Mental Health in the Workplace is a critical topic companies are needing further education on to improve their employee’s mental health and over all wellbeing. The World Health Organization reported that Anxiety and Depression cost the world’s economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity and absenteeism. Since the pandemic there has been a 45% spike in Mental Health issues in the workplace.

With over thirty years of lived experience with mental health challenges, Sonja will inspire and impart unique insights, strategies, and life-changing skills to each and every attendee to help create a culture of mental wellness in their organization.

Learning Objectives:

1. Best Practices for creating open and inclusive discussions around mental health in the workplace.
2. 4 Strategies for building a mentally healthy workforce.
3. Uncover mental health warning signs
4. 3 Ways to tackle mental health stigmas in the workplace
5. How to co-create (employees and leadership) as a team, a culture of mental wellness.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Compounding stressors of the last 3 years have laid the groundwork for significant changes in the workplace. Is your workplace prepared to meet the growing needs to emotionally support your workforce and develop them professionally and personally? Creating a healthy workplace is more than just training, but rather creating healthy policies that build upon foundations of rejuvenation and recovery that supports your workforce and their mental health needs. Participants will outline a policy that they need to feel supported emotionally in the workplace. Discussion will follow about best practices for workplace wellbeing. We will discuss strategies for challenging the status quo and thinking outside the box.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify an emotionally healthy workplace
2. Create steps to introduce healthier policies in the workplace that enhance their own work wellbeing.
3. Brainstorm ways to have the conversation about wellbeing with other employees, subordinates and supervisors.
4. Recognize the need for policies congruent to an emotionally healthy workplace

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

When we drive – we know what our cars can do, and we know where our blind spots are.  But do you know the extent of your personal power?  The extent of your organizational leadership’s power? The extent of your organizational power?  And do you know where your professional the blind spots are? 

Many people don’t really know themselves.  And Carter Cast, professor of business management for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University says we have “blind spots because most of us have a hard time being objective about ourselves and our organizations.” 

Outcomes:
1.  Identify their personal strengths and blind spots
2.  Identify their organizational strengths and blind spots
3.  Assist staff, leadership, and others in identifying their personal strengths and blind spots.
4. Learn how to maximize strengths and minimize their weaknesses.  Weaknesses of your employees, your leadership team, your organization, and yourself. 

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

It seems more challenging than ever to engage and retain good people. What if you could build a more open, positive work team that helped people feel listened to and valued from day one? You can. And Ted Lasso has been showing us the formula in the wildly popular streaming series. This interactive program explores how you can elevate and empower employees everyone on your team using lessons from coach Lasso, insights from improv performers, and the latest scientific research on corporate teambuilding. And when your employees people feel seen, heard, and validated, they’ll be more productive and never want to leave. #Believe

Attendees will be able to:
1. Create a more positive and welcoming corporate culture.
2. Increase engagement by actively entertaining ideas from all voices.
3. Be more collaborative at all levels on a consistent basis.
4. Improve communication and lead with clarity.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Labor shortages are affecting all industries and are creating challenging business dynamics for many organizations.  During this session we will discuss how employers can improve employee benefits to help them recruit and retain best talent while they are enhancing employee engagement. We will also cover what changes we are seeing in the marketplace, compliance updates, merit increases, hybrid work landscape and emerging employee benefit solutions.

 Objectives:

1. Post COVID employer recruitment and engagement trends
2. Remote Work Considerations
3. Emerging employee benefit solutions
4. What to expect in the next 24 months

 Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

How to Lead with Love is a 60-minute presentation designed to teach attendees thoughtful ways to interact with others in the workplace that promote a healthy work environment for all. Audience members will learn skills that reduce tension, anxiety and discord and increase work satisfaction and mental well-being from a licensed mental health therapist. The practical tips and proven techniques are rooted in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Positive Psychology and Mindfulness. Attendees will be inspired by stories that Ramona hears from her therapist’s chair, with information changed to protect the client’s confidentiality.

1. Attendees will learn and demonstrate the art of active listening.
2. Attendees will evaluate and elevate their own self-care by engaging in mindfulness meditation.
3. Attendees will learn and demonstrate fair fighting rules to decrease workplace conflict.
4. Attendees will learn how to interact with people they disagree with by demonstrating respect.

Intended Audience: Private Sector

This interactive and engaging session will provide practical strategies and tools to help support leaders in navigating spaces with an anti-racism/oppression and diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. In this session, participants will also learn practical strategies and tools to guide conversations with leaders on if and when to give up power. Finally, participants will go home with the framework to create a pipeline for advancement within their institution.

