered joining forces with was aligned and had that same core commitment to DEIB and should factor into who we choose to partner with and how we grow. We're not doing it just because; we're doing it because it will create a better end product." With fewer resources, how can smaller companies provide better employee mental health care? [00:28:45] "I'd encourage them to see what they might already have access to because they may not realize that they already have access to a set of innovative solutions that actually could be quite effective. And if you're not sure, you know, ask your health plan, your benefits consultant, or other resources —they could help guide you through that process. Because there are actually a number of these programs that may be covered and they may have access. I think more broadly, we're going to start to see, especially as we continue to focus on affordability, that these solutions do become economical for that segment of the market as well. That for the price of, in effect, covering lunch, you can actually get access t

In the first episode of the John E. Martin Mental Health Care podcast, we feature corporate health and wellbeing coach Newton Cheng. His passion solves business problems for employers who want to provide physical and mental health support to their employees.  As the Global Director of Health and Performance at Google, Newton has been helping businesses create a culture of wellbeing. He emphasized that investing in their employees' wellbeing generates a greater return on investment than clawing back healthcare claims costs. Tune in to the next episodes of John E. Martin's Mental Healthcare Podcast, where you'll learn how to care for your wellness and overall mental health. Episode Quotes:On calling their department Health and Performance [00:03:45] “We're called Health and Performance for a very intentional reason. We know there is a really big connection between a person's health and wellbeing and human performance. There's always this tension in the workplace between short-term performance and managing your health and wellbeing. And we believe that by combining the science of these two areas, we can help both individuals and organizations be way more successful and thrive in the long run.” The impact of transitioning wellness offerings from on-site to digital [00:05:46] “The transition to digital helped us reach people in new ways, but then now there's a new tension of being always on the screen.  With digital, not only could we reach people through a variety of different programs like talent shows, dance, cooking classes, and we can do that much more flexibly through digital channels, but we can now reach right into your home. So, we hear these awesome stories about not only the Google employee participating, but their son or their spouse or their grandparent, which is something that was just really hard for us to do before was to engage them. And that's just a wonderful thing. The issue now is we all know the issues around the fatigue of video chat, of being on constant calls all day, and how the number and duration of calls have actually increased. So, on the one hand, we can do some new really interesting things for your health and wellbeing via digital. On the other hand, we know it's a really fraught way to deliver services right now because of that fatigue.” The benefits of investing in caring for the team's mental health and wellness [00:09:02] “The bigger opportunity I see is, first, there is a huge body of research where there's a huge relationship between an organization's core business strategy and their culture, and how those things support each other and make the business successful. Over here, we've talked about the science of the connection between health and wellbeing and then human performance. And so how by improving someone's health and wellbeing, you can improve performance across a variety of contexts. That's the huge ROI I see where if I'm talking about an organization the size of Google, clawing back healthcare claims costs is on the order of millions. If I talk about a percentage performance bump across all the individuals in an organization like Google, that puts us into talking about billions of value. So, that's where I feel like the conversation needs to go. There's a lot of research and connecting the dots that need to be done, but it's a massive opportunity.” How do you create a program that encourages diversity and inclusion among the participants? [00:30:43] “There is a diversity problem where if you look at your practitioners, people of color are just not heavily represented. Some of our team decided that this was a good time to move on because they had geographical flexibility. And so, we had the opportunity to rebuild our team. What looked like was the sourcing of candidates, suddenly there were a lot more people of color. And so, inadvertently because of the pandemic, we had a heavy turnover. Our team shifted from not very many people of color to over half people of colo

Welcome to the John E. Martin Mental Healthcare Podcast Series. My name is Corinne Marquardt, and I'm Elle Wisnicki. We are both full-time MBA students at Haas and your cohost for this show. This podcast mini-series was designed with two audiences in mind, case competition participants and general mental health enthusiasts. We are excited you all are here. We know that some of our listeners are competitors in the John Martin Mental Healthcare Case competition. Each of our guests was selected to give you an additional perspective as you work on your competition solutions. In our first three episodes, you will hear from Newton Cheng, Director of Global Health and Performance at Google, Karan Singh, co-founder and COO of Ginger, and Gary Demasi, Google's Global Director of Data Center, Energy and Location Strategy, as well as Cloud. As you think about culturally responsive care and mental health, we hope these diverse leaders’ perspectives will both inspire you and give you tactical considerations to expand on your solution. Our last two episodes will feature guests and topics intended to help our finalist teams. We don't want to give away too much on the final prompt but suffice to say that we are excited for you to hear our guests’ wisdom and stories. Beyond our competitors, we also welcome any listener who is passionate about bringing mental health support to diverse audiences. In each interview, our guests share learning specific to providing mental health support for employees. But just as importantly, our guests also share a little bit of their own life stories. We were inspired by our guests and we hope you will be too. Our episodes will be dropping throughout October and November. So, go ahead and tap that follow button, so you get notified whenever a new episode drops. We are so excited to connect with you and share the stories of our industry leader guests. See you back here soon.