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Want a peak behind the curtain into one of the best places to work in cybersecurity and the minds of the innovators behind the industry’s leading security operations platform? Tune in to The Howler podcast!
Hosted by Chelsea Lowman, People Experience Specialist, and Mary Newville, People Experience Senior Manager, the culture duo connects with pack leaders on leadership insights, mental health and overall wellbeing, and how they lead their teams to advance our mission of ending cyber risk.
The Howler Podcast - Bonus Episode 1
Chelsea Lowman 0:01
Hello, and welcome back to the hauler Podcast. I'm Chelsea, Mary. And we are so excited to bring you a bonus episode today. As you hopefully know, our previous episodes, we have featured some of our wonderful senior leaders with organization. And today we are bringing you a roundtable full of lovely PAC members from around the globe. So it's gonna be a little bit different. And I'm really excited. Yeah, I'm
Mary Newville 0:30
so excited about this one, too, we thought we would well. So firstly, the goal with the podcast is to help the pack feel connected no matter location to our culture to our leaders to each other. And so we wanted to make sure that throughout the podcast, there was opportunity to hear different voices from our pack members. When Chelsea and I thought we could focus on mental health and well being because no October held World Mental Health Awareness Day. And then as we go into the holidays, we just know this can be typically a really challenging time of year, the days are shorter. A lot of feelings can be brought up with holidays and family. And so mental health and well being is something we talk about a lot within the pack. And so we thought we'd bring together some pack members to share about how they prioritize it, how they take care of themselves. And I'm looking forward to the conversation. So let's dive in. And start with introduction so that people listening can know who you are, where you work, and what you do with the pack. So if we could start number could share their name, location, roll a little bit briefly about what you do. And then share your favorite thing about running with the pack. And then one thing you've been doing recently to prioritize your mental health, so whoever wants to go first, feel free.
Anna Taylor 1:49
Okay. My name is Anna Taylor. I'm the people director for the UK, Finland, Sweden kind of most of me about but I don't look after that. We have a pupil director in Dec. And today, I'm talking to you from Whitley Bay, which is a gorgeous little seaside town, nine miles away from Newcastle, where our EMA headquarters are based.
Unknown Speaker 2:15
And when Oh, my favorite
Anna Taylor 2:17
thing about running with a pack, it's really corny for the people because it's true. I worked with a brilliant HR team. And I work with a brilliant team across EMEA. So I'm constantly learning and being inspired by the people that I work with.
Mary Newville 2:33
And then Anna, what's one thing you've been doing recently to prioritize your mental health and well being?
Anna Taylor 2:40
I'm probably actually moving to Whitley Bay. So my dream during lockdown was to be able to work in the city and be able to live by the coast. And that dream has come true for me. So I spend a lot of time in the evenings at the moment in the dark, but at weekends walking my puppy, and exploring the coastline of the Northeast, which is just gorgeous.
Mary Newville 3:06
That sounds dream comes true. I knew what that was definitely, it was a journey to this dream, but you stuck it out.
Anna Taylor 3:14
It was a journey. But we're here now. Thank goodness. Great.
Chelsea Lowman 3:18
Thanks for sharing Anna. Um,
Colette Henry 3:21
so my name is Colette, Henry, I live in the Greater Toronto Area. And I'm a technical writer at Arctic Wolf. Favorite thing about running with a pack, I work with a lot of incredible people, they're really smart. And they're really caring, and we work hard, but we make the effort to have fun while we're at it. And they really appreciate that. Um, something I've been doing to prioritize my health recently. So something I've wanted to do for a very long time, was to participate in a therapy program. And it took me a while to find one and I finally did it and loved it. It the first one I ever did was six months long. I took a two month break and actually sign up for another one. It feels like I'm in school because the structure is like a class setup, but, and we get homework too, but I love it. Oh, wow. It feels like I'm investing in myself. I'm really happy. I'm doing it. That's awesome. Wow.
Chelsea Lowman 4:21
So is this therapy for yourself or your learning? Myself? Yeah. Gotcha. Wow, that sounds awesome. I love structures. So what sounds like the type of therapy that would be alright, Dave.
