Mental Health Momentum

What if the habits that make you successful at work are the same ones destroying your mental health?

Long hours. Constant urgency. Answering emails at midnight. Skipping family events because work comes first. Somewhere along the way, being exhausted became a badge of honor. And in many workplaces, the people pushing themselves hardest are the ones getting promoted.

Jeri Larsen thinks we've got it backward.

In this episode of Silicon Slopes Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, welcomes Jeri Larsen, founder of Manage for Good, to discuss the dangerous relationship between workplace culture, professional success, and mental health.

Drawing from her experience as a chief operating officer, chief people officer, business consultant, author, and parent, Larsen challenges the idea that success requires sacrificing your health, relationships, and personal happiness.

She also shares the deeply personal question a therapist once asked her: If you were no longer useful, would you still believe you were worthy of love?

It's a question that changed how she thought about success.

In this episode, discover:

• The manufactured urgency problem: Why so many workplaces operate as though everything is an emergency, and how that pressure contributes to burnout.

• Why burnout gets rewarded: How promotions, praise, and workplace expectations can encourage unhealthy behaviors.

• The productivity trap: Why high achievers often tie their personal worth to how much they accomplish.

• The leadership connection: How exhausted managers unintentionally create unhealthy environments for their teams.

• Setting boundaries without sacrificing success: Why protecting your health and relationships can make you a better professional.

• The generational divide: How Gen Z's expectations around purpose, recognition, and mental health are challenging traditional management practices.

• The glass balls vs. rubber balls principle: How to recognize which parts of your life can bounce back and which deserve greater protection.

• Building better workplaces: Why organizations don't have to drive employees into the ground to grow.

Jeri also discusses her book, Managed for Good: Signals of Impact, which examines organizational warning signs and the leadership decisions that shape workplace culture.

For anyone who has ever felt guilty taking a day off, missed an important family moment for work, or wondered whether their accomplishments are ever enough, this conversation offers a different way to define success. Watch now to discover why taking care of yourself may be one of the smartest professional decisions you'll ever make.

Please check out Jeri’s new book: “Manage For Good: Signals of Impact” available on Amazon.

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan welcomes Careshmeh Dean, award-winning author, speaker, entrepreneur, and host of The Dean's List podcast, for an emotional conversation about grief, resilience, faith, and finding hope after unimaginable loss.

Careshmeh is the author of Made for Me, a memoir chronicling her journey through love, heartbreak, healing, and the unexpected second chance that changed her life.

After finding the love of her life following a divorce, Careshmeh believed her future was finally falling into place. Then her husband was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Despite treatment and a stem cell transplant, his cancer returned, and he ultimately passed away.

What followed was more than heartbreak.

Careshmeh describes falling into profound, prolonged grief that left her struggling to function, find effective mental health support, or imagine a future worth looking forward to. Even ordinary expectations, like returning to work, felt impossible.

Together, Careshmeh and Dr. Morgan explore:

• Why grief doesn't follow a predictable timeline.

• What complicated grief can feel like and why finding the right support matters.

• How well-meaning expectations can make grieving people feel even more isolated.

• The emotional challenges of losing a spouse and rebuilding a life.

• How faith, connection, and storytelling helped Careshmeh navigate devastating loss.

• Why healing doesn't mean forgetting someone you love.

• How accepting a new reality can open the door to unexpected happiness.

• Why moving forward is different from trying to recreate the past.

One of the conversation's most powerful lessons is that we cannot go backward, no matter how desperately we want to.

Careshmeh explains how learning to accept her new life helped her rediscover her capacity for love, connection, and purpose. So can you.

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with Tamra Rachol, workplace culture and employee experience leader at JobNimbus, to talk about mental health, authenticity, Gen Z, leadership, and creating workplaces where people genuinely want to stay.

Tamra's path to workplace mental health advocacy has taken her from a traveling carnival to restaurants, healthcare, technical support, marketing, and eventually the tech industry. She's also a survivor of domestic violence who has transformed her own difficult experiences into opportunities to advocate for mental health awareness, suicide prevention, and people who may feel overlooked.

Today, she brings those experiences into the workplace.

Tamra believes employee well-being isn't built through occasional wellness events. It's created in the everyday interactions between leaders and employees: asking how someone is doing, listening to the answer, creating space for honest conversations, recognizing good work, and making people feel like they matter.

As she tells Dr. Morgan, creating that culture required earning trust from both employees and leadership. By consistently showing up authentically, she watched coworkers become more open, vulnerable, and willing to address problems instead of burying them.

Dr. Morgan and Tamra explore:

• Why workplace mental health has to become part of everyday leadership.

• How authenticity from one person can begin changing an entire culture.

• Why psychological safety requires more than a policy or mission statement.

