Part 2: Diandra on Workplace Mental Health, FMLA, and Building a More Human Workplace

This conversation concludes our two-part Season 19 opener with Diandra Ford-Wing. In Part 2, Diandra joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to ask one hell of an important question: why are employees expected to navigate grief, burnout, mental health leave, and returning to work almost entirely alone? Together, they imagine a more human workplace built on emotional intelligence, practical support, psychological safety, and leaders who actually know how to lead people. Trigger Notice + 988 Crisis Reminder This episode includes references to suicide, depression, mental health crises, workplace trauma, and medical leave. Please listen with care. If you or someone you know is struggling or experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 in the United States and Canada to connect with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Help is available, and asking for it is an act of strength. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/ Global crisis resources: https://findahelpline.com/ Awards & Downloads Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries. Feedback We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here: https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a Mental Health Quote “Losing people won’t kill you. It can teach you how deeply you were capable of loving them.” — Inspired by Diandra Ford-Wing Episode Description What happens when an employee is too mentally unwell to work—but also too overwhelmed to navigate the system that is supposed to help them? In Part 2 of our Season 19 opener, Diandra Ford-Wing, G-Rex, and Dirty Skittles take an unfiltered look at workplace mental health, FMLA, toxic leadership, grief literacy, and the emotional cost of being treated like a replaceable number. Diandra shares how FMLA gave her the time she needed to recover after a suicide attempt, while Dirty Skittles describes the exhausting hoops she faced when severe burnout left her unable to form sentences or manage complicated paperwork. Their experiences reveal a brutal contradiction: people often need the most administrative help at the exact moment they are least capable of advocating for themselves. The conversation also examines what happens when employees return from leave. Who prepares the manager? How should coworkers respond? Why are struggling employees expected to disclose private medical details just to satisfy someone else’s curiosity? Together, the group imagines better systems: trained leave coordinators, crisis support that exists outside traditional HR, emotional intelligence standards for managers, return-to-work plans, ongoing leadership education, and workplaces where asking for help feels safe. Diandra also reflects on the advice she would give her 16-year-old self, the hardest lesson she has learned through loss, and the tattoo she shares with her twin sister commemorating the 16,282 days their mother was alive. This episode is a call for workplaces to stop treating mental health as a personal inconvenience. Employees are human beings—not machines, metrics, or cogs in somebody else’s wheel. Keywords: Diandra Ford-Wing, workplace mental health, FMLA mental health, burnout leave, grief in the workplace, toxic workplace recovery, emotional intelligence, employee wellbeing, return to work, mental health accommodations, leadership training, workplace crisis support, psychological safety, bereavement reform, human-centered leadership Meet Our Guest — Diandra Ford-Wing Diandra Ford-Wing is an author, speaker, Sales Director, and workplace grief advocate committed to creating conversations about loss, burnout, resilience, and humanity at work. Through her speaking platform and her debut novel, Red Bird, she uses personal experience and storytelling to help others feel less alone while encouraging organizations to respond to grief and mental health crises with greater compassion. Website: http://booksbydiandra.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diandrafordwing LinkedIn: <a h