Mental health challenges are more visible than ever, and yet access to proper care remains a major hurdle. Marc Lehman sits down with Dr. Trina Clayeux, CEO of Give an Hour, to discuss innovative solutions for mental health support, including peer-to-peer networks and expanding resources beyond traditional therapy. Dr. Clayeux shares how her organization tackles the mental health crisis by providing free services to veterans, their families, and communities in need. They also explore the importance of suicide protection, the evolving role of self-care, and why businesses must rethink mental health in the workplace. Tune in as they challenge outdated models and offer real-world strategies for making mental health care more accessible.
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Breaking Mental Health Barriers With Dr. Trina Clayeux
We are joined by Dr. Trina Clayeux. Thank you for joining us, Trina. I appreciate you being here. I’m going to do a quick intro on you. We’ll read through a little bit about who you are and what you’re doing, and then we’ll chat. Trina serves as the CEO of Give an Hour, which is such an awesome organization. I can’t wait to hear more about it.
Trina brings a wealth of experience at the intersection of education, employment, and mental health. Her prior roles include the COO for community-based education and affordable housing organizations, director of a national emergency Military base closure event, and executive officer for a national corporate network supporting Military spouse employment. Dr. Clayeux holds a PhD in Leadership Studies and a Master’s in Public Administration. She’s a passionate advocate for the Military and veteran communities and draws on her experience as a Military and veteran spouse to foster meaningful change. Trina, welcome.
Thank you so much.
The Mission Behind Give An Hour
Thank you for joining us. I’m so excited to talk to you. I would love to chat with you and know a little bit about Give an Hour. Tell us about your organization.
Thank you again for your interest. We are going into our twentieth year, so we’ve been around for a minute. We were founded in 2005, and it was in direct response to 9/11. Our founder saw around the corner in 2005 not a lot of talk about mental health, and certainly in the Military at that time. It wasn’t talked about or discussed a lot. It was quite detrimental to avoid that conversation in order to keep your job and employment.
What she had envisioned was having a network of mental health professionals across the country, all licensed, who came together to give an hour of free mental health care to those Military veterans and their loved ones. It was unlimited and it was barrier-free. It was like getting connected to clinical care. What I love, too, was that it was looked at not as a 2 or 3-session and it was done and it included the family. It is understanding that anytime we’re talking about mental health, we’re always talking about a family unit. That’s involved. I know it’s hard to even envision now, but it was so unique.
Fast forward to about 2021, I became the CEO after our founder moved on into the federal sphere. We also saw there are not nearly enough mental health professionals and it’s not the solution for everyone. It’s not accessible for everyone, to be quite frank. We added peer support as another option for folks, which is people with lived experience helping other people, and more self-directed psychoeducation materials and things that people can do on their own. The idea is when you come to Give an Hour, you have a choice. It’s looking at an empowering way to set out on your own mental health journey and have the tools, resources, and support to get what you need out of it.
The spirit in which you guys have been organized and grown is so awesome. You guys are pioneers in terms of what you’ve done and where you’ve been. I can’t tell you having worked 25 years in the field as a therapist how many times I’ve heard people say things like, “It’s the way we’ve always done it.” I’m sitting and going, “It’s broken. That doesn’t make any sense to me.” As a therapist, I created a second practice called You Are Heard. U Are Heard is a virtual private practice. Knowingly, I was stepping into this world that other people hadn’t been in before. When COVID hit, I became the pro. Everyone was calling me and asking, “How do you do this?”
I admire your business’s ability to find ways and get people help in a world where the demand is up here and the providers are down here. Those families that are reading or the kids that are reading that haven’t gotten help, number one, this is a way for them to, and number two, I want them to know we’re aware of this discrepancy. People like your organization and yourself are doing things to solve that issue.
You’re right. It’s a collective. We all have roles to play. Mental health therapists have a role to play. People who are more of friends, family, and allies have a role of becoming more self-educated. If that were the case, then we could take some of the burden off of mental health professionals. Our network of active mental health professionals is about 4,000 across the country.