• What Gen Z is asking employers to do differently.

• How making employees feel valued can strengthen loyalty and retention.

• Why leaders need to listen before trying to change workplace culture.

• How vulnerability and honest communication can reduce mental health stigma.

• Why small acts of kindness can have an impact far beyond the person receiving them.

Tamra also shares one of the episode's most memorable stories: her “surprise and delight squad.” She gave employees gift cards and asked them to quietly recognize coworkers who needed encouragement or had done something meaningful.

One recipient later told her that shortly before receiving that recognition, he had been talking with his therapist about feeling inadequate and believing he was failing. Tamra's small gesture showed him that someone else saw something valuable in him that he couldn't see himself at that moment.

That's the heart of this conversation. Workplace mental health doesn't always begin with a massive initiative. Sometimes it starts with noticing another person.

Mental Health Momentum is a Silicon Slopes podcast exploring mental health in business and beyond and the practical ways individuals and organizations can create meaningful change.

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders, clinicians, advocates, and community members working to build healthier workplaces and communities.

Some of Jenny Groberg’s greatest professional accomplishments came during some of the hardest years of her life.

And at one point, working harder wasn’t the answer. It was making things worse.

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, sits down with Jenny Groberg, founder and CEO of BookSmarts Accounting & Bookkeeping, for a candid conversation about resilience, limitations, mental health and learning to keep moving forward when you can no longer live—or work—the way you once did.

Groberg built her accounting business after failing to land a controller job she needed while her husband was in medical school. What began out of necessity eventually grew into an award-winning company with a flexible employment model designed to give talented professionals, particularly women returning to the workforce, another path into meaningful work.

Then Groberg suffered a traumatic brain injury.

For years, she struggled with dizziness, memory problems, fatigue and cognitive limitations that eventually forced her to step away from the company she had built. Her team ran the business while she spent three years focusing on her health.

For someone accustomed to believing she could accomplish almost anything by working hard enough, recovery required learning a very different lesson: sometimes strength means respecting your limitations instead of fighting them.

“I can see that it’s okay that what I used to be able to do is not the same now,” Groberg tells Morgan.

Eight years after her injury, those limitations remain part of her life. But so does ambition. Groberg talks about returning to business, confronting fear, creating jobs and discovering the cumulative power of simply continuing to show up—even when showing up looks different than it used to.

The conversation also explores what that lesson can teach business leaders. Employees experiencing difficult circumstances don't necessarily need the same solution. One person may need time off. Another may need more hours. Sometimes the most useful thing a leader can do is stop assuming and ask, “What do you need?”

In this episode:

• Why some of Groberg’s biggest accomplishments happened during her hardest years

• Her three-year step away from BookSmarts after a traumatic brain injury

• Learning that pushing harder can sometimes make recovery harder

• Why accepting limitations requires its own kind of discipline

• How suffering changed Groberg’s attitude toward fear and failure

• Why “showing up” looks different during different seasons of life

• How her own need for flexible employment inspired a business model that helps other women work

• Why financial stress, debt and unrealistic expectations can take a toll on mental health

• How social media can distort expectations about money, homes and success

• Why business leaders should ask employees what they actually need instead of assuming they know

• How vulnerability from leaders can give employees permission to acknowledge their own struggles

Groberg doesn’t tell a story about overcoming adversity and returning to exactly who she was before.

It’s a story about recognizing that you may never be exactly who you were before, and discovering how much you can still do from where you are now.

We coach athletes to perform under pressure. We coach executives to lead through uncertainty. But parents—who routinely make high-stakes decisions with limited control over the outcome—are often left with little more than advice.

Janae Moss thinks we can do better.

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with Janae Moss, business owner, community advocate, mother of seven, grandmother, and doctoral student in Sport and Performance Psychology.

Moss’s interest in mental health began long before the classroom. As a young mother, she and her family experienced the collapse of a business after her husband received the wrong medication in a prescription bottle. Suddenly, a family accustomed to taking care of itself was struggling to afford basic necessities.

That experience changed how Moss understood hardship and the systems designed to help people through it.

She remembers discovering just how much work we often ask people to do at precisely the moment they have the least capacity to do it: filling out paperwork, navigating assistance programs, finding counseling, and figuring out where to turn next.

It also helped shape an idea that has guided much of her work since: What would happen if we reached people upstream, before they were in crisis?

That question eventually influenced her community advocacy and the creation of Parents Driving Change, an effort designed to help parents recognize the leadership, knowledge, and influence they already possess within their families and communities.

