Supporting Mental Health as a PD Professional

Posted on Dec. 11, 2025

Author: Ben Franklin, PDC Board Member & T&I Committee Co-Chair

The end of the year can be hectic, with the variety of holidays, annual reviews, billing, collection efforts, and much more! As a result, this season can be particularly taxing on our mental health. This made me think about what we can do in our professional development roles to develop a team that accepts difference, supports mental health, and cultivates a sense of psychological safety?

  1. Modeling Healthy Behaviors

It can be hard to “walk the walk,” but being seen to value mental health can help reduce the stigma associated with acknowledging mental health issues and asking for support. What does this look like? It could mean participating in firm training on mental health, openly discussing the importance of mental health, taking breaks during stressful periods, highlighting employee resources, and making use of PTO to recharge.

2. Managing Work-Related Stressors

Getting to know your team members’ stressors will help you identify which tasks will stimulate and which cause cold sweats. Once you have the data, it does not mean you should avoid assigning stressful tasks. Rather, you can plan a workflow that is sometimes challenging but is less likely to lead to burnout. For example, if a team-member finds communicating with partners stressful, you can be thoughtful about how and when you assign tasks that involve heavy partner contact (e.g., divide the task across the team, spread out the timeline, only assign one such task at a time, etc.)

3. Supportive Supervision

Many of us fear the unknown, so providing clear goals and consistent feedback can help reduce team members’ stress. In addition, creating workflows that allow your team to take time off, engage in firm social events, and complete their tasks during working hours, may reduce stress while also providing useful opportunities for rest and social connection.

4. Facilitate access to organizational benefits / resources

Most PD professionals are not HR benefits experts. We are, however, often very good communicators! We can help routinely promote firm benefits and when we see that a co-worker may benefit, lean into that sometimes-awkward conversation and find out what might be most helpful in that moment.

No professional development message would be complete without additional resources! Check out these options to learn more: