KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Disabilities and Mental Health

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of CultureCast. This is EXP Realty's official diversity, equity, and inclusion podcast, and it is the podcast about what makes us us. So this is episode 11. We are again featuring our second co-chair from EXP Capable. This is Abigail Ransom. Abigail, do you want to tell everybody a little bit about yourself? Hi, yes. Ransom, like the note.

That is right. Or the Mel Gibson movie. depending on how old you are. So I actually am a staff member with EXP. I work East Solos and the regional support manager. But I also am licensed to agent in the state of Texas. And as Cody said, yes, I am the co-chair of EXP capable. That is something that is very important to me.

Somebody who has unseen disabilities. A lot of people, you know, I look like I'm just your average Joe. And I, you know, have some hidden secrets that I think a lot of us with disabilities who can hide them. Do try to hide them. But luckily, we have people with disabilities that are extremely proud. And they can speak out and talk about it and really give some of us the encouragement to come out of those, those dark corners. That's right. That's right. That's great. And for those that aren't aware, didn't see the last week's episode of the episodes that we've done in the past about EXP Capable, XP Capable is one of our DEI Foundations programs. And the DEI Foundations program is a program by which you,

can come up with an idea for a group that isn't already represented by one EXP. And myself and Morgan and Stephanie at the DEI team will help prop you up and try and empower you so that you can put on events and content and be featured in episodes of the podcast like this so that you can see if your idea catches fire. And if it does and you amass your following and you have all your folks who are bought into this, then we come to one EXP for a vote to become an officially recognized, EXP entity as a one EXP resource group and EXP capable is well on the way down that path as as we speak.

Yeah, we're really excited about that. Yeah, it's really, really great stuff and it's got a lot of people excited and it's something that Abigail and Kimbrey and myself felt very, very strongly about all of us being touched by disabilities, visible and invisible, both with ourselves and those in our lives and the family and the people that we love. And we encourage folks, if you are, have loved ones or care about someone who has a disability, EXP capable is also for you. If you're an agent who wants to learn more about selling inclusively to folks who live with disabilities, EXB Capable is the right place for you. So we have a lot to offer over here at EXP Capable. So I want to jump right in

with our first question. The first question is, how does living with a disability impact an individual's mental health. And what are some of those common mental health challenges that folks with disabilities face? So that is a very broad question. And because of that, every person with a disability is going to encounter the mental health very differently. For me, I have dyslexia, excuse me and i also have crones so i not only struggle with my day to day life with reading and writing and trying to kind of follow along with certain things i also can struggle with severe chronic pain from crones so my excuse me because i haven't shared this with many people um i'm i'm recently kind of coming out so that I can, excuse me, hopefully empower other people as well.

I have felt anxiety to the point of not being able to fully function and having to seek help for that. Because I get so anxious, I don't want to tell somebody, oh, I need a little bit more time for reading. I am so sorry. I really don't feel very well today. It's going to take me a couple more minutes than it usually would. And those things make you feel very vulnerable. So mentally, anxiety is a huge one for people with disabilities because you don't want to be a burden. And I think that will be probably a word that comes up a lot in this podcast is burden.

Yeah. Yeah, I would totally agree with that. I'm somebody that also lives with dyslexia, someone who also, I live with ADHD. In my professional life, the need for accommodations for my ADHD has led to me having to have some conversations with managers and colleagues that made me very anxious. Those are conversations that are like, I know, you know, lots of departments, even here at EXP, lots of departments are structured in such a way that there is.

is a designed and designated way that your work needs to be done. And for a lot of us, that way is not our most effective way of getting to the end result, right? Yes, yeah. And having those conversations can cause you a lot of headache and a lot of worry and panic. I have panic attacks. So it was something that was tough for me when I started here at EXP. in um i was on the the audit side of transaction settlement actually your your name is one that i saw quite frequently somebody that i knew i i in my mind for for folks whose names i see frequently

come up with little little anagrams for their names you absolutely had one of those just like lots of other people who the names i saw frequently just to help my brain process the information more quickly but for me when I have a spreadsheet in front of me, right? And it's all lines and you got to get through this line. And when you finish this line, you go to the next line. You finish this line, you go to the next line. But there are patterns in those lines that people haven't picked out that could help me sort the work and make it make sense in my brain here. You know, I'm not coming to the manager and saying, I found a way to save us time and make an efficiency.