In this episode:

• Why personal hardship changed Moss’s understanding of mental health and community support

• What happens when getting help becomes another burden for someone already struggling

• Why prevention and protective factors matter before a family reaches crisis

• What business and community leaders can learn by listening directly to parents

• How Parents Driving Change grew from Moss’s community work

• Why parents should be viewed as leaders, not simply recipients of services

• The emerging idea of parental performance psychology

• How resilience is built one day—and sometimes one small decision—at a time

Moss discovered that solutions don’t always begin in a boardroom. Sometimes they begin by asking parents a remarkably simple question: What do you actually need?

Today, she is taking that thinking another step as she completes her doctorate and explores an emerging field she calls parental performance psychology.

Her premise is that parents perform under pressure every day. They manage uncertainty, competing demands, emotional stress, enormous responsibility, and outcomes they cannot completely control. Yet while athletes and business leaders receive performance coaching, parents are frequently expected to figure it out themselves.

Moss wants to help close that gap.

What happens when the system isn't working for you? For Melanie Call, the answer was to try to change the system.

In this episode of the Mental Health Momentum podcast, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with entrepreneur, civic technology builder and community advocate Melanie Call to talk about motherhood, mental health, childcare, finding your voice and turning frustration into action.

After more than 20 years working in technology program management, operations and leadership, Call reached a breaking point in 2022. Balancing motherhood and her career became increasingly difficult, and limited access to childcare eventually contributed to her decision to leave the workforce.

But Call didn't see childcare as simply a personal problem.

She started researching how many other women were leaving the workforce because of childcare, writing publicly about her experience and connecting with advocates across the country. Her work eventually took her to Washington, D.C., where she participated in advocacy efforts and testified before Congress.

Along the way, Call discovered another problem: participating in government can feel unnecessarily complicated for everyday people.

That experience inspired iTestify, her civic technology project designed to make it easier for people to understand when government decisions are happening, how those decisions affect them and how they can make their voices heard.

But this conversation isn't only about public policy. 

Episode Highlights:

• When motherhood and career collide: How childcare barriers contributed to Call's decision to leave the workforce after a 20-year career in technology and operations.

• Turning pain into purpose: Why Call began researching childcare, sharing her story publicly and advocating for other working families.

• From personal struggle to Congress: How telling her story led to national advocacy and the opportunity to testify in Washington, D.C.

• Why your voice matters: Call's realization that everyday people need an easier way to participate in decisions affecting their families and communities.

• The idea behind iTestify: How Call is using her technology background to make civic engagement simpler and more accessible.

• What to do when you feel powerless: Why taking even one small action can help replace feelings of being stuck with a sense of purpose.

• “I am brave. I am strong. I am powerful.” How affirmations, writing and art helped Call rebuild confidence during one of the most difficult periods of her life.

• You don't need a perfect plan to start: Why believing your experience matters may be the first step toward making a change.

Melanie’s experience carries a powerful message: You don't need the perfect plan to begin making a change. Sometimes you start by believing your experience matters. Then you use your voice.

We talk constantly about connection. We want better relationships. Better workplaces. Better mental health. And now, in the age of AI, we're being told that authentic human connection may become more valuable than ever. But do we actually know what it means to connect?

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with Amber Zaugg, a behavioral scientist, practicing clinician, entrepreneur and AI builder whose work explores what humans need to genuinely connect with themselves and one another.

Her path into mental health and addiction recovery was shaped in part by discovering her former husband's addiction after they were married and had children. Their marriage eventually ended, and in 2020, he died by suicide.

Rather than separating those experiences from her professional work, Zaugg talks about how lived experience changed the way she understands suffering, addiction, recovery and the people sitting across from her as a clinician. 

“Suffering is the connect.”

That experience eventually contributed to a larger question at the center of her work: What does genuine human connection actually require?

Zaugg developed what she calls the Atlas Algorithm, a framework designed to help people connect with themselves and others through three steps: sharing fear, becoming empowered in innocence, and becoming fully alive in the present moment.

Together, they discuss a system that has become very good at defining disorders, symptoms and diagnoses—but spends far less time asking what wellness actually looks like.

As Zaugg puts it: “Let’s define what well looks like.”

That question becomes even more urgent as people increasingly turn to technology for companionship, advice and mental health support. Can AI provide genuine human connection? Zaugg doesn't believe that's the goal. Instead, she sees an opportunity to use AI to help humans develop the tools they need to connect more deeply with other humans.

In this episode:

• Why lived experience can make us more compassionate helpers

• How addiction and loss shaped Zaugg's work

• What the Atlas Algorithm says about human connection

• Why being together doesn't necessarily mean we're connected

• The two fundamental fears Zaugg believes humans carry

• Why mental health needs a clearer definition of wellness

• The potential limitations of diagnostic labels

• What it means to feel “fully alive”

• Whether AI can provide genuine human connection

• How technology might help us become better at connecting with one another

• Why human-to-human connection may become even more important in the age of AI

Technology may be able to teach us something about connection. It may even help us practice it. But Zaugg believes there is something fundamentally different about being seen, heard, understood and cared for by another person.

