The veracity of claims made in nominations may be audited by Modern Health. An entry found to contain false or misleading information will be disqualified. Modern Health reserves the right to cancel an entry at any time for any reason. Nominees are selected without any action on their part. They are not required to render any service, either as a condition of being nominated or of receiving an award. Recipients are chosen without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or other categories protected by law. Employees at customers of Modern Health are eligible to win awards, but will not be given any special consideration in selecting a winner. Mental Healthcare Providers that work with Modern Health are eligible to win an award, but will not be given any special consideration in selecting a winner. Employees or family members of Modern Health or of Quartz are not eligible to win an award and may not nominate anyone else for an award. Only citizens of the United States over the age of 18 are eligible to win an award.
In 2020, Modern Health conducted research and found more than half of U.S. adults experienced more stress and anxiety that year than at any other time in their lives. The combination of an unprecedented global pandemic, deep political divisions, and societal unrest has resulted in a global mental health crisis.
During these past few years, we’ve seen heroes take many forms, including HR professionals, who have stood up and prioritized the needs of employees as well as mental health care providers who in some cases have put the needs of their patients and clients before their own.
In response, Modern Health is excited to launch its inaugural Mental Health Heroes Industry Awards Program with media partner Quartz, which will honor individual HR professionals and licensed mental health care providers.
These extraordinary individuals went above and beyond in supporting mental health and deserve to be recognized for the impact they’ve made on their organizations and the communities they serve.
Vice President of People,
Built In
Kelly Keegan is a strong advocate for mental health in her everyday life and at her company Built In. From bringing the Modern Health platform into the company (making therapy and coaching accessible is a passion of hers) to modelling prioritizing your well-being by talking vulnerably about her experience with therapy with employees, Kelly’s leadership has guided the company to become a people first culture. She has implemented large scale programs like quarterly wellness days and year round half-day Fridays to allow more space for people to recharge as well as leading daily morning meditations for the staff and implementing well-being stipends to encourage a healthy lifestyle for her colleagues. While she loves launching these programs with a broad impact, the small personalized moments like being open and vulnerable with her colleagues are meaningful to her.
I am absolutely honored to be selected as one of the Modern Health Heroes! I've made it a personal mission to advocate for mental health and to destigmatize mental health support. I constantly seek out ways to support others by openly discussing my experience with therapy in front of employees and encouraging anyone to reach out to me with questions. I am most proud of fostering an environment that practices vulnerability, creates a safe space for employee voices, and brings important conversations to the forefront. Most recently, I became the Executive Sponsor to our ERG for employees with disabilities, Built Different.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Co-Founder of Moonstone Counseling
Carly Bassett is a licensed social worker who has a deep passion for supporting the mental health of underserved populations. For over a decade she has devoted her service to non-profit work with hospice care and older adults, specializing in treating clients impacted by trauma, grief and loss. Not only does Carly commit herself to her clients, but she supports young professionals in the field and has mentored over 20 social workers in her community seeking their clinical licensures. Born in the early days of the pandemic, Carly’s group practice called Moonstone Counseling has a mission to make high quality mental health care more accessible in the community and to help clinicians be able to enter the private practice sector. The practice has gone above and beyond in its work supporting older adults, first responders, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities.
I am so honored to receive this award and so appreciate the recognition mental health and providers have received in recent years. My belief is that mental health care access is needed across the lifespan, and I especially feel called to support older adults, who are historically the most isolated and underserved group. One of my proudest accomplishments has been to be a part of building a group practice during a pandemic whose mission is to create more opportunities for clinicians to enter into practice, and in turn, create exponentially greater access for clients in my community to receive the care they desperately need.
Founder & Owner of Taylor Counseling Group
Modern Health will honor the standout leaders in the HR and benefits space that spearheaded initiatives and programs that created a healthier, happier Dr. Christopher Taylor founded the Taylor Counseling Group in 2015 with the basis of making mental health care accessible and affordable to all. Since then he has grown the company to occupy 12 locations across Texas, opening the doors for underprivileged and underserved communities to access affordable therapy and more inclusive environment for employees. These individuals have built a strong company culture helping to destigmatize mental health support within their workplaces through continued dialogue, attention and action.
Licensed Psychologist and Owner of KLS Counseling & Consulting Services
Dr. Kimber Shelton has made significant contributions to the mental health field by advancing the cultural competence of mental health professionals working with minority populations. She released ‘A Handbook on Counseling African American Women’, which provides mental health professionals with stories on the lived experiences and resiliency of Black women as well as provides practical tools practitioners can immediately integrate into their work with Black women.