Dave Shaw 4:40
Okay. Yeah, so I'm Dave Shaw, work out of the Waterloo office. I'm a senior UX designer. I mainly work on a customer and S two facing tools. So right now I've mainly been working on the manage risk product and then just is designing new workflows as we migrate the managers dashboard into the unified portal. So a lot of scan scheduling a lot of prioritizing how we can build our assets and risks in the Manage or sorry, in the unified portal. So yeah, a lot of new workflows is what I've been working on. And then yeah, my favorite thing about running with the pack, it's it's so funny that everybody kind of said the same thing. But yeah, it is the people. And especially, like, during lockdown, and everything, it seemed like, we didn't really get to experience each other, or like, you know, friendships and stuff like that as we work. So now that the offices are all, you know, open, and everybody can see each other's faces and having conversations. It just highlights exactly how we were before. Everything shut down. So yeah, definitely, definitely the people is what keeps me coming back every day. And then, yeah, one thing I've been doing to prioritize my mental health, I've actually been prioritizing my sleep. So we have a one year old at home. So my wife and I, anybody that has kids, when when you know, they go to bed, you tend to like stay up and you know, watch TV, and you end up going to bed late, just because you want to like spend some extra time together. So yeah, recently, we've been been trying to go to bed a little earlier, just because our son sometimes wakes up and he's up for four hours in the middle of the night. So if we go to bed earlier, we get a little more sleep. So anyway, sleep training is going pretty well. But yeah, a little extra sleep, helps helps your mental health and helps you work the next day. So
Mary Newville 6:41
yeah, for me, one before we get too much further than this conversation, I feel like would be remiss not just share how we picked you all for this podcast. I feel like folks should know. So Dave, leads hot leads with Aaron, our mental health and well being pack unity Alliance. And probably two years ago now, Dave, Dave and Aaron came together and wanted to start this so that people would have support and encouragement and a place to find resources and know that they're not alone. And both of you have been just incredible leaders in this space, that alliance is thriving and strong. And it's so fun to see just the engagement there and people reaching out when they're having a hard day or sharing a tip. But also Dave, like, I think you are such a light because I think there's still so much of a stigma with men and mental health. And I know like on the HR side, I see that because people will come to me, because they want to talk but they they'll be like I know my manager to know that I'm struggling with this. So I think there's just so much power in you being a leader in this space and be like, Hey, it's okay to talk about this. And it's good. It's helpful. So thank you so much for your leadership and then Anna, Anna, you are just such a delightful person. Every time I have opportunity to be on a call with you. i It's you're so strategic and fun and encouraging. But also, and I've had so many conversations about mental health and well being specifically for the EMEA region. So I know it's something near and dear to her heart and something that she's monitoring and thinking about as we care for the media pack. And then Colette, when we were reaching out to see like who can like have be spotlighted on the power podcast talk about this, multiple people from different arenas mentioned you. So I don't know you that well. But I'm excited to get to know you better during this podcast and your advocacy for mental health and well being is obviously not just the pack because multiple people have mentioned your name to us when we were looking for folks to ask to be on this roundtable. So thank you all for being here. Yes, sir.
Chelsea Lowman 8:52
Okay, so let's dive in. I know you all just shared some things that you're doing for your mental health more recently. But as we all know, mental health is a journey. There's ups and downs and ebbs and flows. So we're gonna just get deep real quick. And we want to know, what is mental health to you? And how has your definition of mental health potentially changed throughout your life?
Colette Henry 9:24
I can take a first stab at it. I think when I was younger, I took mental health for granted. It believed like you could have some bad days here and there. But as long as you could keep it together, most of the time you had mental health. But there are a lot of things overlooked. Like maybe patterns of thinking I had that was causing me a lot of anxiety or beliefs I had about myself that was rooted in low self esteem. I didn't think low self esteem or depression was a big deal back then. And I think because of that, too, I also passively accepted unkind behavior from other people that caused me to love myself less. But today I see mental health as something you have to work for. Like from the moment I wake up, every choice that I make has the consequence for my mental health. You think I'd take it? I definitely don't take it for granted now. Yeah. Yeah.
Anna Taylor 10:25
That resonates. And I guess, I remember thinking that mental health was only bad mental health and the realization that everybody has mental health is like the weather. You can't not have weather you can't not have mental health. And then is it good mental health or bad mental health? Or, or somewhere in between? So as Colette, what are the daily habits are small things that contribute to having better health? And for me, it's often how I feel able to cope in the moment. So when bad things happen? Can I bounce? Can I gain perspective and looking at in a different way, take a breath, to then look at it in a way that I can create solutions out of it after time. Yeah, so that's how it's evolved. For me. I think during COVID, we, in my previous organization, luckily, we rolled out mental health training. And we had different speakers and just to alleviate the boredom. And when you're working at home over zoom and doing something different. And for me, I think there was there was an assumption that it was something that perhaps women were afflicted with, more, more often, but it's not the case at all. It's just, typically we will talk about it more. And actually, one of the biggest killers for men in the UK, is is suicide. So how can we encourage more conversations? How can we encourage everybody to talk about their feelings? And also how to listen, because it can be a little bit scary? About I have to find a solution, I have to go to say the right thing. What happens if I say the wrong thing? And it's okay, if you listen, that's a that's a brilliant thing to do to support somebody else with their with their mental health.
Mary Newville 12:21
Yeah, I feel like, well, I was gonna say we need to recognize and respond training this summer, advocating for like, what you can do to be an advocate for mental health and well being it was just optional for PAC members. But the biggest takeaway was, the biggest way to be an advocate is just to say something, be willing to be the one that initiates the conversation, or talks about how you're doing yourself, because it reduces the stigma, it creates an avenue for people to reach out if they want to. But no of you talking about suicide, I just would be remiss not to say this can be a really hard season. And if you're struggling, please reach out. We have so many resources here at the path. We talked to somebody you care about, we talked to their manager reach out to one of us search confluence, we have an EAP and a whole host of resources to support, folks, but I
Chelsea Lowman 13:15
wanted to touch on something that I think both Colette and Anna said which is mental health is really everything every day, right? Like every decision we're making for ourselves, whether it's how much sleep we're getting, or what we're eating, or how we're treating those around us all affect our mental health. And so sometimes I think we can think like, mental health is this separate thing that's either not for me, or I don't have time for that. But we're kind of we're doing it every day by just living.