What happens to our sense of purpose, identity, and mental health when AI starts handling the tasks we’ve always done? In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Dr. David Morgan sits down with entrepreneur and AI educator John Cheney to unpack the real psychological impact of rapid technological change.

They explore why so many people feel anxious about AI “taking jobs,” how adaptability and emotional resilience have become essential workplace skills, and why creation — not just productivity — sits at the core of human purpose. John also shares his personal story of building a company, facing a near-collapse, battling depression, and learning to reframe failure as fuel instead of a final verdict.

A grounded, honest conversation about using AI as a lever for people rather than a replacement — and what it takes to stay mentally steady while the future of work keeps shifting.

What if some of the biggest problems inside a workplace could be addressed before they become burnout, conflict, disengagement, or a resignation letter?

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with Lindsay Schiess, LCSW, therapist, speaker, University of Utah instructor, podcast host, and founder of Rise with Purpose.

Lindsay has spent her career studying a deceptively simple question: What helps some people move through difficult experiences and grow, while others become stuck?

That curiosity eventually led her from an early interest in broadcast journalism into mental health. She discovered that she didn't just want to hear people's stories, she wanted to understand human behavior and help people change their stories.

Today, Lindsay brings those lessons beyond the therapy office and into workplaces, helping leaders, teams, and organizations understand how emotional health affects communication, relationships, resilience, and performance. And one of her biggest lessons is surprisingly practical: You can work on problems proactively, or you can clean them up later. Either way, you're going to spend the time.

Lindsay and David explore why people often wait until they're overwhelmed before seeking help, why mental health progress can be harder to recognize than physical progress, and why an outside perspective can help us see patterns we simply can't recognize when we're in the middle of them.

The conversation also moves directly into the workplace. Lindsay explains that many of the same problems she encounters in therapy, particularly communication breakdowns and disconnection, show up inside organizations. Her work with businesses is designed to address those issues earlier, giving people tools to build healthier environments before problems reach the breaking point.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• Why self-awareness can make us better leaders, partners, parents, and colleagues

• Why mental health deserves the same intentional investment we give physical health

• How an outside perspective can reveal patterns we can't see ourselves

• Why communication and disconnection are both personal and workplace problems

• How resilience helps people navigate difficult experiences and change

• Why proactive investment in workplace mental health can be easier than repairing burnout and conflict later

• How leaders can create healthier, more connected teams

• Why the hardest personal work can also produce some of the most meaningful change

As Lindsay puts it, the real work doesn't end in a therapy session or leadership training. It shows up when you return to your family, your employees, your relationships, and your everyday life.

What happens to our mental health, relationships, workplaces, and communities when people with different beliefs stop seeing one another as people worth listening to?

On this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Silicon Slopes Director of Mental Health Awareness and licensed psychologist Dr. David Morgan sits down with Marianne Viray, Executive Director of Disagree Better, to explore why healthy disagreement matters and what we can do when conflict turns into contempt.

Disagree Better is a national initiative founded by Utah Governor Spencer Cox during his tenure as chair of the National Governors Association. Today, the independent nonprofit works with leaders and communities to model constructive disagreement and help Americans navigate difficult conversations without abandoning their principles.

Viray explains why disagreement itself isn't the problem. Conflict can be productive. The danger comes when differences become identity, opponents become enemies, and people stop believing conversation can accomplish anything.

In this episode:

• Why disagreement can be healthy—and even necessary

• How political polarization affects relationships and emotional well-being

• Why contempt and distrust make productive conversations nearly impossible

• The origins of Governor Spencer Cox's Disagree Better initiative

• What researchers are learning about constructive disagreement

• Why listening doesn't require surrendering your convictions

• How leaders can model healthier conflict

• Practical ways to approach difficult conversations with curiosity instead of hostility

Disagree Better's approach is surprisingly simple: you don't have to agree with someone to treat them with dignity. Its practical guidance emphasizes listening to understand, avoiding assumptions about another person's motives, separating opinions from identity, and staying curious during disagreement.

Research behind Disagree Better offers an encouraging counterpoint. Stanford researchers studying the initiative's bipartisan messaging found that exposure to leaders modeling constructive disagreement increased people's willingness to listen to opposing views, increased openness to different perspectives, and reduced hostility toward political opponents.

At a moment when many Americans feel exhausted by division, Morgan and Viray offer a different way to think about conflict: maybe the goal isn't to agree more. Maybe we need to get better at disagreeing.

For more information please visit: disagreebetter.us, or for the Conflict Competency 40-hour training cohort please visit https://artsci.usu.edu/peace-institute/transformative-mediation-certification-training.