I'm coming to the manager and saying, I need to reformat this spreadsheet because I can't make sense. sense of this information unless I do so. Yes. Right. Yeah. And that is something that, you know, you will figure out what works for you, but just being open with the people that you're working with and working around, hey, I'm going to have to make this a little bit different. Everything is still there. It's just going to look a little different to you.

Are you okay with that? Do I need to make a copy and then share it with you? You know, those are the types of tricks you can use because you're still. need to be able, because we're still very intelligent people, capable people, you know, unfortunately. And in school, I was told, you know, well, you're just not very smart. You're just not going to get this. Yeah, you probably won't graduate high school, you know, these things. But I was on honor roll in college. I was on the dean's list. It just took me a little bit longer. And I think that is a big thing is doing something differently does not make it wrong.

Now, if you're messing up and you're making mistakes, that's something very different. But just being open and sometimes we're too scared to be open about those things. So how do you, how did you approach your managers then? you know I can I can say in honesty on this podcast that not in the best way that I could have right like I think I would try to present the the way that I needed to do the work as a solution that worked for everybody in order to get their buy-in rather than just admitting that for my mental health this is an accommodation I need which probably probably would have made it smoother.

But, you know, instead I came in and what it looked like to the outside was probably this guy comes into our established process that's been working for years and says, I know a better way to do it. Who does he think he is? Yeah, probably. You know, I'm in a management role. And so my goal is always to try to make sure everybody feels comfortable. So I always say, hey, if you see something that.

works a little different for you, let me know that's okay. And I think that's something, keeping that open. It's like, hey, if this doesn't quite work for you, but you need to change it up a little bit, but you're still going to get the same outcome. You know, that, that is what is important for us, right? Yeah, it really is. It really is. You know, I'm somebody, I can relate to what you said about having, you know, I had dyslexia and ADHD as a child and was diagnosed with one, but not the other. I was not diagnosed with ADHD until I was 29-ish. But I was, you know, in the gifted program all through elementary schools and AP classes

and college credit classes through high school, middle school and high school. And it, you know, was just something that I had to find a way around, find a work around for me. And it's, I am also someone who, I don't know if love is strong enough of a word. but I am obsessed with books. I love books. So it's sort of a, I don't know if it was a, I would never call it a blessing,

but part of that has to do with me fighting really hard against my dyslexia as a kid. I went through a program back in the day that was available. I don't know if it's still on the market, but I went through the Hooked on Phonics program. No, I don't believe that. I don't think it's still available. It was a series of tapes and a weird plastic briefcase that your parents could buy you.

But it did help me. And then I started tackling harder and harder and harder books and just taking my time with them and figuring them out. And it was one of those things where I think that I sort of not counteracted, but I had an adverse reaction to being diagnosed with dyslexia that was like, I'm going to power through this and then be effective, like super effective on the other side of it. You know what I mean? Still affects me,

but I am a superb reader now because I've practiced a lot. Yeah. But, you know, again, with dyslexia, there's tons of accommodations you can make. in my work when I really need to understand something, I will format it into one of the several approved dyslexia fonts that helped me visualize better. It still affects me. It's strange because it still affects me pretty profoundly with numbers now that I've sort of powered through and figured out my workarounds for letters. But yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So, I think this intersection with mental health and disabilities is really profound, something to think about.

Because people ask me, why do we have two different resource groups, one for folks with disabilities and one for healthy mind, right? We also have the healthy mind collective. And to me, there are some things that go on in your mind that you'll know. never be able to medicate or therapy away, right? And that's where EXP capable is. But there is definite crossover because I think everyone living with a disability struggles with their mental health. Yes.