We also pour into our mental health professionals, realizing that there aren’t a lot of places and spaces for them to get what they need. We do peer support. Everything we offer customers, we offer our mental health professionals. We do peer support. We do continued education credit with no charge to them based on what they say they want and need in terms of training.
While we hope you can give an hour, we also realize it’s bigger than that. We need to keep, maintain, and retain the people that we have. We have this whole early career of people going into therapy who are coming out who feel unorg. Where is their community? They’re getting pushed out, not negatively, but you go out there and the demand is so high. If you don’t have a community and a support system, you can get lost in that. You can experience professional burnout and all the things that go with that. We’re hoping to be part of that solution as well.
That’s fantastic. I love that it’s being addressed. When I was doing my homework, I was watching one of your videos. You said, “How do we mobilize a nation during a mental health crisis?” It’s such a great question because there’s a portion of the population in this country that doesn’t even realize we’re in a mental health crisis until they’re in the midst of it, like a parent with a kid or themselves.
Recognizing that’s where we’re at is stressing all of the systems involved, the therapists all the way down, and what can we be doing about it. Tell me more about the peer-to-peer because, for years, we’ve always done it like, “If you have a problem, you go see a therapist and talk it through.” That’s how it goes. Tell me about the peer-to-peer.
Why Peer Support Is A Powerful Solution
Communities have been using the peer model for so long. It’s so powerful. It has a marketing problem because it’s been so challenging to explain to folks that I see it on the continuum of clinical care. It’s equal and different. It is equal in the impacts of it. The effects of it are so incredibly strong and powerful, and there’s a different need depending on what you’re looking for in your life.
If you don't have a community and a support system, you can get lost. Professional burnout happens fast when there is no place to turn to for help. Share on XWe follow what’s called a trauma-informed reciprocal model, which is to know that people with lived experience are great folks to have to be able to engage with other people with lived experience. You can learn from each other and you can support each other. We spend a lot of time in training to make sure that people with lived experience understand a good setting and good boundaries for them. It can be very exhausting.
We introduce psychoeducation materials that they can bring into a group setting so people can use these tools not to just hand them out but also to talk through them. There’s a lot of sharing. Sometimes, it’s being acknowledged. We’ve worked in populations that have experienced some unique things. We’ve worked in mass violence and mass shooting events. What we heard from people was therapists are great for a particular part of that, but to be around other people who’ve had a similar experience where you don’t have to explain everything. You’re part of a unique community. That’s been so healing. They would ask for things like, “Can we talk to this author who wrote a book about trauma?” We could bring the author and you could have fireside chats. It was this continued shared experience.
We run groups that are virtual peer support groups for a variety of things. It could be anything from victims and survivors of financial fraud, Military and veterans, and people with chronic diseases. It gives you a place to find your tribe. It’s so powerful. We do have clinicians who oversee it but they’re not the center of it. It’s a peer connection.
I love it. For years, I’ve been fascinated by the concept Alcoholics Anonymous offers. Their veterans bring their newbies in and they’ve had that shared experience. By giving that, those eventual newbies become veterans. It’s so awesome. We could all learn something from that in that the older models need to be separated. I’m the first one to say as a therapist that those people are very helpful more than therapists sometimes to be able to relate to them individually.
I love hearing you say that. We do have a percentage of people who are going to therapy that maybe could benefit rather from a peer model, which would also free up some of the higher-need therapeutic interventions that aren’t accessible. Mental Health America has it out that it’s 1 therapist for every 350 people. In some places I know, like in the Phoenix metro area, it’s 1 for every 660. These are big numbers.
Do you want me to blow your mind on college campuses?
What?
It’s 1 provider nationally on average for 1,700 kids. It’s terrible.
We can’t solve it by pumping out more therapists.
Correct.
That’s going to be an option. It’s affecting all places, like the workforce. Especially in the last few years, the workforce has been struggling. What I’m always fearful of is it’s going to be that boomerang effect where it’s like, “This is too hard. It’s too much,” and we’re going to go and spring back hard. Part of it is trying to equip people to say, “We can do things at the workplace that don’t involve a ton more investment.” I know some companies that are putting so much money into mental health, which is fantastic, but they’re not feeling the needle move. We’re still missing that human connection part. It’s so much embedded in that.
