Creating environments that support long-term health and wellness is in our mission, and it is a daily practice at Mental Health Connecticut (MHC). We believe education is critical for change and have developed curriculum to support communities and workplaces throughout the state.
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MHC’s Community Education catalogue includes certified trainings, customizable workshops, and engaging presentations designed for your workforce, community group, or individual development.
Interested in hosting a training? Contact collab@mhconn.org or fill out the contact form below to explore your options and receive a customized quote to meet your educational needs.
Launched as a pilot program in 2022, the MHC Collaborative is a membership-based program, open to employers seeking to improve their work environment. We focus on creating a culture of workplace mental health, which means we put people first. We meet people where they are and work together to identify your needs, address the gaps in your employee experience, and improve upon the successes in your workplace.
Membership in the MHC Collaborative is an annual investment that includes a custom mix of strategic guidance and point-in-time needs assessment for leadership, delivered simultaneously with trainings, workshops, and resources for all employees. Members receive monthly coaching sessions to set goals, track progress, and work as a team to improve their work environment.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adults.
It covers:
Who needs to know Mental Health First Aid:
Learn how to respond with Mental Health First Aid Action Plan (ALGEE):
This is a certified training, following the fidelity standards set by the National Council for Wellbeing and led by certified MHFA trainers.
Format Options:
81% of today’s workers reported they are seeking workplaces that support mental health and would even take a pay cut if it meant having a mentally healthy work environment. With depression and anxiety at an all-time high since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, workplaces are faced with decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, increased turnover and vacancies, and uncertainty on how to combat it.
By taking this series, leaders will better understand how to strategically implement initiatives that focus on the wellbeing of their employees and to create an environment that attracts and retains talent. The series can be presented as a full day training or broken into 4 individual sessions.
Part 1: The Employee Work Cycle and How to Care for Staff Across the Timeline
Part 2: Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Part 3: Creating a Wellness Program that Focuses on Mental Health
Part 4: Creating a Culture of Workplace Mental Health
By attending this series, you will:
This series is designed to empower participants to prioritize and enhance workplace wellness, create a positive organizational culture, and for managers and supervisors, provide them with the tools to lead and support wellness initiatives within their teams.
Format Options:
This three-part series is customized to address and include a collection of terminology, statistics, history, group activities, and empathy building stories to create an environment that is inclusive of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. Aspects of the training also include allyship, supporting those coming out, and interactive scenarios to practice what is learned within the training. This series creates a shared language for your team to better understand and respect this community and the diverse communities within LGBTQAI+.
Part 1: Getting to Know the Community: LGBTQ+ Terminology
Part 2: LGBTQ+ History, Health & Inclusion
Part 3: Intersectionality of Privilege and Allyship: Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
By attending this series, you will:
This series is designed to encourage empathy, understanding, and allyship toward the LGBTQ+ community to further inclusion efforts in the workplace and community at large.
Format Options:
Mental health relates to your state of mind or well-being, and can be affected by physiology, events, and your environment. The most common mental health disorders are described in this session, along with the myths and fallacies attached to them. Short videos will be utilized to enhance the viewers’ understanding of such disorders, followed by the opportunity for discussion and questions.
By attending, you will:
This training aims to provide participants with a solid foundation in understanding mental health, recognizing common disorders, and addressing misconceptions, while also creating a space for open and informed discussion on the topic.
Format Options:
Work-related stress is common. An average person will spend 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime. We all experience stress at work, even if you love what you do. In the short-term, you may experience pressure to meet a deadline or to fulfill a challenging obligation, which can help with focus and motivation. However, when work stress becomes chronic, it can be overwhelming and harmful to both physical and emotional health. This workshop will help you to identify causes of stress, the effects on your mental and physical health, along with practical tips and techniques to mitigate it. This topic is most effective when combined with “Developing a Self-Care Plan.”
By attending, you will:
This training will help attendees gain a comprehensive understanding of work-related stress, its effects, and how to proactively address and manage it in their professional lives.
Format Options:
Burnout is now recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an occupational phenomenon and has been included in their handbook of medical diagnoses. The attendees will learn about the causes of burnout, how it manifests and what can be done to mitigate it, as well as recover from this phenomenon. This topic is most effective when combined with “Developing a Self-Care Plan.”
By attending, you will:
This training will help participants, especially managers and supervisors, develop a comprehensive understanding of burnout, its causes, and practical strategies for both personal and team well-being.
