At Work, Under Pressure

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Suicide Prevention Awareness Month gives us a chance to talk about saving lives, but to understand where suicide prevention is today, we also have to understand the long, complicated history that shaped the stigma, silence, punishment, and public health efforts surrounding suicide in the Western world.

In this solo episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer walks through a rapid-fire history of suicide, from ancient Greece and Rome to early Christianity, medieval religious doctrine, English common law, colonial America, decriminalization, Durkheim’s sociological theory, and the rise of modern suicide prevention efforts.

Jessi explores how suicide moved through multiple cultural frames over time: a sin against God, an act of cowardice, an honorable death in some Roman contexts, a crime against the king, a symptom of insanity, a social problem, and eventually a preventable public health issue. She also reflects on how ideas from Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, English common law, Durkheim, and modern prevention organizations continue to echo in the way people talk about suicide today.

Jessi discusses:

• How ancient Greek, Roman, and Christian beliefs shaped early suicide stigma
• How suicide became tied to sin, morality, confession, burial rights, and criminal punishment
• Why mental illness became an “excusable” explanation for suicide, but often in limited and stigmatizing ways
• How suicide was criminalized in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the United States
• How Durkheim helped shift suicide from a purely individual or moral issue to a social problem
• How modern suicide prevention efforts emerged through crisis centers, national strategies, awareness campaigns, and public health work

This episode is for suicide prevention professionals, HR leaders, clinicians, educators, faith leaders, public health professionals, crisis responders, and anyone who wants to understand why suicide stigma is so deeply rooted.

Because the way we talk about suicide did not come from nowhere.

It was built over thousands of years, and if we want to dismantle the stigma, we need to understand the history we inherited.

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• LinkedIn
• Free Suicide Risk Readiness Diagnostic

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Before E! became a global entertainment brand, it started with limited money, limited credibility, and a team small enough to include 11 employees and 31 interns.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Larry Namer, co-founder of E!, to talk about building a 24-hour television network from almost nothing, leading through scarcity, taking creative risks, expanding internationally, adapting to technology, and why leaders need to balance toughness with fairness.

Larry shares how E! grew from a scrappy cable startup into one of the fastest-growing networks in the world, why the team’s lack of rigid rules became an advantage, and how shows like Talk Soup and Fashion Police reflected a willingness to break from polished entertainment coverage and show audiences something more human.

In this episode, Jessi and Larry discuss:

• What it was like building E! with far less funding than a traditional television network required
• How scarcity, creativity, and a lack of rigid rules shaped E!’s early culture
• Why Larry believes tenacity and work ethic are harder to find today
• How leaders can tell the difference between conviction and stubbornness
• Why technology, including AI, should be embraced with guardrails instead of ignored
• What the entertainment industry needs to do better to protect the humans behind the machine
• Why return on investment should include social impact, not just shareholder returns

This episode is for founders, executives, creatives, entertainment leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone trying to build something meaningful in an industry that keeps changing.

Because sometimes the best way to build the future is to stop following the crowd.

CONNECT WITH LARRY

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Wikipedia
• E! Entertainment

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Modern work often rewards performance, extraction, and fitting in.

Katherine Dudtschak believes there is another way.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Katherine Dudtschak of Sincerely to talk about wholeness, storytelling, gender affirmation, psychological safety, leadership, trauma, hope, and what it means to build workplaces where people can be fully human.

Katherine shares how her own journey through corporate leadership, affirming her gender, suicidal ideation, healing, and storytelling shaped the work she does today through Sincerely. She also explains why organizations cannot simply declare vulnerability as a value. They have to build the conditions, support, and leadership containers that make vulnerability safe enough to survive.

In this episode, Jessi and Katherine discuss:

• Why modern systems often prioritize extraction, performance, and fitting in
• How reconnecting with the inner child can help people reclaim wholeness
• Why storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful forms of learning
• How Katherine’s gender affirmation shaped her understanding of hope, courage, and belonging
• Why vulnerability at work requires professional support, psychological safety, and consent
• How senior leaders can model self-awareness, compassion, and regenerative leadership
• Why leaders can either add to someone’s hurt or become part of the reason they find hope

This episode is for executives, HR leaders, culture leaders, DEI leaders, mental health advocates, and anyone trying to build a workplace that values people beyond their productivity.

Because people are not machines.

They are stories, wounds, wisdom, longing, courage, and possibility.

CONNECT WITH KATHERINE

• LinkedIn
• Website
• Sincerely, Katherine: Life, Gender, Inclusivity, and Leadership for the Future

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Sometimes the workload looks reasonable on paper, but your team still looks exhausted, distracted, reactive, and overwhelmed.

Dr. Liane Davey says that is because leaders are often looking at the wrong load.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Dr. Liane Davey of 3COze to talk about thoughtload, burnout, conflict debt, emotional contagion, decision fatigue, workplace safety, and why the invisible cognitive and emotional burden people carry may be doing more damage than the visible workload itself.

