Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed D. Renee Smith.
A transformational life coach and mental wellness advocate:
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
To raise awareness about mental health, especially among professional women, and to promote proactive wellness strategies in personal life and the workplace. The conversation emphasizes the importance of self-care, emotional support, and recognizing mental health signals before they escalate.
🗝️ Key Takeaways 1. Mental Health Is Like Physical Health
- Mental wellness requires daily attention, just like physical fitness.
- It involves monitoring thoughts, emotional responses, and what you consume mentally.
2. Women Often Lose Themselves in Roles
- Many women become consumed by titles—mother, wife, caregiver—and lose sight of their personal identity and dreams.
- Rediscovery is essential after life changes like divorce, loss, or children leaving home.
3. Self-Care Is Not Selfish
- Women must prioritize their own well-being.
- Harmony—not balance—is the goal, where all aspects of life work together positively.
4. Recognizing Mental Health Warning Signs
- Changes in behavior, withdrawal, or loss of interest can signal deeper issues.
- Friends and family should check in and not accept “I’m okay” at face value.
5. Workplace Stress Is Real
- Lack of promotion, recognition, or support can lead to burnout and mental strain.
- Employers should observe behavioral patterns and offer sincere support—not just reactive solutions.
6. Proactive Mental Wellness in the Workplace
- De Rene’s company offers coaching to help employees manage stress and improve performance.
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are underutilized and often insufficient.
💬 Notable Quotes
- “Self-care is not selfish.” – De Rene Smith
- “Don’t judge people by the choices they make because you don’t know what they had to choose from.” – D. Renee Smith
- “I’d rather make someone mad at me than regret not checking in.” – Rashawn McDonald
- “Harmony—not balance—is the goal.” – D. Renee Smith
🌐 Connect with D. Renee Smith
- Business: Transformational Living Coaching & Consulting
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to
be a guest button Chris submit and information will come
(00:23):
directly to me. Now, let's get this show started. My
next guest, you know. I'd like to call her a
transformational life coach. She's called a transformation specialist. She supports
a professional women by rediscovering who they are after losing
themselves in life, love or loss. They provide proactive mental
health and wellness solutions to corporations and small businesses. Their
(00:45):
service is about you and the mental health and how
you feel. I always remember one of my stories I
would like to repeat sometimes I live such a life,
a stressful life, because my wife always asks, how do
you just keep going? How do you get up?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Because I just get up and keep moving. I don't
know if that's healthy. All I know is that it's
just been a that's my model, that's my moto. It
may not be good for you, it may not be
good for me, but I've learned how to deal with stress,
and I'm willing to understand that it exists. A lot
of people don't want to acknowledge that it exists. Well,
my next guest is here to help us acknowledge it
and also show us ways that we can overcome it.
(01:22):
Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. D Renee Smith.
How you doing, mister Renee?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I am Greg Rashaan. How are you well?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You know if your face maybe look familiar because you're
on TV a lot, but you're on radio this time.
Because I remember she said, can I come down to
the studio? I say, hey, you just called it? You
know I say this not TV. I know you used
to do on TV, evens Smith, but you know this
is radio show. What exactly is mental health? What are
we striving for in your profession? When you say mental
(01:53):
health awareness or mental health calming people down? What do
we do when I use that word mental health? What
am I talking about it?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I like to think of it in a way, you know,
how people are trying to be in the best physical
health and wellness that they can be like they're jogging,
they're dieting, they're taking vitamins, they're doing all these things.
So they're going to the gym and they're doing all
these things so that they can be so fit and
(02:26):
be in great health so that they don't obtain get
any diagnosis or illnesses or anything that's brought on. That's
the same thing when you think about your mental health
as it relates to physical health. So you're obtaining you're
getting to a point to where you can obtain wellness.
Wellness is something that you seek after that's ongoing. It's
(02:49):
an active process that you're continuing to do on a
daily basis. As it relates to your mind, that means
what are you consuming in your mind, what are you
listening to, what are you saying to yourself, monitoring your thoughts.