Yeah. And a lot of the research I've done, it's somebody with a disability, whether it's a intellectual or a physical disability, are five times more likely to think about a plan and or attempt suicide. So that is something that is very real, but there's not a lot of researchers, not a lot of studies done on that because unfortunately people with disabilities

are left out of research. So no matter what type of disability you have, they're left out. And that is very unfortunate because there is a large population of people with disabilities or will develop a disability within their lifetime. That's true. And it's, you know, it's, again, hiding in those corners, sometimes we're forced into those corners instead of being able to talk about what is needed. or given the resources for help that you might need. Yeah, that's true.

And, you know, we talk about intersectionality. For those that don't recognize that term or know what I'm talking about when I say intersectionality, intersectionality is the thought that we are more than the sum of our parts, essentially. It's we are all of those things at the same time and how that adjusts how we would look at a statistic. right as intersectionality Kimberly Crenshaw came up with this term in the 80s and it was essentially the the the original thought experiment was she saw a Hispanic woman making so much significantly less money than her white cisgender male counterpart and she discovered that studies showed that a woman made a certain amount of money on the dollar to compared to a man and then she found a Hispanic person made a certain amount of money compared to a white person. But then even with those two numbers, I think the woman was 80 cents on a dollar. The Hispanic person was 75 cents on a dollar.

But if you were both of those, it's not just a magical cut between the middle and say 77.5%. It actually was like 45 cents on the dollar for somebody who's both Hispanic and a woman. So when we apply that logic of intersectionality to disabilities and mental health, we talk about folks with disabilities are 5.5% more likely to contemplate suicide, right? Then we think about people who contemplate suicide are a certain percentage higher to have a mental health disability, right? If you have a mental health disability, you are then that. much more likely to think about suicide then add on the wrinkle of that what's your race what's your gender are you part of the LGBT community and then those numbers are like yeah i had to do a lot of soul searching for my own mental health because i had a time of my life about three gosh time is a weird

thing maybe four years ago now when i was seriously contemplating suicide and i had to sit back and think, why? Like, I'm in a, I'm married. I'm in a place that I love. I'm doing a job that I love. My job is hard, but what is this? Right. And then you take into account, I'm a person living with a disability. I'm an LGBTQ person from the South who is neurodiverse and like all of these things added up made it so that in my life. I have something like an 80% likelihood to contemplate suicide, which makes it far less daunting that, oh, it's just, it's, it's sort of this, this is, this is what the hand I was dealt. And I can look that in the face and say, I'm going to fight that statistic. Or, you know, give in to the fact that I'm all of these things rather than celebrate them, right? But I don't I did not mean to use the word but I want to say also it is okay for us to feel any of those feelings that we're having. So the big thing is that when you start having those feelings and those thoughts that you have the resource to reach out or to have somebody that you can reach out to, whether it's a stranger on a 800.

number or we now have it via text where you can text somebody if it's a crisis or being able to have somebody to go to and say, hey, you know, I'm just going to use this. You see me on EXP capable and you go, oh my gosh, she's kind of dealt with something similar to this. I'm just going to talk to her. Yeah. It's things like that. It's being able to build a community.

with people who have similarities to you, but also have different backstories and different life experiences, because that can really help you a lot. And I think that is something that we're missing and the community of people with disabilities. Is that a lot of times we're not surrounded by other people with disabilities or the same disabilities. And you feel like, again, I'm going to go back,

you feel like a burden. Well, I don't want to tell somebody that I'm thinking about hurting myself. For me, my mind, because I have severe anxiety, I go, oh, my gosh, how is that going to make them feel? Am I going to make them feel bad? Is that going to ruin their day? Are they going to be like, oh, my gosh, I can't be around her because she's feeling this. So my mind starts going and going, and I get really nervous about that. but we have to be able to give a person a chance to say,

you know what, I'm not the best person to help you. But here, maybe this can. You know, we have to stop taking away somebody's option before giving it to them. I think that is something else. And that's really how we can build our community stronger, is giving somebody an opportunity to step in and help or giving them the opportunity to say, you know, I don't think I'm the best person for this. Yeah.

