Practical Skills for Triaging a Mental Health Crisis in the Workplace
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Speaker : SARAH O'BRIEN
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When : Thursday, June 05, 2025
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Time : 01 : 00 PM EST
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Sarah Fargo O’Brien (she/her) is a dynamic and innovative trauma-informed leader and strategist. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW, LCSW-C), and has been a practicing psychotherapist specializing in Anxiety Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, and Relational/Betrayal Trauma reactions & responses for over 15 years. She has had many diverse and enriching experiences as a therapist that inform her work as a Trauma-Informed Consultant, including years as a crisis provider for a public mental health agency. She has been pivoting her clinical skills into other areas to reach wider audiences for impacting social change. Sarah also writes, speaks, and creates audio & video media content in efforts to reduce the stigma around mental health disorders & treatment, and to increase understanding of and accessibility to trauma-informed practices for all people and all businesses, as trauma informed care is the way of the future.
Not only is Sarah the Founder/CEO of both her psychotherapy practice and coaching/consulting business, she is the creator of the groundbreaking tool: the Trauma-Informed Crisis Response Guide. This step-by-step guide can be easily used and followed by any person, in any setting, to navigate the steps to address a mental health crisis in action. She has been featured in numerous media outlets to include Today, PsychReg, Authority Magazine, and Canvas Rebel. She is an international bestselling author, certified trauma informed life coach and consultant, and a vetted Subject Matter Expert in mental health, substance use, and trauma disorders, responses, and trauma informed leadership practices. She strives to help folks wrap their minds around trauma-informed care in both clinical and non-clinical settings and work through their barriers to access transformational change, in life, in business, in self, in leadership.
Sarah lives out her beliefs in every aspect of her work, as she employs trauma informed principles to her business practices, marketing, design, content-creation, collaboration with other professionals or companies, and her work with clients. She has a contagious energy and uses it to empower every individual she works with to be their authentic selves…and wear it proudly. Her collaborative approach creates a synergy between herself and others that provides hype for motivation, follow-through on goals, and recognizable change. Neuroscience and evidenced-based practices are the driving forces behind Sarah’s approach to understanding how people create lasting and transformational change for themselves.
We will start with a definition of mental illness. We will outline the criteria required for inpatient hospitalization due to a mental health crisis. We will break down signs and symptoms for High, Moderate, and Low risk crises. We will discuss three interventions that anyone can perform to aid a person in crisis, as well as three de-escalation techniques. We will review when and why it’s time to call more qualified mental health professionals to the scene. You will receive tips and suggestions on how to communicate with someone in crisis. We will review grounding and self-care techniques to use after the incident.
Promised outcomes:
- The audience will walk away with solid knowledge about mental illness; mental health disorders, how to define it.
- The audience will walk away with clear examples of what constitutes a Low, Moderate, and High Levels of risk.
- The audience will learn 3 de-escalation techniques.
- The audience will learn important techniques for intervention for suicidal ideation.
- The audience will walk away with clarity about their role during a crisis and when to call for more qualified help.
- The audience will learn ways to de-escalate a crisis situation in the moment.
- They will be convicted on how they have neglected to consider mental health emergencies are just as serious as physical health emergencies, and should be addressed as such.
- This talk should act as a catalyst for change through utilizing trauma informed principles and practices to create a workplace culture committed to increasing safety, and reducing harm, for every person in the organization.
Areas Covered
- Definition for Mental Health and Mental Illness
- Definition for what is considered Suicidal Ideation; How to identify signs of suicidal ideation and how to respond?
- The types of behaviors present for Low, Moderate, and High level crisis situations
- The required criteria for inpatient hospitalization
- Three (3) communication/de-escalation techniques to use with someone experiencing a mental health crisis
- Three (3) grounding & self-care techniques for the response person post-crisis incident
- How to get staff fully trained and how to access a trauma informed comprehensive guide for these kinds of emergencies?
Learning Objectives
- You will learn definition for Mental Health, Mental Illness, Mental Health Disorder and Severe Mental Illness.
- You will learn the criteria required for inpatient hospitalization.
- You will learn behaviors and signs associated with a Low Risk crisis, a Moderate Risk crisis, and a High Risk crisis.
- You will be able to name at least 3 ways to determine if someone if experiencing suicidal ideation,.
- You will be able to name at least 3 communication and de-escalation techniques for talking with someone in an active crisis.
- You will be able to determine when it’s appropriate to contact emergency services/more qualified mental health providers to take over.
- You will be able to name at least 3 practices for grounding and self-care.
