Leadership & Organizational Mental Health Strategy w/ Stacey Adelman

In this episode, Munir Haque’s guest is Stacey Adelman, an organizational psychologist and mental‑health advocate whose work reframes resilience and vulnerability in leadership. She joins the show to explore the hidden costs of “surviving” in high‑stakes roles—from the panic that strikes before every presentation to the isolating myth of “bouncing back.” Stacey reveals why traditional resilience advice can leave leaders feeling alone, and how simple acts of recognition can spark genuine connection and adaptive change.

Stacey Adelman describes how executives often feel they must “be strong all the time,” even under pressure. She challenges the notion of resilience as a return to “normal,” reframing it instead as ongoing adaptation and growth. Stacy highlights the critical role of psychological safety.

About Stacey Adelman:

Stacey Adelman is an organizational psychologist who consults with boards and executive teams on mental‑health strategies and culture change. She developed the “Rose Call” recognition strategy to foster connection and well‑being in high‑pressure environments. Her research and practice focus on reframing resilience as adaptive growth rather than mere recovery, and she speaks widely on leadership vulnerability and psychological safety.

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Contact Munir Haque | ActionEdge Executive Development:

Website: AEEDNow.comLinkedin: Action Edge Executive Development Inc.

Contact Stacy Adelman:

Website: https://joshuatreelearning.com/meet-stacey/Linkedin: (linkedin.com/in/stacey-adelman-31539288) to learn about her programs.

Podcast Production:
Recording: PushySix Studios

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Transcript:

You know, when we think of resilience, and how do people, you know, work through or, you know, difficult things in their lives, you will often hear the term bounce back, right? How do we bounce back or how do we push through, for example, and I don't always see resilience as that. I think that's a bit of a myth. I think we need to look at it more in terms of adaptation and change, rather than bouncing back to

to the way things were.

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I'm your host, Munir Haque, an executive coach and senior board strategist. I have partnered with Action Edge Executive Development to lead their governance and political acumen division. In each episode, we meet with governance leaders and step into their boardrooms where decisions shape the world around us.(...) We'll

guest today is Stacey Adelman,

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a registered psychologist and expert in mental health and education with a master's in education and special education and intensive experience in both clinical and school settings. Stacey has spent her career supporting individuals across all ages, helping leaders, employees, and students navigate psychological challenges.

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She has worked as a teacher, mentor, and coach, and her expertise spans psycho, psycho-educational assessment, counseling, and organizational mental health strategies.

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Stacey is passionate about breaking the stigma about mental health, particularly in leadership and corporate settings. And she brings a wealth of knowledge to how organizations can better support their people.

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Stacey, welcome to the boardroom one eight podcast.

Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.

Well, thanks for, thanks for making the time to be with us today. I know that one of our mutual connections, Subi had reached out and she's a supporter of the podcast and highly recommended that I, that I reach out to you and, and set up a, set up an interview with you. And I'm glad that, glad that we had the opportunity, we have the opportunity to do this.

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Yeah. That's, it's great to connect with you. And she's spoken very highly of you as well, in the near.

That's good.(...) I paid her well.

Yeah.

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Anyway, so we're here to talk a little bit about mental health and I, you know, admittedly I probably fall into that category of somebody who has never been overly comfortable talking about it. I find, I find now that my, my, my children are getting older, that it is something that is talked about a lot more. Yes. And, and you say, you know, when you're, when you're dealing with, with your kids as the age, you see it more, you know, from their perspective, or from your perspective as a parent.

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And, you know, I've, I've been in organizations and, and had had to deal with, with staff that had, you know, whether, whether it's, you know, kind of mental health issues or other personal health issues, you see, I saw over time that, you know, it became something more talked about.

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And, you know, as it is, as it is becoming a kind of less, less taboo and acceptable,(...) you have to talk about these in business settings.

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But, you know, from your perspective, how have you seen it change over the last, you know, decade or so?

(...) Oh, I would agree with you. I, I think this younger generation is light years ahead of us. And I get really excited when I talk with youth, because they have so much awareness and knowledge now that we just never had when we were growing up. Right. And so I think the future is really bright. There's a lot of great changes happening, a lot of wonderful insights and a lot of advocacy and, and breaking the stigma around mental health for sure.

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And you think that is what's kind of driving that shift or is there, is there more, more behind it?

I think we're learning so much more than, and when we, when we know better, we do better. So over the years, there's just been so much research and knowledge gained. And I think we're just learning the impact,(...) a very significant impact mental health has on our overall wellbeing, both, you know, personally, professionally, it's affecting every facet of our communities, our schools, our businesses.(...) And we're just starting to really, truly understand the impact of that. And so as we learn more, as we've come out of, you know, the COVID pandemic, for example, and major changes that our generations have endured,(...) we're starting to learn more about the significant effects of mental health on our wellbeing.

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So while we are, you know, people are getting to be more open about it and have those discussions, but there are still some barriers and barriers that are preventing people from talking about that. Do you want to spend a minute or two talking about those?

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Absolutely. What do you see some of the barriers still are?

I think there's still definitely a fear, a fear of being judged for maybe experiencing difficulties with mental health. I know we certainly see that with employees, for example, a real fear that they may be seen as incompetent or not being able to complete the job. So there's a real hesitancy to disclose that.

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I don't know that there's, you know, we have different generations with different amounts of education, background and experiences. And so(...) there's still a lot of learning that's happening about, you know, different things people are experiencing.

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There's a lot of research happening that we're learning about. So I think there's still so much we have left to learn as, you know, multi-generations working together. So there's definitely some barriers. I think there's also some accessibility issues with mental health that we need to address in terms of, you know, maybe langu...

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