North Carolina ranks 44^th in the nation for access to care for people with mental health conditions. As the NC Chamber continues to identify and work to remove barriers to work, it is clear mental health is high on the list.

The issue is most acute for our youth with one in five high school students seriously considering suicide in the last several years.

These issues make it to work with parents, as well as the young people joining our businesses. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s employees.

The Workforce Institute at UKG surveyed 3,400 people across 10 countries to spotlight the critical role our jobs, leadership, and managers play in supporting mental health in and outside of work.

The research finds that, “managers impact employees’ mental health (69%) more than doctors (51%) or therapists (41%) — and even the same as a spouse or partner (69%).”

Our managers are having the same impact on our mental health as our spouse or partner.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

A show of hands at the NC Chamber’s inaugural Business Summit on Mental Health indicated that not one person felt they could perform their job well if their child was experiencing a mental health crisis and the numbers tell us many families are living in that reality.

Additionally, the same UKG research indicates, “40% of the C-suite says they will likely quit within the year because of work-related stress.”

Triple board-certified child, adolescent, adult, and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson asks, “is it burnout or is it arson?”

In any position of leadership, you hold the match. What will you do with it?

Taking Action

Ruby Brown-Herring, CEO of RBH Wellness Solutions, says action on mental health at work goes beyond the traditional Employee Assistance Programs – though it is important that your employees know those exist. Brown-Herring boils it down to caring relationships.

Get to know the people you manage and work with regularly. You will notice absenteeism, but you should also notice presenteeism – when they’re there, but they are not really there. Develop a rapport that allows you to have a conversation. For example, “I noticed that you missed this deadline,” or “You seemed disconnected in this meeting.” Hear them out, give them grace, then come up with a plan to help them improve. Jumping straight into a performance improvement plan removes the opportunity for a conversation.

Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Military & Veterans Affairs, tells her team that between the hours of 6 and 8 p.m., they will need to call her twice if it is urgent because that is family time. She also uses after hours signature blocks on her emails and schedules the times they send. Leaders are in positions of power so simply stating that someone does not need to reply is not enough, consider scheduling the email to send during work hours if it is not urgent.

Her best advice for fellow leaders is to share your boundaries with your employees and ask for theirs. Get to know your people.

For more concrete examples of how to take action, Dr. Vinson pointed summit attendees to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Five Essentials for Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Picturing Success

How will you know that you are doing the right things? According to Dr. Vinson, mental health informed leadership is:

• Taking responsibility for a mentally healthy work environment but not for the employee’s mental health,
• Fostering an environment where there can be honest dialogue and ownership while viciously guarding against sugarcoating, gaslighting, scapegoating, and denial,
• Modeling breaks, boundaries, and trust in your team rather than being accessible at all times,
• Deliberately accounting for privilege and power differentials, and
• Engaging in meaningful confrontation rather than defensive avoidance.

If you want your workplace to be mentally healthy, as a leader, you have to go first. Lead and build with intention and consider mental health in all of your policies.

Special thanks to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina for their founding sponsor role in this event and their leadership in this space. To be notified when registration opens for the 2026 Business Summit on Mental Health opens, click here.