That’s why peer support and therapy is so effective. It is equipping people to be able to have human conversations that are productive, have tools built into them, feel genuine and empathetic, and acknowledge how people are experiencing life without becoming too pathologized and stuck, like just talking about anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. We have to take action. We have to have movement there. I feel like that’s a part that hopefully we’re able to bring.
I love the concept. I work with a lot of college students. Part of what I’ve been doing is I have a model that brings people who are already on campus to work with students who are nonclinical and to be able to use those resources. Some are peer-to-peer with shared experiences. Some are individuals who are simply learning how to be a therapist. We don’t have enough therapists. We could sit all day long hiring more people or finding more people but eventually, we’re going to run out. You guys have jumped to the concept that we need to do it differently. Peer-to-peer is such a powerful move and such a great idea.
There are a few of the topics that we tend to go over on the show and I would love to get your point of view on some of these things. Self-care is one of those buzz phrases that are used a ton. I talk about it a lot with the students that I work with. I’m curious. When you think of self-care for people, what comes to mind?
This might be an era I’m in. I believe that it’s around tools and practices that make self-care work. The way that I feel like it’s been talked about is it tends to gravitate towards getting your nails done or moving away from people. It’s always some sort of isolating behavior. You take some time for yourself. I agree with all that. It’s always trying to find your own rhythm. For many communities, it’s leaning into people. That’s where they find self-care. It is with friends and family. I don’t know that we talk about that as much. To me, it’s an exclusion.
I’m a huge proponent of finding tools, routines, and practices that work. As a former college student, it is scheduling out the things that are important that bring you a sense of peace. I always think of movement. Some kind of movement is always good. It could be getting outside in the morning before classes start. We undervalue the importance of it until we start being in touch with our mind, our body, how we react to that, or what happens when we start grinding and we are not taking those moments.
What works for me doesn’t work for someone else. What works for them isn’t going to work for someone else. It doesn’t have to take up your whole day, but if you miss it, you miss out on the compounding effect of it. That’s why it’s the routine and the practice and prioritizing it but also realizing there’s not a magic thing.
Sometimes, we’re looking for something where we do it three times and we’re like, “I breathed and it didn’t work. That clearly is not going to work.” It’s the compounding effect. It’s the routine of it. It’s also the reinforcement of your commitment to something. There’s almost self-esteem that comes with practicing something over and over. You’ll never get good at anything if you don’t do it over and over.
I agree.
People are sometimes looking for something else or something that doesn’t require energy. It’s so much of the basics, like eating well, getting some exercise, and making sure you get some sleep and hydrating.
Those are the fundamentals.
People are like, “Those aren’t sexy. What else is there?”
Some companies put so much money into mental health but still fail to move the needle. What they are missing is human connection. Share on XYou said a lot of interesting things but one important thing stood out to me. You said leaning into being social. I find so many kids lean into these or gaming, or whatever it might be that removes them from actual contact. I’m thinking about that as you said that. Whether it be a spin class, a yoga class, a photography group, or a get-together, it doesn’t matter what they’re doing. The routine of it, like, “Every Tuesday night, we go do this,” is awesome. That’s one of the reasons why I like asking that question because everyone defines self-care a little differently. It’s also one of those things that is so important to our wellness.
I agree. I was at a training with emerging adults in the Military from ages 18 to 26. We were talking about that. That’s a sign from their baseline if they start withdrawing. They were like, “We’re always asking them to go out.” It was like, “What if you went in?” You’re trying to do another perspective. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with gaming and all that, but if it’s taking up all of your space and you don’t have a lot of margins for other people and in-person interaction, then a tool is to put a timer on it or put some limits on it.
It was then like, “Go into where they are. Grab some food or go game with them,” because what you’re trying to do is make a human connection. What we tend to do when we’re upset, stressed, and all the things is withdraw. I do the same. I have to force myself. I was like, “I’ll get it together and then I’ll lean back in on people,” instead of, “If I’m feeling this way, I should lean into people and I bet I will feel better faster.”