Speaker 3 13:46
So yeah, yeah, I was just gonna add to it. To what Colette was saying, and Chelsea what you were just saying as well, that you really have to start working on it. Or like prioritizing your mental health. So I kind of view it as like, you almost have to work on your mental health as you would like your physical health. So like exercising or you know, breathing exercises, or mindfulness or gratitude, journaling, anything like that. You really have to set time aside, you know, create a plan, put forth the effort to kind of better yourself and really work through things. Because yeah, when I was like growing up and stuff like that, there was no talk, especially from like, the male side of things. There was no real talk about mental health or like prioritizing anything or, or if you're struggling like it was mainly, you know, that person's not like strong, they can't deal with their emotions or, or anything like that. So yeah, just just to kind of echo what everybody was saying is just Yeah, you really have to think about it and prioritize and kind of create an action plan. Yeah.
Mary Newville 14:56
Yeah, absolutely. So speaking of facts, chin? What's a challenge? Or like a mental or wellness related challenge that you face recently? How did you overcome? And how are you better on the other side,
Colette Henry 15:11
I actually live with a chronic illness that I need to stay on top of for the rest of my life, I was diagnosed really young. So mental health has always been something I've been wrestling with. And I've been getting therapy and treatment on and off for most of my life. And honestly, like, around the first time, I was hospitalized, I actually think I believe to the gym now. And as for how I got to the other side, I think my family played a big role in that. They refuse to let me give up on myself. And the thing that keeps me on the other side, I think is everything I've learned about myself and life in general from all the therapy I've had. And because I guess, I don't know, it can be hard living with a chronic illness. And something I kind of almost promised myself was like, I don't want to ever be in the position where other people I guess I worry about, if I don't have mental health impact I would have on other people. I never want to I don't know give myself a license to be careless with other people's emotional mental well being just because I'm sick. And so I work really hard to not only protect my own mental health, but make sure I'm looking out for the mental health of other people as well.
Anna Taylor 17:01
Dave did a great extra change.
Speaker 3 17:05
Yeah, so I'm, it's kind of an ongoing thing. For me. It was, it was mainly to feel like at the start of the pandemic, and then, you know, we were almost a year in, it was more of like, a lonely feeling, I guess. I'm sure a lot of us kind of experienced, like an isolation feeling. And especially people that lived alone, like, you know, you didn't really see your co workers or friends or anything like that. So yeah, it was just being kind of stuck at loan really affected me, or sorry, being stuck at home really affected me mentally. So I ended up kind of, you know, spiraling into a bit of a depression. Me and my wife had just gotten married. And so like, everything that came with that affected me as well work was affecting me. But it's something that I've kind of kind of like Colette but something I've had to deal with for like, probably the last 10 years, but just over the last two, two years, I've really like focused on it. And tried to not necessarily like pull myself out of it all the time. But just understand, like, you know, the waves of life, like they're just going to be highs there's going to be lows and and how you deal with that. So yeah, like one thing I kind of the way I kind of overcame, it was starting therapy, obviously starting the mental health and well being pack Alliance, really helped. But it's more so just knowing that I'm, I feel more like myself if I'm like walking with people, you know, sharing experiences, sharing thoughts. You know, when I was really younger, I kind of you know, relied on friends for like camaraderie, everything like that. So just just just understanding that like, obviously, yeah, we were kind of stuck at home for, you know, a year or two. But yeah, my wife just used to be like, you know, reach out to your friends, like join a zoom call, and you guys can just chat. You know, there's a there's a stigma around men still. Yeah, as Chelsea mentioned earlier, but my wife would just talk on the phone with like her friend for like hours. And she did that every day talking to the same friend and I was like, What do you guys have to talk about? And she's like, well, it's not so much what we have to talk about. It's just being there for each other. And I was like, okay, like, that makes sense. So I just started picking up the phone and I have friends that live out west. So I would just call them and be like, Hey, we haven't chatted in months. Like how you doing? Like, how's everything going? So I'm just myself trying to break down you know those walls and just open myself up to be like, hey, like, just because you know, somebody's not calling me doesn't mean I can't call them so. Yeah, just just opening up and talking seem to be seem to be how I overcome loneliness or depression or feeling isolated, that type of stuff.
Chelsea Lowman 19:54
I love to hear that you're calling your friends. My girlfriends and I talk about a lot Just how, how much richness your friendships bring into your life. And, and yeah, and some and sometimes we do talk about like, we feel bad if our male friends aren't having these types of conversations that we, we get to have. So I'm glad that you're calling your friends Dave, hopefully you're having our last FaceTime class. But I also I did have a follow up thank you both clat and Dave for sharing. So vulnerably um, you know, you both mentioned, you know, chronic illness, depression, these are obviously very serious things to be going through in life. And you also both share that you are in therapy, which is great. I'm wondering whether it's through therapy, or just other mental health learning, and resources, if there's anything you'd be willing to share, as far as other like tools, and things that you've used to kind of help you get through these challenges, whether it's Dave, you kind of mentioned, like journaling, or deep breathing or meditation, just some of the things that maybe other people could research and maybe try out for themselves.