These are all the things that when you think about
mental health and mental wellness, you compare it to physical
(03:13):
health and all the things you do to stay great
and well over there. But what are you doing to
stay great and well over here?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Wow? Now, with that being said, you know, we have gender,
we have male female, we have a gay community. That's
an whole new stress that's brought on because sometimes you
can't even acknowledge who you are in that community, and
then the violence can come with that. Once you make
that acknowledgment, which brings a whole new love, little stress.
But one of the things that you're laying in the
(03:43):
world is you're very passionate about helping women. Why is that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Because I think oftentimes women get lost in titles and roles.
If you're married, you're the wife, you're the mom, You're
doing all of these different things, You're the character every year,
the uber driver, you're you're all of these things. And
times when children leave and you become an empty nester,
women don't know who they are. They lose themselves. Oftentimes
(04:12):
in many roles. They lose themselves as a wife, they
lose themselves as moms, and they don't know who they
really are and what their purpose is in life. And
so when they lose them felves when it comes to life,
love or loss, then that's what I like to do,
is to help them to rediscover who they are, because
they're awesome people. We just get caught up and consumed
(04:35):
in roles and titles.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You know, that's really I hear you very clearly in
that because of the fact that you know, I don't
have a title. Nobody's ever given me a you know,
you know, and if I give, if I if I
say I'm a father, you know, some fathers can walk away,
you know, become disenfranchise themselves from their whole parenting, from
(04:57):
the whole husband tree, from the whole process, you know.
But a mom, you know, it's really interesting when you say,
but if a mom walks away, Oh, how dare her?
They're not her children? How dare her not love her kids?
How dare her not? It's really a very chauvinistic, stereotypical
(05:18):
way that we look at men and women and we
can make men and women can make the same decisions.
But then we look at women and just really lay
the hammer down when it comes especially when it comes
to parenting, especially when it comes to relationships, and especially
it comes to our dreams or what a woman's dream
is versus what a man dream is. Talk about that
(05:39):
whole process, if you can, from your perspective, from the
mental health side, the stress that women have to deal with.
Because I just brought out what you just said and
I hopefully made it more visual to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well, it can be very stressful like being a single parent.
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say that being a
single parent with lack of support, for instance, can be
very overwhelming. And I know some people say, oh, well,
you know, some women, that's what they chose and things
like that, But you don't know people. You don't know
people's situations. One of my favorite quotes is, don't judge
(06:12):
people by the choices they make, because you don't know
the things that they had to choose from in order
to make that choice. And so people, I mean, so
when women are you know, single, or possibly if their
marriage fails or anything like that, that is stress.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
We know that stress comes with within a couple, like
a whole family unit, there can be stress. Now imagine
just one person consuming all of that, the kids, the grades,
the activities, the finances, the stress, the overwhelmed. There are
things that come along with that, and of course that
(06:54):
contributes to stress, anxiety, depression. You know, I was looking
at something the other day and there was an article
about a mom who a single mom who didn't have support,
who completed suicide right because she didn't have the support
that she needs to be able to help her to
care for her kids, and that's stressful in itself. So
(07:17):
when we talk about women in the roles that they
play and the things that they have going on, there's
poor self care. They don't really know who they are
they so they get consumed, so they allow things to
come upon them that shouldn't possibly be there, like gaining weight,
because they're not really looking after their care. They're looking
after everybody else care. Or I can't go to the
(07:40):
gym because I got to go to the baseball game,
or I got to go to the soccer game, or
I got to go do this. So there are things
that women have to deal with in those roles and
put themselves to the side that oftentimes they don't know
how to incorporate that self care, in that mental wellness
component within their daily routine.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Wow, I'm speaking of d Renee Smith about just mental health.
And you know, I'm really glad because a lot of
the majority of my listeners are female, and I'm glad
they're hearing this. I hope they are hearing this, because
I'm sure some of them are who you're talking about,
people who want to change their roles but sometimes get
(08:19):
blocked into that are afraid to make a decision to
better themselves, but don't want to be looked down upon
or don't want to be subject to You can't do that?
What about your kids? Or what about your job? Or
what about And then they don't have any dreams, and
so they're just blocked in to being what everybody else
say they should be and never being who they could be.
(08:41):
That's powerful statements that you're saying. How can they get out?
