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Moxielicious with Alexia Vernon

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  2. 202: How Coaches Can Support Mental Health - Particularly for BIPOC Clients with Adrienne Augustus

202: How Coaches Can Support Mental Health - Particularly for BIPOC Clients with Adrienne Augustus

Oct 20, 2020

Adrienne Augustus, MPA has a unique, super valuable point of view on BIPOC mental health as a Black woman working at the intersections of mental health, corporate communications and media relations, and policing.

Adrienne is a mental health advocate and the founder of A Beautiful Mind Foundation Inc., a grantmaking charity dedicated to funding culturally competent mental health services for communities of color.

Adrienne began her professional career as an Emmy-nominated investigative television news journalist. In 2008, she left the industry and transitioned to public relations and corporate communications, but in 2016 she left the private sector to work in the public sector.

In addition to creating and running A Beautiful Mind Foundation, Adrienne recently stepped into a new role as the Media Relations/Mental Health Programs Manager for the City of Hyattsville Police Department in Maryland.

Adrienne holds a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  

During our conversation on how coaches (and HR, training, and business leaders) can support mental health, particularly for BIPOC clients, Adrienne and I discuss:

 

  • Her “wake-up call” – that BIPOC mental health was not only an important topic to discuss but also her work to do and speak up about in the world
  • What a lot of coaches and business leaders get wrong about mental health and mental illness
  • How Adrienne’s dual roles (running a foundation that empowers people of color with mental illness and leading mental health and communication/media relations programs for a police department) have deepened her understanding of mental illness
  • What “defunding the police” really means – and why it supports the mental health of police officers AND community members with mental illness
  • Recommendations for coaches, consultants, HR professionals, trainers, and business leaders who want to support their clients’ and employees’ mental health

Resources Mentioned in This Episode