# mental health
75 moments across 43 episodes. Click any moment to jump straight to that part of the episode.
0:00Intro: your manager vs. your therapistAl Elliott: Think about the people who have had the biggest impact on your mental health. Your partner, maybe a therapist, a close friend. Now here's a question that should make you feel slightly uncomfortable. What abouEP 307 · 4 Jun 2026·intro· 0:00–2:3543:12Workplace Surgery: How honest should I be about my mental health?Al Elliott: I've got a little twitch. I've got something in my eye. Question number 2, how honest should I be with my employer about my mental health? So I, this person writes, I'm finding things tough at the moment. It'EP 254 · 2 Dec 2025·workplace surgery· 43:12–45:3612:23How Carolina knew it was more than a bad weekAl Elliott: What's the difference between having a bad week or a bad month and what you felt like? How did you know it wasn't just something that, oh, it'll pass? Carolina Lasso: I thought it would be something that woulEP 221 · 7 Aug 2025·interview· 12:23–15:360:45Why we're 'always on' — the psychology of email checkingElaine Smith: I am a clinical psychologist, so that is my training, and now I specialize in mental health at work. And I came to that work really because of a lot of experiences in my own clinic, people coming to me withEP 219 · 31 Jul 2025·interview· 0:45–2:550:02The intruder paradox: reframing imposter syndrome as a workplace problemAl Elliott: Coming up this week in work Leanne Elliott: Is imposter syndrome really a confidence problem or a workplace one? New research suggests it's inclusion, not insecurity, that's holding people back Al Elliott: AnEP 216 · 22 Jul 2025·news roundup· 0:02–10:4715:13Story 3: Perfectionism and Burnout in TechLeanne Elliott: You won soundbite of the week, that's for sure. Um, no, I do have something else and it is really cool. I have a study about perfectionism and a study that asked, is perfectionism causing burnout? Al ElliEP 208 · 24 Jun 2025·news roundup· 15:13–19:5518:59Tip 4: Lean on your support networkLeanne Elliott: Because I felt like my body is panicking, my mind has to Take over in this moment. So, I think even just having an awareness of what is happening to you physiologically can help in these, these moments ofEP 201 · 2 Jun 2025·other· 18:59–20:480:02What does it mean to be a woman? The Supreme Court ruling explainedAl Elliott: This episode contains references to discrimination, suicide, and mental health struggles. Please listen with care Leanne Elliott: What does it mean to be a woman? That might sound like a personal or even philEP 199 · 22 May 2025·interview· 0:02–2:5030:10Tip 2: The frame-of-reference exerciseSophie Wood: So, the kind of thing that I've used in the past, and I use in mental health training, is something called frame of reference, okay? Which, it's a model, it's a coaching model, it's a self-reflection model, EP 199 · 22 May 2025·interview· 30:10–31:5117:28Story 3 — Why mental health training for managers isn't enoughLeanne Elliott: I have. Well, sticking with the theme of mental health, really, um, so you know that I kind of say quite a lot, if you do one thing, train your managers Al Elliott: Train your managers, yep Leanne ElliottEP 198 · 20 May 2025·news roundup· 17:28–24:000:02Intro — who Sarah is and what Mind doesLeanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture. We are brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for busiEP 195 · 8 May 2025·intro· 0:02–4:104:10How public perception of mental health has shiftedLeanne Elliott: How do you think the public's perception of mental health has shifted over the years? Sarah Hughes: That's a really interesting question because on one hand, You know, I have worked in mental health for 3EP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 4:10–7:117:11The key misconceptions that persistLeanne Elliott: What are the, the key misconceptions that, that maybe are a bit too prevalent for your liking, have been around a while? Is there any that spring to mind? Sarah Hughes: So I think that, uh, there are stilEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 7:11–11:1613:19The economic cost of poor mental healthSarah Hughes: Well, you know, the cost, the economic cost, um, to— so for the, for instance, in the workplace, uh, the cost of mental illness is around £56 billion a year. So the economic case is very strong. It's very sEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 13:19–15:0515:05Why mental health became Sarah's life's workSarah Hughes: Well, it's funny actually, because, um, I, I— mental health is my life's work. And the reason being is because primarily I came from a family where, you know, people that