Both are, both are great. Yes, absolutely. And that having the resource on hand makes you just as trustworthy of a person as if you had the answer of yourself, right? Being able to show somebody that resource. It's great. And, you know, when I went through my crisis, I was working at a company that offered an employee assistance program very similar to what EXP offers to our employees. where I had a crisis line I could call, and that crisis line could set me up with a therapist next day that was local, right? And that, that was it. Yeah. That, that helped me. They helped

me plan, right? It was great. Let's talk a little bit about, I think one of the things that really affects folks with disabilities, mental health is abelism. So let's, let's talk a little bit about ableism? So I don't know if people are aware of ableism, but it's just like any other discriminatory. It's assuming something about someone. So it's a bias about them. It's thinking that they are unable to do something just because of their disability. And that, those assumptions are.

a huge responsibility for ableism. And it's something that we really need to work against. And I actually have, there's this guy that I follow on Instagram. He's really funny, very silly. And I actually came across a lot of the deaf community follows him. And they really seem to. like him. And so I started following a lot of them because they're also funny but educational. And I started seeing that they were posting something he had put on where he talked, you know,

jokingly where somebody said about a worm. Like, would you still love me if I was a worm? And he made a comment about, you know, worms are deaf and mute like Helen Keller. They're pointless. And he and he did it so quickly. And he wasn't thinking that because the next thing he followed was I can just put the worm back in the earth with all the other worms and they can. And they called him out in a bunch of their videos. And instead of him saying, I'm a comedian. I'm joking. It's just, it's just funny.

He instantly the same day did a video where he showed them talking. And then he came in and he was almost in tears. And he goes, I would never want to make anybody feel smaller or to make them feel not worthy. Especially because I noticed that I follow them and they follow me. And this was just a way for me to learn about myself and how something that comes off my tongue that I'm not even thinking of is completely breaking down a community of people. It's not just one person. it's not just two people, it's an entire community. He has a large reach, right? So he says this and people laugh and then they repeat it, right? Oh, it's just funny. It's a joke about Helen Keller and worms.

No, it's not. You are specifically pointing out people who can't control that, but they are awesome people. You get to go and actually see them do things. I have relationships with people who, you know, are deaf and hard of hearing and I love them just the same and they teach me just the same as I teach them as a person who is hearing and I think that is a big thing is stopping those and not making excuses and not saying oh it's a joke oh I was being funny oh I didn't know okay well take those out of your vocabulary and say I am so happy that you shared that with me that you taught me that now I don't now I know that I won't be using that in the future. Right.

And, you know, I've talked about this quite a bit on this podcast and in any of my trainings, if you've ever attended any of my trainings, but I will say that the number one reason that people say that they don't learn more about a diverse group that they're not part of is that they're afraid of making a mistake. And this, again, is another time where I'm going to reiterate the message. If you make a mistake, you learn from it and you move on. and the big point here in all of this is that if you make a mistake, you apologize and move on because if you harp on,

oh my gosh, I'm trying, this is so hard explaining to the person who you might have offended, why it was so difficult for you to figure, you're putting stuff on them that they don't need. Yeah. This is about you growing and getting better, and it's really easy to just take the note and move on

and that's what you should do. Yes, which we should all be doing in all aspects of our life. And I think sometimes people are just, they almost feel attacked instantly when they're like, hey, let's not, let's not do that. They're like, what, what? Oh, no, I did something wrong. No, it's okay.

We're not calling you an ableist. We're not labeling you with something that's going to stick with you forever. No. You're saying this, you could have done it better. That's all. Move on. Hey, let's not do that again. Yeah.

