November 17, 2023 • 29 mins
I talk to Jenne Johns who has created a nonprofit, Once Upon a Preemie to address the health disparities black families face when a child is born prematurely. www.onceuponapreemie.org @onceapreemie (IG) once-upon-a-preemie-academy (LI) @onceuponapreemie (FB)
Supporting The mental wellness of workers is not only the right thing to do - but it can also help the bottom line. I speak to Tonya Ladipo, Founder and CEO of The Ladipo Group, LLC, the visionary behind the region’s only therapy, counseling, and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion consulting practice specializing in serving Black and African American communities. We discuss the importance of culturally competent mental health support in the workplace.
The Ladipo Group
First, I speak to Dr. Jill Bowen, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services about the 988 Lifeline, a national network of over 200 local, independent crisis centers equipped to help people in mental health-related distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis via call, chat, or text. The 988 Lifeline provides free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the U.S. We also discussed the DBHIDS website that provides a wealth of mental health resources.
DBHIDS Mental Health/Substance Use Resources.
Supporting The mental wellness of workers is not only the right thing to do - but it can also help the bottom line. I speak to Tonya Ladipo, Founder and CEO of The Ladipo Group, LLC, the visionary behind the region’s only therapy, counseling, and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion consulting practice specializing in serving Black and African American communities. We discuss the importance of culturally competent mental health support in the workplace.
The Ladipo Group
First, I speak to Dr. Jill Bowen, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services about the 988 Lifeline, a national network of over 200 local, independent crisis centers equipped to help people in mental health-related distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis via call, chat, or text. The 988 Lifeline provides free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the U.S. We also discussed the DBHIDS website that provides a wealth of mental health resources.
DBHIDS Mental Health/Substance Use Resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. I speak toJaney Johns, who's created a nonprofit to
address the health disparities black families facewhen a child is born prematurely. Supporting
the mental wellness of workers is notonly the right thing to do, it
can help the bottom line. Ispeak to Tanya Ledipo, who works with
(00:22):
companies to provide culturally competent employee mentalwellness support. First, we know that
suicide is a crisis, not onlyin Philadelphia but in the nation, but
there are resources available to tell usall about it is doctor Joe Bohen.
She is Commissioner for the Department ofBehavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services. Thank
(00:43):
you so much for joining us heretoday and tell us about the nine to
eight eight hotline that's available for thosewho need help. Thank you so much
for having me and highlighting how importantthis is for the city of Philadelphia,
and we have been really trying toget the message out that nine eight eight
is live. We celebrated the oneyear anniversary in July. We were highlighted
(01:07):
as the model city Philadelphia because wewere really ready for the nine eight eight
rollout. But this line, whichis very easy to call now it's nine
eight eight, so used to havea ten digit number that's actually still active
in case people have that. Butall you need to do is call nine
eight eight and you reach these amazinglywell trained, really exceptional Philadelphia crisis Line
(01:34):
workers. They are there twenty fourto seven, you know, every day,
and if you are a loved oneare experiencing suicidal ideation or a mental
health or a substance use crisis,then all you need to do is call
nine eight eight. Look, weknow that in this cety people are experiencing
(01:56):
a great deal of distress. Thereare all the layers of trauma we talked
about that. There's the pandemic,and there is the post pandemic, reality
and disconnectedness, gun violence, substanceuse crisis. There's just a lot,
and it impacts us greatly. Ourwellness is incredibly impacted. So people need
(02:17):
to know that they are not alone. What I think is great about the
nine eight eight is that we're veryused to calling nine to one one.
We're even now getting used to callingtwo one one. But now that we
have this very simple number set ofnumbers to call. It's more specifically directed
to people who are in crisis orknow someone who's in crisis. So,
(02:38):
doctor Bowen, if people dial thatnumber nine eight eight, what can they
expect to experience, So they canexpect to experience a welcoming call responder who
will do an assessment, will listento what their concern is and do an
assessment and will be extremely helpful.Right, So, most of the people
(03:00):
who call, actually the crisis orthe need can be resolved on the phone.
But for those who need a mobilecrisis response, it's a community mobile
crisis response. And guess what thosesame helpful people are the ones who dispatch
those community mobile crisis response teams andthey go to where the people are and
(03:23):
they also do a full assessment.They'll look at people's things like that we
call social determinants, but things thatare creating stress. And the whole point
of this Philadelphia model is to havea system response that's community focus, that's
community driven, and that resolves thecrisis in the community with the individual and
(03:47):
the people they would like, sothat they do not have any trauma from
the system response as much as possible. And I want to say that our
preliminated data is really ex It showsthat the response people say is is a
really good response. They're really satisfied, they find it helpful, and the
(04:09):
vast majority of those crises are resolvedin the community. Fantastic. So once
again, rather than calling nine oneone, there is this number that you
can call. It's been around fora year, but we want more people
to know about it, and thatis nine eight eight. If you are
in crisis, if you are thinkingabout ending your life, or if you
(04:30):
know someone who might be in dangerof doing so, nine eight eight is
the number to call. Also,we have to mention that the Department of
Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services hasa whole raft of great resources on your
website. Tell us where that websiteis. I'm going to say a couple
of things. Besides the Philadelphia CrisisLine nine eight eight, when folks are
(04:53):
on crisis, you can also callour member services number eight eight eight five
point five twenty six hundred, aska question, get a get a linkage,
and you can go online to dbhideasdot org and you can go dbhidas
dot org, slash boost you whatcan also go on to our Healthy Minds
Philly page. So there's lots ofinformation. It's really well presented and we
(05:16):
invite you to reach out again.You are not alone. DBHIDS is here
to help. Fantastic once again,that number for a crisis, a mental
health crisis is nine to eighty eight. Doctor Jill Bowen, who is Commissioner
of the Department of Behavioral Health andIntellectual Disability Services, thank you so much
(05:38):
for shedding light on this very importantservice. Thank you so much, Loriene.