I loved experienced mental illness.EP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 15:05–17:3317:33Why senior leaders are reluctant to share lived experienceSarah Hughes: I think it's very rare that people haven't had any. So, and I say that because it's not just about themselves. It could be in their families or, you know, workplaces, whatever. I think we've all got that exEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 17:33–20:3220:32Is Gen Z's mental health crisis a red herring?Sarah Hughes: Yeah, I think it's a red herring. I think it takes us away from actually focusing on what the issues are, which is social injustice. You know, that's actually what we're talking about. You know, not whetherEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 20:32–22:4522:45Social injustice — the areas that concern Sarah mostSarah Hughes: Well, I think that, well, it's such a great question actually, because almost all of the, um, corporate organizations that we've worked with over the years have very much had this kind of creeping interest EP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 22:45–24:1624:16The Mental Health at Work commitments and best practice examplesSarah Hughes: So we at Mind, we've got the Mental Health at Work commitments that we do in partnership with a lot of corporates. We run our mental health index so that people can sort of assess where they are in terms ofEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 24:16–26:5426:54Why EAP services aren't enoughSarah Hughes: I understand. I mean, and I think that partly, um, EAP services are really great, but often people will not feel like it's personalised enough to them. So I think sometimes that's the struggle with EAP, thaEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 26:54–30:0842:29Young people — why they need more than therapySarah Hughes: Do you know, for sure. So firstly, I think that there is something about staying informed in the, from the right places. So I think part of, part of what I want people to do, especially young people, is creEP 195 · 8 May 2025·interview· 42:29–45:1831:39Mental health challenges and the breaking pointAmit Singh Kalley: You know, I've always had ADHD. I only got diagnosed last year, so that's always caused a lack of understanding in who I am. It's led to friendship issues over the years. It's led to, Challenges that aEP 191 · 24 Apr 2025·interview· 31:39–36:0242:03Workplace Surgery: I hate working — is that bad?Leanne Elliott: How well do you know this person? Al Elliott: Yeah, maybe they're a little bit of a What do they, what do the kids call them now? Snakes Leanne Elliott: YeahEP 190 · 22 Apr 2025·workplace surgery· 42:03–49:2636:59Workplace Surgery #2: Top performer or high-functioning alcoholic?Al Elliott: Good luck and Godspeed. Okay, question number 2. Top performer or high-functioning alcoholic? Leanne Elliott: Possibly both. Continue Al Elliott: I manage a team of 9 people, including a senior account manageEP 180 · 18 Mar 2025·workplace surgery· 36:59–42:1042:47Workplace Surgery Q3: My employee disclosed their depressionAl Elliott: Hope it works out for you. Let us know. Let us know. Okay, so question number 3. My employee disclosed their depression to me, but now what? What do I do? One of my direct reports has become increasingly withEP 174 · 25 Feb 2025·workplace surgery· 42:47–48:000:33Introducing Kody — The Schizophrenic HippieKody Green: Nice Al Elliott: Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses Leanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning psychology podcast Brought to you by tEP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·intro· 0:33–4:084:08What is schizophrenia? Symptoms, delusions, and paranoiaLeanne Elliott: I want to start right at the beginning because I think everyone listening, probably, or the majority, would have heard of schizophrenia. but probably don't really understand what it is or maybe afraid to EP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 4:08–8:308:30The most common misconceptions about schizophreniaKody Green: There's some that are just so common that I hear them almost every single day. The first one is that people assume that individuals with schizophrenia aren't able to live full and functional lives, even with EP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 8:30–10:2110:21Positive vs. negative symptoms — what people don't expectKody Green: Yeah, I think people are always really shocked that individuals with schizophrenia have both positive symptoms, which are the hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. They also have negative and cognitive symEP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 