- You will learn why understanding and recognizing signs and symptoms of a mental health crisis is necessary for workplace health and workforce health, as well as, trust and safety within a workplace.
- You will consider your work/employee/leadership roles in understanding how to spot and how to respond to a mental health crisis in action and move towards increased prioritization of understanding of mental health emergencies just as much as the workplace prioritizes physical health emergencies.
- As a leader, you will consider how your inability to prioritize employee wellness in terms of equipping folks with tools and skills to address this kind of crisis is more harm to the people that work for you/under your supervision, and how leadership needs to be driving the conversation, training, and support for folks learning this information & these skills.
- You will be able to see and understand the importance of increasing awareness about mental illness, mental health crisis, signs of suicidal ideation, and equipping folks at every level with the necessary skills to act quickly and appropriately to a mental health emergency.
- You will be able to see and understand the importance of equipping everyone at every level with these skills as a step towards greater psychological safety and a culture of trust at work.
Who Should Attend
Leaders, managers, supervisors, C-Suite Executives, directors, sales executives, IT managers, IT support, Customer service, Social media, Marketing, Human resources, team leads. Anyone in a Leadership position, Anyone in charge of making decisions that affect others, anyone at any level can benefit from this information.
Why Should You Attend
Have you ever encountered someone who was engaging in bizarre behaviors? Do you know it looks like when a person is emotionally dysregulated? What would you do if someone was expressing suicidal thoughts or plans?
Are you in profession or business that interfaces with the public? Have you ever had an unruly customer? Have you ever seen arguments been staff and customers?
Organizations and workplaces have people. Many organizations serve the public in some way or provide a product that people use. People are often the most integral part of an organization’s success-whether employees, leaders, or the customers in which they serve. Without people doing the work, producing, selling, earning, or finishing tasks, then likely the organization wouldn’t exist or would be suffering greatly. The need for acknowledgement and acceptance that people are dynamic, somewhat complicated, unpredictable and imperfect is long overdue in workplace settings. Adopting trauma informed principles and practices demonstrates greater success all around for an organization. Communicating an understanding of humans, an understanding of mental health and illness, and providing supportive leadership and guidance for everyone at work to feel confident in aiding a person experiencing a mental health crisis is vital in creating workplace environments where everyone can feel safe, feel equipped, and therefore thrive.
Mental Illness is just as common as physical illness. If someone experiences a heart attack at work, bet there’s a protocol for what to do. However, bet there isn’t a protocol for what to do if someone experiences a ‘mental heart attack’ at work.
Trauma Informed Leadership is the way of the future. Today’s workforce is more aware of their emotional and mental needs. Psychological safety is quickly becoming a non-negotiable for workers and employees of all kinds, in all industries. Mental illness doesn’t stop at the door. Folks need to be more aware of what to look for and how to actually help someone.
Sarah encourages her audience to understand what a mental health emergency is and the importance of equipping both leaders and others in how to spot this kind of crisis, to respond to this type of crisis, and when to call in extra, qualified help. She emphasizes the importance of understanding that triaging a mental health emergency is not a clinical set of skills, and people can be taught how to address this in the safest possible way, for everyone.
Topic Background
It is estimated that 23.1% of adults in the United States have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. That means 1 in 5 adults in any given place at any given time could be struggling with symptoms of their mental health disorder.
As a Trauma Informed Leadership Strategist & practicing clinician, Sarah Fargo O’Brien both sees and understands the effects of mental health symptoms in the workplace. As she consults and trains on leadership strategy and organizational wellness, she has found that many organizations have zero protocol for addressing a potential mental health emergency. The issue is that leaders lack the trauma informed skills needed to lead without causing more harm. One of the ways leaders can improve is by understanding and accepting that if more than 5 people are assigned to their team or organization, then the possibility that at least one has a mental health diagnosis is pretty high. Let alone, any interface with customers or stakeholders, and the fact that 1 in 5 of them could potentially struggle with symptoms of a mental health disorder. Without clear protocol and skills to address a mental health crisis in action at the workplace, it is likely anyone involved will cause more harm than good.
In this webinar, Sarah Fargo O’Brien explains what a mental health emergency actually is and some practical steps for safely aiding a person in this state. She will outline the criteria for hospitalization and highlight which symptoms warrant calling emergency services for assistance. When we can lead with trauma informed principles like value for humanity and compassion, it’s more likely we can create workplaces that are healthy and equip people with necessary skills to address a mental health crisis. Creating this type of culture benefits everyone and ultimately improves outcomes and bottom line.
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$160.00
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