Speaker 3 21:14
Yeah, I can take a stab at it to start. Yeah, one thing that really helped me was, it's called The Five Minute Journal. So Anna, you might not know about, like, know this about me, but I used to live in England. So I lived there for two years with my wife. And so there's this book that a Canadian couple have created, and it's called The Five Minute Journal. So every day, there's like a quote, there's weekly, you know, challenges and stuff like that. But so at the start of the day, we, my wife, and I would eat breakfast, and you list like three things you're grateful for, and then you know, three things you want to try to accomplish for the day. And then at the end of the day, so we would eat dinner, and you return to the journal and there's, you know, what did I actually accomplish today? You know, you kind of set things up like that, but just sitting down and the thought process of being like, okay, you know, we kind of get lost in like consumerism, and oh, these people have that, and I don't have this and, and anything like that. So it really helped us focus, just because we only had each other when we lived in England. So we were like, okay, like, what are we grateful for? While we're grateful that we can sit down and have breakfast together, we're grateful of the transit system in England, and you can kind of get wherever you need to go. And you don't have to have a car. And so just little things like that were just as simple as being like, oh, it's nice that we have a roof over our head, we have a comfortable bed to sleep in. Things like that. And then, yeah, just on the mindful setup, side of things, it's more so you know, being mindful of like how you react to situations. So like, what Anna was saying, you know, if something hard comes along, do you have, you know, the ability to cope with it? Are you able to get through that situation? You know, taking a step back, you know, if somebody says something that might make you angry, you're able, you know, take three, three deep breaths before you answer. Stuff like that. Just be mindful of how you interact with people, being mindful how you talk to yourself. You know, I think a lot of us give ourselves pep talks in the mirror every day or, you know, affirmations in the morning, stuff like that. So yeah, just being kind to each other. And, you know, having a bit of a mindset to be. Yeah, encouraging on yourself, not not so much discouraging or anything like that.
Mary Newville 23:37
Yeah, I love that. I'll just have a plug to the Five Minute Journal, they have an app, which I think there's something so cathartic and healing, maybe not healing, but helpful in the processing of actually writing pen to paper. But the app is cool, because you could add photos to so it's really fun until I look back on over the year and just see the things you are grateful for. And yeah, I think it's like $25 a year. I've had it for the last couple, and I think it's worth it. So
Anna Taylor 24:07
I can see that.
Chelsea Lowman 24:09
Yeah, I was gonna say I've completed one Five Minute Journal, and it was great. And I didn't know it was started in Canada. So I learned something new today. That
Mary Newville 24:19
with your partner, though, like what have like, I'm sure that was really helpful for even just strengthening your relationship.
Speaker 3 24:26
Yeah, for sure. And, yeah, that was kind of at the beginning of our relationships. So we've kind of laid down a foundation of, you know, our core values and how we want to treat each other and other people and stuff like that. So yeah, anybody listening? It's a it's a good exercise to go through with your partner for sure.
Anna Taylor 24:46
But I think journaling as a whole so I've in my office set up to you and I've got a cupboard up there. That's got because I've journaled since I was 13. And so I've got quite a few journals. What's fun fascinating and it's always when you move house you end up sitting down reading your journals. But then you have that perspective of 1020 more years looking at the things that I was so anxious and worried about. And I look back I'm like, that's it's nothing It was a blip and one that was so consumed at the time and now I only remember kind of reading it through a journal. So there is something wonderful about that knowledge about and this will pass to the good the bad, the ugly this will pass to
Mary Newville 25:33
that. So again, I also a journal me and I have my first journal. I have all my journals all the way back to the first grade, my little cat journal, like
Chelsea Lowman 25:46
wow, I It's kind of so hard. That's a good question. I have probably attempted journaling the last decade. And I would say I probably Journal a couple of times a month, but I can't get to do it consistently. Do you have a tip or trick? Like do you journal in the morning? I know morning pages was a thing. Your is a thing? Um, do you journal? Do you just journal whenever you feel like it? Do you? Is it more of a practice or it's just more like intuitive?
Anna Taylor 26:18
I don't have a set time. Probably typically in the evening. And it's a way of getting down what's good, what's bad, what's made me laugh during the day. But sometimes No, I do it for a week, but then I have to play catch up. So I have to do something for each day, even if it's something really small, like a sentence. Okay. Yeah.
Mary Newville 26:44
I would say for me, it's intuitive, but it's just something I naturally gravitate towards. So I feel like maybe for others you know, that want to get in journaling but they can't like meet like I know Chelsea you dance like maybe dances your journaling that? Like because yes will always ask me like, oh, yeah, what do you do? And I there's not a science like some days I just literally write about the day. Some days I like work through how I'm feeling. I don't I'm grateful for some days. I'm like answering questions. When I'm thinking about a goal. It's very.