10:21–12:1622:59Re-entering the workplace: trial, error, and resilienceKody Green: Just like my journey with medication, it was, uh, a lot of trial and error. Um, the difficult thing about people with severe mental illness is a lot of us end up either struggling with addiction or we end up EP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 22:59–26:5835:34Kody's book, Minds Over MeetingsKody Green: Yeah, and I mean, basically everything that we've talked about has been the main drivers in why I wanted to write this book. Um, I felt so disappointed when a doctor told me I would never work again. Uh, and EP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 35:34–39:4139:41Practical accommodations for employersLeanne Elliott: And for business owners who are listening, what are some of the accommodations that, that can be made for somebody with schizophrenia or, or another mental illness that does support them in, in the workplEP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 39:41–46:4546:45Why hiring people with mental illness is good for businessKody Green: The first thing I always mention is people with severe mental illness or just mental health issues, someone who's going through a difficult time and maybe struggling more than they usually do. In my experiencEP 153 · 12 Dec 2024·interview· 46:45–52:5436:18Workplace Surgery: Supporting a Grieving EmployeeLeanne Elliott: Oh God Al Elliott: I know. I'm struggling with a delicate situation. One of my most valued team members lost their partner suddenly 6 weeks ago. Oh yeah, a bit sad. They've returned to work, and whilst I EP 148 · 26 Nov 2024·workplace surgery· 36:18–43:5526:00Mental health, burnout, and the Gen-X experienceAl Elliott: Now, I'm Gen-X, and back when I started work, there was not really any sort of appreciation of mental health, certainly not in the workplaces that I joined. Also, my father, who's a Boomer, didn't really feelEP 141 · 31 Oct 2024·other· 26:00–32:1132:36Workplace Surgery: Handling mental health leave requestsAl Elliott: Absolutely right. Okay, it's on to my favorite time of the week, which is the world-famous Weekly Workplace Surgery, where I put your questions to Leanne. Lee, I've got 3 questions this week. Are you ready foEP 140 · 29 Oct 2024·workplace surgery· 32:36–38:222:30Doomscrolling and its impact on mental healthLeanne Elliott: Yes, let's start with my favorite time of the week. Al, it is time for the news roundup. Cue the jingle Al Elliott: Okay, Lee, what have you got? Leanne Elliott: I don't want to get us off to— on a downerEP 122 · 19 Aug 2024·news roundup· 2:30–9:0711:38What is vicarious trauma?Dimple Dhabalia: Yeah. So vicarious trauma is basically where you experience trauma symptoms, even though you yourself didn't experience the trauma. So you're exposed to other people's trauma or stories of traumatic evenEP 108 · 20 Jun 2024·interview· 11:38–12:4129:36Workplace Surgery: dealing with burnout and social isolationLeanne Elliott: Hmm Al Elliott: I'm also really worried about trying to get people at work to like me, because if they don't, then everyone at work will know I'm not a great person to hang out with. I'm at the point of tEP 107 · 18 Jun 2024·workplace surgery· 29:36–36:0513:22Humour and mental health researchLeanne Elliott: what else have you been looking at this Yeah, I wanted to stay on the theme of, of joy, um, after my first, um, article on Pride. Um, and, and I saw an article in the— it's a British Psychological SocietyEP 103 · 4 Jun 2024·news roundup· 13:22–17:370:33TherapyTok: therapists on TikTokmidroll (Phil Agnew, Nudge): Nice Leanne Elliott: Hello and welcome to the Truth, Lies and Work podcast, brought to you by who? Al Elliott: HubSpot, the audio destination for business professionals. Is that right? I neveEP 95 · 7 May 2024·news roundup· 0:33–8:119:56Service dogs: a new frontier in PTSD supportLeanne Elliott: Well, April is here. April is National Stress Awareness Month in the UK, so you will probably be seeing lots of mental health-related content out there over the next month or so. One caught my eye today, EP 86 · 2 Apr 2024·news roundup· 9:56–13:1625:29Workplace Surgery: Quitting for mental healthLeanne Elliott: So I thought, oh, you know, I'll just do a handful of interviews in a neighboring city that I can easily drive to, but I won't be easily recognized in should the HR executive walk through the lobby while EP 84 · 26 Mar 2024·workplace surgery· 25:29–34:384:43Growing up in the Children of God / The Family InternationalPetra Velzeboer: I think for many of us in the mental health space, the topic is deeply personal, right? It all starts with kind of our personal journeys of figuring out, well, how do we exist in the world? Who