Learning Objectives:

1. How and when to give up power: tools and strategies to help leaders navigate spaces
2. Take away at least three strategies or tools to help support leaders in navigating spaces with a DEI lens
3. Learn at least three questions to help guide conversations with leaders on if and when to give up power.
4. Gain access to a framework to create a pipeline for advancement

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Dr. Daniel Zinnel (He/Him/His)
President and Founder
Growth and Joy, LLC

Hopkins & Huebner’s team of employment law experts will discuss the do’s and don’ts of hiring questions and examinations for prospective employees.  The presentation will include what questions not to ask a prospective employee; when and how to evaluate an applicant’s health and ability to perform a job, and; how to use and keep confidential background checks and personality tests among other topics.  Questions and hypothetical situations posed by audience members are expected and encouraged during this presentation.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe different stress responses that we experience ourselves and others experience
2. Identify strategies to regulate the heat that correlate to your stress response
3. Explore specific phrases to help navigate difficult conversation.
4. Reflect on meaningful connections back to your daily life.

 Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Every employer wants their team to be more engaged with the benefits and programs you offer.  But the many promises made by vendors rarely deliver.  The key to engagement for health and wellness programs is to stop treating employees like patients; instead, treat them like consumer.  In this talk, I will explain what this means and how to ensure that employees will sign up for, and then stick with, your programs.

1. Why do so many programs promise engagement but fail – I will explain.
2. What can you do to increase engagement – I will provide answers.
3. How do you keep employees engaged over the long term – I’ll share the secrets.
4. How to apply these principles across the organization.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Those in health care may recognize the concept of Trauma-Informed Care. However, a trauma-informed approach shouldn’t just be limited to healthcare. A trauma-informed empathetic approach can be applied to work and personal settings.  A TIE approach emphasizes curiosity over judgment and questions over certainty. The approach emphasizes building relationships based on understanding.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the history and importance of a trauma-informed approach
2. Define and apply a trauma-informed approach to leadership
3. Show the impact of institutional betrayal on retention
4. Learn trauma-informed empathy strategies and how to implement them in the workplace

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

More than ever before, it is difficult to motivate employees, leadership, and contractors. It feels like there is limited time for engagement and motivation efforts, and it’s even more frustrating stressing about team culture or watching good employees switch organizations.

Join me to discover ways to Have Good Ripple Effect. We will focus on strategic techniques to motivate and keep staff, leadership, and contractors in the post-covid world. Let’s shift perspective and maximize your time, energy, and efforts. Participants will walk away with tactics and a high-level corporate engagement outline for 2023.

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Develop shared language culture statements (attitudes, norms, beliefs)
2. Identify team and individual motivators
3. Discuss daily culture builder moments
4. Construct a culture outline for 2023

What you can expect:

Leadership doesn’t happen tomorrow at noon, it happens today…in every moment, situation, and scenario. I invite you to be part of an energetic, yet practical and implementable session that is scenario-based. Let’s take your real-life situations and formulate new ways to build your team culture to Have Good Ripple Effect.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

In this session the participant can expect to learn the most value asset, their employees and safeguard against losing them by creating a safe and supportive environment utilizing a mental wellness program that promotes a culture of trust & support while developing healthy teams & a healthy bottom line.

Learning Objectives:

1. Protect your people
   Supporting your most valuable asset by understanding safety & support concerns.  Better meet your employees where they are at…
2. Safeguard your departments
   Support your departments by identifying sociological dynamics areas that can impact safety, morale & productivity…
3. Developing shared language & increased retention
   Developing shared organizational language by creating an environment of trust.  Increased effective communication = retention prevention!!!
4. Self-Care resources
   Providing self-care approaches to your organization while expanding access to mental wellness resources. 

 Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Bill Dean (He/Him/His)
Director
Accentus Health

After a break during the pandemic, I-9 audits are on the rise.  Employers were provided Covid-19 protocols to hire and review documents remotely, which are set to expire in 2023 and require follow up action to confirm work authorization. The list of acceptable documents provided by the government is only a fraction of documents that may be used to show work authorization. Electronic I-9s and document storage systems have made the audit process even more complex. In this session, we will sort out these and other sources of confusion to help you be ready if ICE comes knocking and understand the audit process, including fines and appeals available.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learning the steps you can take to be audit-ready
2. How to manage I-9s for workers hired using Covid-19 protocols
3. What to expect in the audit process
4. Understanding fines and appeal options

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Organizations have bold goals and develop tactics and strategies to achieve these goals.  Then the organizations focus on day-to-day work takes priority.