Format Options:
The World Health Organization defines self-care as, “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health care provider.” Research suggests that self-care promotes positive health outcomes such as fostering resilience and living longer. During this workshop, participants will learn a variety of techniques that will help manage stressors and identify healthy habits that can be incorporated into their daily routine. In longer workshops, participants have the opportunity to begin creating their own self-care plan, and this can also be combined with an art, journaling, or gardening activity.
By attending, you will:
This workshop is designed to empower participants with the knowledge and skills needed to prioritize self-care and maintain their health and well-being through practical techniques and personalized self-care plans.
Format Options:
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based, interactive training that improves communication and aids in collaboration in times of change and progress. This can be helpful for leaders, caregivers, coaches, and a variety of individuals looking to help others achieve their personal or professional goals.
“MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.” (Miller & Rollnick, 2013)
By attending, you will:
This training is a guiding style of communication that encourages active listening, directing others toward resources and tools, empowering others, and practicing respectful curiosity to facilitate a productive path forward in times of change.
Format Options:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are essential components to a mentally healthy work environment and knowing how to implement and maintain these efforts can be a serious undertaking for any organization. During this workshop you will learn best practices and strategies for success, particularly as it relates to creating and maintaining a culture of inclusion.
MHC will also share how we established our DEI committee in the midst of a pandemic and time of social unrest, a time when we needed one the most. Longer workshops include customized guidance on creating a DEI committee that meets the needs of your organization.
By attending, you will:
This workshop is designed to equip participants with the understanding, best practices, and practical guidance needed to effectively implement and maintain DEI efforts, with a focus on creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion in the workplace.
Format Options:
According to the US Department of Justice, bias is defined as “a human trait resulting from our tendency and need to classify individuals into categories as we strive to quickly process information and make sense of the world.” Inherently, having a bias is not necessarily a negative trait, but when our biases go unchecked or examined, we run the risk of causing harm through stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, and stigma. One common way this occurs is from our implicit biases. The APA defines implicit bias as “a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.” This can include race, gender, age, religion, or any layer of diversity that we possess. By uncovering and exploring our conscious and unconscious feelings toward others, we have the opportunity to prevent the negative behaviors and actions that can affect our students, co-workers, and any relationship we foster.
In this training, attendees will be asked to do some self-reflection on their own biases, feelings, and backgrounds to uncover where these feelings stem from and how to recognize when they appear in our interactions with diverse populations. Attendees will gain insight into their personal biases and learn best practices for checking biases before they turn into negative behaviors.
By attending, you will:
This training is designed for individuals open to explore their own biases and develop strategies to recognize and mitigate potential negative outcomes from that bias.
Format Options:
From recruitment to long-term employment, what does DEI look like in the workplace? This workshop will define DEI, provide examples of effective and ineffective DEI practices, showcase the benefits of diverse and inclusive work environments, and provide the tools, tips, models, and best practices to take action and increase DEI efforts at your workplace. Customization can be provided for longer sessions to focus on a specific layer of diversity to encourage open discussion with your team on an existing area of concern such as age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other area of interest. Generational diversity is a crowd Favorite!
By attending, you will:
This workshop aims to provide participants with a solid foundation in understanding DEI, the ability to evaluate workplace practices, and practical guidance for improving DEI efforts in their own organizations.
Format Options:
Racism is a public health crisis. Ageism, ableism, homophobia, and all forms of hate based on one’s community or identity is harmful on so many levels, including our mental health. This workshop sets the stage for how DEI and mental health intersects, focuses on how racism erodes mental health, and provides takeaways for how to be mindful of implicit bias in the workplace and work toward a more mentally healthy and inclusive work environment. This workshop is offered as a 60-minute presentation or 90-minute interactive workshop.
By attending, you will:
This presentation aims to equip participants with the knowledge, awareness, and practical skills needed to address discrimination, implicit bias, and mental health disparities in the workplace while working towards a more inclusive and mentally healthy work environment.
Format Options:
What does it mean to be an ally? What does it mean to be an antiracist? How can leaders be both an ally and antiracist, and encourage these practices in the workplace? A mentally healthy work environment includes communications and actions from leaders that puts antiracism and allyship into play. This workshop provides the definitions, tools, and resources to inspire leaders to step up and set the example for allyship and antiracism in the workplace.