Yeah. And that is how we should be. I mean, that's how we are right when we're starting something new. Yeah. You know, when real estate, when I first got licensed, I don't know what I was doing, but when somebody said, hey, Abigail, oh, that's probably not the best. You should be kidding that buyers agency agreement signed. Well, I don't really, I don't really want to do that. I don't really know how to approach him. I didn't feel like they're saying, oh my gosh, you're the worst agent ever. You're terrible. You're never going to help anybody. No, they were just giving me feedback.

And also you should be grateful for that because they're helping you be a realtor slash person, right? In both of these. Now I'm helping my clients more. I'm helping myself more. I'm helping our community more. And so that is how we have to think of it is learning in all aspects, whether it is social or professional. Yeah.

And I also, I want to talk a little bit about self-Abelism, right? The way that this has something to do with when you have mental health stuff because of the way you view yourself when you have a disability, right? Yes. It was really, for me, it was a real struggle. And it still is to talk about my ADHD diagnosis. because I grew up with a father who's quadriplegic. And he is visibly, clearly, much more affected by his disability that I am by mine.

Right. But it makes me feel a certain way because I know, you know, my father would never say my son has a disability because that's hilarious to him, right? That's not, it's one of those things where everybody's on a different path and nobody's path is, yes, some paths are more difficult than others. That's, that's a true fact. But everybody's on their own path and it's not on us or it's not appropriate to sort of diminish someone's struggle based on another person's being harder, right? Yes, yes. I think that is, that is something that so many of us struggle with. Right? We go, well, so and so, just, well, I, I live in an apartment and I have a roof over my head. I shouldn't be complaining. Just because you have those things does not mean you are not still struggling.

Yeah. And it is okay to be struggling physically and mentally. and asking somebody for help. That's kind of what we started with, right, the podcast where I like to hide in dark corners. I get really scared to share things with people, especially if I'm starting a new friendship with them or I'm starting a relationship. I want to hide all of this stuff. One thing because I'm afraid of judgment or simply afraid of them going, really?

you think that's a disability. Yeah, right. And you go, oh, well, I mean, it's not, well, I mean, it's not like that kind of disability, but it's like this kind of. So now you're trying, now you're in your own mind. And that's when your mental health starts going, because then you go, oh, why did you say anything? You probably shouldn't have said anything at all.

Should have left it to yourself. That's exactly that. That's, I mean, with my dyslexia, I rarely talk about it. because people can't relate to it, right? People cannot, unless you have dyslexia, you can't imagine what it's like for me to look into your paper with a lot of letters on it. Well, Anne, you also hear this joke.

I hear it all the time. Somebody messes up a word. They mess something up and they go, I'm dyslexic, but it's just a joke, right? Oh, I'm dyslexic. That's why I mess this one thing up. I said a word. I was trying to say sportsmanship,

unlike men sportsmanship. See, now my brain is already going. I don't know what I said. I was watching football with my boyfriend, and that is what it was supposed to be. And I messed up. I messed up so bad, but I didn't even realize. And he starts laughing so hard.

And he's like, I'm not sure what you said, but I think it's unsportsmanship is what you want. I was like, whatever, you know what I'm trying to say. Yeah, you know what I meant. But that's the joke is that people go, I'm, oh, I'm dyslexic. I messed that up. Right. But I actually struggle with it every day.

It can be the words that I say. I can see the word in my mind. But then it gets reversed in there. And then I say it the way that my mind has sees it reversed. And some people are like, oh, oh, my. my gosh, you're dyslexic. And I want to be like, no, I really am. I am.

Yeah, actually. Like not your joke version of it, the actual diagnosed kind of. Yeah. Yeah. That is, but instead of me just saying, oh, no, you know, actually I do struggle with it, then I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's just a joke. Now I'm a butt to the joke. And now I'm feeling super self-conscious.