How can a woman get out of that box that
that society has put them in.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, one thing that I like to say is self
care is not selfish. You taking care of taking control
of your dreams, you taking control of your mental well being,
you taking a time out from having to be all
things and do all things is not selfish. So you
have to seek the support that you need in order
(09:13):
to get to a place to where you can you
can do those things. It's possible. It's not selfish. You
don't have to be all of this and none of that.
There is a way to have harmony, not balance, but harmony.
As long as all things are working together for the good,
there's harmony.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Please don't go anywhere, we'll be right back for more
money making conversations. Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations
master Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation
master Class continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook, x and Instagram.
(09:56):
How do we see the warning signals if nobody is
willing to tell us that they're dealing with issues that
we need to be talking about, or seeking a therapist,
or seeking some form of counseling or some form of
family or friend support.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, it's based on the person's functioning and the severity
of what's going on with them. If you see a
person that you know is typically like uplifted and doing
this and doing that, and you're noticing that they're kind
of withdrawing, or you're noticing that they no longer have
a desire to do something, or you're noticing or they're saying,
(10:36):
you know what, I don't feel comfortable when I'm in
certain spaces, Like I start to feel like something is
you know, like something is bothering me, or like I'm
getting pastaphobic when I'm in certain places and things like that.
It's just that the normal people in the world, other
(10:59):
than those those of us who are trained to identify
and know signs of depression and anxiety and things like that,
they're not aware of what to look for when it
comes to things like that. They don't might not know
that depression has different signs. There are people who complete
it suicide, and every time you talk to someone they
(11:21):
might say, Oh, they seemed like they were just so happy. Right, Oh,
this person just seemed like they were so happy. We're
not saying that this is a ketch all, but there
are certain things. If you know this a person's patterns
of behavior changing, then you can just do a check
in with them, Hey are you okay? And even if
they say I'm okay? Are you sure? Oh you're okay?
(11:43):
Because I notice this, this and this and this, or
I notice this, this and this and this, don't just
accept okay as the end all be all, because if
you tend to explore a little bit more, then you
might get something else out of them that's important.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I know that you know, it's not being nosy, it's
being concerned, and that's a that's a big difference because
in the end, you don't want to be you don't
want to sit around and with regret. I rather pester somebody,
I rather make them mad at me, leave me alone. Well,
we're taking we're angry now. At least you've refocused on met. Okay,
(12:19):
refocused on me, redirected whatever bothering you back on me.
I take that. I take that. But more importantly, the
workplace can create mental stress too. And I'm gonna get
to the HBCUs in a minute because we recently had
a violent incident as an HPCU. What is the workplace?
How does people especially people of color, because that's where
(12:40):
we run into a lot of issues. You know, we're
not getting the raised we thought we should get. We're
not getting promoted like we thought we should get, we're
not getting respected. We feel we're being harassed, we feel
when in an environment that won't let us grow. All
these things create stress. Talk about that work environment.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
But listen, I have been doing EAP consulting for the
last five to six years, and there are a lot
of things that I steel are reactive. There are EAPs
that the services that's provided are reactive to situations, meaning
(13:18):
they come after something has happened. Now that the place
is on fire, let me call somebody to put it out.
But there is nothing that's really being done to be
proactive and maintaining and managing mental wellness. Remember when I
said earlier, mental wellness is something that should be practiced
(13:39):
often and it's owing ongoing. So why are we dealing
with things after something had happened and then it's put
back on to the employee to go and seek an
EAP counselor or someone to get that help. So what
we do with my business, Transformational Living Coaching and Consulting,
(14:02):
is we offer mental wellness coaching as well as performance
coaching to where they're getting. They have a coach that's
supporting them twice a month at least to support their
mental well being, to help guide them, to help them process,
to not necessarily processing, but to help them stay in
(14:25):
a great mental place, to help prevent burnout, to reduce stress,
to help increase productivity, and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You know, I employ people, and so I employ people
to come to work, you know, forty hours a week,
give me their job responsibility that I requested them every
day as an employer. What should I be doing? What
should I be aware of? You know, if I'm doing stuff?
Am I being just to just more? Should I be more?