Liane explains why thoughtload follows us everywhere, how stress differs from burnout, why unresolved conflict compounds like debt, and what leaders can do to help teams reconnect to meaningful outcomes before overwhelm becomes a safety or mental health issue.

In this episode, Jessi and Liane discuss:

• Why leaders misdiagnose burnout when they only look at workload
• How thoughtload creates cognitive, emotional, and physical safety risks
• The difference between stress, distress, burnout, and quiet quitting
• Why people need “no input” time to metabolize what they are carrying
• How conflict debt compounds and travels home with employees
• Why teams need to reconnect to the outcome they are truly trying to create
• How suicide loss affects an entire organization through emotional contagion

This episode is for executives, HR leaders, managers, safety professionals, team leaders, and anyone trying to understand why people can be overwhelmed even when the work itself looks manageable.

Because sometimes the work is not the problem.

The thoughtload is.

CONNECT WITH DR. DAVEY

• LinkedIn
• Personal Website
• Professional Website
• Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work

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Some workplaces take care of their employees because the law says they have to.

Others ask a deeper question: who do we choose to be as an employer?

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Mike Frost of the Ko-Kwel Casino Resort to talk about hospitality, tribal HR, employee dignity, gaming, rebranding, integrated behavioral health, and what it means to support employees through hard moments with humanity instead of hiding behind legal minimums.

Mike shares what he appreciates about working in a tribal enterprise, how Ko-Kwel approaches dignity and respect in the workplace, and why HR has to look beyond one incident or one performance issue to understand the whole person. He also explains some of the unique legal and operational realities of tribal gaming organizations, including where state and federal employment laws may or may not apply, and why Ko-Kwel still chooses to offer protections and support because it is the right thing to do.

In this episode, Jessi and Mike discuss:

• What makes hospitality employees uniquely suited for guest service and high-contact work
• How Ko-Kwel Casino Resort’s rebrand connected the organization more deeply to tribal identity
• Why dignity at work often depends on hard behind-the-scenes HR conversations
• What tribal HR leaders navigate that non-tribal organizations may not understand
• Why “we can terminate them” is not the same as “that is who we choose to be”
• How integrated behavioral health supports employees in a medically underserved community
• Why workplace suicide prevention matters to HR, employees, families, and teams

This episode is for HR professionals, hospitality leaders, gaming leaders, tribal enterprise leaders, people managers, and anyone trying to build a workplace where employees are treated with dignity even when things get hard.

Because legal permission is not the same thing as organizational character.

CONNECT WITH MIKE

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn
• Website

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When suicide loss touches a workplace, employees do not need leaders to have perfect words.

They need leaders to show up.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Monica Tomchick of UniBank to talk about suicide loss, grief, workplace response, HR preparedness, parenting through family mental health history, and why organizations need more than a gift card when something devastating happens.

Monica shares personal and professional experiences with suicide loss, including the death of her children’s father and a workplace suicide at a healthcare facility where employees were left trying to process grief, guilt, shock, and unanswered questions. She also reflects on how different workplaces responded to bereavement, why grief is not linear, and how she has equipped her own children with language for depression and mental health before they need it.

In this episode, Jessi and Monica discuss:

• How suicide loss creates complicated grief, guilt, and “why didn’t I see it?” questions
• Why organizations need a crisis response plan before workplace suicide happens
• What Monica wishes her workplace had done differently after an employee suicide
• Why imperfect presence is often more powerful than polished corporate response
• How bereavement policies can fail employees when grief does not follow a timeline
• Why families need to talk about depression and mental health before a crisis
• How leaders can support employees by listening, showing up quickly, and bringing in the right help

This episode is for HR professionals, managers, executives, people leaders, and anyone responsible for supporting employees after loss, trauma, suicide, or serious mental health crisis.

Because grief does not care about your five-day leave policy.

And people remember who showed up.

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• LinkedIn
• Website

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Inclusion is not just a nice message during Pride Month.

It is the difference between people showing up guarded, exhausted, and afraid, or showing up with enough safety to contribute fully.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Mischa Oak, author of Rainbow Wisdom, to talk about LGBTQ+ inclusion, queer resilience, Two-Spirit history, youth mental health, workplace belonging, allyship, and why silence can become harmful when it leaves people wondering whether they are still safe and welcome.

Mischa shares how being one of the first gay people in the world to get married on live TV became part of his advocacy journey, and how his work now helps organizations see the LGBTQ+ community not only as a group to protect, but as a source of wisdom, innovation, empathy, and possibility.