Chelsea Lowman 27:16
Yeah, yeah, you're you're right, I should probably switch my mindset. My mindset, I will say one challenge I have is that I'm always writing the journal with the idea that someone will read it. Try to write it so that it seems really like cool,
Unknown Speaker 27:33
or I hope nobody finds these typos.
Chelsea Lowman 27:43
That's how that's how you should write your journal, or anyone else but you. But anyway, I digress. Yeah.
Colette Henry 27:52
Journaling is also intuitive for me. For me, it's not necessarily a daily thing. It's usually if I feel like I have something I want to work through in my mind, or if I'm processing I really intense emotion. This is actually the first time I'm hearing of the five minute journal and I'm like, only five minutes. I feel like honestly, it's kept me sane. And I also think it's when you journal, it's a good opportunity to almost get to know your own mind. And to get to know how you process your feelings, and even maybe figure out I don't know, if you do like a retrospective on maybe how you reacted to certain things. I feel like journaling really helps you learn about how you cope with things and maybe even how you could cope better next time. So yeah, I'm a big journaler
Chelsea Lowman 28:57
Okay, let's sounds like journaling is something that we all share across the board in different ways. So for any listeners, if you haven't tried journaling, don't put too many parameters on yourself is what I'm hearing but just try putting pen to paper every once in a while.
Anna Taylor 29:16
Don't assume someone's gonna read it in 20 years and you need to write it
Colette Henry 29:22
nobody's gonna read
Chelsea Lowman 29:26
I didn't mean any stranger I just meant like my great grandchildren will find it was like read about me. I don't want the public
Mary Newville 29:38
I mean, I was getting the plug if you're part of the pack and the mental health and well being Slack channel. There's been a lot of great journal prompts and little exercises that you can do if if, if just putting pen to paper is overwhelming. There's some exercises you could try from there. Why don't we
Chelsea Lowman 29:59
do Oh, yeah, I was going to transition a bit you can say
Mary Newville 30:03
why don't we go ahead and move on to our next question. At the beginning, we did talk a little bit about how you all ended up on this podcast. But tell us more about what drives you to be an advocate for mental health and well being. All of you, in some capacity have advocated at been an advocate for the mental health and well being of those around you, and the greater pack would love to hear what kind of fuels your heart for that.
Anna Taylor 30:32
My head and the heart. So from a heart perspective, it's how can we support fellow human beings and be as happy and as healthy as possible? How can I share what I've learned? How can I learn from people because I absolutely don't know, know everything. So there's always thinks I'm learning from other people. Because I have to make my environment better. And from a from a head perspective, you know, the happier we are, the more engaged we are coming into work. And the more likely our customers are to be happy, the more likely we are to have a profitable organization, the more likely we are to have jobs. So it's kind of a bit of a virtuous circle. So yeah, kind of a hadn't heard an answer.
Unknown Speaker 31:20
I love that.
Colette Henry 31:23
Yeah, I think for me, it's knowing too well, what it's like to not have mental health. And I think, kind of overcoming maybe the darkest times of my life. If I didn't have other people, I don't know how I would have survived it. And I think it's nice. Like I like to give people hope that. Yeah, right. Now, it could be really awful, but you don't like, it can get better. And if you have that to look forward to, then you can keep fighting for your mental health. And I also feel like, I've gotten so much help myself over the years, I've learned a lot. So I don't mind sharing tips or, like, encouraging people to be less, I don't know, shy about talking about mental health or? Yeah, I think whatever helps, because yeah, if we're all like, doing a pretty good job of managing our mental health to like, work also becomes easier. Like, the things we do aren't necessarily easy. You know, we're collaborating, collaborating on a lot of things. Bad days can be contagious if you don't regulate your emotions, like. So. Yeah, I think it's kind of like, if I didn't struggle with this, would I be so much of an advocate? Probably not. But, yeah, I think that's what drives me to advocate for mental health.
Speaker 3 33:13
Yeah, and then I'll just add to Collatz point, it's Yeah. If it's, it's hard to understand what somebody else might be going through if you if you haven't experienced those lows yourself. So yeah, that's basically what drives me to be an advocate. I know how low I've got. And so just to have, have some empathy for for other people, and yeah, just understand that, that they might be where you were at a year ago, but but that doesn't matter. It's everybody goes through, you know, their own journey in their own time. So yeah, just being able to understand that somebody might be experiencing something that you previously had. So just lending an open ear, or like, actually asking somebody like, Hey, how are you not just, you know, Hey, what's up and you kind of just pass people in the halls at work and stuff like that. So yeah, just just a little more. Being being there for somebody on a personal level, I think goes a long way. And I I know I appreciate it when somebody really asked me how I'm doing so yeah, I just tried to do do that for the same for other people.
Anna Taylor 34:25
There's a real difference between a perfunctory How am I to a genuine but how are you? Yeah, and it's, yeah, there's a difference.