Addressing mental health in the workplace isnot only a moral imperative, but
also makes good business sense, contributingto a healthier and more productive work environment.
Joining us right now as founder andCEO of the Ladis Group, LC
(06:00):
Tonia Ladipo, she is the visionarybehind the region's only therapy counseling, diversity,
equity and inclusion consulting practice specializing inserving Black and African American communities.
So, Tanya, thank you somuch for joining us here today. And
so, as I mentioned in myintro, mental health is important in the
workplace. But tell us more aboutwhat's your point of view is on that?
(06:24):
Definitely, you know, I thinkif anything from one the pandemic has
taught us is that the separation betweenwork and home is not as strong as
we thought it was, and Idon't think that's ever been the case,
honestly. So whatever struggles we're havingin our personal life or with our mental
health definitely shows up in the workplace. We spend so much time there,
and so I think the point we'rein now is really understanding that mental health
(06:49):
is part of our humanity and whowe are, and so when we go
to work, we take that withus. And so whether our mental health
is strong and thriving, whether it'sa little shaky, whether it needs attention
or support, and that changes overour lifetime. But really for organizations to
realize that this is going to besomething that is happening for your employees,
(07:12):
whether they're struggling or in a reallygood space, and so just being really
thoughtful of that A certainly workplace mentalhealth is important because it also impacts productivity,
and I wonder if we can reflecton what the impact is of mental
health on the bottom line for businesses. Definitely, so when your mental health
is tended to, when it isstrong, when you are able to be
(07:34):
focused, when you are able tobe fully present and engaged in the work,
your productivity goes up. You're ableto do your job better, You're
able to relate to people in away that feels healthier. You're able to
communicate clearly, You're able to hearother people communicate and ask questions for clarity.
Right, that's kind of the idealsituation, which means that we're having
(07:57):
more collaboration, which means that ourservice and products ultimately are going to be
better. But when we're struggling withour mental health, when we are distracted,
when we are depressed and lethargic,when we are so anxious that we're
having racing thoughts that we can't thinkclearly, it's going to impact our ability
to communicate with our colleagues. It'sgoing to impact our ability to hear people,
(08:18):
which ultimately is going to impact theability to deliver great services or not.
And it really gets in the wayof innovation and doing the job well.
So when people are only focused onrevenue and the bottom line, if
that's the only reason you're paying attentionto your employees' mental health, okay,
like there's a great case for it, because the productivity is going to really
(08:43):
decline when people are not tending totheir mental health. Well, let's talk
about what mental health care looks likein the workplace. That's a great point.
So sometimes people think, well,we have an EAP provider, so
we've taken care of that. Andso EAP providers are think are really crucial
if employees have awareness of the servicesthey offer, if employees have access to
(09:09):
the services they offer, and ifEAP providers are really kind of inclusive and
representative of the people that they're serving. Right, sometimes it becomes an equity
issue if you have EAP providers whoonly look like the dominant group, and
people aren't necessarily comfortable going to aprovider that might not have more cultural understandings
(09:31):
of various cultures and perspectives and experiences. So in the workplace, I think
having kind of really culturally responsive EAPproviders is really critical, and then having
managers and lead to people managers andleaders really promoting like using the EAP talking
about in conversation, maybe they'll chooseto say that, you know, they
went to it themselves, or justto really be I think public about de
(09:56):
shaming the attempt to get support weneed it. So I think in the
workplace, just to have it partof the conversation, pulling somebody aside and
say, you know, it seemslike you've been having a rough time.
I just want to remind you wehave EAP offerings that I have found to
be really helpful. I want toremind you that you have that benefit too,
(10:16):
And I wonder if you could justfor those who don't know what EAP
stands for, what does it standfor? Thank you, Lorraine, So
Employee Assistance Program got it? Well? You talk about how important it is
to be culturally confident, to besensitive to different ways in which people interact
with or even relate to the ideaof mental health. And we also we
(10:37):
understand that it's very important to bevery culturally sensitive, and I wonder if
we can talk about how that playsin terms of the offerings that can be
provided to employees, because it's notone size fits all, is it,
Yes, not at all. Thankyou for saying that. So, when
(10:58):
I think of kind of culture responsiveservices, really thinking about what service do
different groups and populations and communities reallywhat resonates with them? And so for
some people, talk therapy is away that some people really kind of receive
benefits. Other people really gravitate towardmovement therapy and being able to use their
(11:24):
body to be expressive. Other peoplegravitate toward mindfulness, right, and so
a lot of you know, someof these services that you can find in
mental health come from different cultures.Like sometimes people think, oh, this
is the past one hundred years,but like there's a lot of practices that
have been happening, you know,and a lot of different cultures, perhaps
not under the name of therapy,that it really kind of supports people's wellness.
(11:48):
And that's what we're talking about,is how do you take approaches to
people's wellness and mental health that reallyresonates for them. And I think when
you say there's just one way todo it, you leave a lot of
people out from really kind of gettingthe benefit of it. Well, Dania,
you are the visionary behind the region'sonly therapy counseling, diversity, equity
(12:11):
and inclusion consulting practice specializing in servingblack communities, which is wonderful that you
provide it, and perhaps and notso wonderful that you're the only one and
the first. So I'm wondering ifyou could tell us more about what you
do. What does the LA depotgroup do exactly and how can businesses take
advantage of the services that you provide. So we really focus on kind of
(12:35):
workplace wellness for employees, and soour emphasis is, you know, we
started focusing on serving the black andAfrican American communities because we saw a big
gap in quality services right provided forus. And so we work in organizations.
