A key conclusion that emerged from our 2021 study of how leaders were impacted by the pandemic, "Leading with Humanity: The Future of Leadership and Coaching," was that mental health and well-being are no longer "nice to have" or solely the responsibility of the individual, but essential to a flourishing, high-performing organization. Leaders can no longer ignore the physical or mental health of themselves or their employees when their top goals are innovation and productivity.
Well-being has always been fundamental to our work as coaches, supported by research showing that high-functioning people cultivate positive emotions, gratitude, meaning, relationships, and self-care.
So it is with great enthusiasm that we welcome the month of May as "mental health awareness" month sponsored by the U.S. Council for Mental Well-Being. Sometimes it easier to either avoid or deny our mental health issues -- but all it takes is a quick glance at the statistics to shock us into recognition of this foundation of human functioning. The following statistics are for the U.S., but international trends are similar:
-1 in 5 adults (52.9 million adults) experienced mental illness in 2020.
- 40.3 million people aged 12 or over had a substance use disorder in 2020.
- 32.1% of adults with mental illness also experienced a substance use disorder in 2020.
- Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people aged 10-34.
- 1 in 3 young adults (aged 18-25) experienced mental illness in 2020.
-1 in 6 adolescents (aged 12-17) experienced a major depressive episode in 2020.
With this in mind, Our programs this month connect directly with mental health awareness. First, we traverse back into history with a webinar featuring the work of a 20th century giant, French psychoanalyst and writer, Jacques Lacan. Like Jung, Freud and other major figures in analytical psychology, Lacan's approach to working with ill patients was deeply empathic and focused on the unconscious and conscious symbolism embedded in human communication. You will learn in this month's webinar that his "way of listening" was unique and highly relevant today for coaches who wish to deepen and expand their work with clients through language and affect.
On the modern front, we also are committed to expanding our offerings in the growing field of neurodiversity. Our webinar and LinkedIn Live on coaching clients with ADHD are both designed to expand our knowledge and capability to recognize and coach clients with this debilitating illness.
In honor of this month's theme, we are excited to offer a special rate for our recently launched asynchronous Mental Health Literacy course for coaches. The feedback from hundreds of coaches who have graduated from the full class has been stellar. We truly hope this knowledge will become part of every coach's toolkit. We can step up in our roles, not to become therapists, but to do our part in recognizing, supporting, referring, and most importantly, creating a safe space for our clients to share their pain and suffering.
So it is with a "spring in our step" that we wholeheartedly embrace Mental Health Awareness month and wish all of our coach community the best in physical, emotional and mental well-being. After all, it is only if we take care of ourselves that we can be role models for our clients.