(14:58):
Aware of the person and not so much aware of
what I'm asking them to do. What are what are
my responsibilities as an employer for that pre care that
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
We're talking about call out monitoring, call outs stress. When
it comes to how are they dealing with stress? Do
they seem like they're fragled, do they seem like they're
able to manage it? How are they how is their
productivity are they doing? Are they doing things on time?
(15:33):
Are they late? Are they coming in la You know,
these are all like patterns of behavior, just observing patterns
of behavior to kind of see what is going on
with that person. And then if you work with them
on a regular basis, you're able to notice change. Right,
No different than what we talked about before. You're able
(15:54):
to notice the change in those individuals so that you
can get them help. But again that's after the fact.
What are we doing ongoing on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Well, you know, I try to keep you I'm just
talking about my company. You know, I try to I
try to cook cook desserts, you know, snacks for my staff.
You know. You know people always say, man, I wish
I worked for you. You're always cooking approaching you know,
I got to make homemade of ice cream. You know,
they come in sometimes. I because in my office I
have a kitchen and so I'm able to cook food
(16:28):
and so I'm abay to do snacks. So I try
to build that atmosphere that hey, you know, you know
that there's fun there. There's uh because we have a
job to do it right and I'm trying to keep
these doors open. But in the meantime, you know, I'm
making desserts or hamburger or some chicken or cast role
or sometimes I might do a full blown lunch for him.
(16:51):
And so that's my way of trying to keep that
stress down, that is that sometimes I should continue doing.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Absolutely, people like to feel valued and appreciate it on
their jobs, and if you're contributing to that and allowing
them to feel valued and appreciated sincerely on the job,
then that lets them say, that makes them want to
work for you, That makes them want to stay in
(17:19):
your company to kind of help prevent turnover and things
like that. But it's just when you go to those
other areas where you're not being valued and then it
is high stress, you know, on the job and you're
not necessarily taking care of them as a as a whole,
because telling them to go to the EAP are just
(17:40):
callities number if you need to talk to somebody or
something like that. Like oftentimes they're not gonna they're not
gonna follow through with that. EAP services are only used
five to ten percent of the time out of a
study show and then you as EAP services is only
use five to ten percent and most often is not
(18:03):
by the employee the employees, and it's non related to
mental health.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And EP stands for what.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Employee assistant programmed okay cool, that's what the employee. That's
what the employees get through their insurance company, and they
get a certain amount of sessions for free. Some companies
might give you three sessions, some might give you six.
And then oftentimes when you tell people that it's like, oh,
well that's it, three sessions, that's it, they don't want
(18:31):
to take they don't want to take any parts in
it because it's just gonna be three sessions. Like that
ain't gonna be enough. I got all these problems, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I know, don't put a limit on my problems. Now,
de Renee smith D, how can we get in touch with.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You on Instagram at d Renee Underscore TLCCS.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Thanks for coming on Money Making Conversation master Class, d
Renee Smith. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to
I guess us on the show today and thank you
our listening audience. Now. If you want to listen to
any episode I want to register to be a guest
on my show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media
(19:13):
handle is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and
remember to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to
be a guest button Chris submit and information will come
(00:23):
directly to me. Now, let's get this show started. My
next guest, you know. I'd like to call her a
transformational life coach. She's called a transformation specialist. She supports
a professional women by rediscovering who they are after losing
themselves in life, love or loss. They provide proactive mental
health and wellness solutions to corporations and small businesses. Their
(00:45):
service is about you and the mental health and how
you feel. I always remember one of my stories I
would like to repeat sometimes I live such a life,
a stressful life, because my wife always asks, how do
you just keep going? How do you get up?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Because I just get up and keep moving. I don't
know if that's healthy. All I know is that it's
just been a that's my model, that's my moto. It
may not be good for you, it may not be
good for me, but I've learned how to deal with stress,
and I'm willing to understand that it exists. A lot
of people don't want to acknowledge that it exists. Well,
my next guest is here to help us acknowledge it
and also show us ways that we can overcome it.
(01:22):
Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. D Renee Smith.
How you doing, mister Renee?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I am Greg Rashaan. How are you well?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
You know if your face maybe look familiar because you're
on TV a lot, but you're on radio this time.