are we? WEP 80 · 29 Feb 2024·interview· 4:43–7:360:00Intro: Mental health as a human conditionSarah Hughes: You know, I remember, for instance, during the pandemic, a group of charity leaders, we're sitting around and we're, you know, we're talking in our respective homes around the country, thinking about the thEP 79 · 23 Feb 2024·intro· 0:00–1:5918:02Mental health as a social injusticeAl Elliott: Now, hold on a minute. Sarah just used the term social injustice, and I hadn't heard that term before, so I wanted to find out a bit more about what that actually meant Sarah Hughes: Well, it's such a great qEP 79 · 23 Feb 2024·interview· 18:02–19:300:33Intro: Meeting Jodie Hill at the Mad World SummitJodie Hill: Nice Jodie Hill: A lot of them will think, well, I had to work really hard to get to that point, so hell no, you're not having the, the changes. Plus I'm thinking, well, I'm equity now, so I'm not spending thEP 73 · 11 Jan 2024·intro· 0:33–4:0126:46A New Way to Assess Workplace Mental HealthAl Elliott: In fact, and you can properly see the natural ADHD entrepreneur coming out through here in Jodie. Jodie's developed an entirely new income stream from this, and that should be an inspiration to you too, becauEP 73 · 11 Jan 2024·interview· 26:46–28:144:32Why mental fitness beats mental healthStuart Sandeman: I founded a company called BreathPod, and BreathPod is really about giving people the tools to empower themselves. Um, and a big tool that I use is breathing Al Elliott: Last week, we explored how mindfuEP 70 · 21 Dec 2023·panel interview· 4:32–6:4118:54Why leaders must invest in their own mental health — Gen Z challengeDr Audrey Tang: Well, business leaders need to invest in their own mental health because actually they're role modeling their behavior to everybody else. If you as a business leader are going around saying, oh, well, we EP 70 · 21 Dec 2023·panel interview· 18:54–23:555:49What is workplace trauma?Al Elliott: We just did, I think. So we're gonna be talking about workplace trauma today. Now, when we think of trauma, we tend to think of like frontline workers, like maybe the police or ambulance or you know, armed foEP 67 · 30 Nov 2023·other· 5:49–6:4419:29The people who can't say they're not okayAl Elliott: We actually have a lot in common. We both use behavioral science to help people do better at work Leanne Elliott: The audio destination for business professionals. Seamless Al Elliott: It canEP 67 · 30 Nov 2023·other· 19:29–23:2728:56There are no superheroesLeanne Elliott: The most important thing I think to take from this is that there are no superheroes. Everyone struggles at some point, and in fact, if someone in your workplace does appear to be superhuman, then maybe yoEP 67 · 30 Nov 2023·other· 28:56–30:2911:49Priority 1 — Focus on mental healthLeanne Elliott: So the first priority for 2024, focus on mental health. If you're thinking, I've heard all of this before, then stop. Françoise from ACAS explains that mental health is the number one reason for absence, EP 63 · 2 Nov 2023·other· 11:49–18:151:52Why we're doing this today (World Mental Health Day)Al Elliott: But anyway, worse things have happened. So, Lee, we're gonna do a slightly different version today, aren't we? Leanne Elliott: We are Al Elliott: We have no guests. Uh, Leanne can't— yeah, no, we do have plenEP 60 · 12 Oct 2023·other· 1:52–4:4715:48Panic attacks, anxiety disorder, and what helpedAl Elliott: And they hit us, didn't they, the first time? Leanne Elliott: Yeah, they hit us, and I was like, fuck, reverse, reverse! But it was single track, it was dark, it was up a hill, um, it was terrifying. Then I fEP 60 · 12 Oct 2023·other· 15:48–22:0032:27The danger of comparing yourself to othersAl Elliott: Yeah, I think that some of the lowest moments in my life have always been— and I was thinking about this a lot yesterday and also today when I was out with the dog, thinking, is there a commonality? And I thiEP 60 · 12 Oct 2023·other· 32:27–35:4347:51Key takeaways — and a message to anyone strugglingAl Elliott: Absolutely. So should we quickly summarize our points then? Leanne Elliott: Yeah, I don't— I've not really kept track of my points. I think, yeah, I think the— do you know, I remember having conversation. I wEP 60 · 12 Oct 2023·other· 47:51–55:1314:09Clip 3 — Sally: the burnout episodeLeanne Elliott: So my next clip is from another what I felt was a pivotal point in the history of the podcast. So this is going back to January of this year, January 2023, and it was our episodes on burnout. I could haveEP 52 · 17 Aug 2023·other· 14:09–16:0416:53Trend 1: The ongoing destigmatisation of mental healthAl Elliott: So Leanne's taken all of the insights from our amazing