2020 has been a heck of a year. And that might be the biggest understatement. COVID-19. Racism. Murder hornets (even though attention to them was short-lived). Political tension. It seems like as soon as we think we’re starting to get a handle on one thing, another one falls apart. You may feel like you’ve been trying to fight a raging wildfire with a little cup of water. I’ve been talking with corporations and individuals, and I’m hearing the same trends.
People are tired. They’re overwhelmed and confused. They’re unsure of what to expect for the future. Anxiety levels have skyrocketed. And while we’re tired of hearing words like “unprecedented”, they just seem to fit the moment.
Through it all, I’ve been watching and listening in order to see how I can help. This has led me to some important realizations on how the Mike Veny brand can provide support during and after 2020.
The Mike Veny brand is committed to you
As a keynote speaker, I focus on emotional wellness along with diversity and inclusion. These are two of the major areas that people around the world are struggling with more than ever this year. And while it may seem odd, I can say that this year more than ever, I am truly excited about the work that I’m doing to offer support to others.
2020 has helped me to regain focus on finding new and improved ways of helping others with emotional wellness.
The Mike Veny brand’s company mission
In the past, the mission statement of the Mike Veny brand was to “support people in achieving emotional wellness”. I believe in the importance of “emotional wellness” to my core. But after thinking about it, I realized I wanted to support people in receiving the gift of emotional wellness.
It might sound close, but there’s a big difference. Emotional wellness is a gift that everyone can access, but sometimes we get in our own way of doing so.
I used to think that it was something to be achieved. Looking back, I can see that it was there all along, I just needed to be aware of it the right way. The Mike Veny brand is about helping you remove the roadblocks and obstacles that stop you from reaching emotional wellness.
Keeping my focus on this new mindset shift within the mission statement has helped me work on my projects by looking at it from a different lens.
Running Mike Veny brand like a charity
When the pandemic began to hit earlier this year, I also decided I needed to run my company like a charity. Watching the impact that COVID was having on people, I wanted to do everything that I could to get all of you as much as I could for free. Here are some of the things that are available for you to access, use and share.
What’s on the blog
If you go to my blog, there are lots of different articles that have been helping people through this time while dealing with COVID-19 anxiety, what to do with your mental health as we reopen, and tips for employers. Here are just a few of the ones that are available:
- Tense & Triggered: How to Diffuse Conflict in a Year of Pandemic, Politics, and Protests
- Addressing Workplace Mental Health and Wellness During Reopening: What You Need to Know as an Employer
- How Employers Can Support Employees’ Mental Health During the Pandemic
- The Best Anxiety Resources Online
There are plenty of other topics to choose from as well in the areas of mental health and diversity and inclusion.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel
Along with the blogs, I’ve been creating videos around the difficult topics that we’re facing this year as well. I’m continuing to address issues and provide tips that individuals and employers can benefit from. If you’re curious about hiring me for a presentation, you can watch some of my mental health keynote speaker presentations on my channel as well as my corporate drumming team building activities.
I encourage you to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get new tips and updates as they are released.
Watch the online course or webinar
Before 2020 began, I set a goal to create online courses this year. When January started I knew it was something I needed to get started on eventually, but then COVID-19 hit and it became a top priority.
I’m excited to share these resources with you. My first course, How to Find Peace in Times of Uncertainty, has helped a lot of people. I encourage you to check it out if you’re looking for peace.
I also created a FREE mental health webinar, Transforming Stigma® in the Workplace. In this webinar, I share my personal story of mental health challenges, along with:
- How to create a workplace culture that values self-care
- Tips on constructing mental health conversations that are appropriate for the workplace
- How to handle a struggling employee
- The importance of educating employees about available mental health resources
FREE Employer Guide: How to Support Workplace Mental Health as You Reopen
Anxiety soared when the pandemic began and things started to shut down. Employees were forced to adjust to working from home or being furloughed. It seemed like when things reopened, everything would be okay. However, as talk of reopening began it quickly became apparent that not everyone felt the same way.
There are a lot of different ideas on how to reopen the right way. And because of this, there are a lot of different levels of anxiety around reopening. Everyone has their own unique situation and perspective. It’s important that employers are aware of this as they decide what reopening looks like.
I created a FREE employer guide to assist leaders in how to navigate this reopening transition: How to Support Workplace Mental Health as You Reopen.