By attending, you will:
This workshop aims to empower leaders and participants with the knowledge, tools, and inspiration needed to actively promote and practice allyship and antiracism in the workplace while fostering a mentally healthy work environment.
Format Options:
Intersectionality is a fairly new term. Originally coined in the late 80s, “intersectionality” began as a legal term to make the case for discrimination against an individual: not for being black, not for being a woman, but for being a black woman. We all have layers and intersections to our identity that make up who we are and how we interact with each other. By understanding and being open to those intersections, leaders are better equipped to support their staff as an Intersectional Ally. This workshop includes interactive exercises and discussions for leaders to immediately use the tools of allyship and take these best practices back to their organizations.
By attending, you will:
This presentation aims to inspire participants to utilize their unique privileges and power to offer allyship to diverse communities within the workplace while being mindful of the intersectional identities of their team.
Format Options:
In every job there is an expectation to “fit in.” There are policies, procedures, employee handbooks, and codes of conduct that you must follow. On top of the written expectations, many workforces have an unwritten rule that encourages you to assimilate to the existing environment. Too often, we get lost in the “soup” by being the supportive team player. By assimilating to the existing culture, it’s easy to forget our own values, strengths, and identity. We blend into the melting pot and never stir it for fear of retaliation or negative reviews. It’s time to set a new expectation. Let’s step into our power, with our own minds, our own goals, our own mission statements, and stand out as our authentic selves as someone of value. Let’s create a culture where everyone is encouraged to show up as their authentic selves and appreciate the diverse collection of individuals who all bring their unique skills to the table. Much like a salad, every ingredient stands out with unique textures, colors, and flavors. We work together to create a healthy meal without losing ourselves in the mix. So, what will it be, soup or salad?
By attending, you will:
This presentation was designed to inspire participants to shift from the traditional melting pot mindset of “culture fit” and explore the mindset of “culture add” in the workplace to create and maintain an inclusive and diverse workforce.
Format Options:
The National Day of Racial Healing launched on January 17, 2017, to meet the ongoing needs of communities who continue to face racial discrimination, harassment, injustice, and inequity. Each year since, the day following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marks the National Day of Racial Healing, a time where communities come together to inspire positive action toward a more equitable nation. As this is just one day out of the year, this training offers time for leaders and employees to come together for racial healing in the workplace. In this training you will receive tools that you can incorporate into your workplace procedures to encourage safe and BRAVE spaces for all individuals.
By attending, you will:
This training aims to provide participants with the tools and confidence to lead effective conversations around race within the workplace, especially at times of strife.
Format Options:
The actual words we use are only 7% of all communication. What happens to the rest? In this workshop, attendees will learn about the art of effective communication. We will introduce the “OARS” (Open-Ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflective Listening, Summarization) framework and lead a demonstration or interactive exercise (depending on format / time). In the longer sessions, participants will have the opportunity to practice through role-playing in small groups. Also reviewed are the three components of communication and their influence on our ability to connect with others. This topic can be offered as a 60-minute workshop without the interactive exercise of role playing, but it is most effective as a 90-minute or 3-hour workshop.
By attending, you will:
This training aims to equip participants with a holistic understanding of effective communication, introduce them to a practical framework, and provide opportunities for hands-on practice to enhance their communication skills.
Format Options:
Our relationship with time and how effective we are in managing time is at the top of the list of stressors for us all! This presentation will offer leaders and employees ways to better manage their time in the workplace along with balancing work and life activities. Some of the techniques reviewed include: the Eisenhower Matrix, the Pomodoro Technique, the Alpen Method, and the SMARTIE technique. Also included are topics such as prioritizing tasks, reducing distractions and creating productive work- life environments. Discussion will take place about procrastination and how to minimize its occurrence. For managers and supervisors, this workshop is most effective as a 3-hour workshop to incorporate interactive exercises and opportunity to put what is learned into practice.
By attending, you will:
This training is designed to empower participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to enhance their time management skills, reduce stress, and achieve a better balance between their professional and personal lives, with a focus on practical strategies and applications.
Format Options:
Looking for something but don’t see it listed? Our training team will work with you to create a custom workshop that fits your needs. Workshops are typically offered as 60-minute, 90-minute, or 3 hour sessions. Virtual and in-person options are available and content is tailored to your team’s audience (executive, management, department specific, or all staff).