Chelsea Lowman 34:37
And, you know, speaking of Arctic Wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf. We have quite a few wonderful mental health and well being resources here. We have the mental health and wellbeing alliance that Dave co leads. We have our Employee Assistance Program, our well wolf initiative, which really talks about all of the different facets of wellness, whether it be financial, physical, emotional, mental. So just curious, maybe what's one term benefit or initiative or program that you are tapped into here at active wealth? And that you're leveraging to invest in your mental health?
Colette Henry 35:22
Yeah, I'm actually part of the mental health and wellbeing Alliance. I think it was the second year of the pandemic. Dave, I think Dave and Aaron, and somebody reached out and said, Hey, we're we want to create this alliance. And I'm like, this is a great idea of joining. It was right. Like, during the pandemic, I think everybody's mental health took a hit. It was hard, like sheltering in place. It was just stressful all around, and like people's lives changed overnight. All of a sudden, they were homeschooling their own kids. Some people and like, multitasking, like trying to get work done while you're helping your kid with your homework or another child is like, crying or throwing a tantrum. Like, I feel like a lot of people. Maybe mental health became more on people's radars. During the pandemic. I was really grateful to Dave and Aaron for starting that group. And yeah, I love seeing what people post in there.
Speaker 3 36:34
Yeah, I'll just add. I yeah, I don't want to say that I'm leveraging that group just because I kind of started it. But yeah, it's honestly just to see how much support I guess comes from starting, you know, an alliance like that. And people, you know, starting to get something out of it is a really big thing. Like, recently, we had some other members of the group kind of kind of take the lead on on some things. So you know, we had Bill leading kind of like a sleep hygiene exercise. We've had like, Tai Chi practices in the past. So you know, other people just coming in and being like, hey, like, this is something I want to share with everybody. So So giving people a platform, or like, I guess, a space to kind of share their thoughts, their knowledge, just to help everybody. So it's, you know, it's not just, you know, people at the top, I guess you could say, so like myself and Aaron trying to organize everything all the time. But yeah, just just other people getting involved in being like, hey, this help for me, it might help for you or yeah, just thought I would I would share with everybody is like, this is how I'm feeling. This is how it kind of helped me get better. So yeah, definitely the community involvement with that has been? Yeah, a huge part of it. So it's, it's nice that one person doesn't just have to take the lead on everything everybody gets.
Chelsea Lowman 38:14
Yeah, and you guys have grown and fostered such a wonderful community within that alliance. Like if you go to the mental health and wellbeing, Alliance, Slack channel. Sometimes there are days where someone just posts Hey, I'm having a hard day today. And the amount of pack members that are immediately in the thread, providing support and empathy and reaching out. I mean, it's, it's not every workplace that one, you would feel vulnerable enough to even post that in a Slack channel. And to that you would have potentially strangers, Pac members that you don't work with, from across the globe, reaching out to support you. So I think we've built something really beautiful. And I'm, I'm excited to see how we continue to grow the alliance and that, and that sense of community of support. Yeah,
Anna Taylor 39:06
because he was only a couple of years old, we were kind of behind you a little bit with embedding this, which is hence, because of my conversations with Mary, one of the things I've started doing is walking meetings. And I felt a bit it felt naughty to do it at first, that by leaving the office to have a conversation, I was somehow cheating the organization of my time. But actually, I noticed as having better conversations, a different kind of conversation, when we just would walk around Newcastle or there was one where we're both on the phone and I was walking in the park in Nottingham, and she was walking around Newcastle and we just had a different kind of conversation. So great for our well being and actually really productive conversations. So but there's there's more for us to do and We've started exploring what that could look like now.
Chelsea Lowman 40:05
I love that one on a wolves walk is what we call it here. That article
Mary Newville 40:11
is so powerful. It's great for your physical health and mental health as well, as a Steven like a slower than slow walk, just getting yourself out there moving a little bit. helps.
Chelsea Lowman 40:29
Okay, well, before we get into our last, rapid fire questions, we'll end with one more, I would say kind of more serious question. Um, what would you say to a pack member listening, that is maybe struggling with their mental health.
Colette Henry 40:47
I would say, don't be hard on yourself or struggling. I remember one of my high school math teachers once told me, she said life and other people will put you through the wringer and you'll feel a lot of pain. So there's no need to add to that pain yourself. So yeah, it's like if, you know, like, don't be angry at yourself, for being angry at something, or don't be frustrated with yourself or being frustrated. That's, like, that's two very intense emotions to deal with. And one is like more than enough. And I think sometimes we can be your worst, you know, our own worst enemy, we can be probably very highly self critical. And almost beat ourselves up for, like, feeling like we failed or, like feeling like, we're not good enough. And a lot of the times, like, if you ask somebody else, they don't think that a view and also, like, you might, you probably, I feel like a lot of people treat themselves worse than they treat other people. So sometimes you have to cast yourself, you know, if you're being too hard on yourself. And I guess the other thing is, like, if the idea of getting professional help is embarrassing to you. I forget who said this, but I really resonated with me. They said Highly successful people get professional help. Like, for example, like, if people weren't naturally athletic, they don't make it to the Olympics, because they decided they didn't need a coach. Like, they feel like people who are highly successful know the value of getting professional help. And as you get older, and you gain more responsibilities, you might find that coping mechanisms that worked for you, when you were younger, it's just not cutting it anymore. You know, let's say you have a new kid, or you have some sort of personal crisis, the, you know, maybe you could get by before I find how you react to things is often a really good indicator of how well you're taking care of yourself mentally. And I'd say, let's say you tried therapy once, and you feel like it didn't help. I'd say don't give up on that. There are a lot of therapists out there. And sometimes you just need to find the right fit. I find like even having the right therapist can make a world of difference. Can like when you were in school, and maybe you had a teacher, who you really you grew to love a subject because he brought it to life for you. Or there's a subject you hate that you probably would have been good if like a teacher didn't ruin it for you. So kind of like that. Like keep trying, I think is I encourage people to do that if maybe their first experience of therapy wasn't what they hoped it would be.
