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Coping with the mental stress of losing a job

Resources: When and where to turn for help
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COVID-19 is creating a lot of fear and uncertainty, not just around physical health, but mental health, too.

Losing a job is much more than losing a paycheck and it can be one of the most stressful experiences you can go through in your lifetime. In addition to a loss of income, you may feel rejected, embarrassed, and vulnerable, and feel a loss of identity and purpose.

“It’s common for people to experience high levels of stress and symptoms of anxiety or depression during unemployment. This is because of job loss may also represent a loss of identity, especially in cultures where people associate work with personal value, a sense of normalcy, and structure,” according to WorkingNation partner Psych Hub, an online platform focused on reducing stigma about seeking mental health care.

Psych Hub logo

Psych Hub says it important that you recognize that “factors outside of you control, like issues with the economy” may have played a role in losing your job.

“Try to avoid blaming yourself, isolating from others or relying on substance use during this time of transition. Instead, focus on how to solve problems,” says the organization. And if you do begin to feel down or hopeless, reach out to a mental health professional for help dealing with your stress and/or depression.


Learn More About Coping with Job Loss in this video from WorkingNation partner, Psych Hub

Bolstering Your Mental Health

Judy Ho, a Los Angeles-based clinical neuropsychologist, says it is important that you remember practices that can bolster your mental health.

“Sleeping well, exercising, eating well—all these basic needs, as simple as it sounds, can be really effective in times of stress,” according to Ho. She agrees that it is important to not become too isolated. “I have been telling people to just make sure that they are staying connected to loved ones, even if they’re feeling guilty or ashamed. Oftentimes, when people are feeling depressed or anxious, they don’t want to bother other people and they hide away. I encourage them to at least reach out to somebody that is important to them once a day.”

Maintaining a routine is important. “I’ve been trying to teach people to really structure their day so that they can feel a higher sense of control and a higher sense of well-being. What you’re trying to do is take your body and your mind out of that constancy of stress which we know has so many negative mental, physical concerns—and try to put them in a state where the body can recuperate,” says Ho.

COVID-19: Tips for Managing Social Isolation
COVID-19: Mental Health Issues and Coping

More Advice from Judy Ho, PhD:

Tips for Dealing with Mental Stress After Job Loss
Advice to Employers Who Have Laid Off Workers

Find a Mental Health Care Professional:

National Institute of Mental Health

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:

Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255); En Español 1-888-628-9454 or visit them online

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.