We work with not just black folkeveryone, but that is our kind
(12:56):
of specialty and emphasis. So withorganizations, we'll come in and we'll talk
about how are you supporting your employeesand creating a space of belonging, of
psychological safety where everybody is feeling seenand heard and valued, and like what
are the policies in place that mightunintentionally inhibit that, and so how can
we make changes in that regard,How can we have some perhaps challenging or
(13:16):
uncomfortable conversations that really kind of moveus to a place where everybody is having
the same opportunities for advancement. Andthen in terms of mental health, we're
specialized EAP providers, so we actuallywork often in conjunction with more traditional EAP
providers, but to organizations where theirEAP providers might not have racial diversity.
(13:37):
We kind of supplement that, andso we're able to really be an EAP
provider with individual therapy, mindfulness grouptherapy sessions for employees within organizations. Certainly
we have because of the pandemic fora lot of different reasons, because of
the stress of the pandemic, becauseof the various challenges that people have experienced
(13:58):
working remotely, all the different issuesrelated to that, we've gotten a greater
understanding of the importance of mental healthin the workplace. If people would like
to know more about the Ladipo Group, you can find us online www.
Dot the ladipogroup dot com. Andwe also know I host a podcast called
Managing Well and so really in thepodcast talking a lot to leaders and people
(14:22):
managers about how you can make theworkplace one that is supporting everybody, creating
psychological safety, using emotional intelligence toreally kind of hone in on the skills
that we need to support people inthe workplace. All right, before we
close any final words, we spendso much time at work, and so
if we can make work a placethat already people go to work to earn
(14:48):
a living and income, but wealso go to use our talents. We
also go to feel valued for whatwe're able to contribute, and so I
think organizations to really kind of honorthat and how do they support people's desire
to kind of grow within the workplacein addition to earning an income. Yes,
it'd be great to make sure thatthe workplace is a welcoming and nurturing
(15:13):
environment that helps build the bottom line, but also the bottom line can be
very much impacted by the employees' mentalhealth and mental wellness. The Ladipot Group
LLC. Tonya Ladipo, the founderand CEO, thank you so much for
joining us today. Thank you forhaving me Loraine. Birth can be such
(15:43):
a joyful thing. Mothers to be, fathers to be often have an idea
in their minds about what birth isgoing to look like, sound like,
and be like. But when abirth is premature, all of those fantasies
and ideas of what birth should belike are out the wind. So we're
going to be talking about prematurity withJanee John's, president of Once Upon a
(16:04):
Premi, Inc. We're going totalk about prematurity and also some support systems
that are available out there. Janey, thank you so much for joining us
today. Thank you so much forhaving me, Lorraine, Well, let's
start with an origin story. Howdid you get started? That's a loaded
question. What got me started withOnce Upon a Premier was my own introduction
(16:25):
to motherhood and delivering my son extremelypremature and having three month journey through the
neon natal intensive care unit that wasless than equitable and less than culturally sensitive
to meet our family's needs. Atthe time that I birthed my son,
I was also leading health disparities workfor one of the nation's largest Medicaid managed
(16:48):
care organizations. So on my dayjob, I'm responsible for helping to train
doctors and nurses in hospital systems ondelivering equality, culturally competent care, and
to address racial and ethnic disparities.Yet when I birthed my son and we
entered the neonatal intensive care unit,that wasn't our experience, and that bothered
(17:08):
me to my core. And althoughwhen I was sitting in the NICU with
my less than two pound son,I didn't know that I was giving birth
to Once Upon a pre nonprofit organization, but the experience was so overwhelming,
so traumatic, and so difficult,I knew I wanted to do something to
(17:30):
help other families who would one daybe in that space. Before we get
into exactly what once upon a premiedoes, let's talk about prematurity in general.
You mentioned something that's so critical,and that is the health disparities in
our community, in our medical community, and how women of color, people
of color are frequently not given thekind of care and sensitivity that we all
(17:55):
deserve. Correct And so I wonderif we can talk about what are some
of the factors that you noticed inyour experience, which was not a positive
one, that really inspired you tostart this organization. What sort of things
happened. There were just a lotof observations that I made because I was
in the NICKU so much. Afterall, the NIKI became our family's home
(18:21):
until my son was healthy and strongenough to be discharged to come to his
real home with us. But duringthat time, I just observed things like
differences in the way that the healthcarestaff and the healthcare professionals will communicate with
my partner and I. I alsonoticed and observed the lack of cultural congruence,
meaning the nick You served a highlyblack population and there were little to
(18:45):
know black staff who were wrapping resourcesand supports around these families. I also
learned that although the larger hospital systemprovided PREMI parent Support Group, and that's
a group of of families whose babieswere once in the NICKU who graduated and
then would come back to provide resourcesand supports for families were made available to
(19:08):
other nikus within this larger hospital system, but the system that provided care predominantly
for predominantly black population did not.And so just those three observations alone allowed
me to see firsthand the disparities andthe differences in the way that black families
are treated when they're receiving care inhospitals and institutions, and how others were.
(19:32):
And again this all went back tothe work that I was doing for
Living at the time. Yeah,so you come at it from a very
well informed background, and so you'retape able to take your extensive knowledge of
the medical system and translated into yourmission. Once upon a Premium inc.
