In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, host Brandon Laws talks about corporate wellness with Dr. Monica Vermani, a clinical psychologist and author of A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress, Mood, Anxiety and Traumas. Dr. Vermani emphasizes not only the importance of self-awareness in recognizing and addressing mental health issues but also the need for a holistic approach to mental health in the workplace. If you’re on the verge of burnout, this discussion will give you actionable strategies for finding peace in all aspects of your life.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Dr. Monica Vermani is a clinical psychologist, author, and public speaker specializing in mental health and wellness. A member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario, she runs a private practice, Dr. Vermani Balanced Wellbeing, and founded Start Living Corporate Wellness to enhance workplace mental health.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, Sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
BEHIND THE BOOK
Dr. Monica Vermani’s background working with high-stress and trauma-affected populations has uniquely positioned her to tackle the corporate wellness crisis head-on with her recently published book, A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress, Mood, Anxiety and Traumas. With workplace burnout and anxiety on the rise — especially in the wake of the pandemic — her expertise has been a lifeline for organizations struggling to support their employees’ mental health.
Of course, Dr. Vermani’s transition into corporate wellness wasn’t by chance. After years of helping individuals in high-stress roles, including executives feeling the pinch during the pandemic, she saw a growing demand for wellness programs in the workplace. Her book is a culmination of that work with a broader mission to “help provide healing to greater and greater numbers.”
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Taking the First Step
“The first step to treatment is awareness, and having awareness from a doctor who works with it every day brings not only clinical diagnoses, treatment options, and resources out there, but it helps you understand day to day what your symptoms are doing for you, how they’re helping, and how they’re hurting not only you but your family members. When you’re in pain, you spill over into others. When you’re in a place of health, you also have a ripple effect.”
Not Knowing Where to Start
“What we’re finding is like companies usually […] have the basics in place. They have their EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs), and they have benefits so that people can try to get some support if they’re struggling. But what’s happening is people don’t know how to use it. They don’t know what resources to ask for. There are so many different types of professionals out there. There are psychiatrists, there are psychologists, there are social workers, there are psychotherapists, there are coaches. People don’t necessarily know where to go for assessment, diagnosis, treatment, or to understand who treats ADD, who treats anxiety disorders, who treats trauma.”
Understanding Your Symptoms
“So you’ve got physical symptoms in your body that are bothering you. You’ve got negative thoughts racing in your head. What does it look like in your life? Eating too much, eating too little, sleeping too much, sleeping too little, avoidance, denial, procrastination, feeling exhausted every day, drinking alcohol, porn addiction, video gaming, addiction to technology, staying in abusive relationships, or not asking for help at your workplace. My goal as a therapist is to teach you how to understand your symptoms. […] And, behaviorally, what are lifestyle habits that are unhealthy that you’ve attached yourself to that you maybe need to get rid of in order to live a healthier lifestyle? So a lot of my goal is teaching people to understand the purpose of their suffering, the purpose of their symptoms.”
Speaking Up
“A lot of my work […] is to teach you to advocate for yourself, to understand your symptoms — that if you communicate it well, the person is more likely to pick up the gaps, so they can treat you properly and give you the right lines of treatment and resources that would benefit you. Sometimes the problem is not the clinician you go to. It’s the fact that we’re not communicating our symptoms, right? Because think about it. That table I showed you — mind racing, physiological symptoms, getting overwhelmed with bad behaviors or maybe alcohol, drugs, numbing things — we’re not accurately seeing our own symptoms, and sometimes you’re so overwhelmed by what’s going on, you don’t know how to speak about it.”
Seeking Holistic Health
“We have so much comparison to others, overworking, not eating well, not taking care of ourselves, sometimes putting others ahead of ourselves with people-pleasing. It is important for us to recognize [the] things that [our] parents have taught [us] that are not always healthy — but they modeled that behavior to [us] about anxiety, about overworking, about sacrifice — that maybe I need to reconceptualize from my own life to bridge this gap between where I am and where I want to be.”
The Purpose of Suffering
“I’ve started my career and working in such extremes that I saw extreme versions of suffering, and I realized one quick observation. All human behavior has a purpose. All human suffering has a purpose. Our suffering, everybody’s got it.
It’s a fabric of life. We all have the good, the bad, the ugly. We’re all […] a work in progress. The purpose of it is to bring about a catalyst for change. And so whether that change is you going outside yourself to seek help, you go within yourself to really face your demons and face what you’re avoiding or not dealing with or processing, suffering has its place for your growth.”
LEARN MORE
Check out Dr. Vermani’s TED Talk, “How we can all improve our mental health,” or get your copy of A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress, Mood, Anxiety and Traumas on Amazon or wherever books are sold.