National Apartment Association (Naahq)’s Post

Transcript

Any organization that isn't making mental health a part of their normal operations is really doing themselves a disservice because it's essential for your team members to do well. My name is Aisha Sheppard. I'm an assistant vice president with AMC Delancey Group. I'm also a chair of the RPM Careers Committee. If you're not doing this job, it's really hard to kind of like articulate the stressors and the things that you have to deal with. And knowing that, like the National Apartment Association, which only deals with the apartment management companies and suppliers, has provided resources that are specific to us and our stressors. It's already tailored to me. My role in my team NBA has put in place the Mental Health Awareness Week, which I personally think is such a great resource because one, they are live webinars so it gives you the room to hear from like industry experts and also experts outside of our industry on mental health. But then the sessions are also recorded. So for myself and my team, we always make a habit every year of watching at least one together, kind of like as a lunch and learn. So when you have that. Type of resource where people are openly discussing it and talking about challenges and solutions. You can then discuss it with your whole team. A time that I use like a resource provided by the NA, one of our service team members let me know that, you know, upon completing a service request, he realized that a resident wasn't living like they normally would, Didn't seem like they were doing well. I was able to reach out to the resident. I stopped by their apartment, came and saw them, and I could kind of see for myself that it seemed like they may be going through depression or just not in the best mental health. They were laid off and I was able to just support them and calling a family member to come up and visit and just help them get through that dark time. It felt really good to be prepared and to know how to broach the subject and to kind of have, like the right questions. So where I felt like I was doing my job, but beyond doing my job, I was just doing the right thing. Mental health is not an extra. It's essential. And I hope that in the future we just embrace it and really recognize how important it is. And see it as something that can make our lives better and enhance who we are.