Psych Health and Safety Podcast USA

In this episode, we’ll close out our celebration of Black History Month with a conversation involving three 2022 Safety Scholars from the National Association of Black Compliance and Risk Management Professionals Leila Ruggs of North Carolina A&T University, Garrett Washington of American University and Emmanuel Winful of Auburn University. They will delve into their views on a variety of safety-related topics, including the view of these young people of what a psychologically safe and healthy environment looks and feels like from their perspective. We live in a society where most systems that influence our daily lives are heavily influenced by the perspective of those that have been around the longest. Unfortunately, this tendency focuses, for the most part, on the past rather than on the future. The same could be said about conversations regarding psychological health and safety. The vast majority of the research lived experience and expertise that informs our views on safety in general, psychological health and safety, and psychosocial hazard mitigation comes from Baby Boomers and members of Generation X. While these perspectives create an essential foundation for these topics, they are incomplete when they do not include conversations with those Millennials and members of Generation Z.

This podcast focuses on psychological health and safety from the perspective of an occupational health and safety professional. However, there is no question that discussions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion are certainly more common, as is the focus on psychological safety. While there are many voices in these conversations, they are most commonly DE&I professionals and enthusiasts OR leadership and management experts focused on psychological safety. In this episode of the podcast, we have the honor of having someone with expertise in both DE&I and psychological safety. Our guest for this episode is Sacha Thompson is the founder of The Equity Equation, LLC, a boutique inclusive culture consulting and coaching firm based in the Washington, DC, area. With nearly 20 years of experience within the education, non-profit, and tech industries, Sacha’s work is about removing barriers or providing support to achieve equality. She helps executives and leaders have that important dialogue and coaches them on the necessary, long-term changes that develop institutional cultures of inclusion.

Dr. Yasser Arafat Payne is a full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. Dr. Payne completed his doctoral work at the Graduate Center-City University of New York where he was trained as a social-personality psychologist. Also, Dr. Payne completed a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIH-NIDA) whereby he worked on a re-entry, and intervention-based research project in New York City’s largest jail, Rikers Island—a project designed to reduce: (1) recidivism, (2) drug use, and (3) other risky behavior leading to HIV/AIDS. Dr. Payne's latest Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR) project is entitled: The People's Report: The Link between Structural Violence and Crime in Wilmington, Delaware. This community-based study trained fifteen people (20-48) formerly involved with The Streets and/or the criminal justice system as participatory action researchers to empirically document the impact of community violence in the Eastside and Southbridge neighborhoods of Wilmington, Delaware. This research indicated that, particularly in the black community, there are several incorrect assumptions about Dr. Payne and Dr. Daniels will discuss that there is diversity in our perceptions of well-being; thus, assumptions about what “feels safe” need to be challenged. Feelings about safety and well-being can differ based on the person and community they are part of.

Dr. Reginald Freeman, a servant leadership expert and Fire Chief in Oakland, discusses the importance of prioritizing employees' needs. He highlights the significance of psychological health and safety in the workplace and promoting gender inclusivity. Valuing team members and involving them in decision-making, embracing diversity and addressing racism and discrimination are also discussed.

In this week’s episode, Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Dr. Jerry Carbo, the President of the National Workplace Bullying Coalition. Dr. Carbo is not only an attorney but also a Professor of Management at the Grove College of Business at Shippensburg University. He teaches courses in employment law, Labor Relations, Business and Society, HRM, and organizational behavior. Dr. Carbo’s research includes workplace bullying and harassment, employee rights, socially sustainable business systems, union reform, and revitalization. Dr. Carbo has been a professor at Shippensburg University since 2007. In addition to serving on the EEOC Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, in 2019, Dr. Carbo became President of the National Workplace Bullying Coalition. The mission of NWBC is to eliminate bullying from the American Workplace through education, conversation, and legislation. The coalition is actively advocating the “Dignity at Work Act” as a legislative approach to the belief that dignity is a safety issue.

The guest for this episode is Jerel Harvey, founder of Fedway Financial. One of the factors that influence people’s decisions to stay in jobs that they hate and tolerate exposure to toxic culture is related to their financial situation. When a worker is being exposed to micro-aggressive behavior, hazing, bullying, harassment, or even violence, the decision to speak up, ask for help, and especially seek other opportunities is often directly tied to the target’s ability to meet their basic needs for healthcare (which is often controlled by the employer), shelter and food, as well as the targe’s attachments to their standard of living. Those more financially secure are likelier to push back against harmful behavior. For other than those born to wealth, financial security takes not only determination, time, and effort; it takes a plan. Jerel dispels several misconceptions about financial planning and wealth management and clarifies that both are important concepts that can foster greater mental and emotional health.

In this episode of the Psych Health and Safety USA podcast, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Russ Burnham, the Founder of Front-Line Mobile Health, a company that assists police, fire, and EMS agencies with both physical and behavioral assessment and support. Russ has an extensive military background and began when he enlisted as Combat Medic in 2001, shortly after the events of 9/11. During his time in the military, Burnham provided medical care to numerous men and women in austere environments, including two deployments to Afghanistan, where he served as the Senior Medical Advisor to the Afghan National Army's 201st Corps Surgeon and the Regional Hospital Commander who oversaw the medical care for the six most eastern provinces in Afghanistan and 25,000 Soldiers. Russ founded Front Line to utilize the lessons that he learned on the battlefield to assist members of the police, fire rescue, and emergency medical services from both a physical and psychological perspective in addressing many of the same kinds of challenges he saw when assisting combat veterans.

As much as the organization has the most significant responsibility for creating a psychologically healthy and safe environment, it would be naive to suggest that focusing on resiliency for people in the organization is not also important. There are real-life situations where emotional and even physical survival may depend on how resilient an individual can be in situations where the psychosocial hazards in the workplace cannot be eliminated. There are simply times when the work is complex and the hazards associated, especially with work responsibilities outside the organization’s control. Dr. Alessandria Polizzi uses her lived experience as a Human Resource Executive and a scholar to become laser-focused on helping humans in organizations be more resilient.

In this episode of the Psych Health and Safety USA podcast, host Dr. I. David Daniels will talk with two friends whose relationship is almost exclusively the result of their common interest in addressing workplace bullying. Janet Glover-Kerkvliet and Sonja Pitts are the co-founders of the Maryland Healthy Workplace Task Force, which continues to advocate for legislation to prevent bullying in the workplace. Both are also affiliates of the Workplace Bullying Institute. Nearly one-third of adult Americans (30%) said they directly experienced abusive conduct at work. Efforts to make the workplace safer by creating regulations have been taken up by many based on their experience. In this case, one with direct experience of being the target of bullying and another with experience as a therapist assisting targets have joined forces to help foster change. Janet and Sonja will share their views on the journey toward workplaces where bullying and exposure to other psychosocial hazards are a thing of the past.

This week's guest, Georgia Bryce-Hutchinson, was educated and trained as an environmental engineer when her lived experience in the workplace motivated her to understand better how the workplace was causing her to feel. This exploration led her to become certified as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Consultant. She is also a speaker and author of "On Your Way to Meeting You: The Journey That Changes Everything" and owner of Building Families According to Pattern, LLC. Georgia combines her ability to think logically with her passion for robust mental health as a motivator to help individuals and families in her clinical practice, including those exposed to psychosocial hazards at work. She has also recently begun to focus on helping large organizations address mental health through training and consulting efforts. She believes that "you can not separate the person from the worker," and the work environment should be a place that facilitates growth rather than harm. In this episode, she'll share her thoughts with host Dr. I. David Daniels on why "Work Shouldn't Hurt Emotionally."