Pediatric Psychologist at Scottish Rite for Children
As a bilingual pediatric psychologist at Scottish Rite for Children, Dr. Arturo Corrales shows his dedication to improving mental health services within medical settings, showing great leadership through his work with minority children, youth, their families, and communities they live in. He is heavily involved in research on diversity, equity and inclusion, which focuses on people with physical disabilities, neurodivergent populations, and racial and ethnic minorities.
Clinical Psychologist at The Clinic
Dr. Nida Mirza has served as a clinical psychologist at The Clinic, where she specializes in combining evidence-based treatments (CBT, DBT, MI, ACT, MBCT) with a culturally sensitive, strength-based lens when working with women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals to form individualized case formulations and treatment plans. In addition to her role, she is a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry where she facilitates a regular space for first-year clinical psychology doctoral students of color attending the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium engaging them in discussions about microaggressions and providing affirmations in invalidating environments.
Chief People & Culture Officer at Blackbaud
Maggie Driscoll has successfully transformed the company culture at Blackbaud with a benefits program centered around well-being for the remote-first company. She’s led and supported global wellness programs such as the Blackbaud After School program to support caregivers to bridge the gap between the end of school and workday for their children as well as a vacation volunteer for vacation time.
Co founder & Chief Coaching Officer at Ama La Vida
Foram Sheth has taken her personal experience with burnout early in her career as a healthcare consultant and turned it into a company that has helped thousands of people in organizations across the US. Foram has spearheaded many initiatives at her company including mandatory mental health days, monthly staff meetings where everyone can be vulnerable, and at-cost coaching for all Ama La Vida employees.
Senior Benefits & Mobility Senior Manager at Lyft
Tanner has been a huge advocate of mental health throughout his career in employer benefits over the last 15 years. During his time at Lyft, he’s built a strong mental health system tailoring mental health support for the company’s global workforce– whether it being offering private Modern Health Circles for those impacted by global events or providing more therapy and coaching sessions for teams in need.
Chief Operating Officer at American Counseling Association
Angela Thompson is the Chief Operating Officer at the American Counseling Association where she has mastered the integration of a positive workplace culture focused on work life balance. During her time there she has worn many hats from navigating company-wide reorganizations to transitioning to remote work, all while leading with empathy and putting the mental health needs of employees first.
Manager of Global Perks and Wellness at Dropbox
Emmaline has been integral to destigmatizing mental health at Dropbox and shifting the needle when it comes to culturally-centered care. This past year she spearheaded initiatives such as hosting a wellness week on Balance and Resilience, partnering with DEI and ERG leaders at Dropbox to ensure mental health care is prioritized for the company’s global and diverse population. Emmaline has integrated Modern Health as part of her global programming and strategy, which has been instrumental in providing equitable mental health care to every Dropboxer, and has even been strategic in bringing in Modern Health to support Dropbox Employee Resource Groups for various communities.
Senior Manager of Global Benefits at Atlassian
Lydia and her team at Atlassian have been thoughtful, strategic shepherds who have built out a phenomenal mental wellness foundation at Atlassian. Atlassian has doubled in size since they partnered with Modern Health and continue to have a very hands-on caring approach for all global regions. As an example, Lydia and her team have prioritized global engagement by building out a Circles engagement calendar which serves their 8,000+ global population with topical Circles to attend every month. They’ve hosted over 50 private Circles in the last two years.
Winners will be selected by a panel of licensed mental health care professionals and HR leaders. This year’s selection panel is:
Licensed Psychologist and Founder of The Black Girl Doctor
Director of Global Benefits &
Well-being at Zendesk
Licensed Psychologist and Global Clinical DEIB Manager at Modern Health
Licensed Psychologist and Vice President of Clinical Strategy & Research at Modern Health
Fine print: The decisions of the selection panel is final. The panel reserves the right to not award a winner in any category.
In addition, the winner of each category will have a donation made to their mental health non-profit organization of choice on behalf of Modern Health.
Winners and honorees of both categories will be featured in Quartz, the program’s media partner, and will receive a digital award badge.
No, anyone can nominate someone.
Wednesday, July 27th at 5pm Eastern Daylight Time
Each category will award one winner and four honorees.
› Submissions will be judged by a panel of licensed mental health professionals and HR leaders. This year’s selection panel is:
› Submissions without any success metrics or anecdotal evidence will not be eligible for consideration.
› Submissions will be reviewed by the judging panel using a pre-approved points scoring system. The finalists will be invited to a 15-minute phone/zoom call with two of the selection panel.
Please contact us at modernhealthheroes@modernhealth.com.