Nominations are now closed!
Deadline extended to July 27!

Modern Health Heroes

Modern Health’s industry awards program
With media partner
Call for submissions is now closed.
Deadline to submit:
Wednesday, July 27th at 5pm Eastern Daylight Time
Additional Terms

Before the pandemic, there were 51.5 million U.S. adults living with mental health issues — that’s nearly one in five people.

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. 

Meet Our Winners & Finalists!

HR Professional Winner

Kelly Keegan

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.

Mental Health Care Provider Winner

Carly Bassett

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.

Finalists: 

Mental Health Care Providers

Dr. Christopher Taylor

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. 

Dr. Kimber Shelton

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. 

Dr. Arturo Corrales

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.

Dr. Nida Mirza

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.

Finalists: 

HR Professionals

Maggie Driscoll

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. 

Foram Sheth

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. 

Tanner Brunnsdale

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.

Angela Alsop Thompson

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.

HR Professionals

Honorable recognitions

Emmaline Nabors

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. 

Lydia Wright

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. 

Nominee Categories:

HR Professionals:

Modern Health will honor the standout leaders in the HR and benefits space that spearheaded initiatives and programs that created a healthier, happier 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. 

Submit now

Mental Health Care Providers:

The pandemic reminded us of the invaluable work of health care professionals, while also exposing the limitations of health care systems and the limited number of mental health care providers. This dichotomy has put enormous pressure on mental health care providers, who are also undoubtedly managing their own mental health.

Modern Health aims to recognize those mental health care providers that have gone above and beyond to help their patients and colleagues. This includes the practice-focused contributions they’ve made to impact specific communities and the general field of mental health. 

Submit now

Selection Panel

Winners will be selected by a panel of licensed mental health care professionals and HR leaders. This year’s selection panel is:

Dr. Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, Ph. D

Licensed Psychologist and Founder of The Black Girl Doctor

Evangeline Mendiola

Director of Global Benefits &
Well-being at Zendesk

Dr. Jessica Jackson, Ph. D

Licensed Psychologist and Global Clinical DEIB Manager at Modern Health

Dr. Myra Altman, Ph. D

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. 

Winners and honorees will be recognized at Modern Health’s virtual conference Elevate in September 2022.

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.

Call for submissions are now closed

Deadline to submit: Wednesday, July 27th at 5pm Eastern Daylight Time

FAQ

How do I nominate someone?

You can submit nominations here

Does it matter who nominates an individual?

No, anyone can nominate someone.

Who is eligible?

  • HR professionals who have made a positive impact on an organization’s workplace culture and the mental wellbeing of employees. 
  • Licensed mental health care providers that have made significant contributions to impact specific communities and/or the general field of mental health. 
  • No one related or affiliated with a Modern Health employee or Modern Health Heroes judging panelist can be considered. 
  • HR professionals and licensed mental health care providers must be based in the U.S.

When is the deadline?

Wednesday, July 27th at 5pm Eastern Daylight Time

How many winners will be selected?

Each category will award one winner and four honorees.

What is the methodology for determining the winners and honorees?

› Submissions will be judged by a panel of licensed mental health professionals and HR leaders. This year’s selection panel is: 

  • Dr. Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, Ph. D., Licensed Psychologist and Founder of The Black Girl Doctor
  • Evangeline Mendiola, Director of Global Benefits & Well-being at Zendesk
  • Dr. Myra Altman, Ph. D., Licensed Psychologist and Vice President of Clinical Strategy & Research at Modern Health
  • Dr. Jessica Jackson, Ph. D., Licensed Psychologist and Global Clinical  DEIB Manager  at Modern Health

› 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.  

How will the winners and honorees be notified and recognized?

  • Winners and nominees will be notified via email before they are officially announced at Modern Health’s virtual conference, Elevate, September 2022.
  • In addition, the winner of each category will have $500 donated 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, and will receive a digital award badge.

Who can I contact with additional questions?