Because I remember she said, can I come down to
the studio? I say, hey, you just called it? You
know I say this not TV. I know you used
to do on TV, evens Smith, but you know this
is radio show. What exactly is mental health? What are
we striving for in your profession? When you say mental
(01:53):
health awareness or mental health calming people down? What do
we do when I use that word mental health? What
am I talking about it?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I like to think of it in a way, you know,
how people are trying to be in the best physical
health and wellness that they can be like they're jogging,
they're dieting, they're taking vitamins, they're doing all these things.
So they're going to the gym and they're doing all
these things so that they can be so fit and
(02:26):
be in great health so that they don't obtain get
any diagnosis or illnesses or anything that's brought on. That's
the same thing when you think about your mental health
as it relates to physical health. So you're obtaining you're
getting to a point to where you can obtain wellness.
Wellness is something that you seek after that's ongoing. It's
(02:49):
an active process that you're continuing to do on a
daily basis. As it relates to your mind, that means
what are you consuming in your mind, what are you
listening to, what are you saying to yourself, monitoring your thoughts.
These are all the things that when you think about
mental health and mental wellness, you compare it to physical
(03:13):
health and all the things you do to stay great
and well over there. But what are you doing to
stay great and well over here?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Wow? Now, with that being said, you know, we have gender,
we have male female, we have a gay community. That's
an whole new stress that's brought on because sometimes you
can't even acknowledge who you are in that community, and
then the violence can come with that. Once you make
that acknowledgment, which brings a whole new love, little stress.
But one of the things that you're laying in the
(03:43):
world is you're very passionate about helping women. Why is that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Because I think oftentimes women get lost in titles and roles.
If you're married, you're the wife, you're the mom, You're
doing all of these different things, You're the character every year,
the uber driver, you're you're all of these things. And
times when children leave and you become an empty nester,
women don't know who they are. They lose themselves. Oftentimes
(04:12):
in many roles. They lose themselves as a wife, they
lose themselves as moms, and they don't know who they
really are and what their purpose is in life. And
so when they lose them felves when it comes to life,
love or loss, then that's what I like to do,
is to help them to rediscover who they are, because
they're awesome people. We just get caught up and consumed
(04:35):
in roles and titles.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
You know, that's really I hear you very clearly in
that because of the fact that you know, I don't
have a title. Nobody's ever given me a you know,
you know, and if I give, if I if I
say I'm a father, you know, some fathers can walk away,
you know, become disenfranchise themselves from their whole parenting, from
(04:57):
the whole husband tree, from the whole process, you know.
But a mom, you know, it's really interesting when you say,
but if a mom walks away, Oh, how dare her?
They're not her children? How dare her not love her kids?
How dare her not? It's really a very chauvinistic, stereotypical
(05:18):
way that we look at men and women and we
can make men and women can make the same decisions.
But then we look at women and just really lay
the hammer down when it comes especially when it comes
to parenting, especially when it comes to relationships, and especially
it comes to our dreams or what a woman's dream
is versus what a man dream is. Talk about that
(05:39):
whole process, if you can, from your perspective, from the
mental health side, the stress that women have to deal with.
Because I just brought out what you just said and
I hopefully made it more visual to our listeners.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Well, it can be very stressful like being a single parent.
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say that being a
single parent with lack of support, for instance, can be
very overwhelming. And I know some people say, oh, well,
you know, some women, that's what they chose and things
like that, But you don't know people. You don't know
people's situations. One of my favorite quotes is, don't judge
(06:12):
people by the choices they make, because you don't know
the things that they had to choose from in order
to make that choice. And so people, I mean, so
when women are you know, single, or possibly if their
marriage fails or anything like that, that is stress.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
We know that stress comes with within a couple, like
a whole family unit, there can be stress. Now imagine
just one person consuming all of that, the kids, the grades,
the activities, the finances, the stress, the overwhelmed. There are
things that come along with that, and of course that
(06:54):
contributes to stress, anxiety, depression. You know, I was looking
at something the other day and there was an article
about a mom who a single mom who didn't have support,
who completed suicide right because she didn't have the support
that she needs to be able to help her to
care for her kids, and that's stressful in itself. So
(07:17):
when we talk about women in the roles that they
play and the things that they have going on, there's
poor self care. They don't really know who they are
they so they get consumed, so they allow things to
come upon them that shouldn't possibly be there, like gaining weight,
because they're not really looking after their care. They're looking
after everybody else care. Or I can't go to the
(07:40):
gym because I got to go to the baseball game,
or I got to go to the soccer game, or
I got to go do this. So there are things
that women have to deal with in those roles and
put themselves to the side that oftentimes they don't know
how to incorporate that self care, in that mental wellness
component within their daily routine.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Wow, I'm speaking of d Renee Smith about just mental health.