Tell us exactly what do you do? We do a lot, but at
(19:53):
the core of who we are andwhat we do, we center the lived
experiences of blackbirthing women, men andwomen with premature families and make sure that
we are helping healthcare institutions and hospitalsto deliver equitable care. We also do
a lot of work around policy advocacyto mandate equity in all black maternal health
(20:15):
and neonatal legislation. And then wealso fundraise so that we can donate our
book, Once Upon a Premium tofamilies who are bedside with their babies in
the Nicqueu. So tell us specifically, someone a family has a premature baby,
what is it that they can doonce they reach out to you.
Although we love our premie families,a lot of our work is at the
(20:37):
grass tops level, meaning we doa lot of work directly with hospitals and
healthcare systems as well as policy anddecision makers. For family we offer our
book resources and they can also visitour website to download information on things like
how to navigate the Nicqueu, whatit means to be a parent in the
Nicqueu, how to ask the rightquestions and make sure that you're being your
(20:59):
baby's best advocate pre during and postNiku journey. Well, I can imagine
that when a family is thrust intothis situation where their child is premature,
there's so many emotions that are goingon. Certainly, the incredible concern and
worry that you have for your baby, and so sometimes you just don't know
what to ask. So asking theright questions and being able to have a
(21:22):
guide that will help you do thathas got to be invaluable. What are
some examples of the questions that shouldbe asked? How is my baby doing?
I mean, there are no rightquestions, there are no wrong questions.
As a parent with the child who'spremature, any question is the right
question. And because there is sucha power dynamic in that environment, all
(21:45):
too often families feel too or afraidthat they won't use the right medical jargon
or speak or language to make surethat they're articulating their questions correctly, and
we discourage that. We're like anyquestion that you have about the health of
your maybe the medications they're receiving.If you're observing something different than what the
(22:06):
doctors are telling you about your baby, you have to speak up because for
premium babies, that could be alife saving conversation. We always encourage our
premium families to lean into your intuitionbecause it's there and it's very strong during
that time in the nicqueue. Absolutely. Now you talk about advocating on a
governmental level. What are some thingsthat you would like to see change.
(22:27):
We would absolutely love to see implicitbias training mandated at the federal level and
in every state. For US,we lead training services that are just a
mirror image reflection of how families receivecare, and we've seen in our training
programs in a number of states arereduction in disparities by healthcare professionals taking serious
(22:52):
how to communicate with families, howto treat them, how to listen to
them and integrate them into the caredelivery model. We would also like to
see women with lived experiences being apart of any policy solutions that are being
developed. We don't have to lookto other nations. We don't have to
do more research studies, we don'tneed to produce more data reports. We
(23:14):
simply need to listen to the peoplewho have lived through these journeys and experiences
and the solutions that they would liketo put forward to center them into Black
maternal health in NIKU legislation. Andthen the last thing we would absolutely be
honored to see our city, ourstate, and our nation move into is
integrating dulas in the NIKU. Somany organizations and health insurance companies are now
(23:38):
providing resources or repursemon to get dulasor mommy's helpers for birthing women during their
birthing journey. And for us,our birthing journey doesn't stop until our baby
comes home from the NICKU, andso we would love to see that mommy's
helper support during the niku and post. So tell me how is your baby
(24:00):
doing now? How old is yourbabyians so much? Yeah, we're asking
that question. He's nine going onthirty nine, and he's doing amazing.
He's in the fourth grade, readingabove grade level. He loves all things
sports, all things vacation. Heis doing phenomenal. But we do still
live with some of his nicky scars. We have to navigate and manage an
(24:25):
asthma condition which flares up sometimes duringweather transitions. But the older he gets,
the stronger he gets, the easierit becomes to manage that condition.
That's great to hear, and Ithink that it's also good for families to
know that a premature baby can bea healthy baby and a healthy child and
grow up into a healthy adult.That the technology that is out there now
(24:48):
has just advanced so tremendously that youcould literally hold a premature baby. You
said two pounds. Probably you couldhold your baby in the palm of your
hand, right, that's how smallthey are. It just seems so inconceivable
that a thing that tiny can growinto an adult, But it happens,
(25:08):
and thanks to all the great researchdone by organizations like March of Dimes,
premature babies do grow up into veryhealthy adults. And it's wonderful to know
that there is an organization like OnceUpon a Premi, Inc. Which is
available out there for families who oftenare at a loss. They really don't
(25:29):
know what to do, what questionsto ask, or even how to feel
about something that is probably so unexpectedand really outside of their expectation of what
they thought was going to happen.But there is a resource. If people
would like to know more about OnceUpon a Premi, Inc. Where do
(25:51):
they go for that? Please visitwww dot once upon a premi dot org.
You can also find us on socialmedia. I'm on Instagram, We're
at once a Premie on Facebook onceupon a Premie And I'd also like to
share that November marks Prematurity Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about the
impacts of prematurity within families, Sowe'd like to ask the listeners to go
(26:17):
purple with once Upon a Premie.This work takes a village and we need
everyone to be a part of helpingus get to equitable health outcomes for black
premie families. That is so beautiful. Janey John's, president of once Upon
a Premie, Inc. Thank youso much. Thank you learning before we
(26:48):
close. I was at the walkto End to Alzheimer's last week in honor
of my late colleague and friend,Don Juan Banks, who passed away from
early onset Alzheimer's. There I meta family who tells us why they walk.
We're walking for our father. Hepassed in June with Alzheimer's, so
we're walking for our dad. Asmy sister said, we collectively got together
(27:11):
and with friends and family, weraised the seen hundred dollars towards Alzheimer's and
we're hoping to make an impact sothat the organization can find a cure.