Chelsea Lowman 43:58
Yes, so much good advice. Remember, at the beginning, you are interviewing the therapists like you're deciding if this is the right fit. Yeah, and you don't have to stick with the first person you talk to you. I didn't I'm sure a lot of people have not so I
Speaker 3 44:14
was sorry. Yeah, I was just gonna say Yeah, same. I've switched their piste as well. And yeah, when I was kind of going through it at the start, I was told finding a therapist is like dating the first person you know your dates, not always going to be the best or the right person. So yeah, it does take time to find the person that you you feel you can open up to and kind of get through things together. So for sure.
Chelsea Lowman 44:48
Hey, anything Davor Anna you want to add to last question before we jump to the rapid fire.
Speaker 3 44:57
Sure. Yeah, I was just gonna say I know I've said a lot within our channel and, you know, at Arctic Wolf and with the pack, but yeah, you're not alone. So like, you know what, what Colette was saying is you can't, you can't, you know, get through anything by yourself or you know, if you, my old manager used to say, if you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go farther go together. So I kind of always took that to heart to be, you know, you sometimes you need to, you know, let your manager know, or somebody you feel comfortable with at work to be like, hey, like, you know, I'm not feeling right, or I've been struggling lately. And so it's been affecting my work, things like that. So it's usually the hardest step in finding help. But it's also the first step that you need to kind of break down those barriers are those walls kind of thing of opening up? So yeah, just know that you're not alone. And you'll find that other people experienced the same thing. So just, you know, having the courage to say something to one person one time. It makes you feel or it makes a world of difference. So yeah, that's what I would say anyway.
Anna Taylor 46:18
And they said it perfectly.
Chelsea Lowman 46:21
You've all said it perfectly. All episode. Um, made you want to do their episode. You want me? Yeah, I
Mary Newville 46:29
can do rapid fire. I yeah, I was just gonna add to to what you all said. I totally agree. Our leader Tricia Farrow, she's the VP of people. And Chelsea and I are reported and her team. She always says, Don't go in your head alone. So damn, I was thinking about, like, take people with you, if you're gonna go to a dark place, or let your mind wander or Take someone with you there. So they can like be the voice of reason to be like, I don't know about that. Or, hey, let's think about this. Or let's reframe that. So
Colette Henry 47:01
that's really good.
Mary Newville 47:03
Well, kudos to Trisha Ferro credit, where she's a white woman. Um, but yes, I would just say, if you're listening, everybody listening, like your life matters. You are precious, and one of a kind. And I know that sounds like it might be trite or corny to say, but it's so true, like your life matters. So I just feel like it can't be overstated. If there's one person listening that's in a dark place, like there's mental health, there's also mental sickness, and there's help for that and treatment and support. So please reach out don't go to a dark place alone.
Chelsea Lowman 47:40
And don't feel shame and what kind of to what Colette was saying like, don't feel shame and whatever emotions or place you are right now. Because shame is the worst emotion and you'll get stuck there. So reach out find support where you can and, and remember to love yourself.
Mary Newville 48:01
What a great ending. I know we're a little bit over time here, but we always end with our leaders with a quick rapid fire. So we'll just go maybe we'll just go in order of how I see on my screen. Colette Dave, Anna will every single one. Go right through. So first thing that comes to mind? Best concert of your life.
Colette Henry 48:22
I'm a jazz festival for my 17th birthday. is the first time I heard music from Norah Jones. And it's probably the most chill concert slash festival ever because it was on a golf course. So we had a picnic. We picked our spot on the lawn and they had screens all over in different places. So if you weren't near the stage, you could still see and yeah, had a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 48:52
I would say a Weezer and blink 182 concert in but yeah, it was after the blink 20 twos five year hiatus. Tom DeLonge got back in the band and it was a really good show. I think Weezer might have stolen the show from blink even though they were the headliner was a really good really good show. Great production.
Anna Taylor 49:18
Collectors reminded me I saw REM playing at Loch Lomond in Scotland and they played everybody has just as the sun was setting also Taylor Swift next year Yep, Edinburgh.
Chelsea Lowman 49:38
I love how it's a constant you haven't been to yet but you know. It's okay, favorite word?
