- [Narrator] Live from your Public Media Studios, WVIA presents "Keystone Edition Business," a public affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This is "Keystone Edition Business."

And now moderator, Steve Stumbris.

- Welcome.

I'm Steve Stumbris.

Mental health is something we all have, and many people struggle.

Entrepreneurs face their own set of challenges that can lead to problems like stress, burnout, depression and anxiety.

If you have questions about mental health among entrepreneurs, you can email us at keystone@wvia.org, or tag us on social with the #keystonebusiness.

WVIA news reporter Sarah Scinto has more details on mental health.

(logo whooshing) - [Sarah] Mental health among entrepreneurs is a growing concern.

Recent studies from the National Institute of Mental Health show a staggering 72% of entrepreneurs report having mental health issues, including stress, anxiety, and depression.

High pressure environments, financial uncertainty, and long hours can all take a toll on mental health.

Entrepreneurs bear the unique burdens of the fear of failure, and feeling responsible for their employees.

All of these factors can lead to burnout and exacerbate existing mental health conditions.

The business community is beginning to recognize the importance of prioritizing mental health through awareness campaigns, support groups, and access to counseling services.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health issue, call or text 988.

We have more resources available at wvia.org.

For "Keystone Edition Business," I'm Sarah Scinto, WVIA News.

- I'd like to introduce our panelists here to share their perspectives on mental health and entrepreneurs.

First, Dr. Kelly Kettlewell is a licensed psychologist from Central Keystone Counseling in Williamsport.

Patrick Sandone is the founder and CEO of GUIDE, an app that makes mental wellness more accessible.

Finally, Sarah Dobeck Troutman is the director of behavioral and mental health at the Susquehanna Valley United Way.

Sarah, Patrick, Kelly, thank you very much for joining me tonight for this important conversation.

I hope that we can raise awareness, we can help people overcome some of the stigmas about talking about mental health.

And I'm looking forward to what each of you have to share tonight.

Kelly, I'd like to start with you.

In addition to being a licensed psychologist, you're a business owner, so Central Keystone Counseling.

That's an interesting combination.

What are some of the unique challenges, mental health challenges that business owners face, from your perspective?

- Yeah, well, first off, Steve, thank you so much for having me this evening, and it's such a wonderful topic.

So I'm really grateful to be here with the others to talk about this important issue.

You know, I think the unique combination is that being an entrepreneur is often about vulnerability and risk.

And so anytime that you're stepping into something new, taking on a new role, really stretching yourself, there's likely to be significant emotion about that, and we all manage that differently.

And so thinking about how we need to be talking about mental health among entrepreneurs is really based on that.

That we need to be thinking that if you're stepping out doing something new, maybe pushing the envelope, doing something you've never done before, that comes with, it comes with vulnerability, and when we have that, we're gonna need some support around us.

- Entrepreneurs are venturing into new grounds.

They're doing things that, at times, haven't been done before.

So it's not a routine.

Each day may present new completely different challenges, and I know from advising entrepreneurs, it's a rollercoaster.

So, how important is routine and regularity to one's mental health in that rollercoaster that entrepreneur's experience that can throw them off of that track?

- Yeah, absolutely.

I think consistency is so important too, and self-awareness about how much tolerance you have for that rollercoaster, actually.

How much support you might need when things are unpredictable is an important factor for all entrepreneurs too.

- What are some steps that you hope we can all take to better educate entrepreneurs and business leaders about the importance of mental health?

What should we be doing?

- Yeah, I think first and foremost, it's conversations like this.

It's bringing the topic to the table and recognizing that even if you're a leader in the community, or a cutting edge business leader, that of course you have a mental health.

And paying attention to that, honoring that, and then seeking appropriate support when you hit challenges is essential for everyone.

This isn't something that touches very few.

It's something that is a part of everybody's life.

And so I hope through the conversation, we're able to really drive that message home.

- Thank you.

Now, Patrick, your career has taken you through a variety of roles, including the founder of the GUIDE app now.

We've talked a little bit about in, and you've openly shared that previous professional roles, you have experienced mental health challenges.

How does that impact, or how has that influenced the work that you're doing today?

- You know, I think every entrepreneur experience stress, I think that is a common thing that we can all agree we experience.

And having repeated stress over a long period of time can result in burnout, which is what I experienced with my last startup, Net Driven.

Fortunately, I mean, we were able to build a big team.

We grew at over 100% a year, year over year, but that created so much stress to keep up with, and it was kind of a double-edged sword.

On one hand, I was creating everything I wanted.

On the other hand, I was working 80 hours a week to maintain it.

So it definitely created that stress.

And I think at the time, I didn't know how to balance my life in a way or even talk about the things I was struggling with.

And over the seven or eight years of that experience, I started to experience burnout, which led to some anxiety and depression, yeah.