Yeah. I see that you havea purple flower. What does that stand
for? Oh, it stands forthat we lost a family member or a
loved one due to Alzheimer's. Whatis your message to the public out there
(27:36):
about Alzheimer's. Our fight is along. We need to continue to help support
the organization because, as they say, there is a cure out there and
we just have to collect that wework towards achieving that goal. Mark Fantastic.
To find out more about support forcaregivers, the latest info on Alzheimer's
disease, and more, go toAZL dot org slash Delva. You can
(28:03):
listen to all of today's interviews bygoing to our station website and typing in
keyword Community. You can also listenon the iHeartRadio app keyword Lorraine with one
R. Follow me on Twitter andInstagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard,
Moral and I stand for service toour community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to Insight and thank you It
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow. I speak toJaney Johns, who's created a nonprofit to
address the health disparities black families facewhen a child is born prematurely. Supporting
the mental wellness of workers is notonly the right thing to do, it
can help the bottom line. Ispeak to Tanya Ledipo, who works with
(00:22):
companies to provide culturally competent employee mentalwellness support. First, we know that
suicide is a crisis, not onlyin Philadelphia but in the nation, but
there are resources available to tell usall about it is doctor Joe Bohen.
She is Commissioner for the Department ofBehavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services. Thank
(00:43):
you so much for joining us heretoday and tell us about the nine to
eight eight hotline that's available for thosewho need help. Thank you so much
for having me and highlighting how importantthis is for the city of Philadelphia,
and we have been really trying toget the message out that nine eight eight
is live. We celebrated the oneyear anniversary in July. We were highlighted
(01:07):
as the model city Philadelphia because wewere really ready for the nine eight eight
rollout. But this line, whichis very easy to call now it's nine
eight eight, so used to havea ten digit number that's actually still active
in case people have that. Butall you need to do is call nine
eight eight and you reach these amazinglywell trained, really exceptional Philadelphia crisis Line
(01:34):
workers. They are there twenty fourto seven, you know, every day,
and if you are a loved oneare experiencing suicidal ideation or a mental
health or a substance use crisis,then all you need to do is call
nine eight eight. Look, weknow that in this cety people are experiencing
(01:56):
a great deal of distress. Thereare all the layers of trauma we talked
about that. There's the pandemic,and there is the post pandemic, reality
and disconnectedness, gun violence, substanceuse crisis. There's just a lot,
and it impacts us greatly. Ourwellness is incredibly impacted. So people need
(02:17):
to know that they are not alone. What I think is great about the
nine eight eight is that we're veryused to calling nine to one one.
We're even now getting used to callingtwo one one. But now that we
have this very simple number set ofnumbers to call. It's more specifically directed
to people who are in crisis orknow someone who's in crisis. So,
(02:38):
doctor Bowen, if people dial thatnumber nine eight eight, what can they
expect to experience, So they canexpect to experience a welcoming call responder who
will do an assessment, will listento what their concern is and do an
assessment and will be extremely helpful.Right, So, most of the people
(03:00):
who call, actually the crisis orthe need can be resolved on the phone.
But for those who need a mobilecrisis response, it's a community mobile
crisis response. And guess what thosesame helpful people are the ones who dispatch
those community mobile crisis response teams andthey go to where the people are and
(03:23):
they also do a full assessment.They'll look at people's things like that we
call social determinants, but things thatare creating stress. And the whole point
of this Philadelphia model is to havea system response that's community focus, that's
community driven, and that resolves thecrisis in the community with the individual and
(03:47):
the people they would like, sothat they do not have any trauma from
the system response as much as possible. And I want to say that our
preliminated data is really ex It showsthat the response people say is is a
really good response. They're really satisfied, they find it helpful, and the
(04:09):
vast majority of those crises are resolvedin the community. Fantastic. So once
again, rather than calling nine oneone, there is this number that you
can call. It's been around fora year, but we want more people
to know about it, and thatis nine eight eight. If you are
in crisis, if you are thinkingabout ending your life, or if you
(04:30):
know someone who might be in dangerof doing so, nine eight eight is
the number to call. Also,we have to mention that the Department of
Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services hasa whole raft of great resources on your
website. Tell us where that websiteis. I'm going to say a couple
of things. Besides the Philadelphia CrisisLine nine eight eight, when folks are
(04:53):
on crisis, you can also callour member services number eight eight eight five
point five twenty six hundred, aska question, get a get a linkage,
and you can go online to dbhideasdot org and you can go dbhidas
dot org, slash boost you whatcan also go on to our Healthy Minds
Philly page. So there's lots ofinformation. It's really well presented and we
(05:16):
invite you to reach out again.You are not alone. DBHIDS is here
to help. Fantastic once again,that number for a crisis, a mental
health crisis is nine to eighty eight. Doctor Jill Bowen, who is Commissioner
of the Department of Behavioral Health andIntellectual Disability Services, thank you so much
(05:38):
for shedding light on this very importantservice. Thank you so much, Loriene.
Addressing mental health in the workplace isnot only a moral imperative, but
also makes good business sense, contributingto a healthier and more productive work environment.
Joining us right now as founder andCEO of the Ladis Group, LC
(06:00):
Tonia Ladipo, she is the visionarybehind the region's only therapy counseling, diversity,
equity and inclusion consulting practice specializing inserving Black and African American communities.
So, Tanya, thank you somuch for joining us here today. And
so, as I mentioned in myintro, mental health is important in the
workplace. But tell us more aboutwhat's your point of view is on that?
