Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. I want to talk about all things mental health today. Now I'm not gonna be able to cover them all because we could go on for decades about the topic of mental health, but it is no secret that the past few years have been extremely hard on us, extremely hard on women. We have dealt with loss. We have dealt with COVID nineteen.

Erica: We've dealt with homeschooling our kids while going fully remote and expecting to maintain and exceed our performance at work. We have dealt with decisions about vaccinations, about change. We have to deal with working. Like we don't have kids, but being a mom, like we don't have a job. And as of recently, we are dealing with the Supreme Court ruling and the overturning of Roe versus Wade and what that means for us as women, as mothers, as wives, girlfriends, and friends, and how that feels to not have control or decisions over what we do with our bodies.

Erica: So no shit that our mental health is shit right now, guys. And mental health can be a major sticky floor for women. It's going to keep you from reaching your potential. If you don't take care of it, it's gonna keep you from being happy and finding joy in life. If you don't take care of it, it's gonna keep you from being the wife, the mom, the friend, the daughter that you wanna be.

Erica: It's going to keep you from being you. When you deal with mental health issues, it is no joke. You really can be stuck. And I think that there are people out here listening that understand that stuck could mean really even struggling to get out of bed, take a shower and brush your teeth when you're not in a good place. But I wanna talk a little bit about the numbers.

Erica: This is not something that ton of people feel comfortable talking about and sharing, but one in five women have depression and or anxiety. And while there are many reasons that depression and anxiety can develop, it is not surprising that we experience them in a different way than men do. Now, I am not a licensed therapist. I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist. I do not have training in mental health.

Erica: So I want to put that out there, but I do have my own experience with depression, anxiety, and mental health struggles. So I do wanna talk about it. I want to change the stigma that's out there and just be more open about it. But women are cares, guys, which can often lead to stress and anxiety. So we carry the burden of being the core, the primary provider for our kids, remembering all the things that it takes to raise these tiny humans from doctor's appointments to allergies, to how do they like their damn sandwich cut?

Erica: Is it a square? Is it a triangle? Do you have crust or no crust? Right? You make the wrong decision there.

Erica: You could have a kid flipping out. We keep the ship afloat. I liken this often to a computer browser. Right? Like what's going on up in my head?

Erica: How many tabs do you have open at one time? Right? One tab is kid a. One tab is kid b. One cat one tab is doctor's appointments, vet appointments.

Erica: What's going on at the school? What's going on with the nanny? What's going on for dinner? All of the things. I personally have a million open, and I constantly juggle in my head what is going on with all of these.

Erica: The schedule of the kids, extracurricular activities, my work schedule, my client's schedule, school events, doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, dinners, friends. What are my parents doing? And when are they watching my kids? Just all of it. Coordinating all of it is exhausting.

Erica: So we also suffer from what is called human giver syndrome. Now I stole this term from the book burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagalski, and I'm gonna probably be referring to it throughout all of this podcast. But that's when we put all of our energy into creating comfort for others, but we don't do it for ourselves. For the drill on the airplane, put your own oxygen mask on first and then help others. Yeah.

Erica: We're not so great at doing that. Have you ever thought about hormones play into this? Right? Women create more stress hormones than men, and the female sex hormone progesterone prevents the stress hormone system from shutting down like it would in a man, and that also increases our susceptibility to stress induced depression. Then there is also the tragic reality that women are more vulnerable to social factors like poverty, sexual abuse, stress, and intimate partner violence.

Erica: And just recently, dealing with everything that is stemming from the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe versus Wade. Now nearly one in four women have received mental health treatment in the past twelve months. We do seek it more than men, so we do have that going for us. But I need everybody here to understand that our mental health matters. If you're not taking care of yourself, you're not going to be able to take care of anyone else.

Erica: If you don't put on that oxygen mask first, who is going to handle it all? Now, in one of my previous episodes with Adrianna Crawford, we talk about mental health and finding the right therapist. First of all, if you need help, please go out and get it. Quite honestly, I think everybody could benefit from a good therapist. Now I will say COVID-nineteen did help out in the mental health arena by making therapy more accessible and approachable.