- How important could it be for entrepreneurs, or for people who aspire to be entrepreneurs and business owners, to see not just the success stories, the businesses that have succeeded wildly, but to hear more stories like that?

What could that do?

- Well, I think, you know, more entrepreneurs I talk to are open that, you know, when you build a big successful business, there are gonna be challenges, stress related and other challenges.

Elon Musk is very open about some of his experiences, as well as a lot of other successful entrepreneurs.

So I think more and more people acknowledge that this is a high risk, very stressful choice if you're gonna build, you know, do something new and innovative and try to build it big, and I think it is kind of par for the course.

But what's important is not just, you know, dealing with those experiences, but how do you manage them in a productive way.

That's really, I think, the key.

And I think that's something that sharing the stories of how I managed it well is really what I think is important.

- Thanks.

Sarah, I'd like to bring you into the conversation now.

You also are a business owner.

You shared that you grew up in a family business.

- [Sarah] I did.

- And now your role with the Susquehanna Valley United Way has you deeply immersed in the community, and outreach to the community.

- Yes.

- Tell us a little bit about that position and how those experiences as a business owner and seeing business, how that informs what you do.

- Absolutely.

So this was a newly created position based on community need, because we know there's so much need around mental health, and having these types of conversations, reducing that stigma, just making sure everyone has those resources they need.

So this was a new position that was brought about in May of last year for our five county region of the Susquehanna Valley.

So I was very honored to be asked to go into that position.

My background with business, my family had a furniture store, retail furniture store called Homestead Furniture.

So I had that sales, that marketing, all of that stuff in my background.

And the real goal of this position that I came into was to bring everyone to the same table, make sure we're collaborating together, make sure we're not, you know, competing against each other when it comes to mental health and resources, because it is a limited supply, right?

There are a limited amount of counselors, there are a limited amount of programs.

So it was bringing everyone to the table to make sure for our communities that we were doing the best that we possibly could, and meeting the needs specifically of our community.

So we also did needs assessments and things like that to make sure we knew exactly what our communities were looking for.

- Well, thank you for that important role, that vital offering service that you provide, that you and the United Way at large provide to the community.

What are some of the things that you talk about when you do encounter business owners?

Or when you do a training at a business, what are some of the topics that are most needed in that setting?

- Sure.

So we do a wide variety, but some of the things we're really focused on right now are evidence-based trainings that are available all over, and it's based on suicide prevention, and it's called QPR, and it is modeled after CPR.

So it is really that anyone can take a role in helping save a life when someone is in a mental health crisis.

So we do that with a wide variety of businesses, do the QPR trainings.

That's about an hour and a half training.

We also do Mental Health First Aid, which again, very similar to that model, it is very basic overview.

But it is really that all of us can have some support and some help in this mental health crisis.

It really just takes someone caring, someone having very basic knowledge.

We all can do something for our community in this.

So those are the big things that we do.

I also do a staff wellness training, which is really important, 'cause we do a lot of talk about burnout, anxiety, and when we're talking about entrepreneurs, my goodness, isn't that a main topic?

So there's actually a wonderful training that we do now called Staff Wellness.

It's between anxiety, burnout and stress, learning the differences and learning all those coping skills.

- What are some things that a business owner can do to promote a more positive work environment to foster those conversations?

What are some strategies that business owners, that you see business owners creating?

- Sure, so we talk a lot about boundaries, and I know that's a tough word, right?

And people are like, "Oh, boundaries," and all that stuff.

But it is truly important that when someone leaves their place of employment, whether it's an entrepreneur, whether it's a staff member, that they do have that permission to shut off for a little while.

We're all human.

We all need to recenter and reset ourselves.

So it is having those boundaries, whatever that might look like for you.

For me personally, I have my phone goes automatically on do not disturb from 10:00 PM till 6:00 AM, and that is one of my boundaries, right?

And it's an automatic thing I have set up.

But really helping everyone to recognize that they can leave work and they can have a personal side of things and stuff like that.

And we also talk too a little bit about creating an environment where there's not so much stigma around someone asking or saying, "I'm struggling."

We're all, again, we're all human.

We all have mental health, right?

We wanna create an environment where we're creating a safe place for people to say, "I need some support.

I'm feeling a little human today.

I need a little extra," right?

I need a little extra break time, or I need a little extra support, or whatever it is that might work for them.

- Well, speaking about work environments, we know that entrepreneurs have to take care of their own mental health, while making sure that their employees' needs are also met.

WVIA met with one CEO who's offering support in some unique, innovative ways.

(logo whooshing) - I am Holly Pilcavage, and I'm the president and CEO of Coal Creative.

We're based out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and we are a creative agency.

When I started, there were, I don't think anything was written down mental health related.

So I hope it's fair for me to say that we didn't, you know, we didn't have at least a spoken or written policy.