(06:24):
Definitely, you know, I thinkif anything from one the pandemic has
taught us is that the separation betweenwork and home is not as strong as
we thought it was, and Idon't think that's ever been the case,
honestly. So whatever struggles we're havingin our personal life or with our mental
health definitely shows up in the workplace. We spend so much time there,
and so I think the point we'rein now is really understanding that mental health
(06:49):
is part of our humanity and whowe are, and so when we go
to work, we take that withus. And so whether our mental health
is strong and thriving, whether it'sa little shaky, whether it needs attention
or support, and that changes overour lifetime. But really for organizations to
realize that this is going to besomething that is happening for your employees,
(07:12):
whether they're struggling or in a reallygood space, and so just being really
thoughtful of that A certainly workplace mentalhealth is important because it also impacts productivity,
and I wonder if we can reflecton what the impact is of mental
health on the bottom line for businesses. Definitely, so when your mental health
is tended to, when it isstrong, when you are able to be
(07:34):
focused, when you are able tobe fully present and engaged in the work,
your productivity goes up. You're ableto do your job better, You're
able to relate to people in away that feels healthier. You're able to
communicate clearly, You're able to hearother people communicate and ask questions for clarity.
Right, that's kind of the idealsituation, which means that we're having
(07:57):
more collaboration, which means that ourservice and products ultimately are going to be
better. But when we're struggling withour mental health, when we are distracted,
when we are depressed and lethargic,when we are so anxious that we're
having racing thoughts that we can't thinkclearly, it's going to impact our ability
to communicate with our colleagues. It'sgoing to impact our ability to hear people,
(08:18):
which ultimately is going to impact theability to deliver great services or not.
And it really gets in the wayof innovation and doing the job well.
So when people are only focused onrevenue and the bottom line, if
that's the only reason you're paying attentionto your employees' mental health, okay,
like there's a great case for it, because the productivity is going to really
(08:43):
decline when people are not tending totheir mental health. Well, let's talk
about what mental health care looks likein the workplace. That's a great point.
So sometimes people think, well,we have an EAP provider, so
we've taken care of that. Andso EAP providers are think are really crucial
if employees have awareness of the servicesthey offer, if employees have access to
(09:09):
the services they offer, and ifEAP providers are really kind of inclusive and
representative of the people that they're serving. Right, sometimes it becomes an equity
issue if you have EAP providers whoonly look like the dominant group, and
people aren't necessarily comfortable going to aprovider that might not have more cultural understandings
(09:31):
of various cultures and perspectives and experiences. So in the workplace, I think
having kind of really culturally responsive EAPproviders is really critical, and then having
managers and lead to people managers andleaders really promoting like using the EAP talking
about in conversation, maybe they'll chooseto say that, you know, they
went to it themselves, or justto really be I think public about de
(09:56):
shaming the attempt to get support weneed it. So I think in the
workplace, just to have it partof the conversation, pulling somebody aside and
say, you know, it seemslike you've been having a rough time.
I just want to remind you wehave EAP offerings that I have found to
be really helpful. I want toremind you that you have that benefit too,
(10:16):
And I wonder if you could justfor those who don't know what EAP
stands for, what does it standfor? Thank you, Lorraine, So
Employee Assistance Program got it? Well? You talk about how important it is
to be culturally confident, to besensitive to different ways in which people interact
with or even relate to the ideaof mental health. And we also we
(10:37):
understand that it's very important to bevery culturally sensitive, and I wonder if
we can talk about how that playsin terms of the offerings that can be
provided to employees, because it's notone size fits all, is it,
Yes, not at all. Thankyou for saying that. So, when
(10:58):
I think of kind of culture responsiveservices, really thinking about what service do
different groups and populations and communities reallywhat resonates with them? And so for
some people, talk therapy is away that some people really kind of receive
benefits. Other people really gravitate towardmovement therapy and being able to use their
(11:24):
body to be expressive. Other peoplegravitate toward mindfulness, right, and so
a lot of you know, someof these services that you can find in
mental health come from different cultures.Like sometimes people think, oh, this
is the past one hundred years,but like there's a lot of practices that
have been happening, you know,and a lot of different cultures, perhaps
not under the name of therapy,that it really kind of supports people's wellness.
(11:48):
And that's what we're talking about,is how do you take approaches to
people's wellness and mental health that reallyresonates for them. And I think when
you say there's just one way todo it, you leave a lot of
people out from really kind of gettingthe benefit of it. Well, Dania,
you are the visionary behind the region'sonly therapy counseling, diversity, equity
(12:11):
and inclusion consulting practice specializing in servingblack communities, which is wonderful that you
provide it, and perhaps and notso wonderful that you're the only one and
the first. So I'm wondering ifyou could tell us more about what you
do. What does the LA depotgroup do exactly and how can businesses take
advantage of the services that you provide. So we really focus on kind of
(12:35):
workplace wellness for employees, and soour emphasis is, you know, we
started focusing on serving the black andAfrican American communities because we saw a big
gap in quality services right provided forus. And so we work in organizations.
We work with not just black folkeveryone, but that is our kind
(12:56):
of specialty and emphasis. So withorganizations, we'll come in and we'll talk
about how are you supporting your employeesand creating a space of belonging, of
psychological safety where everybody is feeling seenand heard and valued, and like what
are the policies in place that mightunintentionally inhibit that, and so how can
we make changes in that regard,How can we have some perhaps challenging or
(13:16):
uncomfortable conversations that really kind of moveus to a place where everybody is having
the same opportunities for advancement. Andthen in terms of mental health, we're
specialized EAP providers, so we actuallywork often in conjunction with more traditional EAP
providers, but to organizations where theirEAP providers might not have racial diversity.
