Your team is your most important asset.
Prioritizing their mental health & wellbeing isn’t necessarily intuitive; especially when our current systems often do not foster the culture you & your team so desperately need.
You know that among the numerous, systemic issues the coronavirus pandemic confirmed & highlighted for all of us was, our need to destigmatize the discussion around mental health & wellbeing. You are also well aware that Startup Founders are significantly more likely to experience mental health concerns & burnout than the general public.
How can you be expected to prioritize the mental health & wellbeing of your team when nobody ever really taught you how to do this?
THE HEALTHIEST & MOST EFFECTIVE TEAMS HAVE THE HEALTHIEST & MOST EFFECTIVE LEADERS. IT STARTS WITH YOU LEARNING THE SKILLS.
Skills that prioritize your own mental health & wellbeing, so that you can walk your talk & lead by example.
Skills that foster collective care & collective accountability, so that nobody is engaging in self-care strategies as a last resort.
Skills that cultivate psychological safety & intentional, work-life integration, so that you can eliminate the confusion caused by the concept of work-life balance.
Skills that facilitate sustainability, so that you can do more than solely, prevent burnout.
The good news? It’s easier than you think to start learning & implementing these skills.
It just takes having an open mind and some practice.
Meet the Co-Founders, Lisa & Marisa Birnbaum, partners in business & in life.
We’ve worked alongside Leaders & their Direct Reports -- in the contexts of therapy, coaching, & consulting -- for the past two decades. We launched Strengths Squared in 2021, as a direct response to the lack of support & skills being given specifically, to Startup Founders & their Teams.
What started as research on what Direct Reports want most from their Leaders led to an overarching theme about our workplaces: mental health & wellbeing needed to be skillfully & sustainably, prioritized. We utilized this research with Direct Reports & their Leaders -- along with our own lived experiences as both Direct Reports & Leaders -- to equip them with skills to foster sustainable, mentally healthy work cultures of collective care, collective accountability, & intentional work-life integration.
During this work, we were particularly drawn to the experiences of Startup Founders & their Teams. We quickly learned -- and experienced first hand -- how Startup Founders & their Teams are significantly more likely to experience mental health concerns & burnout than the general public. We also saw how stigmatized these concerns were among this group & the accompanying feelings of shame that were ever present. We were especially surprised (& admittedly, quite disheartened) when the stigmatization & accompanying feelings of shame were confirmed, even by Startup Founders & their Teams working directly within the Tech-Mental Health space.
We want you to know we see you. We hear you.
You are very much not alone.
Let’s work to destigmatize this. Let us support you & equip you with the skills you need.
Let’s build better, together.
Marisa Birnbaum, ACC
Credential:
Associate Certified Coach (ACC) | International Coaching Federation (ICF)
Specialized Training:
Comprehensive Training in Life & Leadership Coaching | Academy of Creative Coaching (ACC) | Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP)
Additional training in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT); Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT); Positive Psychology; & Skills-Based Coaching
Education:
Bachelor of Arts (BA) | Sociology, Women’s Studies Concentration | Binghamton University
Lisa Birnbaum, LCSW
License:
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) | #086008 | New York State Education Department (NYSED)
Specialized Training:
Extensive Training in Introductory, Essentials, Comprehensive, & Advanced (Level 4) Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) & Adaptations | Behavioral Tech | Linehan Institute Training Program
Extensive Training in Essentials, Core, & Specialty (Level 3) Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) | Beck Institute for CBT | Beck Institute Training Program
Additional training in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT); Critical Race Theory; Gottman Method Couples Therapy; Harm Reduction; Liberation Health; Motivational Interviewing; Narrative Therapy; Positive Psychology; Seeking Safety Trauma-Informed Interventions; Skills-Based Coaching; Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT); Systems Theory; & other evidence-based, research-supported psychological treatments recognized by the American Psychological Association, Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12)
Education:
Master of Social Work (MSW) | Clinical Social Work, Scholarship, & Social Justice in Action | Simmons University
Bachelor of Arts (BA) | Psychology | Binghamton University
Shared Statement
We often hold a dialectical worldview. We recognize that we humans are complicated, imperfect beings & that seemingly opposite perspectives can -- & often, do -- simultaneously exist. We are committed to looking for the kernel of truth to another’s perspective.
That said, within systems that devalue & dehumanize people, there is no middle path we are willing to support. We are committed to dismantling these oppressive systems, & will opt to support a person’s basic human rights above all else.
We work hard to approach our business, Strengths Squared, from a true place of Wise Mind. This means we honor our Emotion Mind, we honor our Rational Mind, & we synthesize the two to reach our own place of Wise Mind.
We deeply value kindness. We also deeply value clarity. We strongly believe that being clear is an act of kindness. Similarly, we also believe that being unclear is unkind.