Erica: The pandemic really caused a shift. So now there's more platforms out there, Talkspace, BetterHelp, all of those that do make it easy to connect with a therapist from your phone, from your desktop. Guys, you don't even have to leave your home if you don't want to. Just know therapy is for you. It's for everybody.

Erica: And it's for anyone that has something going on in their lives. It helps you get that individualized help therapy, tailors sessions for you. Anyone can benefit. Think about it. You've got someone, you see them on a regular basis.

Erica: They know you, they help you understand what motivates you, what your strengths are. They help you navigate what you wanna change and where you wanna grow. It's totally unbiased. It's totally centered on you. Why, why not invest in therapy?

Erica: Just make sure that you're getting a therapist that you're comfortable with. Make sure you vibe with their modality. This is really important, guys. You have a right to say that I want a therapist that's older than me or that looks like me, whatever. We have the right, again, to advocate for ourselves and what we need.

Erica: There's another sticky floor episode on advocating for your damn self, but it's not a one way relationship. It's a two way street. If your therapist doesn't fit with you, you have the right to find a new one. A lot of times I hear women say that they tried therapy and it didn't work out for them because their therapist didn't understand them. They didn't vibe with them.

Erica: Don't give up. Right? Go out. Try another one. You have the right to do that.

Erica: Now if you can't afford one and it doesn't fit your budget because that is a reality for so many people out there, there are other options. Look into different therapy practices that maybe have interns that can see people at a more cost effective rate. There might be counseling programs at your school or a local community college. They may have more affordable options. And if you are working, check out your benefits, make sure you're using your EAP, which is the employee assistance program at work.

Erica: If it's offered. Now don't hold me to this one. I'm not promoting this, but I did hear about something called Open Path Collective, and they help people who don't have health insurance connect with therapists who are out there starting their own private practice. And those people may have more affordable rates for you. So again, I don't know that to be totally factual.

Erica: I didn't check it out myself, but I that's what I've heard. So give it a shot. But if you are really struggling, guys, please reach out for support. Talk to somebody. There are resources out there to help you, and I will put several of them in the show notes.

Erica: But for me, keeping my mental health in a good place is super critical to how I function as a mom. It's critical to how I show up as a friend and as a wife and, and as a chief people officer in my day to day. Now, one thing that does work for me and keeps my mental health in check is I do something physical, Right? In the mornings, it's one of the very first things that I do. It helps me feel in control and productive no matter what happens during the day if I did get that accomplished.

Erica: And for me, that's super important. I also keep a gratitude journal. So it's easy to get caught up in everything that's going wrong. And my role specifically as chief people officer, I tend to get a lot of complaints. Right?

Erica: I always joke about that it's like a customer service, role. Nobody calls the cable company to tell them what a great job they're doing. They call to complain. But when I keep a gratitude journal, it centers me. It reminds me what I have home health kids, and that's a lot that people are wishing that they had.

Erica: Sleep is also super critical for me. I will dive into the importance of sleep in another episode, but it really is probably one of the most important things that I do to protect my mental health. I keep my bedtime routine at top notch y'all. And if you don't have one, get one. But get outside if you can.

Erica: Sunlight improves serotonin levels. It improves your mood. Even just fifteen minutes a day could do the trick. And get a good therapist. That's really why I put so much emphasis on therapy because these are trained professionals who are here to help you, and depression and anxiety are real.

Erica: There are other serious mental health conditions out there that only therapists should be dealing with. Right. So reach out, find one. If you need to find one, I'll help you find one, but there are tons of resources out there for you. But at the end of the day, take care of you.

Erica: There is only one of you and you deserve all of the love, all of the peace, all of the joy and happiness that you are giving to others. If your sticky floor is a mental health struggle, I want you to feel empowered to get out there, to find a therapist who can walk with you and help you overcome the feelings of depression, anxiety, and struggle. They can break it all down into smaller bites. They can help you with smaller choices, which all add up to big change. Alright, guys.

Erica: Take care.