Episode Details

When your child is struggling—whether it’s with anxiety, anger management, or depression—focusing on anything other than how they’re doing can be difficult to nearly impossible. Yet so many parents are straining day after day to support their children while trying to keep up at work. And so many lack enough flexibility, understanding, and paid time off from their employer to take care of everything they need to do, from finding their children a therapist to taking them to appointments.

What can mothers, managers, and leaders do to make work more manageable? The executive director of the children’s mental health advocacy group On Our Sleeves shares ideas and advice.

Guest:
Marti Bledsoe Post is the executive director of the children’s mental health advocacy group On Our Sleeves and the author of Retrofit: The Playbook for Modern Moms: https://www.amazon.com/Retrofit-Playbook-Marti-Bledsoe-Post/dp/0578556863

Resources:

- “Ripple Effect: The Influence of Children’s Mental Health on The Great Resignation,” by On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/about/research/ripple-effect
- “The Great Collide: How Supported Children Enable Successful Companies,” by On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/about/research/workplace
- Bloom: Child Mental Health and the Workplace, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/partnerships/corporate-partnerships/workplace-bloom
- Understanding Depression in Kids, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/mental-health-resources/articles-support/depression
- Anxiety in Kids, from On Our Sleeves: https://www.onoursleeves.org/mental-health-resources/articles-support/anxiety
- “When Your Employee Discloses a Mental Health Condition,” by Amy Gallo: https://hbr.org/2021/02/when-your-employee-discloses-a-mental-health-condition
- “The Maternal Wall,” by Joan C. Williams: https://hbr.org/2004/10/the-maternal-wall

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You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts:
- HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2022/11/working-while-managing-your-childs-mental-health
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-while-managing-your-childs-mental-health/id1336174427?i=1000586190026
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6YJ1I7ga6fV0oZvq1f48AW?si=625542d336374660
- Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/women-at-work/episode/working-while-managing