Addressing Mental Health in the Workplace; The Current State of Mental Health

With Bernie Dyme

Of Perspective, Ltd.

Bernie Dyme, founder in 1981 is the President & CEO of Perspectives. He earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work at the University of Chicago, is a Board Certified Diplomate (BCD) in Clinical Social Work and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). He has expertise in how organizations work and in helping the individuals who work within them. He assists organizations in creating safe and productive workplaces by providing organizational consultation and training in Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), WorkLife Programs, HR-related issues, organizational development, Crisis Management, Workplace Incident Management for HR & Supervisors and Humanitarian Assistance.

He has developed Crisis Management and disaster management programs for numerous companies including BP. He authored BP’s Humanitarian Assistance Training (HAT) program and has delivered the HAT workshop in various U. S. and South American locations.

Mr. Dyme is a member of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Society of Human Resource Professionals (SHRM), National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO), the City Club of Chicago, the Executives’ Club of Chicago, Vistage (formerly TEC), an organization of CEOs, and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the Workplace Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention.

Mr. Dyme is very active in the community having served on the Board of Directors and as School Board Chair for his Temple. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. He also is a member of the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration (SSA).

Further, he has taught at Benedictine University in the Management and Organizational Behavior Department and has published an article entitled “Total Quality Management in Contracted EAPs” in Employee Assistance Quarterly.

This presentation will be a continuation of the importance of mental health and how it impacts employees and the organizations in which they work.  Mental health and wellness have long been a topic that has been neglected due to fear and stigma, but the recent pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues.  It has brought the issues of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicide to the forefront.  Employees need to know that it is okay to openly discuss these issues so that they can ask for and get needed help.  Without a culture that supports open conversations about these topics, there is a greater risk of incapacitating illness, addiction, suicide and potentially costly errors.

The goal of this presentation is to highlight how to open up discussion about this, teach employers and managers about how to have difficult conversations with their peers and enable the BEA members to begin to look at their own mental health without judgement that could prevent them from getting the help they need.

The presentation will first identify the effects of some of the mental health and substance abuse problems all of us are facing, including depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse.  This will be followed by some suggested steps for creating and maintaining a positive working environment which promotes positive mental health and encourages everyone to seek and get help.  Finally, it will provide an overview of mental health first aid so that BEA members can help themselves prior to serious problems occurring and bring these skills and concepts to their workplaces to assist those who may be struggling to get help in a caring, non-intrusive manner.