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On episode 351 of The Nurse Keith Show nursing and healthcare career podcast, Keith interviews Kim LaMontagne, an internationally known speaker and corporate trainer, regarding the creation of a culture of safety in the workplace where individuals living with substance use disorders or mental illness can come forward and receive help without fear of retribution, stigma, or damage to their careers.
About Kim LaMontagne, MBA
Kim is a speaker, teacher and State Trainer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a member of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Campaign to Combat Behavioral Health Stigma and Discrimination, and the Director of the USA Chapter of The Uncommon Woman, International Chapters.
Kim is a thought leader on the topic of mental health in the workplace for Show Me Your Stethoscope (a Facebook group of 640,000 nurses and healthcare professionals) and is a featured speaker on HR Maximizer and The What Now Movement. She has also presented her content at conferences and healthcare organizations and recently joined forces with John Broderick, Former Chief Justice of NH Supreme Court, to deliver a virtual Nursing Grand Rounds presentation at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
During Nurses Week, 2020, she collaborated with Holliblu, a nurse community and technology app and Feedtrail, a real-time patient-and-clinician experience platform provider, to develop mental health questions for the “Enhancing Nurse Well-Being, Nationwide Mental Health Nurse Survey”.
She is the visionary author for the book, “It’s Ok to Not Be Ok,” and contributing author in the book, “The Strength of Our Anchors.”
Kim now works with organizational leaders to teach them how to create and sustain a mentally healthy workplace culture. Using her proprietary methodology, she teaches leaders how to build a culture of safety where employees feel safe enough to step forward and ask for help without fear of stigma, judgment, or retribution.
Kim shares her experience of living “behind a mask” with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and alcohol use. As a top-performing corporate professional, Kim feared that speaking openly about her mental illness would tarnish her professional career. She stayed silent because of this.
On July 16, 2009, Kim sought help from a nurse practitioner and credits him for saving her life. Kim has been sober for 11 years now.
Kim recognized that many individuals suffer in silence in the workplace and hide behind a mask of shame and fear. She has the unique ability to enter a room, identify individuals who suffer, and provide guidance to leaders on how to support them. Her mission is to share her lived experience to teach leaders how to create a culture of safety in the workplace that empowers individuals to speak openly about mental health.
Articles:
- Kim LaMontagne — Leading the Creation of a Safety Culture in the Work Environment
- Two Mental Health Providers on a Mission to Change the Conversation About Mental Health
- HR Collaborative Announces Partnership with Kim LaMontagne on Workplace Mental Health Program
Connect with Kim:
The Nurse Keith Show is a proud member of The Health Podcast Network, one of the largest and fastest-growing collections of authoritative, high-quality podcasts taking on the tough topics in health and care with empathy, expertise, and a commitment to excellence.
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In case you didn’t already know, Nurse Keith is a holistic career coach for nurses, award-winning nurse blogger, writer, podcaster, keynote and motivational speaker, and popular career columnist. With two decades of nursing experience, Keith deeply understands the issues faced by 21st-century nurses. From 2012 until its sunset in 2017, Keith co-hosted RNFMRadio, a groundbreaking nursing podcast. Keith’s message of savvy career management and professional satisfaction reaches tens of thousands of nurses worldwide. Keith can be found on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram—as well as at NurseKeith.com.