Understanding Rising Suicide Rates Among Youth
It’s such an interesting concept. The instinct, at least for younger people, is to not, but I like how you said that. That’s certainly a big one for young people. Another big one is the statistics for mental health are not great. Especially for our younger population, let’s say high school and college-aged, the suicide rate has climbed to number two in terms of cause of death. To give our audience a sense, a couple of years ago, it was twelve. It has clearly risen. It’s a topic nobody likes to talk about, but unfortunately, it’s right there in our faces often. I’m curious. As you listen to the stats moving in the wrong direction, what are your thoughts as to why they might be?
I’ll go back to more of what I hear because I do a lot of reading of that. Any of these statistics are always troubling when they’re trending in a direction. They’ve been encompassing more demographics of young people where we’re seeing Black and Brown young people were more protected from this and we’re seeing an uptick. There’s so much to pay attention to.
A lot of where our focus is is on suicide protection. How do you get more people with eyes and ears on colleagues, friends, and people they’re around and then notice the signs or notice when people are withdrawing, when they seem agitated, when their personality changes, and things like that, and then know how to say it? It’s not what to say but how to say and direct it. Especially in something like that where you need to ask direct questions, much of it is going against the stream of like, “What if I say something I’m not supposed to say?” It’s like, “We need you to say something and acknowledge.”
We do a lot of practicing to get people more comfortable with that conversation. There’s no script or anything, but more of some points of like, “Here’s where you lean in. Here’s a persistent push to go a little bit further. Don’t let somebody say, “I’m fine,” and then go, “Okay,” and move on. Go ahead and do some persistence.
I was mentioning working with the Military. The rates there been high for active duty as well. It has gone in that direction. We’re in this emerging adult. One of the things I find so fascinating is that years ago, I felt like this emerging adult was part of adult. That could’ve been my naivety. It was like, “You’re not a kid but you’re not an adult-adult. It feels like it’s been carved a little deeper over the last couple of years for all the reasons that we know where the needs are different but unique. This is a group that wants you to understand them and isn’t accepting to get some generalized help. They want us as people in their lives to understand what’s happening.
I meet more people who have been impacted in some form or fashion by suicide. People are alarmed. We’re alarmed by it, but it is also remembering there’s so much before. There’s so much space there before that and the things that happened over time before we even get to that conversation. I feel like empowering people from all walks of life to be able to recognize the signs, say what needs to be said, ask questions, lean in, and know how to get people help is part of the strategy. It’s not the whole part. There’s so much before that that we’re seeing in everybody’s day-to-day life. There is a lot of noise.
No doubt. Mental health first aid is something that comes to mind. It’s been taught a lot in both high school and college campuses to get people to understand what those signs are. I love that phrase, suicide protection. I haven’t heard that before. I’m going to reuse that. Hopefully, that’s okay.
It’s not mine. There’s a good distinction because it feels like we’re all part of something in protection.
We want a happy and healthy workplace with happy and healthy people. This requires effort and the right level setting of expectations. Share on XIt’s wise to say it that way. It’s an unfortunate part of the trend but it is part of the trend. We need to acknowledge that and then look at the things that we can do. There’s a lot that goes on before a person takes their own life. Honestly, as I talk to my colleagues frequently, it’s pretty rare that I talk to someone who isn’t around it. It has become more pervasive and out there.
It’s part of the landscape and us looking at what are those things we’re able to do to help protect those individuals that might be sliding down that slope. Your words were wise and important for young people to absorb. One of the big flaws that a lot of young people walk around thinking is, “Nobody will understand,” and yet there are a lot of people out there who understand.
I also feel like people want to connect with other people. You want to lean in. If I knew that somebody I didn’t even know was suffering in some way, I wouldn’t even hesitate. It would be a natural lean-in. We’re all built that way. What I do find though is the fear of saying the wrong thing, messing it up, or feeling uncomfortable. That’s part of what we’re trying to break through. This generation is going to be the one to do it. I believe they’re so primed, so leaned in, and so interested.