The practice of Cultural Humility respects the unique cultures of others and encourages the ongoing self-reflection of oneself and the readiness for transmutation toward a new and inclusive culture that respects all points of view, traditions, values, and beliefs.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, our workers face unique challenges including burnout, stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and vicarious trauma. On top of this shared burden is our personal baggage that varies with the diverse make up of our workforce. Race, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and all the layers of diversity intersect and impact how we navigate our day to day. The work environment plays a key role in how an employee copes with the daily demands of their workday and living in today’s society.
How are we meeting the unique needs of our workers? How are we shaping our environments so that each employee is seen, heard, valued, and respected for their authentic selves? What practices are in place to encourage psychological safety for our employees? By incorporating the practice of Cultural Humility into our overall work culture, we can build a mentally healthy work environment that is supportive of staff from diverse populations.
By attending, you will:
This training will explore the benefits of Cultural Humility and encourage an open discussion on meeting people where they are to promote a safe, healthy, and inclusive work environment.
Format Options:
Launched as a pilot program in 2022, the MHC Collaborative is a membership-based program, open to employers seeking to improve their work environment. We focus on creating a culture of workplace mental health, which means we put people first. We meet people where they are and work together to identify your needs, address the gaps in your employee experience, and improve upon the successes in your workplace.
Membership in the MHC Collaborative is an annual investment that includes a custom mix of strategic guidance and point-in-time needs assessment for leadership, delivered simultaneously with trainings, workshops, and resources for all employees. Members receive monthly coaching sessions to set goals, track progress, and work as a team to improve their work environment.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adults.
It covers:
Who needs to know Mental Health First Aid:
Learn how to respond with Mental Health First Aid Action Plan (ALGEE):
This is a certified training, following the fidelity standards set by the National Council for Wellbeing and led by certified MHFA trainers.
Format Options:
81% of today’s workers reported they are seeking workplaces that support mental health and would even take a pay cut if it meant having a mentally healthy work environment. With depression and anxiety at an all-time high since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, workplaces are faced with decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, increased turnover and vacancies, and uncertainty on how to combat it.
By taking this series, leaders will better understand how to strategically implement initiatives that focus on the wellbeing of their employees and to create an environment that attracts and retains talent. The series can be presented as a full day training or broken into 4 individual sessions.
Part 1: The Employee Work Cycle and How to Care for Staff Across the Timeline
Part 2: Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Part 3: Creating a Wellness Program that Focuses on Mental Health
Part 4: Creating a Culture of Workplace Mental Health
By attending this series, you will:
This series is designed to empower participants to prioritize and enhance workplace wellness, create a positive organizational culture, and for managers and supervisors, provide them with the tools to lead and support wellness initiatives within their teams.
Format Options:
Mental health relates to your state of mind or well-being, and can be affected by physiology, events, and your environment. The most common mental health disorders are described in this session, along with the myths and fallacies attached to them. Short videos will be utilized to enhance the viewers’ understanding of such disorders, followed by the opportunity for discussion and questions.
By attending, you will:
This training aims to provide participants with a solid foundation in understanding mental health, recognizing common disorders, and addressing misconceptions, while also creating a space for open and informed discussion on the topic.
Format Options:
This three-part series is customized to address and include a collection of terminology, statistics, history, group activities, and empathy building stories to create an environment that is inclusive of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. Aspects of the training also include allyship, supporting those coming out, and interactive scenarios to practice what is learned within the training. This series creates a shared language for your team to better understand and respect this community and the diverse communities within LGBTQAI+.
Part 1: Getting to Know the Community: LGBTQ+ Terminology
Part 2: LGBTQ+ History, Health & Inclusion
Part 3: Intersectionality of Privilege and Allyship: Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
By attending this series, you will:
This series is designed to encourage empathy, understanding, and allyship toward the LGBTQ+ community to further inclusion efforts in the workplace and community at large.
Format Options:
Work-related stress is common. An average person will spend 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime. We all experience stress at work, even if you love what you do. In the short-term, you may experience pressure to meet a deadline or to fulfill a challenging obligation, which can help with focus and motivation. However, when work stress becomes chronic, it can be overwhelming and harmful to both physical and emotional health. This workshop will help you to identify causes of stress, the effects on your mental and physical health, along with practical tips and techniques to mitigate it. This topic is most effective when combined with “Developing a Self-Care Plan.”
