It can be hard as a therapist to find a way to connect with our communities. Most of the work that we do is with individuals or families. We focus on helping them understand themselves and resolve challenges. Although we try to connect with a broader audience through blogs and videos, it is always hard to tell how much of an impact these have and if they truly answer specific questions relevant to a person’s life.

One way we have found of connecting with more people is through corporate presentations. Several times per year companies will reach out to me to speak about mental health topics. These companies are usually looking for a way to support their workforce. My task is then: how do I make the presentation general enough for a large group of people but specific enough so that people have tangible takeaways they can use after.

To help accomplish this goal, I frequently include my colleague Dr. Bill Bloom. Bill is a specialist in neuropsychology, he can answer questions about topics like: learning disability, ADHD, autism and other neurodivergent topics. I focus my comments on overall emotional health, quality of life and good decision making, and Bill helps the audience better understand specific diagnoses.

In recent months, we have provided several presentations on self-esteem. Bill and I reconceptualized self-esteem as self-assessment: how do I know which areas I’m strong in and should help me feel confident and resilient, and which areas do I struggle in and need help and additional training/support? We applied this approach to several areas of one’s life. How do I function at work, how do I function at home, and how do I take care of myself? Our goal was to highlight that areas where we perform well should give us confidence and motivation to overcome obstacles. Areas where we struggle are also important to know, otherwise we won’t know when to ask for help.

The Q&A portion is always the most interesting – people ask good questions about how the topics apply to their unique situations.

Bill and I are looking forward to making these types of presentations more available to the public and will look to offer unique webinars to our patient communities. Look for more updates to come.