Managing Mental Health: A Guide to Building Resilience and Finding Balance in Community Associations is available in both print and digital formats. You are viewing the print version. Purchase the digital book here. 

Mental health is a taboo topic no more. 

In fact, there may be no more important topic for community association board members, managers, and business partners to talk about. 

Volunteering and working in community associations can bring stress and hostility to your life. Through the journeys, challenges, successes, and advice shared by a vast array of experts in the field and through the carefully selected prompts that encourage you to check in with yourself, your colleagues, and your clients, Managing Mental Health will help readers overcome the stress and hostility and find their wellness place.  

This groundbreaking book provides stories to which you can relate, sparks that motivate, and resources that put you on a path to a balanced, productive, and successful journey in community associations. 

You are not alone in your struggles. It is OK to not be OK. But you also need to know where to find support.

Contents 

Acknowledgments

Foreword By Bill Overton, PCAM

Preface By Daniel Brannigan 

Introduction: Improving Mental Health in the Workforce By Bill Overton, PCAM 

PART I: REFLECTIONS 

Chapter 1: Rainbows & Butterflies

By Melissa Ramsey, CMCA, AMS, LSM, PCAM

>>Action 1: Developing a Mantra

Chapter 2: Permission to Pivot 

By Kelly Zibell, AMS, PCAM

>>Action 2: Understanding Your Purpose and Motivations

Chapter 3: Knowing Your Value

By Jayme L. Fakehany, CMCA, AMS

>>Action 3: Take Time to Reflect

Chapter 4: Toxic Trauma to Triumph

By Kristen Ledbetter, CMCA, AMS, PCAM

>>Action 4: Offering Support

Chapter 5: A Cousin’s Inspiration

By Dawn M. Bauman, CAE

>>Action 5: Coach, Mentor, Volunteer

Chapter 6: My Lost Year

By Andrew S. Fortin. Esq.

>>Action 6: Manage Your Stress

Chapter 7: Reducing the Stigma

By Sandra L. Gottlieb, Esq. 

>>Action 7: Focus on Self-Awareness

>>Action 7: Focus on Self-Regulation

Chapter 8: Recognizing and Managing Depression

By Bill Overton, PCAM

>>Action 8: Analyzing Your Day

PART II: ADVICE

Chapter 9: Overcoming Anxiety

By Leslie Alvarez, CMCA, AMS, LSM, PCAM

>>Action 9: Burnout and Self-Care

Chapter 10: Mindfulness, Resilience, and Mental Health

By Alexis G. Firehawk, Esq.

>>Action 10: Find Your Moments of Pleasure

Chapter 11: I’m Chasing Happiness, and It Is Burning Me Out!

By David Graf, Esq.

>>Action 11: Finding Meaning

Chapter 12: Managing Depression in the Workplace

By Monica Hollins, CMCA

>>Action 12: Reflect on Strengths

Chapter 13: How I Found Meaning and More Satisfaction in My Work

By Kelly G. Richardson, Esq.

>>Action 13: Focus on Motivation

Chapter 14: A Message to Your Best Friend

By Debra A. Warren, CMCA, PCAM

>>Action 14: Setting Boundaries

Chapter 15: 10 Everyday Superpowers

By Bill Overton, PCAM

>>Action 15: Committing to Wellness

PART III: LEADERSHIP 

Chapter 16: Learning to Be Mindful, Not Mind-Full

By Damian Jenkins

>>Action 16: Provide Recognition and Advice

Chapter 17: How Executives Can Lead on Mental Health

By Greg Smith, CMCA, AMS, PCAM

>>Action 17: Understanding Stressors

Chapter 18: Connecting, Curating, and Uplifting

By Connie King

>>Action 18: Focus on Empathy

Chapter 19: Wellness Equals Winning

By Chelle O’Keefe

>>Action 19: Be Active 

Chapter 20: Attorney Wellness:  Connecting Our Practice, Our Communities, and Ourselves

By Alexis Firehawk, Esq., David Graf, Esq., and Laurie S. Poole, Esq.

>>Action 20: Focus on Social Skills

Chapter 21: Brain Waves:  The Science Behind Attorney Wellness and Mindfulness Practices

By Dr. Kolette Butler and Alexis G. Firehawk, Esq.

>>Action 21: Understanding Emotional Intelligence

Mental Health Resources

CAI Resources 

Appendix: Community Association Civility Pledge

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