By attending, you will:
This training will help attendees gain a comprehensive understanding of work-related stress, its effects, and how to proactively address and manage it in their professional lives.
Format Options:
Burnout is now recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an occupational phenomenon and has been included in their handbook of medical diagnoses. The attendees will learn about the causes of burnout, how it manifests and what can be done to mitigate it, as well as recover from this phenomenon. This topic is most effective when combined with “Developing a Self-Care Plan.”
By attending, you will:
This training will help participants, especially managers and supervisors, develop a comprehensive understanding of burnout, its causes, and practical strategies for both personal and team well-being.
Format Options:
The World Health Organization defines self-care as, “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health care provider.” Research suggests that self-care promotes positive health outcomes such as fostering resilience and living longer. During this workshop, participants will learn a variety of techniques that will help manage stressors and identify healthy habits that can be incorporated into their daily routine. In longer workshops, participants have the opportunity to begin creating their own self-care plan, and this can also be combined with an art, journaling, or gardening activity.
By attending, you will:
This workshop is designed to empower participants with the knowledge and skills needed to prioritize self-care and maintain their health and well-being through practical techniques and personalized self-care plans.
Format Options:
Racism is a public health crisis. Ageism, ableism, homophobia, and all forms of hate based on one’s community or identity is harmful on so many levels, including our mental health. This workshop sets the stage for how DEI and mental health intersects, focuses on how racism erodes mental health, and provides takeaways for how to be mindful of implicit bias in the workplace and work toward a more mentally healthy and inclusive work environment. This workshop is offered as a 60-minute presentation or 90-minute interactive workshop.
By attending, you will:
This presentation aims to equip participants with the knowledge, awareness, and practical skills needed to address discrimination, implicit bias, and mental health disparities in the workplace while working towards a more inclusive and mentally healthy work environment.
Format Options:
According to the US Department of Justice, bias is defined as “a human trait resulting from our tendency and need to classify individuals into categories as we strive to quickly process information and make sense of the world.” Inherently, having a bias is not necessarily a negative trait, but when our biases go unchecked or examined, we run the risk of causing harm through stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, and stigma. One common way this occurs is from our implicit biases. The APA defines implicit bias as “a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.” This can include race, gender, age, religion, or any layer of diversity that we possess. By uncovering and exploring our conscious and unconscious feelings toward others, we have the opportunity to prevent the negative behaviors and actions that can affect our students, co-workers, and any relationship we foster.
In this training, attendees will be asked to do some self-reflection on their own biases, feelings, and backgrounds to uncover where these feelings stem from and how to recognize when they appear in our interactions with diverse populations. Attendees will gain insight into their personal biases and learn best practices for checking biases before they turn into negative behaviors.
By attending, you will:
This training is designed for individuals open to explore their own biases and develop strategies to recognize and mitigate potential negative outcomes from that bias.
Format Options:
The practice of Cultural Humility respects the unique cultures of others and encourages the ongoing self-reflection of oneself and the readiness for transmutation toward a new and inclusive culture that respects all points of view, traditions, values, and beliefs.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, our workers face unique challenges including burnout, stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and vicarious trauma. On top of this shared burden is our personal baggage that varies with the diverse make up of our workforce. Race, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and all the layers of diversity intersect and impact how we navigate our day to day. The work environment plays a key role in how an employee copes with the daily demands of their workday and living in today’s society.
How are we meeting the unique needs of our workers? How are we shaping our environments so that each employee is seen, heard, valued, and respected for their authentic selves? What practices are in place to encourage psychological safety for our employees? By incorporating the practice of Cultural Humility into our overall work culture, we can build a mentally healthy work environment that is supportive of staff from diverse populations.
By attending, you will:
This training will explore the benefits of Cultural Humility and encourage an open discussion on meeting people where they are to promote a safe, healthy, and inclusive work environment.
Format Options:
Looking for something but don’t see it listed? Our training team will work with you to create a custom workshop that fits your needs. Workshops are typically offered as 60-minute, 90-minute, or 3 hour sessions. Virtual and in-person options are available and content is tailored to your team’s audience (executive, management, department specific, or all staff).
Launched as a pilot program in 2022, the MHC Collaborative is a membership-based program, open to employers seeking to improve their work environment. We focus on creating a culture of workplace mental health, which means we put people first. We meet people where they are and work together to identify your needs, address the gaps in your employee experience, and improve upon the successes in your workplace.