guests, and she's identified 7 future trends of wellbeing Leanne Elliott: I have, and these trends are all things that business owners can capitalise on EP 49 · 27 Jul 2023·panel interview· 16:53–31:0712:58The business and legal case for mental health strategyAl Elliott: Okay, so let's get back into our episode. So as we know, May in the US is Mental Health Month. This year's theme is around Look Around, Look Within, which is their kind of like tagline, and it's reminding us EP 40 · 24 May 2023·panel interview· 12:58–22:1755:25Spotting the signs of poor mental health in hybrid teamsLeanne Elliott: I started this episode with the lines of defence in risk management to really make the point that there is synergy, but we've also done it before. If we look at the number of deaths caused by accidents inEP 40 · 24 May 2023·panel interview· 55:25–63:0363:03Tertiary-level interventions: crisis support and the 'missing middle'Leanne Elliott: No. Brilliant. Brilliant and well, well said. So the final level is the tertiary level, and this is probably the one you're most familiar with and will definitely be the focus of most wellbeing support prEP 40 · 24 May 2023·panel interview· 63:03–72:0631:26Theme 5: Mental health and suicide preventionAl Elliott: Long story short, I was in a networking meeting, and I used to do a lot. I used to do about 8 a week. So I knew hundreds and hundreds of people. I was in the Surrey area. So it was all Surrey and London conneEP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 31:26–38:0054:58Theme 8: Post-COVID traumaLeanne Elliott: Yeah, our, our 7th theme was, is post-COVID trauma. You know, COVID was the most disruptive event the workplaces has seen since the Second World War, and we're still working our way through the aftermath EP 37 · 3 May 2023·other· 54:58–62:3660:22Why are we seeing a spike in Gen-Z burnout?Leanne Elliott: Do you think that might be part of the reason we've seen a spike in burnout amongst the Gen Z age group? This, you know, difficulty in saying no and just taking on more? Al Elliott: Yeah, it's a really, rEP 35 · 19 Apr 2023·other· 60:22–63:0622:52Al's personal experience with coachingPaul Wynne: I'd struggled a lot of mental health struggles over the years. I'd struggled to build good habits. I'd had some health struggles as well. And I'm not lying when I say that coaching actually helped me across aEP 29 · 8 Mar 2023·panel interview· 22:52–25:2810:33An ocean of uncried male tearsJim Young: Yeah, yeah, there is an ocean of uncried male tears sitting out there. Because we are not supposed to do that. And, you know, your original question, is there a difference between male and female burnout symptEP 22 · 17 Jan 2023·interview· 10:33–11:2519:26Shame — the deep undercurrent for menAl Elliott: So tell me, like, we're talking— I'm guessing we're talking about Trump here. So without the ego, without the hustle culture, without the Type A personality, would he have become president, do you think? Jim EP 22 · 17 Jan 2023·interview· 19:26–24:1737:08The deadly F Word — 'I'm fine'Jim Young: Yeah, the F word that I think we don't consider to be dangerous is fine. I'm fine. Hey, bud, how you doing? I'm fine. Except you see the delivery of it, right? You watch the energy behind when that guy says toEP 22 · 17 Jan 2023·interview· 37:08–39:218:45The difference between burnout and a bad dayAl Elliott: So I think what's interesting is asking what the difference is between a bad day and burnout Leanne Elliott: That's a good question. I mean, I think, you know, one of the things I would consider most is how pEP 20 · 10 Jan 2023·other· 8:45–11:5311:53Why burnout still carries stigmaLeanne Elliott: I think there's really multiple, multiple things at work here. And one is that we tend to still, because burnout happens to the individual, it happens to people, we tend to still frame it as an individualEP 20 · 10 Jan 2023·other· 11:53–15:2314:21Prediction 9: Wellbeing moves from perk to priorityLeanne Elliott: Prediction number 9 is wellbeing. I think we start to see this more in 2022, and already my feed is full, and I think that's typical of January anyway, uh, full of lots of things around wellbeing and wellEP 19 · 4 Jan 2023·other· 14:21–18:428:03Normal vs. abnormal psychologyLeanne Elliott: So psychology in general tends to fall into 2 categories, normal and abnormal psychology. Abnormal psychology dealing with, um, more clinical disorders. Um, so a clinical psychologist will tend to look atEP 17 · 20 Dec 2022·other· 8:03–13:3422:53The hidden toll on employee wellbeingAl Elliott: Hmm Al Elliott: It can Leanne Elliott: But come backEP 11 · 8 Nov 2022·other· 22:53–25:08
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