CLIENT CASE STUDY:
Mental Health Awareness Isn't Enough
Client snapshot
Client: IMS
Industry: Legal & Litigation Consulting
Duration: 2021 - Present
Company Size: 300-499
Audience Size: Full Organization
Program Type: Workshops and educational sessions
Engagement Type: Ongoing multi-year partnership including educational sessions and upskilling workshops on workplace mental health, communication, navigating change, and managing conflict
Topics: Workplace mental health education, managing stress, leadership development, leadership upskilling, navigating change, communication, & managing conflict
Results: Talking about mental health became an embedded value, not a standalone initiative, at IMS.
LESSONS ON Building a Workplace Culture Where Employees Can SPEAK UP ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH
The sessions were the starting point. What they made possible is the bigger story. When IMS committed to an ongoing workplace mental health program, they weren't just investing in a series of conversations. They were building the foundation for something that would outlast any single session — a culture where mental health at work is treated as a professional skill, not a crisis response.
HR now has a framework for addressing employee mental health proactively. Leaders have language they didn't have before. Employees have tools they can return to. And the organization has a model it can build on as its people and needs evolve.
The mental health challenges that show up in legal and litigation consulting aren't unique to IMS. They appear across industries where cognitive demands are high, the margin for error is low, and the pressure to perform is constant. What IMS got right, and what other organizations can learn from, doesn't require a massive budget or a complete culture overhaul. It requires intention, structure, and a willingness to treat mental health at work as a professional skill, not an optional benefit.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL - THE IMPACT
the challenge
Awareness is a starting point, not a strategy.
For IMS, the goal was never to check a box. Over the course of their partnership with Melissa, the focus has been on something more intentional: creating space for employees to talk openly about the mental health challenges that work and life bring. To feel heard.
And to walk away with practical tools they can actually use.
The need was clear: Employees face stress, uncertainty, and personal struggles every day. Without a structured, psychologically safe environment to address those realities, the challenges often go unspoken and unaddressed.
IMS wanted something different. They wanted a credible partner who could lead those conversations with care, connect them to the organization's own core values, and give employees a real path forward.
What they didn't know? This program would change how the organization approached mental health at work for the long term. Here's how it happened.
THE SEARCH FOR HELP:
IMS came in with a clear set of goals for their leaders and employees:
Create a genuine, structured space for leaders and employees to talk openly about mental health challenges at work and in life
Give leaders and employees practical language to name and understand what they were experiencing
Connect mental health conversations directly to the organization's own core values
Build a sustainable, ongoing model - not a one-time awareness event.
They weren't looking for a generic wellness session. They wanted something their employees would actually engage with over time — and that would give them skills they could use long after the session ended.
The Approach
Core values foundation
Melissa didn't come in with an off-the-shelf program. She grounded every session in IMS's own core values — making the work feel like a natural part of the organization, not something brought in from the outside. That connection gave the conversations staying power inside the culture.
Voluntary and open to all
Sessions were open to everyone. No pressure to speak. No requirements to disclose. Employees and leaders could listen, engage, or simply feel less alone in what they were navigating. That opt-in structure built trust from day one — and it's a big part of why employees kept coming back.
Practical tools and language
The work was grounded in honest conversation — not scripted wellness content. Melissa drew on her clinical and organizational background to give employees real language and tools they could apply to their everyday challenges at work and in life. Employees left with skills, not just a sense that someone cared.
DEIB and HR integration
As the engagement grew, Melissa partnered directly with IMS's DEIB and HR teams to build the next phase of programming. That integration made mental health education a core part of how IMS operates — not a standalone initiative.
Ongoing education over one-time events
A single session can open a door. What IMS built was something more intentional — a sustained, evolving program that gave employees the chance to build on what they learned over time. That continuity is what separates a workplace mental health program that sticks from one that fades after the follow-up email goes out.
What IMS Teaches Us About Building Mental Health Into Workplace Culture
Structure creates psychological safety
In high-pressure industries, employees are often reluctant to bring personal challenges into the workplace. Not because they don't want support — but because there's no clear space to do it. When organizations build a structured, consistent environment for mental health conversations — voluntary, professionally facilitated, and grounded in company values — employees show up. The structure itself sends the signal that it's safe to engage.
Voluntary programming outperforms mandatory training.
In industries where autonomy and expertise matter, mandated participation can feel tone-deaf. IMS's model was opt-in from the start. That built trust. Employees came because they wanted to — and that distinction matters for how the content lands and whether it actually changes anything.
proactive investment beats inactive response
Most organizations address employee mental health after something goes wrong. A crisis. A spike in turnover. A team that stops communicating. IMS took a different approach — building a sustained, structured mental health program before those signals became impossible to ignore. That proactive stance is what allowed the work to go deeper, expand into new areas, and become part of how the organization actually operates.
Organizations that invest in workplace mental health proactively don't just respond better to hard moments. They build teams that are more resilient, more communicative, and better equipped to handle whatever comes next.
Who's in the room matters as much as what's being said
IMS didn't just hire an outside speaker and step back. Their DEIB and HR teams were active partners in building and expanding the programming. That internal co-ownership is a big part of why the work took root. An outside expert brings credibility and a safe distance from internal dynamics. Internal partners bring organizational context and signal to employees that leadership is part of the conversation — not just sending their team to one.
Employee mental health is a leadership responsibility, not an HR checkbox
The IMS engagement worked because leadership treated it that way. Mental health at work wasn't delegated to a single department or addressed only when something went wrong. It was embedded into how the organization operates — reflected in how HR plans, how leaders communicate, and how the organization shows up for its people. That kind of commitment is what separates organizations that talk about mental health from ones that actually build cultures where employees can thrive.
The Results
The engagement turned into a long-term initiative. IMS didn't stop at one session. The work grew into a structured, multi-year education series built in partnership with their DEIB and HR teams. That expansion is the clearest signal of how deeply this work took root. Organizations don't reinvest unless something is working.
HR shifted from reactive to proactive. Mental health awareness and upskilling moved from a one-time initiative to an embedded part of the IMS Way. The HR team now approaches employee mental health and leader and employee upskilling with a forward-looking strategy, not just a response plan for when things go wrong.
Employees kept coming back - and left better equipped. The programming IMS built is voluntary, non-judgmental, and open to everyone. Consistent voluntary participation is one of the strongest signals of trust in any workplace mental health program. Employees showed up because they felt safe. They kept coming back because the content gave them real language and concrete strategies for managing stress, navigating uncertainty, and handling the everyday challenges of work and life. That's what a workplace mental health program that actually works looks like.
key takeaways
■ Awareness without structure doesn't move the needle.
If your organization is ready to go beyond a one-time mental health event, the next step is building a consistent, structured space for employees to actually talk — facilitated by someone with real clinical and organizational expertise, and grounded in your own company values.
■ The most effective workplace mental health programs are built over time, not in one day.
One session raises awareness. An ongoing partnership builds the language, trust, and skills employees need to handle what work and life actually bring. If you're evaluating workplace mental health speakers or consultants, ask what happens after the session ends.
■ Mental health and DEIB aren't separate conversations.
Organizations that treat belonging and psychological safety as a unified strategy — not parallel initiatives — build teams that are more engaged, more communicative, and more equipped to perform under pressure. That's not a cultural win. That's a business outcome.