Membership in the MHC Collaborative is an annual investment that includes a custom mix of strategic guidance and point-in-time needs assessment for leadership, delivered simultaneously with trainings, workshops, and resources for all employees. Members receive monthly coaching sessions to set goals, track progress, and work as a team to improve their work environment.
This three-part series is customized to address and include a collection of terminology, statistics, history, group activities, and empathy building stories to create an environment that is inclusive of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. Aspects of the training also include allyship, supporting those coming out, and interactive scenarios to practice what is learned within the training. This series creates a shared language for your team to better understand and respect this community and the diverse communities within LGBTQAI+.
Part 1: Getting to Know the Community: LGBTQ+ Terminology
Part 2: LGBTQ+ History, Health & Inclusion
Part 3: Intersectionality of Privilege and Allyship: Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
By attending this series, you will:
This series is designed to encourage empathy, understanding, and allyship toward the LGBTQ+ community to further inclusion efforts in the workplace and community at large.
Format Options:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are essential components to a mentally healthy work environment and knowing how to implement and maintain these efforts can be a serious undertaking for any organization. During this workshop you will learn best practices and strategies for success, particularly as it relates to creating and maintaining a culture of inclusion.
MHC will also share how we established our DEI committee in the midst of a pandemic and time of social unrest, a time when we needed one the most. Longer workshops include customized guidance on creating a DEI committee that meets the needs of your organization.
By attending, you will:
This workshop is designed to equip participants with the understanding, best practices, and practical guidance needed to effectively implement and maintain DEI efforts, with a focus on creating and sustaining a culture of inclusion in the workplace.
Format Options:
According to the US Department of Justice, bias is defined as “a human trait resulting from our tendency and need to classify individuals into categories as we strive to quickly process information and make sense of the world.” Inherently, having a bias is not necessarily a negative trait, but when our biases go unchecked or examined, we run the risk of causing harm through stereotypes, discrimination, prejudice, and stigma. One common way this occurs is from our implicit biases. The APA defines implicit bias as “a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.” This can include race, gender, age, religion, or any layer of diversity that we possess. By uncovering and exploring our conscious and unconscious feelings toward others, we have the opportunity to prevent the negative behaviors and actions that can affect our students, co-workers, and any relationship we foster.
In this training, attendees will be asked to do some self-reflection on their own biases, feelings, and backgrounds to uncover where these feelings stem from and how to recognize when they appear in our interactions with diverse populations. Attendees will gain insight into their personal biases and learn best practices for checking biases before they turn into negative behaviors.
By attending, you will:
This training is designed for individuals open to explore their own biases and develop strategies to recognize and mitigate potential negative outcomes from that bias.
Format Options:
The practice of Cultural Humility respects the unique cultures of others and encourages the ongoing self-reflection of oneself and the readiness for transmutation toward a new and inclusive culture that respects all points of view, traditions, values, and beliefs.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, our workers face unique challenges including burnout, stress, compassion fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and vicarious trauma. On top of this shared burden is our personal baggage that varies with the diverse make up of our workforce. Race, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and all the layers of diversity intersect and impact how we navigate our day to day. The work environment plays a key role in how an employee copes with the daily demands of their workday and living in today’s society.
How are we meeting the unique needs of our workers? How are we shaping our environments so that each employee is seen, heard, valued, and respected for their authentic selves? What practices are in place to encourage psychological safety for our employees? By incorporating the practice of Cultural Humility into our overall work culture, we can build a mentally healthy work environment that is supportive of staff from diverse populations.
By attending, you will:
This training will explore the benefits of Cultural Humility and encourage an open discussion on meeting people where they are to promote a safe, healthy, and inclusive work environment.
Format Options:
From recruitment to long-term employment, what does DEI look like in the workplace? This workshop will define DEI, provide examples of effective and ineffective DEI practices, showcase the benefits of diverse and inclusive work environments, and provide the tools, tips, models, and best practices to take action and increase DEI efforts at your workplace. Customization can be provided for longer sessions to focus on a specific layer of diversity to encourage open discussion with your team on an existing area of concern such as age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other area of interest. Generational diversity is a crowd Favorite!
By attending, you will:
This workshop aims to provide participants with a solid foundation in understanding DEI, the ability to evaluate workplace practices, and practical guidance for improving DEI efforts in their own organizations.
