The Trauma Responsive Workplace: Nurturing Mental Health

As we observe Mental Health Month this May, it’s crucial to recognize that HR professionals face their own mental health struggles while supporting employees.

HR leaders often find themselves on the front lines, responding to mental health crises, workplace conflicts, harassment allegations, and other emotionally charged situations. Balancing their own well-being while providing organizational support is a delicate task. Over the past four years, HR professionals have navigated the complexities of remote-first, hybrid, and onsite work dynamics. Prioritizing mental health has become critical.

In this presentation, we’ll delve into the impact of workplace trauma on HR professionals. We’ll explore strategies for managing personal well-being amidst work stress and discuss practical insights for creating a psychologically safe workplace—whether employees are on-site or working remotely.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 🚀✨:

Recognizing Workplace Trauma:

• Understand the signs and effects of workplace trauma.
• Learn to identify triggers and respond empathetically.

Self-Care Strategies for HR Leaders:

• Explore practical techniques for managing stress and maintaining well-being.
• Discuss boundary-setting and coping mechanisms.

Fostering Psychological Safety:

• Implement organizational response strategies to create a safe environment.
• Promote open communication and trust among employees.

Join us as we prioritize mental health and build a resilient workplace together!

Our speaker and guest, Mark Veldkamp, is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in San Diego, California. Mark provides expert consulting and training to schools, universities, and organizations on violence prevention, crisis response services, risk management, and threat assessment. Mark also owns a private psychotherapy practice, MARK VELDKAMP, LPCC, where he treats adolescents and adults.

Mark worked at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for eight years. In his role, he developed the UCLA Consultation and Response Team—the campus-wide multidisciplinary student behavioral intervention team focused on supporting at-risk students. As the Director of Case Management and the Coordinator of the UCLA Consultation & Response Team, Mark established a case management team that directly supports students in distress, including victims and survivors of sexual violence. He has created key partnerships between psychological services, law enforcement, student affairs, employee relations, and the UCLA Health Care system to successfully address students concerned about those at risk and students who may threaten themselves or the campus community.

Before working at UCLA, Mark worked as a psychotherapist in community mental health, treating child and adolescent victims and survivors of sexual violence at the Joseph J. Peters Institute in Philadelphia, PA, as well as juveniles who had committed sexual offenses. In his treatment of juveniles, Mark worked with probation-referred youth, assessing for risk of future recidivism and regularly testifying in Juvenile and Family Courts on behalf of his clients. Mark continued this work at the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center in Philadelphia, providing trauma-focused therapy to child and adolescent survivors of trauma, victims of crimes, and those experiencing traumatic grief and loss. Mark worked with the clinic treatment team and Philadelphia Courts to implement trauma-informed care in this system.

Mark received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and his Master of Arts in Community Counseling from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.