Kim LaMontagne On 5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees

An Interview With David Liu

Train leaders with the skills to identify an employee in distress, open a safe conversation without judgment and crosswalk an employee to professional service. Educating leaders about mental health and substance use can create more open communication, understanding and empathy.

As a part of my series about the “5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees” I had the pleasure of interviewing Kim LaMontagne.

Kim LaMontagne is President/CEO of Kim LaMontagne, LLC. LaMontagne is an international speaker, corporate trainer, and author. She is also a state trainer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and a member of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock — Campaign to Combat Behavioral Health Stigma and Discrimination. She created a training solution for leaders called, ‘The 4 Pillars of Creating and Sustaining a Mentally Healthy Workplace Culture” that teaches leaders how to create a safe workplace culture that empowers employees to speak openly about mental health and substance misuse without fear of judgment, retribution, or job loss. Her mission is to share her lived experience and teach leaders how to normalize the conversation about mental health and substance misuse in the workplace. Lives depend on it.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I was a high-performing corporate professional living with major depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and alcohol misuse. On the outside, I appeared to have it all together. On the inside, I felt broken, unworthy, and ashamed. I feared asking for help because I didn’t want to be seen as weak or incapable and was afraid of damaging my professional integrity.

On July 16, 2009, I found the strength to ask for help.

At almost 13 years sober and healthy, I use my experience to teach leaders how to create a workplace culture where everyone feels safe speaking openly about mental health.

6 things I learned:

1. My story isn’t unique. 1 in 5 people are currently living with a mental health condition. What is unique is that I am willing to be vulnerable, share my story, and use my lived experience to teach leaders how to create a workplace where everyone feels safe asking for help.
2. Silence is toxic. I almost lost my life because I remained silent. I was a chameleon in the workplace who hid behind a mask of performance until my leader noticed the signs, took action and had a safe conversation with me that changed my life.
3. Stigma and discrimination thrive on lack of knowledge. Educating leaders about mental health and substance misuse can create more open communication, understanding and empathy.
4. Leaders have the power to transform the workplace and create a culture where everyone feels safe speaking openly about mental health.
5. Leaders lead by example. Leaders who encourage open dialog about mental health in the workplace create a safe space for employees to come forward and ask for help.
6. Leaders don’t need to be counselors but they must be prepared with the knowledge skills to identify an employee in distress, open a safe conversation, and crosswalk the employee to professional services.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I was a speaker at a conference for healthcare executives and my presentation focused on mental health in the workplace. I shared my personal story of being a high performer who hid behind a mask of fear and shame, what led me to rock bottom, and how I found the courage to ask for help. Then, I taught them how to change the culture in the workplace to encourage open dialog about mental health.

What happened after my presentation was a great illustration of why my work is so critical. Thirteen senior vice presidents approached me to acknowledge they saw ‘pieces of themselves’ in my story and thanked me for being vulnerable. That’s when I was absolutely certain that my work is critical and leaders need help navigating the conversation about mental health.

What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?

Get clear about who you are and what your purpose is. Structure your life, personally and professionally, to fully align with yourself and your purpose.

Create healthy boundaries. When you say no to the things that no longer serve you, it makes room for things that do.

Focus on self care. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Find the things that set your soul on fire and do more of them. Self care can be 5/30/60 minutes a day. The goal is to dedicate time to focus on replenishing YOU.

Be honest about your mental health and ask for help when you need it.

Know your signs that you may be slipping into a depressive episode, share them with others, give them permission to ‘reach in’ when you aren’t strong enough to ‘reach out’, guide them on how to help you. Sometimes we aren’t able to see our own signs. Empowering others to help you stay accountable with your mental health is important.

What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?

Be vulnerable. When leaders are vulnerable and share their stories, they pave the way for others to follow.

Embed the leadership commitment to mental health and well-being in all communications. Making one key shift in communication about mental health fosters a safe workplace culture that supports employee health, wellness, engagement and productivity.

Train leaders to create space for ‘safe conversations’ about mental health in the workplace. By opening a safe conversation, you empower employees to speak their truth and remove blockages to peak performance. Employees who feel safe, seen, heard and understood are more likely to ask for help.

By creating a culture of safety, you create a culture of transparency and open communication resulting in a more engaged and healthier workforce.

Change begins at the top. The most powerful organizations make it possible for employees to remove the mask of fear and shame and speak openly about mental health.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“You matter.” It is simple and it’s true. When I was at my worst, I didn’t believe that I mattered. I lost my hopes, dreams and sense of self-worth and could find a logical reason why everyone (family, friends, coworkers) would all be better off without me. I felt alone, isolated and like a burden if I spoke openly and asked for help.

I was ashamed and felt like an imposter in the workplace because I was (secretly) on my journey of sobriety from alcohol while living with major depression and suicidal thoughts.

What I learned is that I do matter. We all matter.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. As you know, the collective mental health of our country is facing extreme pressure. In recent years many companies have begun offering mental health programs for their employees. For the sake of inspiring others, we would love to hear about five steps or initiatives that companies have taken to help improve or optimize their employees’ mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each?

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a $4 return in improved productivity for every $1 spent investing in mental health. Companies are recognizing that mental health is just as important as physical health and are adding benefits to support employees. Employers also recognize that increasing mental health benefits could increase competitive advantage.