(13:37):
We kind of supplement that, andso we're able to really be an EAP
provider with individual therapy, mindfulness grouptherapy sessions for employees within organizations. Certainly
we have because of the pandemic fora lot of different reasons, because of
the stress of the pandemic, becauseof the various challenges that people have experienced
(13:58):
working remotely, all the different issuesrelated to that, we've gotten a greater
understanding of the importance of mental healthin the workplace. If people would like
to know more about the Ladipo Group, you can find us online www.
Dot the ladipogroup dot com. Andwe also know I host a podcast called
Managing Well and so really in thepodcast talking a lot to leaders and people
(14:22):
managers about how you can make theworkplace one that is supporting everybody, creating
psychological safety, using emotional intelligence toreally kind of hone in on the skills
that we need to support people inthe workplace. All right, before we
close any final words, we spendso much time at work, and so
if we can make work a placethat already people go to work to earn
(14:48):
a living and income, but wealso go to use our talents. We
also go to feel valued for whatwe're able to contribute, and so I
think organizations to really kind of honorthat and how do they support people's desire
to kind of grow within the workplacein addition to earning an income. Yes,
it'd be great to make sure thatthe workplace is a welcoming and nurturing
(15:13):
environment that helps build the bottom line, but also the bottom line can be
very much impacted by the employees' mentalhealth and mental wellness. The Ladipot Group
LLC. Tonya Ladipo, the founderand CEO, thank you so much for
joining us today. Thank you forhaving me Loraine. Birth can be such
(15:43):
a joyful thing. Mothers to be, fathers to be often have an idea
in their minds about what birth isgoing to look like, sound like,
and be like. But when abirth is premature, all of those fantasies
and ideas of what birth should belike are out the wind. So we're
going to be talking about prematurity withJanee John's, president of Once Upon a
(16:04):
Premi, Inc. We're going totalk about prematurity and also some support systems
that are available out there. Janey, thank you so much for joining us
today. Thank you so much forhaving me, Lorraine, Well, let's
start with an origin story. Howdid you get started? That's a loaded
question. What got me started withOnce Upon a Premier was my own introduction
(16:25):
to motherhood and delivering my son extremelypremature and having three month journey through the
neon natal intensive care unit that wasless than equitable and less than culturally sensitive
to meet our family's needs. Atthe time that I birthed my son,
I was also leading health disparities workfor one of the nation's largest Medicaid managed
(16:48):
care organizations. So on my dayjob, I'm responsible for helping to train
doctors and nurses in hospital systems ondelivering equality, culturally competent care, and
to address racial and ethnic disparities.Yet when I birthed my son and we
entered the neonatal intensive care unit,that wasn't our experience, and that bothered
(17:08):
me to my core. And althoughwhen I was sitting in the NICU with
my less than two pound son,I didn't know that I was giving birth
to Once Upon a pre nonprofit organization, but the experience was so overwhelming,
so traumatic, and so difficult,I knew I wanted to do something to
(17:30):
help other families who would one daybe in that space. Before we get
into exactly what once upon a premiedoes, let's talk about prematurity in general.
You mentioned something that's so critical,and that is the health disparities in
our community, in our medical community, and how women of color, people
of color are frequently not given thekind of care and sensitivity that we all
(17:55):
deserve. Correct And so I wonderif we can talk about what are some
of the factors that you noticed inyour experience, which was not a positive
one, that really inspired you tostart this organization. What sort of things
happened. There were just a lotof observations that I made because I was
in the NICKU so much. Afterall, the NIKI became our family's home
(18:21):
until my son was healthy and strongenough to be discharged to come to his
real home with us. But duringthat time, I just observed things like
differences in the way that the healthcarestaff and the healthcare professionals will communicate with
my partner and I. I alsonoticed and observed the lack of cultural congruence,
meaning the nick You served a highlyblack population and there were little to
(18:45):
know black staff who were wrapping resourcesand supports around these families. I also
learned that although the larger hospital systemprovided PREMI parent Support Group, and that's
a group of of families whose babieswere once in the NICKU who graduated and
then would come back to provide resourcesand supports for families were made available to
(19:08):
other nikus within this larger hospital system, but the system that provided care predominantly
for predominantly black population did not.And so just those three observations alone allowed
me to see firsthand the disparities andthe differences in the way that black families
are treated when they're receiving care inhospitals and institutions, and how others were.
(19:32):
And again this all went back tothe work that I was doing for
Living at the time. Yeah,so you come at it from a very
well informed background, and so you'retape able to take your extensive knowledge of
the medical system and translated into yourmission. Once upon a Premium inc.
Tell us exactly what do you do? We do a lot, but at
(19:53):
the core of who we are andwhat we do, we center the lived
experiences of blackbirthing women, men andwomen with premature families and make sure that
we are helping healthcare institutions and hospitalsto deliver equitable care. We also do
a lot of work around policy advocacyto mandate equity in all black maternal health
(20:15):
and neonatal legislation. And then wealso fundraise so that we can donate our
book, Once Upon a Premium tofamilies who are bedside with their babies in
the Nicqueu. So tell us specifically, someone a family has a premature baby,
what is it that they can doonce they reach out to you.
