For almost 40 years, Climb has focused on the intersection of employment and mental health because this psychologically informed approach leads to transformational outcomes. Climb’s Mental Health Providers work every day with moms to develop powerful tools for on-the-job success.

How do you help Climb participants make the connection between mental health and employment success?

Mental health is a priority and the reason why Climb has incredible outcomes, so we’re naming it from day one and really demystifying this support. Right away, we say, “We’re not only here to support you in building job skills, we’re also here to support the whole you. That involves focusing on your mental health so you can show up effectively at work every day while also being a single parent, maintaining a home, and juggling kids’ schedules and work obligations.”

 

“We talk to moms every day who are attending to their mental well-being with tools they learned at Climb. It really makes all the difference for their positive long-term employment success.”

What mental skill-building happens during the Climb program?

We focus a lot on strengthening executive functioning skills, including planning and decision-making, organization, time management, and emotional regulation. These are skills we all need to succeed in our jobs, but they often get disrupted by the trauma and stress poverty can have on brain functioning. There’s a lot of healing that happens in the brain when these skills are built up.

Climb’s cohort model of working together in a group setting also fosters mental well-being and growth. Together, moms can practice having conflict, giving and receiving feedback, and building healthy relationships. We’re working in real time with issues that unfold so we can discuss how they’ve handled situations in the past and how to approach things differently in the future.

Do you see Climb graduates using these new tools?

Yes! We have Climb graduates tell us that things at work upset them, but they are able to regroup and have a really healthy and productive conversation co-workers. We talk to moms every day who are attending to their mental well-being with tools they learned at Climb. It really makes all the difference for their positive long-term employment success.