Our model has always been listening to what people want and need, helping them get what they want and need, and then finding out if it is working or helping. If not, we’re going to keep iterating and keep supporting. The more you listen to folks and you’re not trying to give them something they’re not asking for, they trust you for sure, but they see that you’re invested. They’re then more willing to share with you the real intricacies of how they’re thinking, how they’re relating to information, and how they’re making decisions.
A lot of what we try to do is make sure that people get to be in the space that they’re at but add to it. We talk a lot about drinking. Young people mostly don’t have a defined relationship with alcohol or drugs. They’re still figuring that out. How do you preserve where they’re at? You can add options like, “Did you ever think that you could do a two-and-done instead of full abstinence?” which isn’t always realistic to talk about.
Maybe a tool in there is mindful drinking where you have a plan for that evening before you even leave. Are you going to do two and you’re going to get an Uber, and you’re going to go home by 10:00 so you can get steady? It’s things like that. We see with young people that if you engage in the conversation and they’re contributing to it, they are more receptive to go, “I could add that. I might not do it, but now I have 4 things that I’ll do instead of 3.”
I like how you said that. I had someone ask me many years ago, “How do you work with teenagers? They don’t talk to me,” or something like that. I said, “The premise of my style is non-judgment.” Kids walk into my office and I give them the benefit of the doubt right off the bat, and they know that. They begin to trust me as a result of that and they’re able to work with me. That’s what you’re talking about. It’s the non-judgment piece.
Instead of us as adults telling them, “You have to do this,” let’s meet them where they are. It’s like, “Let’s figure this out together.” I also love what you said earlier. I do agree with you. With this generation, as ugly as the statistics are, the upside is that they are going to be way more open and have been way more open about mental health and some of the solutions that are out there and helping kids. I agree with you on that one.
Building A Culture Of Mental Health Awareness
What’s interesting about that, too, is that there is going to be convergence. All these social institutions and emerging adults are trying to do their part and realizing that it has to be a together thing. Your business is not going to take care of all your mental health needs. The sooner you come up with that, probably the happier you’re going to be. You have a responsibility to yourself to lean into some of these practices and tools, educate yourself, and do your part.
There’s the middle part, which is where we all need to grab things that are available or not available in a lot of ways. It’s that, “Now is a time that I do need a mental health professional. Now is a time when I need a peer supporter. Do I need that friend I can ugly cry with?” You have to start pulling things into your life. That becomes some of the empowerment.
When I was coming up, you went where other people pushed you. It was like, “You need a therapist,” or, “You need this.” You’re always waiting for something else to happen as you are going. There’s a triggering event that pushes you on it rather than you saying, “This is a time where I’m recognizing that I need additional help or I need some support, or I need to ask a question.”
This, to me, is some of the most exciting work, which is how you help equip emerging adults or young adults and how you help equip a business, an industry, and a workplace to bring these things together so everyone has roles and responsibilities but you’re all working towards the same thing. We want a happy, healthy workplace. We want to be happy, healthy people, hopefully, but it does require effort and a level-setting of expectations too.
You made me think in terms of work. People are asking about vision, dental, and whatnot. It’s another thing that an adult does in terms of maintenance of self. If it’s time to see a therapist, go see a therapist. If it’s time to do something else, then go do something else. Those are the choices that people make. You’re either maintaining yourself or you’re not. I like that last thought of working together to get to a common place of happiness. Let’s face it. We all want to be happy in life. Let me ask you one last question. Can I put you on the spot for a second?
Okay.
Encouraging Open Conversations About Mental Health
I created this show so that we could have open dialogue, which we’ve had here. I’m so thankful we’ve had it with you Trina. To keep the conversation moving forward, I generally ask people to nominate a friend, a coworker, or a relative, someone who you think would be great for me to interview next. Any thoughts in terms of a person who would be good to have on the show?
