Why Leaders Avoid Mental Health Conversations with Dr. Kennette Thigpen
January 22, 2026
Attention to mental health is not a workplace benefit. It is the factor that makes or breaks your workplace.
In this episode of High Octane Leadership, Donald Thompson sits down with Dr. Kennette Thigpen, Chief Clinical Officer at Workplace Options, to explore why embedding psychological safety is mission critical to your success as a leader and an organization. Listen in for her actionable frameworks to identify and mitigate psychosocial risk factors killing your team's engagement and the proven strategies that transform mental wellbeing from a program into your competitive advantage.
This conversation reminds us of the value of leadership presence, the power of human centered management and why the leaders winning today are the ones putting people first.
Attention to mental health is not a workplace benefit. It is the factor that makes or breaks your workplace. In this episode of High Octane Leadership, Donald Thompson sits down with Dr. Kennette Thigpen, Chief Clinical Officer at Workplace Options, to explore why embedding psychological safety is mission critical to your success as a leader and organization.
What You'll Learn:
- How to truly infuse mental health into your organizational culture, policies and daily practices in the context of employee engagement and retention
- The Psychosocial Risk Framework your new risk assessment tool to identify systemlevel stressors that create presenteeism, absenteeism and turnover
- Why psychological safety is your secret weapon for high performance teams
About the Guest(s)
Dr. Kennette Thigpen is the Chief Clinical Officer at Workplace Options, where she oversees clinical excellence, quality and service delivery across a global mental health and employee assistance platform. With a background in clinical social work and mental health counseling, Dr. Thigpen brings deep expertise in workplace mental wellbeing, psychological safety, and organizational culture transformation. She is the author of “Cut Yourself Some Slack: 52 Tips to Boost Your Mental Health for a Happier, Healthier, and More Hopeful You”, a practical microlearning resource born from five years of weekly mental health insights shared across social media. Over the course of her career, her work has directly impacted thousands of employees globally, demonstrating that authentic mental health advocacy at the leadership level creates a cascading effect that strengthens organizational culture, engagement and, ultimately, better business outcomes.
Resources:
- Connect with Dr. Kennette Thigpen
- Workplace Options Website
- Donald Thompson LinkedIn
High Octane Leadership is hosted by The Diversity Movement CEO and executive coach Donald Thompson and is a production of Earfluence.