Colette Henry 49:48
Humility.
Unknown Speaker 49:52
I'll go back to a previous word. So empathy again. Believe
Mary Newville 49:58
that those are your favorite words. You are on the mental health and wellbeing podcast roundtable I'll place on your bucket list.
Colette Henry 50:07
BC haven't really traveled much outside of Ontario yet. So it's on the list.
Speaker 3 50:16
I will say Tokyo, I'm interested to see how their transit system. Okay, so
Anna Taylor 50:22
better yet the same Japan are supposed to be going next year, but it's just been canceled. So I'm gonna reschedule but yeah, Japan, I can't wait to go.
Chelsea Lowman 50:35
Japan's also on my list, a group trip I want to come
Mary Newville 50:42
what's something that people often get wrong about you?
Colette Henry 50:48
I've been told I'm very laid back. And I think it's, that's true for the most part. I think something that people might get wrong is that I don't think deeply about things or they might not realize how much mental work I do to regulate my emotions, which can be very intense. Like if somebody walks away from the conversation with me thinking, Oh, that's a nice person. It's because I'm intentional about how I treat other people think Maya Angelou put it pretty eloquently when she said, people will forget what you said. But they won't forget how they made you made them feel. And yeah, so how I treat you doesn't depend on what side of the bed I happen to wake up on that day. I'm very, like, very mindful about being kind first and being empathetic. And I'm being fair.
Speaker 3 51:45
Yeah, I would say, I think people probably think I'm mad all the time. Or unimpressed. I guess I'd kind of have a wrestling lack of a better term. So yeah, I'm, I'm a lot happier than my facial expressions probably come across if you pass me on the street or anything like that. Yeah, I guess I'm just saving my smile for her when I kind of need to be a ray of sunshine, I guess.
Mary Newville 52:18
Okay, for the record, Dave, I have never once thought about that. you radiate warmth. For my period.
Anna Taylor 52:29
Some people will think I'm posh just because of my accent. I don't know. It's just because I've moved all over the UK. So I have no, I think a generic English accent. I don't think I have an accent until I hear Katie graves mimicking me and I do have an accent.
Colette Henry 52:48
You do sound weird?
Mary Newville 52:50
Um, no. Okay, last one. I think this would be a delightful one to end with. Give us a snapshot into an ordinary moment in your life that brought you joy.
Colette Henry 53:02
Yeah, I'm a big believer in taking lots of breaks during the work day to laugh or smile about something. I don't have any pets at the moment, but I'm living vicariously vicariously through people in our wolf pups channel. Or watch cat cat videos on YouTube. Someone recently posted a litter of puppies that they're paying for. Each one is named after fruit. So I like to call them the fruit salad. And I'm always checking or terrible memes and that jokes child pretty often if I don't laugh, I get to cringe at least. Risa recently, somebody posted about the Super pigs, um, maybe shouldn't be concerned with that. Pigs are gonna cross the border, but it's hard not to giggle at that term. The Super pigs are coming. They might get better or worse than murder Hornets. But I'm
Chelsea Lowman 54:02
not about murder Hornets.
Colette Henry 54:03
Yeah, the super pigs are coming.
Speaker 3 54:08
Yeah, I guess. Yeah. An ordinary moment. So my son is starting to learn words now. Or or at least he's mimicking what me and my wife say. So. Right now his word is well, I guess I guess me and my wife say wow. And we don't really notice. So now my son. Yeah, if you say it's funny because he's starting to pick up like when he like if somebody says something funny, he'll laugh. So if somebody says something and it deserves like a wow, he'll like all of a sudden you'll hear Wow. And then you're like, Oh my god. He's like, Yeah, learning, like how to converse and like, introduce himself into conversations. So So yeah, that's that's usually a good good highlight of my day.
Chelsea Lowman 54:54
Oh, it's amazing. It's a wild how kids can just pick things up. Like now, now he knows how to use Wow. Not just to say wow, yeah, exactly. Wow.
Anna Taylor 55:09
And it won't be any probably any surprise Marissa Chelsea. Mine is my dog. She caught a puppy. She's three. But we were I was on a late meeting last night. All very, very kind of grown up and serious. And then all I could hear was Luna snoring in the background with all four legs in the air. Okay, that that's context
Mary Newville 55:36
just makes me smile. So sweet. What a great way to end this podcast is just good. Belly laughs about Wow. Serious call different pay. Well,
Chelsea Lowman 55:54
thank you all for being here being vulnerable, being empathetic, honest, transparent. I just think this was such a great conversation. Hopefully those that have listened have learned something new or at least feel like they can be a little bit more vulnerable in whatever safe space makes sense for them. And if you are a pack member, please consider joining mental health and wellbeing pack unity alliance again a really great community where you can find support for your fellow pack members.
Mary Newville 56:31
Let us know what you think of this episode in our Slack channel. We'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback takeaways. And if you're not part of the pack, but want to be part of the best, most supportive community in the working world article.com backslash careers. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you all next month. We're kicking off the new year with our CEO Nick Schneider. So we're excited for that conversation. All right. Thanks, everybody.