Shaun Wanzo on the stigma of mental health, the role of DEI to advance it and how to evaluate progress.
Shaun Wanzo is a JEDI consultant, trainer and speaker who utilizes his lived experience as a justice impacted person, his Communication BS program at UW-Milwaukee and year long fellowship in conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation to assess the state of people’s mental health and the trauma they’ve experienced.
Shaun offers different types of frameworks that address the gaps in communication and culture that develop when these members don't feel supported and valued thus decreasing the retention rate which negatively impacts the product, service, and profit margin.
Shaun’s consulting, training, and strategies also offers specific solutions for recruiting, hiring, and retaining justice impacted individuals in a manner that will serve all parties best interests. This also includes working with senior leadership in a one on one capacity.
Dinal: How does prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives contribute to fostering positive mental health outcomes within organizations?
Shaun: Positive mental health outcomes and prioritizing DEI initiatives really work together, hand in hand. When there is a safe space or system set up to collect mental health and trauma data, you can gain a better sense of who the people are, what they have been through and what they are currently dealing with, which allows for a harm reduction framework to be constructed that properly addresses bias, discrimination, sexism, racism etc.
Positive mental health outcomes and prioritizing DEI initiatives really work together, hand in hand.
The framework will then help create a culture where people's identities and experiences are not diminished. People will feel seen, heard and valued thus creating more positive mental health.
Dinal: What are some specific strategies or practices that can be implemented to address the intersection of diversity, equity, and inclusion with mental health in the workplace? And how can an organization evaluate success?
Shaun: Once a system or safe space is established to collect the data, there then has to be a consistent and constant effort that makes people feel secure in reporting. This effort can include facilitated listening sessions, quarterly trainings and assessments. It will take time because of the stigma that is attached to mental health and people will not want to be transparent until they are sure their information will not be used against them in a retaliatory manner. Consistency is what people respond to and identify with best when it comes to becoming vulnerable.
Once a system or safe space is established to collect the data, there then has to be a consistent and constant effort that makes people feel secure in reporting.
Dinal: In what ways can an organization promote a culture that supports both the mental health and diverse identities of its employees, ensuring an inclusive and supportive environment for all?
Shaun: The combination of working with external consultants and mental health practitioners and the collection of as much data as possible. The extraction of the data will allow the differences and similarities of people's experiences and how it affects them accordingly to become clearer. It's important that it's understood that people who identify in the same way or who come from aligned communities (BIPOC, historically marginalized, women, LGBTQI+, disabled, formerly incarcerated, veterans) can be impacted differently mentally and physiologically, which calls for different forms of engagement and resources.