We brought on one of our team members, her name's Camaryn Lokuta.

She loves a good policy, she loves a good handbook.

So she really helped us draft a language and make sure that we had it known and stated, these are the things that we care about.

These are the things that we prioritize as a company.

We do various check-ins, more so one-on-ones throughout the year, kind of meeting our team where they're at.

What do you need to feel supported?

And how can we in some way play even just a small part in that?

It's an absolute privilege to be able to take care of this team, and to have been able to build something with them.

I do not think that this is a one woman job by any means.

But the reality is, is all of these people depend on, maybe not me directly, but the business, right?

It's their livelihood.

It's how they're gonna pay the bills, and that is the thing that keeps me up the most at night.

I think mental health is also unique to every individual.

So this is what's true for me is I prioritize therapy.

I've prioritized talking about it openly.

I prioritize ensuring that we have a healthcare plan where I think, I believe at this point, as long as you're in network, it's $20 to go to a therapy session.

I'm a human, so I just need human things, right?

Go to therapy, go to the gym, eat well, drink less, hang out with my friends, go see my family, who I love.

Those things will help reset me.

I also, I do battle with depression and anxiety.

Those are real things.

But what does that mean?

What kind of support do I need?

Do I need to take a half day?

Do I need to take the whole day off and make it a long weekend?

I'm gonna be decently open about it, so that my team also knows.

I think we need to be having more conversations about that, and assuming a little bit less in the process.

So, I'll leave you with that.

(gentle music) (logo whooshing) - Well, let's build on what we heard from Holly, and it really resonated with some of the things you were sharing, Sarah.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Kelly, I heard in that, that Holly emphasizes therapy, emphasizes resources, emphasizing taking time for yourself.

Entrepreneurs can feel that they are alone.

Can you build on what you heard in that video?

- Absolutely.

And what a wonderful piece to capture the impact that a business owner can have on employees and then a community.

Because what's also happening is role modeling.

She's modeling that asking for help is not only okay, but a healthy thing to do.

And so for folks to consider the resources that are available them, it certainly might be a professional office like mine, come to see a psychologist or a counselor, and recognize that that could be an essential part of an overall care plan for oneself.

While I value therapy deeply, it's an honor to be a therapist.

I am incredibly grateful to do it.

I also recognize that there are so many things that can be therapeutic for people, whether that's boundaries with your phone, or hobbies, time with friends and family, quiet time in reading or reflecting or meditating.

So to really allow people to have that space and reflect and say, what helps me step forward and be my best?

And certainly professional therapy may be a big part of that for many.

- So I mean, the GUIDE app, so the company that I have now, what we provide is a 5, 10, 15 minute daily regimen that builds resilience.

So resilience is basically building up psychological, emotional resources so that when an adverse event happens, you're ready for it, and it doesn't knock you down.

We've actually done a preclinical trial, we've shown that if you do this for five minutes a day for a month, your anxiety goes down 30%, your motivation goes up 20%, your negative emotions go down 15%, and a whole host of other benefits.

So it really is, it's about, you know, we all, I think, embrace taking care of our physical fitness, right?

So it's celebrated.

You go to the gym and you're in good shape, that's a celebrated thing.

You spent that time to build physical wellness.

And what we're seeing more and more is that the same applies to mental and emotional wellness, where you can go to, what we think of is we have a mental and emotional wellness gym, right?

And you can spend time there, and over time, you're building strength in these different areas.

- I love that analogy.

And I know we talked about how society does celebrate physical fitness, and putting in that work to better yourself physically.

That's been a generational, over the course of many, many years that that's come into general awareness.

What do you hope is ahead for mental fitness, emotional fitness in the years ahead?

And does it have to take generations?

- You know what, I really think it's gonna happen very quickly.

We're seeing so much interest in our app, and I think there's gonna be a big transformation where people will embrace building mental and emotional wellness, once they really get their minds around it and see the value in doing it, you know.

And start to understand that stress is kind of like junk food, or social media is kind of like junk food, right?

It deteriorates your health.

But then there are these things you can do that build that strength, and I think we'll see people really embrace it.

And we'll see, I think, some of the challenges that we're seeing as a society, particularly with youth around mental health will start to go away.

'Cause people will understand like, if I do that, this is gonna happen, but if I do this, I'm gonna get these good benefits.

- I like that positivity, and that's a tough thing to bring perhaps to the conversation about mental health.

First, people are not having a conversation about mental health, but by doing so, you can illuminate that indeed there are steps you can take.

There are strategies, resources, and the possibility of bettering yourself.

- I think it's more than a possibility.

I mean, we're seeing a lot of proof that, you know, things like meditation, journaling, just general education will increase your mental and emotional wellness.

- Sarah, you've shared a number of resources with WVIA, and I want to remind people, of course, to go to wvia.org to see those, to share those.

