On Mental Health Action Day, a TEDx Talk That Provides a Behavioral Recipe for Burnout Prevention

San Diego, CA, May 19, 2022 --(PR.com)-- May month is Mental Health Awareness Month. But today is Mental Health Action Day. The call is to move from awareness to action. And with over 5 million working parents experiencing burnout in the US alone, there is so much need for action.

Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, in the top 1% of most cited scientists worldwide, just released her TEDx talk about burnout where she provides a recipe for action supported by behavioral science. youtu.be/9YY0gVnVPoQ

"Burnout is like a Baked Alaska, you are being blow torched to perfection on the outside while trying to keep a delicious ice cream safe on the inside. Also the layers that make up a Baked Alaska, cake, ice cream, meringue, are like the layers that influence our burnout, our homes, our workplaces, society at large."

Dr. Kerr provides a vision of a world where mental health is a priority. She take us on a journey to imagine thriving not surviving and asks:

"What if you didn’t have to make excuses to take your loved one to the doctor?
What if it felt safe to talk about your mental health at work?
What if you could bring your whole self to work?"

The research shows that society will benefit. The economy will benefit. Families will benefit.

Mental Health Awareness month is important. But moving from awareness to action is key and this is only possible with a really clear call for what each person can do by committing to a small goal in their home, workplace or community.

Dr. Kerr provides the ingredients, the behaviors that each person can use in their change recipe. This advice includes:

For CEOs
- Role model the behaviors that demonstrate reasonable working hours;
- Try to have meetings outside of school pick up times;
- Subsidize childcare;
- Provide paid leave for all caregivers as a default – the default is the behavioral key to changing norms;
- Using a CEOs power to advocate for government legislation that supports these benefits for employees.

For managers:
- Create teams that hold each other accountable to hire and promote more diverse leaders;
- Base the hires and promotions on a system of structured interviews and objective criteria;
- Measure team well-being as a key performance indicator;
- Put pictures of diverse leaders on the walls, in rooms where important decisions are made. It helps cue the behaviors that reduce bias;
- Addressing the causes of burnout will prevent the costly loss of talent and improve diversity.

Dr. Kerr asks the audience to focus on picking one goal that they feel confident they can do.

"Will you show courage and ask for help? Will you offer to give a mother a weekend break? Will you share your struggles so others feel safe to share theirs? Will you prioritize team well being?"

Whatever goal is chosen choose, it is important to remember that half baked, good intentions don’t lead to action. People also need the recipe, a behavior change guide which includes strategies to answer these key questions:

"-What will you change?
-When, where?
-How will you practice?
-Who will be your role model, your accountability partner?
-How will you cue your new behavior?
-How will you measure and celebrate your success?"

For each of Dr. Kerr's podcast guests, on the Overcoming Working Mom Burnout Podcast, there is a free recipe card, a step by step guide, to help individuals and companies succeed in actioning the experts solutions for overcoming working mom burnout.

And for companies - learning collaboratives can help organization experiment and find out what works like a behavior scientist does. Through a process of peer support, pilot projects, target behaviors, and evaluation cycles.

To have the biggest impact, to create a long term habit that becomes automatic, that changes the system, companies, families and individuals need to follow a plan of action. A plan, when executed, that could change a mother’s life and a child’s future.