What If Supporting Employees Meant Starting With Their Kids?
A VP at a Toronto tech firm missed five meetings in two weeks.
Not because he didn’t care.
His 15-year-old daughter hadn’t left her room in three days. She was threatening to harm herself, or worse.
He wished everyone knew how much divorce impacted kids. Especially teens.
No one saw the stress hidden behind the forced smile. The anxiety attack every time his phone buzzed. The internal alarms are constantly sounding.
He was well paid, but felt he wasn’t holding up his end of the deal. He was struggling to keep his eye on work, while his thoughts were constantly focused on his daughter.
He was leading teams by day and Googling “teen depression signs” by night.
HR offered him two weeks off.
What he really needed was someone who could reach her.
Imagine that almost one in four of your employees may live this reality. Sometimes the tension gets pulled tight. Then it eases for a bit. Only to have the pressure ratcheted up again.
As a business owner, you’re thinking, ‘How much productivity are we losing?’
No one is immune to this happening. Not John in shipping, Pam in accounting, and Brian, who runs sales and marketing. Our CEO, James, has a 14-year-old granddaughter; he’s worried sick about her frequent stays in rehab.
Everyone is living their version of hell, usually in isolation. There’s often shame associated with it. People judge.
Imagine if employees shared what they were going through, or better yet, they had resources to help deal with this?
We are expected to show up to work and be highly productive. They manage a house by themselves, with two young kids, living paycheque to paycheque. Occasionally, they have to make ends meet by asking friends for money for groceries. How sustainable is that? Financially or emotionally? Throw a mental challenge into the mix? Life can be very cruel sometimes.
Not your problem? Au contraire, mon frère.
This isn’t rare. It’s everywhere.
And it’s quietly stealing your best people’s energy, focus, and well-being. And it’s happening one worried parent or employee at a time.
How do I know this? I lost my 14-year-old daughter Maddie to suicide in 2015. This was my world every day for almost ten years following her death. The pain is still there. I just carry it a little differently now.
I’ve had more than two thousand parents share that this is their reality as well. Those are the ones who faced the shame and stigma, but there are many, many more who shudder in silence.
The Hidden Crisis in the Workplace
Employees don’t stop being parents when they show up at work.
And for nearly 1 in 4 of them, their child’s mental health is a constant source of anxiety. That worry doesn’t go away at the office door.
📊 According to recent data:
22% of parents report concerns about their child’s mental health
33% report high stress levels, and 48% feel overwhelmed most days
Kids with mental health challenges have twice the rate of problematic behaviours, which deeply impacts the home and the workplace
This isn’t just a parenting issue. It’s a performance issue. A culture issue. A leadership issue.
And if you're leading a company, it's your issue too.
Why Mentorship Is the Missing Link
What if you offered your team a benefit that didn’t just support them, but supported the people they love most?
Imagine a structured mentorship program for their teens. One designed to:
Build emotional confidence in adolescents
Offer support before therapy is needed, or alongside it
Give parents peace of mind so they can focus at work
Prevent mental health crises that are much harder (and costlier) to treat later
It’s proactive. It’s personal. And it’s far more affordable than you think.
The downstream costs of untreated mental health in teens, including hospitalizations, lost productivity, and long-term therapy, are staggering. However, with mentorship, you have a chance to avoid those costs entirely. But it means getting ahead of the problem, and identifying when things are starting to go sideways versus, going completely off the rails.
The ROI of Compassion
This is more than a nice-to-have. It’s a smart business move.
Here’s what companies gain when they support families early:
Lower absenteeism
Higher retention (especially for working parents)
Increased morale and loyalty
Stronger culture built on real care
Fewer emergencies to manage later
Mentorship can save lives and elevate them.
You already invest in mental health benefits, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), and resilience training for your staff. But what if the most powerful move was investing in their kids?
Call to Action
If you knew that 1 in 4 of your employees is potentially carrying this quiet burden…
If you knew that the ripple effect is costing your culture, your people, and your bottom line…
Wouldn’t you want to do something about it?
Let’s talk about how a teen mentorship program could change everything for your people and their families.
Because when you support the child, you empower the parent.
And when you do that, everybody wins.
If you’re an HR professional or a leader of people, and you think this could be of benefit to your company. Please fill in your information, and we’ll show you we can make your people happy and more productive. And that’s great for you!
Whether this is something for your executive team, management team or benefit throughout your organization, we can customize it for your company
Key Statistics and Sources
Parental Concerns About Children's Mental Health A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 76% of parents are somewhat or seriously concerned about their child struggling with anxiety and depression.
Parental Stress Levels According to a 2023 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory, 33% of parents reported high levels of stress in the past month, compared to 20% of other adults. Additionally, 48% of parents said that most days their stress is entirely overwhelming.
Impact of Children's Mental Health on Behaviour A study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 21.8% of U.S. children aged 3 to 17 have one or more common mental, emotional, and behavioural health conditions. Children with mental health conditions are more likely to experience social and relational health risks.
Interconnection Between Parent and Child Mental Health Research published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing indicates that children of parents with mental health issues are at a higher risk of developing psychological disorders themselves.