Can you highlight some resources that are out there in the community, or that are out there for people?

- Absolutely.

So I just wanna cheer on what they both talked about, 'cause that was amazing.

And one of the things I wanted to highlight, especially for entrepreneurs who maybe their time schedules and things are pretty tough, and they might not fit into the daily schedules of being able to go to a therapist's office or different things like that.

Teletherapy and some different things like that are wonderful things that they can utilize.

And all of those apps, that we're starting to see those Calm apps, and all of those different things, I mean, there's science backed information that we know.

You know, it's an automatic response, when we get stress or anxiety or any of that stuff, it's an automatic response.

So we have to train ourselves, just like we train anything else, to respond in a calmer state.

And so those things that they are learning on those apps, that is truly changing the brain pathways.

It is changing our internal selves to make us healthier when it comes to our mental health and how we respond to things.

So there are so many different things out there.

I'd also just like to point out there is a lot of peer programs coming into play as well.

So I think that's a really important aspect that Kelly talked about before, that there's not really a one size fits all.

So there are a lot of support groups out there.

If you are not at the point, we don't have to wait till we're in a crisis that we need to go to a therapist, or we need to have that higher level, right?

We should always be working on our mental health.

So there are support groups out there, both virtual and in person.

There are peers who now have peer programs.

There are holistic wellness programs that we know, again, are retraining our brain in our body to stay in that calmer state and fight back against some of that stuff that we're bombarded with all the time.

- Let's, well, one thing that was highlighted on screen just a moment ago was for the case of emergency.

And Kelly, could you address what is 988?

Can you expand on that and highlight that vital resource?

- Absolutely.

And similar to the examples that Sarah was giving earlier about QPR being based on CPR, Mental Health First Aid, based on that medical model, 988 is the mental health equivalent of 911.

And so we would wanna encourage folks to reach out to 988 in what they would consider a mental health crisis or emergency that would be considered life threatening.

So it is a 24/7 support resource for folks specifically geared towards mental health, which also frees up calls to 911 to allow more focus on those physically life-threatening situations.

So 988 is a 24/7 crisis intervention line specifically for mental health.

- Excellent.

Want to make sure that viewers are aware of that resource and can share that very easy to remember resource.

That's nationwide.

- That's exactly right.

Nationwide and actually still relatively new.

So I think getting the word out in forums like this is incredibly important.

And again, very intentionally mirroring the 911.

It's easy to remember, it's well known, and so we need to be talking about mental health resources in the same exact way.

The more we're talking about it, the more we can download apps, the more we can talk with the community about what the needs really are.

- Let's- - If I could add just one important key thing with the 988, I want everybody to be aware that when you're using that, it doesn't mean that someone's coming to your home.

It doesn't mean that there's anything going to happen.

It is truly a resource that we want people to use.

- [Kelly] That's right.

- So I've had a wide variety of adults and teenagers who have used 988.

I've had kiddos who were texting 988 at two, three in the morning, 'cause they woke up with a panic attack, or they woke up with different things.

It is trained crisis counselors on that other line, and they are wanting to just work with you and talk to you.

- That's right.

- It is very, very rare, you'd have to be in a state where it is immediate harm to yourself that someone would show up.

So I just wanna be really clear that we want people to use this.

Don't be afraid to use it.

Nobody's gonna come or anything like that.

It is a safe thing to utilize any time of day or night.

- We touched briefly on safe spaces.

So, calling an emergency hotline like that.

What are some other safe spaces for those, such as entrepreneurs, that may not feel that they can present themselves in a vulnerable way?

- You know, so one of, this is a big challenge for the audiences that we help with the GUIDE app.

So there's a lot of folks out there that really don't want to go on the record as like, I need to say this or I need to talk about this.

So in our app, people are completely anonymous.

We don't collect any PII.

We have no way to identify the person's identity.

And they're able to talk freely in our small asynchronous group chats, which are moderated by trained professionals.

And it is amazing what people talk about in those forums, and are able to get things off their chest, process information, acknowledge new actions they're gonna take, but under any other circumstance, they wouldn't open up.

So I do think like anonymity is really important, which I think trumps confidentiality, which there's a lot of cases where that's been breached.

But anonymity is more airtight, and that's really allowed a lot of folks to open up.

- Well, I really appreciate Kelly, Patrick, Sarah, thank you so much for adding your expertise and for just being part of this conversation.

I hope we've done a little bit of good in overcoming the stigma of talking about mental health, particularly for entrepreneurs.

So again, thank you for participating tonight, for joining us here at WVIA.

For more information on this topic, please visit wvia.org/keystonebusiness.

And remember, you can rewatch this episode on demand anytime online, or on the WVIA app.

For "Keystone Edition," I'm Steve Stumbris.

Thanks for watching.

(gentle upbeat music)