During this session we will explore:

1. The symptoms and causes of status quo
2. The forces preventing individuals and organizations from moving away from the status quo
3. Actions individuals can take to level-up – day after day, month after month, and year after year
4. Strategies organizations can take to:
   1. Recognize where they might be accepting the status quo AND what can be done
   2. Determine how to BE more and DO more with the resources it has RIGHT NOW – without creating chaos

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Team dynamics for today’s leaders are challenging. How team members show up and react to one another can make or break a team. In this session, learn the three core motivations of the Enneagram and how they drive behavior. When you and your teams understand the core motivators and how they and others show up in stress, it can shift the dynamics by allowing team members to grow in self-awareness, gain perspective, and offer compassion.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the three core motivators of the Enneagram personality archetypes.
2. Introduction to the nine Enneagram archetypes.
3. Recognize how stress shows up for each of the nine Enneagram archetypes.
4. How to bring the core motivations lens back to your team and leaders.

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Alan Kinsey (He/Him/His)

We all see situations and others through a different lens. Each of us has our own perspective on what we think we see. In today’s work culture there are hot button issues we have to face as a team. Learn how as a team and individually you can collaborate and work cohesively toward a common goal.

1. To create a culture of improved wellness and high performance
2. To learn how employees can be seen and for their voice to be heard
3. To align with the leaders above you
4. To find ways to resolve conflict and find cohesiveness

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

In this session, speaker, therapist, nonprofit director, and domestic violence survivor Melissa Vine candidly shares her three biggest failures (of relationship, character, and career), identifies the shame issues that each brought to the surface, and proposes how intentional discomfort (courage) can improve our relationships with our self and others.

Learning Objectives:

1. Improve mental wellness through exploration of failures and their accompanying shame.
2. Normalize shame by discussing it more openly in order to experience personal and professional growth.
3. Improve relationships with self and others through authentic living

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

In this presentation, Danielle Atchison of the Mdivani Corporate Immigration Law Firm will discuss current insights into the Great Resignation: what is it, key drivers, highest employee turnover populations/demographics. Danielle will also touch on the on the “Quiet Quitting” trend – what is it and what employers can learn from it. Best practices for remote & hybrid work and virtual / electronic I-0 issues and much more.

1. The “Quiet Quitting” trend – what is it and what employers can learn from it
2. Recruiting, Retention, Onboarding: H-1Bs, TNs, J-1s, Green Cards, Work Permits
3. Virtual and Electronic I-9 Issues
4. The rise of the GIG economy

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Everybody wants to tear down the silos. In this session, David Porter will take you on a journey to save time and energy by simply transforming your silos to pillars of your business and your culture. Silos have so much to offer and when you understand that you will never want to tear down another silo again.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand that silos are a natural part of a business that can be used to increase the organization’s production.
2. Discover the simple method to navigate silos to leverage their power to build corporate culture.
3. Identify the power of process and how process creates momentum in your leadership.
4. Learn the 4-step approach to become a shoulder-to-shoulder leader.

 Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

The most effective leaders get results by bringing out the best in others.  In this presentation, you’ll learn how servant leaders think and lead differently to inspire greatness – and in the process, discovering their own greatness.

Unlocking Greatness outlines:

1. Participants will discover the core principles of servant leadership and how they correlate to their roles
2. Participants will learn how to maximize influence by providing first-rate service as a business partner.
3. Participants will understand the difference between top-down leadership and servant-leadership
4. Participants will gain ideas for how we can make others great (and in the end, make ourselves great!)

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

Nobody is immune to stress.  It affects your health, personal life, and professional life.  You will learn how to make the necessary changes to manage or even eliminate stress out of your life.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will learn the consequences of not managing stress
2. Participants will learn how to 1) Make lifestyle changes, 2) Let go, 3) Laugh more
3. Participants will learn how to be more resilient in life
4. Participants will learn the benefits of laughter

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector

With an estimated 53 million informal caregivers in the US today, the caregiving crisis is here and growing. One in five full-time employees are providing care to a loved one, and struggling to balance the responsibilities and challenges of caregiving with their workload and professional goals. Learn how empowering family caregivers to care for themselves as they care for their loved ones supports broader organizational DEI and people strategies, drives employee

engagement and productivity and reduces absenteeism and turnover. Navigating the caregiving journey is extremely challenging, by providing appropriate support programs we can prevent caregiver burnout, meet families where they are, and support employees in remaining productive at home and at work, throughout their caregiving experience.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how empowering family caregivers to care for themselves as they care for their loved ones benefits your employee engagement and overall business successful.
2. How to help your employees navigate the caregiving journey
3. Learn how to provide appropriate support programs for your employees

Intended Audience: Private Sector / Public Sector