Although we love our premie families,a lot of our work is at the
(20:37):
grass tops level, meaning we doa lot of work directly with hospitals and
healthcare systems as well as policy anddecision makers. For family we offer our
book resources and they can also visitour website to download information on things like
how to navigate the Nicqueu, whatit means to be a parent in the
Nicqueu, how to ask the rightquestions and make sure that you're being your
(20:59):
baby's best advocate pre during and postNiku journey. Well, I can imagine
that when a family is thrust intothis situation where their child is premature,
there's so many emotions that are goingon. Certainly, the incredible concern and
worry that you have for your baby, and so sometimes you just don't know
what to ask. So asking theright questions and being able to have a
(21:22):
guide that will help you do thathas got to be invaluable. What are
some examples of the questions that shouldbe asked? How is my baby doing?
I mean, there are no rightquestions, there are no wrong questions.
As a parent with the child who'spremature, any question is the right
question. And because there is sucha power dynamic in that environment, all
(21:45):
too often families feel too or afraidthat they won't use the right medical jargon
or speak or language to make surethat they're articulating their questions correctly, and
we discourage that. We're like anyquestion that you have about the health of
your maybe the medications they're receiving.If you're observing something different than what the
(22:06):
doctors are telling you about your baby, you have to speak up because for
premium babies, that could be alife saving conversation. We always encourage our
premium families to lean into your intuitionbecause it's there and it's very strong during
that time in the nicqueue. Absolutely. Now you talk about advocating on a
governmental level. What are some thingsthat you would like to see change.
(22:27):
We would absolutely love to see implicitbias training mandated at the federal level and
in every state. For US,we lead training services that are just a
mirror image reflection of how families receivecare, and we've seen in our training
programs in a number of states arereduction in disparities by healthcare professionals taking serious
(22:52):
how to communicate with families, howto treat them, how to listen to
them and integrate them into the caredelivery model. We would also like to
see women with lived experiences being apart of any policy solutions that are being
developed. We don't have to lookto other nations. We don't have to
do more research studies, we don'tneed to produce more data reports. We
(23:14):
simply need to listen to the peoplewho have lived through these journeys and experiences
and the solutions that they would liketo put forward to center them into Black
maternal health in NIKU legislation. Andthen the last thing we would absolutely be
honored to see our city, ourstate, and our nation move into is
integrating dulas in the NIKU. Somany organizations and health insurance companies are now
(23:38):
providing resources or repursemon to get dulasor mommy's helpers for birthing women during their
birthing journey. And for us,our birthing journey doesn't stop until our baby
comes home from the NICKU, andso we would love to see that mommy's
helper support during the niku and post. So tell me how is your baby
(24:00):
doing now? How old is yourbabyians so much? Yeah, we're asking
that question. He's nine going onthirty nine, and he's doing amazing.
He's in the fourth grade, readingabove grade level. He loves all things
sports, all things vacation. Heis doing phenomenal. But we do still
live with some of his nicky scars. We have to navigate and manage an
(24:25):
asthma condition which flares up sometimes duringweather transitions. But the older he gets,
the stronger he gets, the easierit becomes to manage that condition.
That's great to hear, and Ithink that it's also good for families to
know that a premature baby can bea healthy baby and a healthy child and
grow up into a healthy adult.That the technology that is out there now
(24:48):
has just advanced so tremendously that youcould literally hold a premature baby. You
said two pounds. Probably you couldhold your baby in the palm of your
hand, right, that's how smallthey are. It just seems so inconceivable
that a thing that tiny can growinto an adult, But it happens,
(25:08):
and thanks to all the great researchdone by organizations like March of Dimes,
premature babies do grow up into veryhealthy adults. And it's wonderful to know
that there is an organization like OnceUpon a Premi, Inc. Which is
available out there for families who oftenare at a loss. They really don't
(25:29):
know what to do, what questionsto ask, or even how to feel
about something that is probably so unexpectedand really outside of their expectation of what
they thought was going to happen.But there is a resource. If people
would like to know more about OnceUpon a Premi, Inc. Where do
(25:51):
they go for that? Please visitwww dot once upon a premi dot org.
You can also find us on socialmedia. I'm on Instagram, We're
at once a Premie on Facebook onceupon a Premie And I'd also like to
share that November marks Prematurity Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about the
impacts of prematurity within families, Sowe'd like to ask the listeners to go
(26:17):
purple with once Upon a Premie.This work takes a village and we need
everyone to be a part of helpingus get to equitable health outcomes for black
premie families. That is so beautiful. Janey John's, president of once Upon
a Premie, Inc. Thank youso much. Thank you learning before we
(26:48):
close. I was at the walkto End to Alzheimer's last week in honor
of my late colleague and friend,Don Juan Banks, who passed away from
early onset Alzheimer's. There I meta family who tells us why they walk.
We're walking for our father. Hepassed in June with Alzheimer's, so
we're walking for our dad. Asmy sister said, we collectively got together
(27:11):
and with friends and family, weraised the seen hundred dollars towards Alzheimer's and
we're hoping to make an impact sothat the organization can find a cure.
Yeah. I see that you havea purple flower. What does that stand
for? Oh, it stands forthat we lost a family member or a
loved one due to Alzheimer's. Whatis your message to the public out there
(27:36):
about Alzheimer's. Our fight is along. We need to continue to help support
the organization because, as they say, there is a cure out there and
we just have to collect that wework towards achieving that goal. Mark Fantastic.
To find out more about support forcaregivers, the latest info on Alzheimer's
disease, and more, go toAZL dot org slash Delva. You can
(28:03):
listen to all of today's interviews bygoing to our station website and typing in
keyword Community. You can also listenon the iHeartRadio app keyword Lorraine with one
R. Follow me on Twitter andInstagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard,
Moral and I stand for service toour community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to Insight and thank you It
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