Now I don't want to talk. And I'm a talker. Yeah. Now I don't want to talk. Now I feel stupid, which is so sad to think that that's how I feel. Yeah. And then I want to go and crawl back into my dark corner. And that is something that I am actively working with.

Luckily, my partner, he is great with it, right? He just teased a little bit and then he helps me figure it out. I'm not saying that that happens all the time. But when it does, when you get called out, it can feel really uncomfortable. if it's with people that you're not safe with. Yeah, exactly that. Yeah. And I think there are a lot of diagnoses.

We're using dyslexia as an example, but there's a lot of diagnoses out there that people use as a joke or don't think are real or don't think are that serious or have a stigma against the type of person who has that. when I say that I have adult ADHD, folks form an opinion in their head before they know me, right? Oh, yeah. That's a, you know, there's many, many that are like that.

Many, many stigmas that go along with different disabilities. I also would note, and I mentioned this in one of my trainings, but it's a known fact that I think the, The figure is something like, it's somewhere between 9 and 95% of people who have a real or perceived disability come up with some genius level superpower on their own to counteract that. Oh, yes. You can see that when you actually talk with somebody with a disability. and the things that they can achieve and overcome. But a lot of times they're not given the chance to be able to show those.

Yeah, right. And I think that is something we should be able to showcase more. And I don't know exactly how to do that, but I'm hoping together building this community, we can figure that out together. Yeah, it's true. And share our strategies. You know, if through months, struggles I've developed some tactic that makes me the things that my disability doesn't want me to be.

Yeah. Then I can share those strategies with folks, right? I'm happy to say that after many years of struggling with my ADHD, people these days would likely describe my management style and my style of doing business as succinct, direct, and to the point. Those are things that are not common descriptors of someone with ADHD. D. Yeah. So, but I have to be, right? Because the Mishigas that's involved with floating around a maybe makes me crazy.

Right. You're like, no, we're going to fix this before it even gets started. Yes. And I think that is probably what a lot of people with different types of disabilities, we have to go in thinking whether you your mobility is limited, right? You're planning ahead for everything that you do. Okay, well, today I have to go to the store. I know what I'm going to do.

I know which way I'm going to go. I know what aisles I'm going to go down. You have it all planned out. And that is what people with disabilities, no matter what, where on the spectrum, it is you're going to have some kind of plan set out and if you yourself the person with the disability isn't able to do that and you have somebody who helps you your caregiver steps in for you to do that exact thing so whether you with the disability making those plans or your caretaker it's all the same mentality of making sure that you have that plan and it can be really really really

triggering when someone steps in and wants to do step six of the plan a little differently, right? You're like, oh, that's talk and let's dissect why you picked spot five instead of spots that, right? You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You have no idea the mental gymnastics I did to make this plan, right? Yeah, right? And I think that's another where our mental health, whether it is healthy or you know where you're struggling a little bit more it's where that mental health comes into play okay am i being am i being a little bit too uh too tight with this plan should i be able to let go a little bit like okay yeah yeah this is a bit too much or you're like uh-uh nope i am not i am not in a place where i can say yeah go ahead we can try to change it up you know and it's going to depend

on the day and what you're doing. Like, that is not going to work for me. I'm sorry. No. Yeah. It's just wrong. Let's talk about, so I gave some of my strategies, but what are some strategies or resources that can help folks with disabilities manage their mental health? So, again, I think that's going to be very different depending on where you are. but I think figuring out resources for yourself, what you have available to you directly in your community, because I know some of us need to physically go somewhere sometimes, right? Especially if you work remotely. I work and live in the same place.

So for me, if I need a resource, sometimes it's better for my mental health to, to go outside of my home for those resources. So I think that's really good. Or even if it is something, a resource that you can use within your home, making sure that you're picking an area in your home where you can give your mind and your body that comfortable feeling of, okay, I'm going to go into this resource instead of, you know, sitting at your work desk doing it. that might not be the best place for you mentally. Right.