5 steps or initiatives that companies have taken to help improve or optimize their employees’ mental wellness:

1. Be open and vulnerable and speak from the top. Cisco Systems CEO, Chuck Robbins sent a company-wide email acknowledging the severity of mental illness and encouraged employees to “talk openly and extend compassion.” He received over 100 email responses from employees sharing their own personal struggles. This led to panel discussions, forums and follow-up emails to employees.
2. Negotiate with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider to offer an increased number of counseling visits. Companies like Starbucks and Cummins have commited to this with great results.
3. Expand the provider network in health coverage and increase out of network coverage for mental health. This helps increase access to care and illustrates the employer commitment to decreasing barriers to mental health.
4. Encourage work / life balance. According to Harvard Business Review, “overworked, burned-out employees costs employers $125–190 billion a year in healthcare spending in the U.S. alone.” Encouraging boundaries, unplugging, creating meeting-free days and encouraging use of vacation and sick time, creates a more flexible work environment that will help bring more balance and decrease stress.
5. Provide full access to mental health apps such as Headspace, Calm, Happify and telehealth apps such as Talkspace and BetterHelp. These tools can be used discretely and in confidence.

These ideas are wonderful, but sadly they are not yet commonplace. What strategies would you suggest to raise awareness about the importance of supporting the mental wellness of employees?

1. Recognize the impact of unaddressed mental health in the workplace. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 people are living with a mental health condition. As a leader, I invite you to think about the number of employees in your organization and how many could be living with a mental health condition. In a boardroom of 25 leaders, there could be 5 who are living with a mental health challenge. Do you know who they are and how to support them?
2. Share the lived experience to bring the human connection to mental health. When a leader steps forward, removes their armor, and speaks openly about their mental health, it creates a safe space for others to follow.
3. Change the perception of mental health by decreasing stigma in the workplace and shifting to person-centered language. When we use words like alcoholic, nuts, psycho and junkie, we are perpetuating stigma around mental health. A person’s identity is closely related to the words we use to describe them. Shifting to person-centered language focuses on the person first and not the disease they live with. Shifting to phrases such as ‘a person living with alcohol misuse,’ ‘a person living with bipolar,’ or ‘a person living with substance misuse’ removes the stigma and places the focus on the person first.
4. Train leaders with the skills to identify an employee in distress, open a safe conversation without judgment and crosswalk an employee to professional service. Educating leaders about mental health and substance use can create more open communication, understanding and empathy.
5. Create a culture where everyone feels safe speaking openly about mental health.

From your experience or research, what are different steps that each of us as individuals, as a community and as a society, can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling stressed, depressed, anxious or having other mental health issues ? Can you explain?

Mental illness is just like a physical illness. When someone experiences a physical illness, many times we don’t understand (the illness) but we still support them without judgment. It should be the same for mental health. When engaging in dialogue, I recommend the following steps;

1. Create a safe space for open dialogue.
2. Listen with an open mind and no judgment.
3. See the person first.
4. Assure the person that they matter.
5. Assure the person that they are not alone.
6. Provide suggestions / connections to professional counseling.
7. Acknowledge their bravery for speaking openly.

This might seem intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to spell it out. Can you help articulate a few ways how workplaces will benefit when they pay attention to an employee’s mental health?

A recent article in Forbes states, “depression and anxiety cost the global economy an estimated $1 trillion each year in lost productivity.” In the U.S., unaddressed mental health and substance misuse costs businesses between $80 and $100 billion annually.

Benefits of addressing employee mental health include a healthier employee, increased engagement, retention, productivity and cohesion and decreased turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism and disability.

Addressing mental health is not only good for humanity, it’s good for the bottom line.

Do you use any meditation, breathing or mind-calming practices that promote your mental wellbeing? We’d love to hear about all of them. How have they impacted your own life?

The most powerful thing I do is question my own thoughts. I learned through The Work of Byron Katie, that I have the power to question my stressful thoughts. We all do.

When a stressful thought arises ( I am not enough, stupid, unworthy, etc.),

I ask myself 4 questions:

1. Is this thought true?
2. Am I absolutely certain the thought is true?
3. How do I feel (physically and emotionally) when I believe that thought?
4. How would I feel without that thought?

Byron Katie’s work saved my life. The four questions are powerful and give me the opportunity to stop and look for the evidence that what I am thinking is true. Most often, the evidence isn’t there. If there is no evidence, I dismiss the thought after recognizing what that negative thought is doing to me (mentally and emotionally).

I also use deep breathing techniques and am very proactive to let people around me know when I am experiencing a difficult time.

I work in the communications industry, so I’m particularly interested in this question. As you know, there are a variety of communication tools such as video conferencing, phone, text, and push-to-talk. What changes or improvements would you suggest for these technologies to help foster better mental health?

I recognize the value of technology and recognize it must be used appropriately.

Overexposure to technology can have a negative impact on mental health. Without boundaries, we are exposed to constant notifications (email, text, social media, apps, etc.) and distractions that can be mentally draining. That said, it is important to control the amount of technology being consumed.

Be mindful of the time spent online and set notifications that support your mental health. Turn notifications off and check your messages at certain times. Be intentional about when you expose yourself to technology and for how long. We live in a fast paced world. It is ok to slow down.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My team suggested creating a movement for the four day work week. I agree with the four day work week but also believe a #WORDSMATTER movement would truly help normalize the conversation about mental health.

The words and language we use are crucial to destigmatizing mental health. People could share a word they currently use and the new word they replaced it with.

A #wordsmatter movement could create great change in the way we talk about mental health.

What is the best way our readers can further follow your work online?

My website kimlamontagne.net offers several free mental health resources for people to download. Examples include a 30-day Relaxation Coloring Kit and my Just Breathe Cheatsheet.

In addition, your readers may be interested in my book, “It’s Ok to Not Be Ok” which can be ordered on my website, Finally, we are very active on social media and invite everyone to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @kimlamontagne

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success in your great work!