Honestly Mental, the podcast

🎧 Episode# 5: Grief is More Than Loss of Life 🎧

“Grief is like the ocean, it comes in waves ebbing and flowing sometimes the water is calm and sometimes it is overwhelming all we can do is learn to swim.” - Vicki Harrison

Erika delves into the theme of navigating grief with her guest, Megan McCann.

Megan McCann, a distinguished leader in IT recruitment and technology services, is renowned for her expertise in building and guiding highly successful IT firms, as well as her commitment to promoting diversity and nurturing talent within the technology sector.

Beyond her role as CEO, Megan’s influence extends widely in the tech community. She is a co-founder of ARA, a national organization dedicated to empowering women in technology and leadership through mentorship, events, and various programs, showcasing her dedication to advancing women in the tech industry.

In this episode, they explore the various stages of grief, encompassing denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Megan candidly shares her personal experiences with grief, including the loss of her father and the ensuing challenges. She also reflects on how grief has shaped her leadership style and coping mechanisms.

At work, Megan embraces vulnerability with her team, setting an example for them to feel secure in doing the same. She emphasizes the importance of acknowledging that it’s okay not to always feel okay. Throughout the conversation, there is a recurring emphasis on the necessity of open dialogue and support for individuals grappling with grief and mental health challenges.

Episode Highlights:

✅ Introduction to the five stages of grief & the broader dimensions of grief beyond loss of life

🗣️ How COVID has been a catalyst for destigmatizing mental health

🌀 Acknowledgment that grief and loss are nonlinear and universal experiences

✨ Importance of seeking harmony in life by prioritizing personal mental wellness

💞 Affirmation that seeking help, such as therapy, signifies strength rather than weakness

Please rate and review Honestly Mental. It helps the show grow. The more people we can reach, the more people we can help. That is our overall goal, to help as many people as we can. Thank you!

🎧 Episode# 4: Workplace Emotion Literacy and Pitfalls of Not Letting in Emotions 🎧

Antonio Damasio hits the nail on the head, “We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think.”

We are “feeling machines” not just in our personal lives, but at work as well. We can’t just “turn off” our emotions and feelings because we are at work.

So how do we best approach it is the workplace?

Ashley Andersen, SVP ClearEdge Rising, and I tackle just that: workplace literacy and equipping managers with the tools to handle and talk about emotions.

With the world of work changing it’s approach to focus on mental wellness and wellbeing, you’ll learn about what emotional literacy is and how it ties into emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a skill that helps you manage both your emotions and the emotions of others.

It’s said that most people can only identify 3 emotions in themselves when they are experiencing them, but more than 80 emotions and emotional experiences exist beyond the common ones: glad, mad, and sad.

Ashley and I will talk about how to get comfortable having conversations about emotions. We’ll discuss surfacing them, understanding the implications of how they show up, what they look like, and what they are there for. Most importantly, how to work with people going through those emotional experiences. As fellow human beings (not a therapist) we can empower people, leaders, and organizations to foster an environment with psychological safety.

Ashley challenges us to consider, “how we can enact our own internal courage to be able to stay in that discomfort, in service of being be able to better know what we need and to ask for what we need and help others to do the same.”

Simply put, our feelings just want to be felt, heard, and recognized. If we put in the work to build the skill to be present and show up with emotional literacy, our organizations can experience increased productivity, morale and overall satisfaction on the job. But leaders must put in the work - it has to be more than just the intention of doing so. Ashley will show you how.

Episode Highlights:

🗣 We tackle myths surrounding mental health and the workplace

🌟 Importance of recognizing your own emotions to get curious about others’

🦸 Psychological safety and how getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is everyone’s job, not just HR

💻 Pitfalls and implications of not letting in emotions in a professional environment

💞 Toolkit for fostering an environment to ensure employees are seen, heard and understood

Also, please rate and review Honestly Mental. It helps the show grow. The more people we can reach, the more people we can help. That is our overall goal, to help as many people as we can. Thank you!

🎧 Episode# 3: Thriving following diagnoses of PPD & GAD  🎧

Introducing Rocki Howard, a bold, beautiful, badass pioneer!

“My husband often says if more women were represented in healthcare, we would get more answers to women specific issues.”