And you know, I'm really glad because a lot of
the majority of my listeners are female, and I'm glad
they're hearing this. I hope they are hearing this, because
I'm sure some of them are who you're talking about,
people who want to change their roles but sometimes get
(08:19):
blocked into that are afraid to make a decision to
better themselves, but don't want to be looked down upon
or don't want to be subject to You can't do that?
What about your kids? Or what about your job? Or
what about And then they don't have any dreams, and
so they're just blocked in to being what everybody else
say they should be and never being who they could be.
(08:41):
That's powerful statements that you're saying. How can they get out?
How can a woman get out of that box that
that society has put them in.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, one thing that I like to say is self
care is not selfish. You taking care of taking control
of your dreams, you taking control of your mental well being,
you taking a time out from having to be all
things and do all things is not selfish. So you
have to seek the support that you need in order
(09:13):
to get to a place to where you can you
can do those things. It's possible. It's not selfish. You
don't have to be all of this and none of that.
There is a way to have harmony, not balance, but harmony.
As long as all things are working together for the good,
there's harmony.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Please don't go anywhere, we'll be right back for more
money making conversations. Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations
master Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation
master Class continues online at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook, x and Instagram.
(09:56):
How do we see the warning signals if nobody is
willing to tell us that they're dealing with issues that
we need to be talking about, or seeking a therapist,
or seeking some form of counseling or some form of
family or friend support.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, it's based on the person's functioning and the severity
of what's going on with them. If you see a
person that you know is typically like uplifted and doing
this and doing that, and you're noticing that they're kind
of withdrawing, or you're noticing that they no longer have
a desire to do something, or you're noticing or they're saying,
(10:36):
you know what, I don't feel comfortable when I'm in
certain spaces, Like I start to feel like something is
you know, like something is bothering me, or like I'm
getting pastaphobic when I'm in certain places and things like that.
It's just that the normal people in the world, other
(10:59):
than those those of us who are trained to identify
and know signs of depression and anxiety and things like that,
they're not aware of what to look for when it
comes to things like that. They don't might not know
that depression has different signs. There are people who complete
it suicide, and every time you talk to someone they
(11:21):
might say, Oh, they seemed like they were just so happy. Right, Oh,
this person just seemed like they were so happy. We're
not saying that this is a ketch all, but there
are certain things. If you know this a person's patterns
of behavior changing, then you can just do a check
in with them, Hey are you okay? And even if
they say I'm okay? Are you sure? Oh you're okay?
(11:43):
Because I notice this, this and this and this, or
I notice this, this and this and this, don't just
accept okay as the end all be all, because if
you tend to explore a little bit more, then you
might get something else out of them that's important.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I know that you know, it's not being nosy, it's
being concerned, and that's a that's a big difference because
in the end, you don't want to be you don't
want to sit around and with regret. I rather pester somebody,
I rather make them mad at me, leave me alone. Well,
we're taking we're angry now. At least you've refocused on met. Okay,
(12:19):
refocused on me, redirected whatever bothering you back on me.
I take that. I take that. But more importantly, the
workplace can create mental stress too. And I'm gonna get
to the HBCUs in a minute because we recently had
a violent incident as an HPCU. What is the workplace?
How does people especially people of color, because that's where
(12:40):
we run into a lot of issues. You know, we're
not getting the raised we thought we should get. We're
not getting promoted like we thought we should get, we're
not getting respected. We feel we're being harassed, we feel
when in an environment that won't let us grow. All
these things create stress. Talk about that work environment.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
But listen, I have been doing EAP consulting for the
last five to six years, and there are a lot
of things that I steel are reactive. There are EAPs
that the services that's provided are reactive to situations, meaning
(13:18):
they come after something has happened. Now that the place
is on fire, let me call somebody to put it out.