Format Options:
Racism is a public health crisis. Ageism, ableism, homophobia, and all forms of hate based on one’s community or identity is harmful on so many levels, including our mental health. This workshop sets the stage for how DEI and mental health intersects, focuses on how racism erodes mental health, and provides takeaways for how to be mindful of implicit bias in the workplace and work toward a more mentally healthy and inclusive work environment. This workshop is offered as a 60-minute presentation or 90-minute interactive workshop.
By attending, you will:
This presentation aims to equip participants with the knowledge, awareness, and practical skills needed to address discrimination, implicit bias, and mental health disparities in the workplace while working towards a more inclusive and mentally healthy work environment.
Format Options:
What does it mean to be an ally? What does it mean to be an antiracist? How can leaders be both an ally and antiracist, and encourage these practices in the workplace? A mentally healthy work environment includes communications and actions from leaders that puts antiracism and allyship into play. This workshop provides the definitions, tools, and resources to inspire leaders to step up and set the example for allyship and antiracism in the workplace.
By attending, you will:
This workshop aims to empower leaders and participants with the knowledge, tools, and inspiration needed to actively promote and practice allyship and antiracism in the workplace while fostering a mentally healthy work environment.
Format Options:
Intersectionality is a fairly new term. Originally coined in the late 80s, “intersectionality” began as a legal term to make the case for discrimination against an individual: not for being black, not for being a woman, but for being a black woman. We all have layers and intersections to our identity that make up who we are and how we interact with each other. By understanding and being open to those intersections, leaders are better equipped to support their staff as an Intersectional Ally. This workshop includes interactive exercises and discussions for leaders to immediately use the tools of allyship and take these best practices back to their organizations.
By attending, you will:
This presentation aims to inspire participants to utilize their unique privileges and power to offer allyship to diverse communities within the workplace while being mindful of the intersectional identities of their team.
Format Options:
In every job there is an expectation to “fit in.” There are policies, procedures, employee handbooks, and codes of conduct that you must follow. On top of the written expectations, many workforces have an unwritten rule that encourages you to assimilate to the existing environment. Too often, we get lost in the “soup” by being the supportive team player. By assimilating to the existing culture, it’s easy to forget our own values, strengths, and identity. We blend into the melting pot and never stir it for fear of retaliation or negative reviews. It’s time to set a new expectation. Let’s step into our power, with our own minds, our own goals, our own mission statements, and stand out as our authentic selves as someone of value. Let’s create a culture where everyone is encouraged to show up as their authentic selves and appreciate the diverse collection of individuals who all bring their unique skills to the table. Much like a salad, every ingredient stands out with unique textures, colors, and flavors. We work together to create a healthy meal without losing ourselves in the mix. So, what will it be, soup or salad?
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This presentation was designed to inspire participants to shift from the traditional melting pot mindset of “culture fit” and explore the mindset of “culture add” in the workplace to create and maintain an inclusive and diverse workforce.
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The National Day of Racial Healing launched on January 17, 2017, to meet the ongoing needs of communities who continue to face racial discrimination, harassment, injustice, and inequity. Each year since, the day following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marks the National Day of Racial Healing, a time where communities come together to inspire positive action toward a more equitable nation. As this is just one day out of the year, this training offers time for leaders and employees to come together for racial healing in the workplace. In this training you will receive tools that you can incorporate into your workplace procedures to encourage safe and BRAVE spaces for all individuals.
By attending, you will:
This training aims to provide participants with the tools and confidence to lead effective conversations around race within the workplace, especially at times of strife.
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Looking for something but don’t see it listed? Our training team will work with you to create a custom workshop that fits your needs. Workshops are typically offered as 60-minute, 90-minute, or 3 hour sessions. Virtual and in-person options are available and content is tailored to your team’s audience (executive, management, department specific, or all staff).
Launched as a pilot program in 2022, the MHC Collaborative is a membership-based program, open to employers seeking to improve their work environment. We focus on creating a culture of workplace mental health, which means we put people first. We meet people where they are and work together to identify your needs, address the gaps in your employee experience, and improve upon the successes in your workplace.
Membership in the MHC Collaborative is an annual investment that includes a custom mix of strategic guidance and point-in-time needs assessment for leadership, delivered simultaneously with trainings, workshops, and resources for all employees. Members receive monthly coaching sessions to set goals, track progress, and work as a team to improve their work environment.