She’s a DEIB influencer, on Staffing Industry Analysts - Global Power 150 list, and hosts Grown Woman Wednesday. Rocki also has a wonderful tool kit to help her mental health. She will share that with you in this episode. 

This is a tool kit Rocki learned battling postpartum depression (PPD) and living with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Rocki is a true testimonial of those who are active participants in their mental health, continuing to thrive despite having a mental health illness.  

This episode will cover:

🫶🏽 Rocki’s journey with PPD, and subsequent diagnosis of having GAD

🤱🏾 How PPD and GAD impacted Rocki as a mother

🫂 What support looks like from family and friends

🦸🏾 Leveraging your diagnoses as a super power!

🛠️ Several tools to utilize for mental health and wellness

Rocki’s Achievements:

Founder of diversiology.io

Host of Grown Women Wednesday. 

Staffing Industry Analysts - DEI Influencer in 2022 and 2023.

Staffing Industry Analysts - Global Power 150 in 2023. 

Facts about PPD & GAD:

In the US, PPD affects every 1 in 7-10 women, though the numbers are likely underestimated Scientists are unable to identify a single cause for PPD. 

6.8 million people, 3% of the US, are diagnosed with GAD, women are 2x more likely than men.

Sources:

https://www.postpartumdepression.org/postpartum-depression/

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/perinatal-depression

🎧 Episode# 2: Your Past Does Not Define Who You Are 🎧

Y’all, can we get real? 

I’d like to tell you a bit of my story. I’m Erika Diaz, the host of Honestly Mental, the podcast. My goal with this podcast is to have more honest discussions about mental health. Not just mine, but others as well. On the next episode, you’ll hear Rocki Howard’s story.

Today, you’ll hear the purpose behind this podcast. Where I am at today, what I struggle with, and why I struggle with them. Honesty is the best way to break the stigma surrounding mental health. 

This emotional episode will provide you with further insight into traumas that used to govern my actions and relationships, as well as how the lack of protection growing up fueled distrust with those around me. I leaned heavily into school and work for external validation and controlling outcomes, creating a false sense of identity.   

Episode Highlights:

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Who I am - as a wife, mama and women in leadership

👊🏼 Overcoming obstacles of my past & how it previously fueled risk taking, poor relationships and impacted the of ease of being a mom

💻 From the age of 14, how my identity being tied up in work came to be

🫶🏼 My first suicide attempt and grappling with the reality of it

✨ How I am reshaping my past experiences for good

Oh, and speaking of the next episode and Rocki Howard, you are going to love her! Rocki is just amazing. She has a great mental health tool kit she’ll offer you. Subscribe and get the automatic download. Also, please rate and review Honestly Mental. It helps the show grow. The more people we can reach, the more people we can help. That is our overall goal, to help as many people as we can. Thank you!

Honestly Mental, the podcast - Link to Listen!

“Whatever your walk of life is, I think you have to be real about it.” 

Honestly Mental, the podcast, matches what Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder says there. Hi, I’m Erika Diaz. Like millions of others, my walk of life includes struggles with mental health. On Honestly Mental, my guests and I are real about it. 

My mental health struggles include suicidal ideation, postpartum depression, and an Outpatient Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). 

I’m also a wife, a mama, and a woman in leadership. 

Honestly Mental is not pity party. We foster understanding. And we focus on growth. As Rob Hunter puts it, “The key is approaching your mental health in the right way, in a realistic way.”

We will discuss tools to manage mental health, how mental health impacts office life, and how to talk with your family and coworkers about it. 

Honestly Mental is introduced as a raw, authentic podcast aimed at destigmatizing mental health by continuing the conversation, raising awareness, providing hope, with an ultimate goal of saving lives.

This episode will cover:

💁🏽‍♀️ Impacts of mental health on my day-to-day & how it shows up (emotionally & physically)

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Juggling being a wife, mama, and women in leadership with mental illness 

🌀 Awareness of a downward spirals and the tools I utilizes to overcome them

💻 How my identity being tied up in all things work, landed me an Outpatient Partial Hospitalization stay

🗣️ Seeking out help when symptoms of mental illness arise

👉🏼 Why honesty is the foundation of Honestly Mental