And I think another one is, and like I said, I felt like this word was going to come up a lot, trying to get rid of that term burden and having that shame of being a burden, especially if you have any type of help that you need and not feeling ashamed. and feeling like you're a burden because you have to ask somebody for help. We have to get rid of that. We have to get rid of that shame. And like we talked about earlier, is giving people the opportunity to say yes or no. I think that right there would really help remove some of that shame and that burden.

Right. And not. You know, part of this too is understanding that that shame is simmering underneath the surface for everyone. one that has a disability. So that should color how you interact with someone with a disability so that you don't, you're mindful of triggering that. Yeah. Right.

And I think having check-ins with people is really helpful and determining what, what language you're going to use. Yeah. So for some people just asking them, do you feel safe? you are, a lot of times people with disabilities don't feel safe. And if they don't have somebody that they can really talk to, they can't express that. And I think that that is something that's really important. Also, disabilities come with a lot of pain, whether it's physical or mental pain and being able to ask people their levels of pain and their levels of comfort.

I think those are things that can really help open up conversations with somebody with a disability. And for any type of mental help, mental health help, I think people forget that if you, any doctor that you go to, whether you have to go to the emergency room, in urgent care, your primary care doctor, your urologist, any doctor, you can tell them, I am really struggling with my mental health and I need help. Yeah. And they can help get you resources.

And I think sometimes people feel like they have to do it all on their own or they don't know what doctor to talk to. Well, do I need to go to a psychologist? Do I need to go to a psychiatrist? Like, who knows? It doesn't matter. Your urologist can help you. Yeah, right. Yeah, they can point you in the right direction. They absolutely can. Yeah, they're trained for that. Yeah.

I think that's beautiful. That's wonderful. I also would point out, I always like to give a plug to the fact that the United States now has a three-digit crisis, mental health crisis phone number that you can dial just like 911 from anywhere where you could reach 911 on your phone. You can dial 9-88 for a mental health crisis and it will put you right in touch with folks who can put you right. They can set you up with the services that you need. And they're great for intervention. It does direct to the national suicide prevention hotline, but those folks are trained for a lot more than just suicide prevention. They're trained to handle any sort of crisis. Because you can be in a crisis and not be thinking about suicide, but you are still in a potentially a mental break.

A mental break doesn't mean that you are going to take your life. That is not what that means. It means that at this moment right now, I am so overwhelmed with my feelings and I don't know what to do. Right. And then that's when you reach out for that help. Yeah. And the reason you reach out for help is often it can be as easy as having another voice

to speak to. Yes. You can help you get through that, right? And especially if that person is trained or someone you can really trust their opinion, those are the folks you go to. Yes. Yeah. For sure.

Abigail, it has been absolutely wonderful having you on this podcast. We have some pretty deep, pretty wide conversations on this podcast. And I thank you for sticking with us if you've made it through this episode. you can find EXP capable by searching EXP capable on workplace. You can also find the diversity equity and inclusion team by searching DEI on workplace. And you can find this podcast. If you loved watching this and whatever format you're watching it, we have other formats available as well.

If you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or Podbay, we're also available on YouTube and you can see our beautiful faces. then I'd also encourage you to go to 1EXP and subscribe to the 1EXP Workplace page so that you can see our biweekly newsletter, which tells you all about upcoming events, including this biweekly podcast and who's coming soon on the episodes. All right. Well, thank you again, Abigail, for joining us. And thank you, everybody for listening. Yes, thank you all. On episode 12.

Can I say one more thing? Of course. If you need somebody to reach out to, I am here. That couldn't be a more clear and direct plug, right? If you need help at all with disability-related stuff, mental health-related stuff, we not only have E-SP capable and their leaders. Leaders are me, Abigail Ransom and Kimbrie Mooney. We've also got the leadership of the Healthy Mind Collective in Carly Fink Maddox and Heather

Renee Johnson. So all of us are here for you. Reach on out. All right. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you next time.