But there is nothing that's really being done to be
proactive and maintaining and managing mental wellness. Remember when I
said earlier, mental wellness is something that should be practiced
(13:39):
often and it's owing ongoing. So why are we dealing
with things after something had happened and then it's put
back on to the employee to go and seek an
EAP counselor or someone to get that help. So what
we do with my business, Transformational Living Coaching and Consulting,
(14:02):
is we offer mental wellness coaching as well as performance
coaching to where they're getting. They have a coach that's
supporting them twice a month at least to support their
mental well being, to help guide them, to help them process,
to not necessarily processing, but to help them stay in
(14:25):
a great mental place, to help prevent burnout, to reduce stress,
to help increase productivity, and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You know, I employ people, and so I employ people
to come to work, you know, forty hours a week,
give me their job responsibility that I requested them every
day as an employer. What should I be doing? What
should I be aware of? You know, if I'm doing stuff?
Am I being just to just more? Should I be more?
(14:58):
Aware of the person and not so much aware of
what I'm asking them to do. What are what are
my responsibilities as an employer for that pre care that
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
We're talking about call out monitoring, call outs stress. When
it comes to how are they dealing with stress? Do
they seem like they're fragled, do they seem like they're
able to manage it? How are they how is their
productivity are they doing? Are they doing things on time?
(15:33):
Are they late? Are they coming in la You know,
these are all like patterns of behavior, just observing patterns
of behavior to kind of see what is going on
with that person. And then if you work with them
on a regular basis, you're able to notice change. Right,
No different than what we talked about before. You're able
(15:54):
to notice the change in those individuals so that you
can get them help. But again that's after the fact.
What are we doing ongoing on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Well, you know, I try to keep you I'm just
talking about my company. You know, I try to I
try to cook cook desserts, you know, snacks for my staff.
You know. You know people always say, man, I wish
I worked for you. You're always cooking approaching you know,
I got to make homemade of ice cream. You know,
they come in sometimes. I because in my office I
have a kitchen and so I'm able to cook food
(16:28):
and so I'm abay to do snacks. So I try
to build that atmosphere that hey, you know, you know
that there's fun there. There's uh because we have a
job to do it right and I'm trying to keep
these doors open. But in the meantime, you know, I'm
making desserts or hamburger or some chicken or cast role
or sometimes I might do a full blown lunch for him.
(16:51):
And so that's my way of trying to keep that
stress down, that is that sometimes I should continue doing.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Absolutely, people like to feel valued and appreciate it on
their jobs, and if you're contributing to that and allowing
them to feel valued and appreciated sincerely on the job,
then that lets them say, that makes them want to
work for you, That makes them want to stay in
(17:19):
your company to kind of help prevent turnover and things
like that. But it's just when you go to those
other areas where you're not being valued and then it
is high stress, you know, on the job and you're
not necessarily taking care of them as a as a whole,
because telling them to go to the EAP are just
(17:40):
callities number if you need to talk to somebody or
something like that. Like oftentimes they're not gonna they're not
gonna follow through with that. EAP services are only used
five to ten percent of the time out of a
study show and then you as EAP services is only
use five to ten percent and most often is not
(18:03):
by the employee the employees, and it's non related to
mental health.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And EP stands for what.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Employee assistant programmed okay cool, that's what the employee. That's
what the employees get through their insurance company, and they
get a certain amount of sessions for free. Some companies
might give you three sessions, some might give you six.
And then oftentimes when you tell people that it's like, oh,
well that's it, three sessions, that's it, they don't want
(18:31):
to take they don't want to take any parts in
it because it's just gonna be three sessions. Like that
ain't gonna be enough. I got all these problems, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I know, don't put a limit on my problems. Now,
de Renee smith D, how can we get in touch with.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You on Instagram at d Renee Underscore TLCCS.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Thanks for coming on Money Making Conversation master Class, d
Renee Smith. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to
I guess us on the show today and thank you
our listening audience. Now. If you want to listen to
any episode I want to register to be a guest
on my show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media
(19:13):
handle is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and
remember to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning
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