Virtual presentations
Obviously, when COVID-19 hit and things shut down, companies were forced to cancel their events and corporate training. However, as this has continued to extend, we’re all having to find a new way to get things done. And while I haven’t been able to travel to locations, I’ve been doing virtual presentations from my living room.
I miss doing live presentations and have a few on the schedule because the world will reopen at some point. But it’s been really cool doing the virtual presentations and still being able to connect with people through them.
New drumming sponsors and partners
If you aren’t aware yet, I’m not only a mental health speaker, I’m also a drummer. In fact, my drumming played a major role in my recovery with the mental health challenges that I faced.
Part of my presentations as a mental health speaker, diversity and inclusion speaker, and team building activities facilitator include drumming. For the performances that I do with bands and presentations, I’ve begun a relationship with Wula Drum. They make some great djembes and I’ll be showing off my new one soon. I’m like a little kid when it comes to drums and just want to play it all the time.
When it comes to corporate drumming, team building activities, and drum circle facilitation, I have signed a sponsorship agreement with Remo.
I’m excited to be working with both of these companies. They’re doing great things and you’ll be hearing more from me about this soon. I can’t wait to get back in corporate and school settings to share my passion for drumming, teamwork, and inclusion.
Anti-discrimination policy
At the beginning of 2020, I added an anti-discrimination policy to my website. As a diversity and inclusion speaker, I want to be transparent that the Mike Veny brand stands against discrimination of any type. This applies to everyone that the brand interacts with, from team members to clients and everyone in between.
I encourage you to read through the policy if you have any questions. I also encourage all employers to spend time creating an anti-discrimination policy if you don’t have one in place already.
Little Angel Service Dogs
Eventually, I will be receiving a psychiatric service dog from Little Angel Service Dogs. Most people are familiar with therapy dogs, but psychiatric service dogs are different. They are trained service dogs that are specifically trained to help their owner similar to the way a seeing-eye dog is trained for their owner.
For example, psychiatric service dogs are trained to do things like:
- Remind their owner to take medication
- Create space between their owner and others in public
- Round corners first to make sure no one is coming
- Wake their owner when having nightmares
I support and believe in the work that Little Angel Service Dogs is doing and want to support them in their efforts. If you’re interested in learning more, you can read my blog post, Psychiatric Service Dog Breeders: What You Need to Know, or visit the Little Angel Service Dogs website.
Addressing racism
I’m sure you know that racism has been at the forefront of the media headlines recently. I’ve been discussing diversity and minority mental health in my blogs and videos in the past. With all of this racial tension, I’m starting to touch on racism in my articles and videos as well.
I condemn racism in all ways. I’ve had to really look at myself and acknowledge that there are times where I’ve said things that were racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise wrong. I had to be honest about that and own it. I realize I can do better. Through the work that I do, I’ve learned so much about what I need to do better in order to improve in this area.
Organizations that I’m a part of
I am proud to be a member of the following organizations:
- Rotary International
- Rotary Club of Wall Street New York
- Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)
- New York City SHRM
- National Diversity Council (NDC)
- Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
- MPI Greater New York chapter
- National Speakers Association (NSA)
- NSA NYC
I believe that connections with these organizations help me to better myself, my brand, and help me to offer more value to my clients and followers. Recently, I have written a couple of articles for some of these organizations, including:
- A Human Resource Leader’s Guide to Corporate Messaging on Racism
- A Guide to Conversations and Corporate Messaging as We Resolve Racism
I’m doing my best to make myself available
Right now, people want to feel heard. They want to be able to share their thoughts without being judged harshly for them. I’ve said before and I still mean it, I wish that I could have a hotline open all day that people could call and talk without fear of judgment. I’ve tried to take time to schedule Zoom calls with leaders when they have questions or want to talk through some of the anxiety and tension that is happening right now. I’m going to keep this going as best I can.
I am committed to working with my team to keep working to make this world a better place and to do what we can to help people through it.
Let me know what you need
The Mike Veny team is committed to helping you. We are putting our heads together to come up with the resources, blogs, and videos that provide valuable tips and information to support you through these challenging times.
But we know that we don’t know everything. So we want to hear from you. Please let us know what you need, what topics you want to hear more about, and what you’re struggling with. The more feedback we get, the more we can tailor our work to meet your needs because that’s what we’re all about. We invite you to email us and connect with us on social media (scroll to the bottom of the page and choose your favorite platforms to connect on).
