podcast episodes Archives - Natasha Tracy Bipolar Expert

Ep 10: Success at Work, Even After a Mental Health Breakdown — With Mike Veny

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 24, 2022

Successful corporate mental health speaker Mike Veny is this week’s guest on Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy. Mike is now a Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist®, but just five years ago, Mike was suffering from a mental health breakdown thanks to depression and anxiety. While now, Mike talks to corporations about mental wellness for their employees, only a few years ago, it was showing them, personally, what it was like when that isn’t taken care of. This video podcast conversation will revolve around that mental breakdown and around Mike’s current thoughts about mental illness in the workplace.

Ep 9: How a Population Health Scientist Helps Those with Mental Illness at Work (Including Herself)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 18, 2022

Cara McNulty is a population health scientist and the President, Behavioral Health and Employee Assistance Programs at Aetna, a CVS Health Company. She’s also a woman who has experienced mental illness. This week, Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy is talking with Cara McNulty about her own experience with mental illness, amplifying her passion for helping others with mental illness. We’re also going to be talking about what place an employer should have when dealing with employees with mental illness and how voices with mental illness are shamed and silenced.

We’re going to be discussing things like:

Cara’s personal experience of mental illness
Passion for helping people with mental illness at work
Why employers should help people with mental illness
What employers should be doing to help people with mental illness
Changing the silencing and shaming of those with mental illness

Whether you are in human resources, a c-suite executive, or simply want to ensure that people with mental illness get what they need at work, you don’t want to miss this episode.

Ep 8: Hiring and Managing People with Mental Illness — What You Need to Know

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 28, 2022

This week, Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy is talking to Gary Koplin, Founder, and President at HealthyPlace.com, a large consumer mental health site. Gary has a unique perspective as he specifically hires and manages people with mental illness. He’s worked with people who have had disorders from social phobia to bipolar disorder, from depression to dissociative identity disorder, and everything in between. If anyone knows the ramifications of mental illness in the workplace, it’s Gary.

Ep 7: What Are Your Legal Workplace Rights If You Have a Mental Illness?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 22, 2022

Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy talks to lawyer Julia Stephanides (@legally.holistic on Instagram). She schools us on the rights people with mental illness have at work and how you can use those rights to better navigate working with a mental illness.

Learn things like:

Are all mental illnesses really considered disabilities?
Can an employer not promote you because of your mental illness?
What do you do if you think your employer is discriminating against you because of your mental illness?
Do employers have to accommodate your needs because of a mental illness?
What is a “reasonable accommodation” at work for a person with a mental illness?
Do you have a right to paid medical leave?
How do you best advocate for yourself at work?

Your Legal Rights as a Person with a Mental Illness at Work

All these questions and more are addressed by Julia. Plus, we answer your questions. Don’t miss out on this valuable chance to know your rights.

Ep 6: What’s It Like Working with ADHD and Binge Eating Disorder Before and After Diagnosis?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 15, 2022

This week, Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy is talking about attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and binge eating disorder (BED) at work with Jason Hamburg. Jason is the Vice President of Neuroscience at Takeda Canada Inc. Jason wasn’t diagnosed with a mental illness until he was 44 years old, and he can attest to the fact that while he dealt with his mental illnesses in his own ways, those illnesses definitely held him back. Jason calls these illnesses impulsivity and compulsivity, and the difference in experience before and after treatment was striking.

ADHD and Binge Eating in the Workplace

Jason is going to be talking to us about what happens to people with ADHD or binge eating in the workplace, the illnesses’ effects on a lifestyle overall, and his own experiences with binge eating and ADHD. This is a conversation chock full of expert knowledge and patient experience. You don’t want to miss it.

Ep 5: What Work Is Like When You Have a Mental Illness ― A Story Told and Your Questions Answered

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 7, 2022

This week on Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy, I’m talking with, well, me! I’m going to be sharing my own story of what it’s like to work with a mental illness. I’m going to talk about mental illness stigma in the workplace and finally leaving the workplace because of mental illness. I’m also going to talk about some basic statistics about why mental illness in the workplace matters and answer any questions you may have.

Make sure you tune in live or submit your questions early so the conversation can be shaped by you! If you’re curious about what people with mental illness go through in the workplace, this is the episode for you.

Ep 4: Why Companies Should Care About Employees with Mental Illness and the Skills They Offer

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 1, 2022

Snap Out of It! is talking to Christina McCarthy of One Mind at Work, the leading brain health nonprofit committed to healing the lives of people impacted by brain illness and injury through global, collaborative action. Christina is going to talk about both the moral and the business case for making workplaces accessible to those with mental illness and how her past experiences have driven her to care deeply about mental illness. She’s also going to talk about the unique gifts that those with mental illness offer a workplace.

If you want to hear how people with mental illness can positively impact workplaces, this is the interview for you.

Ep 3: Gabe Howard Talks About What It’s Like to Work with and Be Fired Due to Bipolar Disorder

Posted by Natasha Tracy | May 12, 2022

Snap Out of It! is pleased to speak with award-winning podcaster and mental health advocate Gabe Howard. Gabe has lived with bipolar and anxiety disorders since 2003. Gabe has a harrowing tale of when he was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Not only can he speak to what it was like to work with bipolar disorder before being diagnosed, he can also speak to what it was like to “come out” at work and, finally, be fired because of his bipolar disorder.

This is an interview you can’t miss.

Ep 2: How a Successful CEO with Bipolar Handles Mental Illness at Work

Posted by Natasha Tracy | May 12, 2022

Snap Out of It! spoke with Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, a person who lives with bipolar disorder and is the Chief Operating Officer (CEO) at My CWA (Cheshire Without Abuse), a charity in the United Kingdom. Thanks to Saskia’s experience with bipolar disorder, she designed her own role such that she can be a successful CEO. And she passed those supports and ideas down to her staff. Now, more than 60% of her employees have a mental illness and they have very low turnover because of how she treats her people — with respect, dignity, and what they need medically.

Saskia and I talk about what it’s like to work with bipolar disorder — in her other positions vs. today — and what it is she does to ensure that people with medical issues like mental illness can be successful at work. We also talk about the costs involved in these changes and the benefits this has brought her entire company.