In this episode, Jessi and Mischa discuss:

• Why queer employees are constantly assessing whether it is safe to be themselves
• How silence from leaders can create uncertainty, fear, and emotional exhaustion
• Why LGBTQ+ youth need affirmation, safety, and support from adults around them
• How historical and Indigenous perspectives challenge modern anti-LGBTQ+ narratives
• Why identity-based rejection contributes to self-harm, suicide, housing instability, and mental health risk
• What leaders can do to support LGBTQ+ employees through policy, behavior, and human check-ins
• How inclusion can unlock innovation, empathy, civic engagement, and stronger teams

This episode is for executives, HR leaders, DEI professionals, managers, educators, youth-serving professionals, and anyone responsible for creating spaces where people do not have to hide to survive.

Because people do their best work when they are not using half their energy to decide whether they are safe.

CONNECT WITH MISCHA

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Website
• TEDx Talk
• Rainbow Wisdom: 18 LGBTQ+ Life Lessons for Everyone

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Most workplace problems are communication problems.

But that does not mean they are simple.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Marlo Lyons, executive coach, HR leader, attorney, former investigative reporter, and host of Work Unscripted, to talk about feedback, trust, team dynamics, workplace investigations, leadership growth, and what it really means to make people feel heard.

Marlo shares how her career path from journalism to law to HR to executive coaching has always centered on people, stories, and seeing the patterns others miss. She also explains why leaders often mishandle employee feedback, how team perceptions can become self-fulfilling, and why the aftermath of a workplace investigation requires more than sending people back to work and hoping for the best.

In this episode, Jessi and Marlo discuss:

• Why leaders should take employee feedback seriously, even when it feels small or unclear
• How trust breaks when employees do not feel safe giving feedback
• Why leaders should avoid “why” questions and use curiosity-based language instead
• How to help employees feel heard even when the answer is no
• What changes as leaders move from task execution to strategic executive thinking
• Why workplace investigations can leave both employees and managers feeling traumatized
• How leaders can dig deeper when someone may be masking pressure, pain, or distress

This episode is for executives, HR leaders, managers, legal teams, coaches, and anyone responsible for feedback, conflict, culture repair, or leading people through hard conversations.

Because people do not just need answers.

They need to feel heard.

CONNECT WITH MARLO

• LinkedIn (Personal)
• LinkedIn (Business)
• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Website

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The hardest workplace conversations rarely go well by accident.

They go well because leaders have built trust, created clarity, and learned how to handle human moments before the crisis arrives.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Sara Stowe of True Terpenes to talk about psychological safety, difficult conversations, performance feedback, leadership development, mental health first aid, and what it means to support employees without pretending HR is therapy.

Sara shares how her background in theater shaped the way she reads subtext, looks for truth beneath the surface, and approaches people challenges with empathy and curiosity. She also reflects on how mental health first aid training prepared her to respond when an employee experienced a serious and highly visible workplace crisis.

In this episode, Jessi and Sara discuss:

• How theater training translates into empathy, truth-seeking, and better HR judgment
• Why termination should never be framed too casually as a “gift”
• How weekly one-on-ones create the foundation for hard conversations
• Why specific, observable feedback is more useful than vague criticism
• How neuroscience, psychological safety, and collaboration improve performance discussions
• What mental health first aid gave Sara when a real workplace crisis occurred
• Why mental health support affects retention, safety, trust, and the bottom line

This episode is for HR leaders, managers, executives, and anyone responsible for giving feedback, navigating employee crises, or creating a workplace where people feel safe enough to speak up.

Because psychological safety is not built in the five minutes before a difficult conversation.

It is built in everything that happens before it.

CONNECT WITH SARA

• LinkedIn
• True Terpenes

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HR is often treated as a collection of disconnected functions: benefits, payroll, hiring, compliance, performance, and employee relations.

Kayshia Kruger sees it differently.

In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Kayshia Kruger of ORC to talk about people operations, organization development, AI, people analytics, positive psychology, and what happens when organizations stop treating employees as disconnected problems and start looking at the whole system.

Kayshia shares how her early interest in psychology led her away from clinical therapy and into industrial-organizational psychology, where she found a way to apply human behavior at scale. She also explains how ORC restructured traditional HR into a people operations function designed to connect organization development, compliance, employee experience, leadership, systems, and field operations.

In this episode, Jessi and Kayshia discuss:

• How ORC supports infrastructure projects through right-of-way professional services
• Why Kayshia helped shift HR into a people operations model at ORC
• How organization development looks at structural, leadership, cultural, and adaptive depth
• Why positive psychology belongs in the workplace
• How AI is changing talent strategy, hiring, data, and organizational design
• Why companies need AI governance, clean data, and human-centered ethics
• How people analytics can improve attraction, retention, engagement, and development

This episode is for HR leaders, people operations professionals, organization development practitioners, executives, talent leaders, and anyone trying to build a more connected, ethical, and human-centered workplace.

Because the future of work will not be shaped by AI alone.

It will be shaped by the people brave enough to keep humans at the center of it.

CONNECT WITH KAYSHIA

• LinkedIn
• ORC