Breaking the silence: Crossroads Chamber hosts mental health in the workplace conversation during Voices of NWI Panel Series

On Tuesday, April 21, the Crossroads Chamber hosted a luncheon and conversation with the community as a part of its Voices of Northwest Indiana (NWI) Panel Series. This event took place at the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.

Bill Trowbridge, CEO of Regional Care Group, helped guide this conversation that focused on mental health in the workplace.

“This is mostly about how we can help leaders in the community to identify mental health in the workplace and what those steps need to be from there,” Trowbridge said. “How do they approach it, what to do, what not to do – we’re hoping to give them a little bit of confidence in what steps they should take for themselves or others experiencing mental health issues.”

Trowbridge served as the moderator for this event. The panelists that he asked questions to includes:

• Dr. Robert Beedle – Psychologist, Regional Health Systems
• Dayna Davis – Program Director, New Beginning Clubhouse
• Traci Kerzich – Clinical Director of Resilience, Rosecrance Behavioral Health
• Valerie Perez – Psychology-Supervisor with Regional Health Systems

Chad Charon is a member of the Crossroads Chamber board of directors and today’s lunch sponsor as Owner of Professional Building Services. He believes a space like this allows people to express their vulnerability for an opportunity to learn.

“It’s an environment that opens up a lot of people to something that they’re not always focused on, but they deal with it to some capacity every day,” Charon said. “When you come here, you have panelists who can share their daily experience from a professional perspective, and we’re hoping it can increase awareness.”

Katie Holderby, chairman of the Crossroads Chamber board, believes this conversation is super important for everyone, especially people who work for smaller businesses.

“It’s one of those things that doesn’t always get talked about because most of us are unaccustomed to doing so,” Holderby said. “A lot of small businesses don’t have an HR director or someone who’s in charge of making sure that the mental health of each employee is okay. Sometimes, it’s on the shoulders of the owner, president, or one of the managers to take the mental health responsibilities. Small businesses also might have limited staff, so this is a good opportunity to hear some of those thoughts.”

The Voices of NWI Panel Series is a relatively new concept for the Crossroads Chamber. However, this is just the start of an exciting slate of events to come in this series.

“There are some more subject matters that are coming up throughout the course of the year that we’ll be touching on,” Holderby said. “The topics can range from education to mental health to marketing. Those diverse topics, much like this one, allow everyone to get involved.”

Holderby also serves as the director of alumni engagement at Purdue University Northwest (PNW), who served as one of the executive sponsors of this event. She believes the collaboration with the Crossroads Chamber to have this conversation is invaluable to the educational institution as well as the other supporting partners.

“It’s really important for PNW and all of our partners, because we all have different ways that we benefit from this,” Holderby said. “In higher education, we certainly want PNW to thrive in our community. We cover so much ground, but the whole room is also for all the small businesses and places that our students can be employed or intern at.“

The Voices of NWI Panel Series was created to bring together business leaders, subject-matter experts, and community voices to share insight, spark conversation, and help our members navigate the opportunities and challenges facing our region.

This conversation is exactly what the Voices of NWI Panel Series is designed to do — bring meaningful dialogue to the table and support informed decision-making across our business community.

“Opportunities to have professionals speak about what people know occurs, but don’t always express – it gives us a chance to listen, react, and maybe that creates more intentionality,” Charon said.

For more information on the Crossroads Chamber, you can visit crossroadschamber.org.