Bernie Wong (he/him): Hello everyone, Hello everyone, I'm Bernie, one of Mind Share Partners' founding team members, and current Principal and Senior Manager of Insights. Like many of us in the mental health space, it comes from a personal connection to the issue. I've maintained a lifelong and intimate relationship with chronic depression. And for much of my early life, I felt lonely, isolated, hopeless, painfully sad. And a lot of those very early memories of this journey were the hardest parts. There was a lot going on with my family, and I remember thinking so often, just "This isn't right." But come today, this message still rings true in many ways, but this time, it's in my advocacy work at Mind Share, and really getting to look at the state of mental health among our workforce, particularly among the historically marginalized, the ways employers do or don't support their people in meaningful ways, and grappling with really hard questions around work, money, power, and inequity that produce a lot of suffering we see in the world today. Now, despite its hardships, I do credit a lot of my experiences with depression to growing a capacity for discernment, and healthy balance, and energy management. And over the years, I've derived a lot of purpose in translating this personal experience outward, in what started with learning to advocate for myself to now advocating for many others on a human level. So with that, I appreciate you taking the time to listen to at least a little bit of my story. Each and every one of us has a personal connection to the issue of mental health as a human issue. And we all have our own ways to be allies and advocates to further this movement. Thank you.
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