I do. I have a colleague that I’ve worked with, Jenn Graham, who is the CEO of Inclusivv. This is so in line. They do work around civil discourse and topics such as mental health. It is teaching people to have productive, balanced, and curious conversations in the workplace and elsewhere. It is more of a movement of civility around mental health. She’s a ball of joy, too.
Thank you for the nomination. I’ll get her information from you offline. I’ll look to get in touch with her and have her on the show at some point soon. More importantly, thank you for your time and spending it with us and giving us your perspective on mental health and wellness.
Thank you. I appreciate it. I enjoyed talking with you.
I did as well. Have a great day.
Thank you.
Take care.
Important Links
About Dr. Trina Clayeux
Dr. Trina Clayeux brings a wealth of executive experience in workforce development and mental health to her role as CEO of Give an Hour. With a proven history of visionary leadership and innovation, she has made significant contributions in enhancing access and the delivery of vital services within her field.
Her career spans various impactful roles, including tenure as Chief Operations Officer for social impact organizations, director and assistant dean for community college systems, and multistate coordination of a Department of Defense base realignment event and a national corporate network for military spouse employment. Having herself been a military and veteran spouse for many years, she possesses an innate understanding of the distinctive challenges and opportunities inherent in this community, making her a dedicated advocate for their personal and professional growth.
Dr. Clayeux holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, a Master of Public Administration from Portland State University, and multiple certifications that underscore her commitment to excellence in her field. She has received recognition from esteemed organizations such as the National Association of Development Boards for her innovative approaches and the Sailing Award for leadership excellence.
Moreover, Dr. Clayeux’s fervent dedication to knowledge sharing and catalyzing positive change has led her to present at numerous state and national conferences. Her presentations have covered topics that include optimizing employer and employee performance through person-centric design, to cultivating trauma-informed workplaces, and implementing contextual mental health practices that foster social connections and high-performance outcomes.
In her present role at Give an Hour, Dr. Clayeux continues to harness her executive acumen, profound expertise, and unyielding commitment to enhancing lives, grounded in the belief that each one of us can contribute to the betterment of mental health, for life. Most recently Dr. Clayeux is leading the way with the mental health ‘Pod Squad’, a leadership group with the Stand Together Foundation; as well as developing the Veteran Workforce Toolkit in Partnership with The University of Phoenix.
In her downtime, Trina enjoys athletic activities and completed a full Ironman, two half Ironman’s and hundreds of running events. She remains active with her husband, a retired veteran of 26 years, and two children.
Laura M. I. Saunders, Psy.D. ABPP is a staff psychologist working at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital. She is also Board Certified in Clinical Psychology. She is the Director of the new initiative, the Center for Gender Health at Hartford Healthcare In 2015, Dr. Saunders was named the Employee of the Year for Hartford Hospital.
She joined the IMG Academy lacrosse program with 15+ years of experience leading young women to success on and off the lacrosse field at the high school and collegiate levels. A native of Newburgh, NY, Shannon attended Villanova University and became a 2-time All-American and team captain. She is still second in Villanova’s all-time women’s lacrosse record book for total career points, assists and ground balls.
Jim Kuczo is the President and Co-Founder of Kevin’s Afterglow.
Emma Benoit became extremely passionate about suicide prevention after surviving a suicide attempt in 2017, the summer before her senior year of high school. At the time, she was a popular varsity cheerleader with a supportive family and lots of friends, but quietly struggled with 
Sue Homrok-Lemke is the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning in Simsbury, CT. She is also a lecturer/adjunct of Educational Leadership at Central Connecticut State University, working with aspiring administrators.
A baseball alumnus from Harvard-Westlake, the University of Oregon, and Northwestern University, he has left a legacy in each of the programs. Embodying the phrase, “Do it with passion or not at all,” he has enjoyed being an energetic spark plug on the field.
Stephanie Szostak, is a French-American actress, author, speaker, and Give an Hour ambassador. She speaks on being an outsider, overcoming failure, mental fitness, and living with authenticity. She is best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada, the ABC hit series A Million Little Things, Iron Man 3, and Dinner for Schmucks.
