For Mental Health Awareness Month, Radio Ink brought together three experts with roots in mental health and the broadcast industry for our May issue, covering the hard questions in radio. What they had to say went well beyond what fit on the page.
Bob VandePol is a crisis response specialist and former CEO of Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. Kelly Orchard is a mental health advocate, coach, and lifelong broadcaster. Dave Bethell is a broadcast consultant and coach who works with radio professionals navigating career transitions.
Below is an extended portion of that roundtable: how to recognize when stress has become something more, what to do when you feel stuck, and why asking for help is the hardest and most important thing you can do.
The full feature, focused on what’s happening to managers as instability climbs the org chart, is in the current issue of Radio Ink magazine.
When the job market feels this closed, people stop asking whether they should leave and start asking whether they even could. How does that loss of perceived choice affect someone’s mental health, even if they haven’t lost their job yet?
Kelly Orchard: When people feel like they don’t have a choice, their world gets very small. Even if nothing has changed yet, the anticipation of loss creates stress in the body. You start scanning for danger. You second-guess yourself. You pull back. But what’s really happening for a lot of people is grief — and grief isn’t just about death. It’s about loss. And in radio, that can be the loss of a role, an identity, a team, a lifestyle, a future you thought you had.
You can actually see the stages play out: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. People move through these at different speeds, and sometimes all in the same day. The problem is when you don’t recognize it as grief, you think something is wrong with you. There’s not. You’re responding to loss. But this is not permanent. Once you recognize the stage you’re in, you can move through it instead of getting stuck in it.
Bob VandePol: Perceived loss is not always the same as actual loss — but the stress response is real regardless. People and organizations experiencing fear, insecurity, and high stress benefit from leadership that can establish safety, community, calm, efficacy, and hope. Failure to succeed at these elements can accelerate a downward mental health skid characterized by their opposites: distrust, isolation, panic, powerlessness, and helpless resignation.
Dave Bethell: It can feel like a loss of control, a loss of options, and a loss of hope. But when people step back and broaden their thinking beyond the path they first imagined in radio, they often discover there has never been a more vibrant time for their skills. Somewhere out there is a company frustrated they can’t find the right person. Somewhere out there is a role waiting for the kind of experience a radio leader brings. Fear is a terrible career advisor.
There’s a difference between stress, burnout, and a mental health crisis. How do you know which one you’re in, and why does that distinction matter for how you respond?
Bob VandePol: We all experience stress every day, and that’s a good thing that can be managed with intentional strategies — adequate sleep, a nutritious diet, exercise, social support, work/life boundaries, and engagement in activities that refresh us. Burnout, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of severe emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged, unmanaged stress. It’s characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, reduced efficiency, and detachment.
When symptoms of depression, anxiety, or substance misuse significantly impair someone’s ability to function at work and home — especially if accompanied by suicidal thoughts — professional help is indicated.
Kelly Orchard: You have to identify the state you’re in. Most people don’t. They just say “I’m overwhelmed” and keep pushing. Stress is situational — it comes and goes. Burnout is more chronic. You feel depleted, detached, maybe cynical. The work that used to energize you doesn’t anymore.
Depression can look like low energy, loss of interest, difficulty concentrating, changes in sleep or appetite, feeling hopeless or stuck. Anxiety can look like racing thoughts, constant worry, physical symptoms like a tight chest or rapid heart rate, and that constant “what if” loop. The stress you’re carrying doesn’t just stay in your head — it shows up physically. I learned that the hard way. Name it. Then you can manage it.
Dave Bethell: Stress is usually short-term. Burnout is what happens when pressure becomes constant, and there’s no real recovery. People in burnout often feel exhausted even after rest. They may struggle to focus, become emotionally flat, more irritable, less productive, less hopeful. They can look functional on the outside while quietly falling apart on the inside. Left unaddressed, that can escalate into a full mental health crisis. The longer you normalize what’s happening, the harder recovery can become. But the good news is that stress, burnout, and mental health crises can all be helped. If you feel unlike yourself, seek help early. That step can change everything.
How do you counsel someone who feels genuinely stuck?
Kelly Orchard: First, I slow them down. Because when someone says “I’m stuck,” what they’re really describing is a state — usually anxiety, sometimes depression, often grief. So we identify it. What are you feeling, specifically? What are the symptoms? What’s actually happening in your body and your thinking? Then we name the fear. Once you say it out loud, it loses some of its power. And then we get practical.
There are always two tracks: cognitive and tactical. Cognitive is how you’re thinking about what just happened — are you treating this like it’s permanent, like it defines you? Tactical is what you do next. Everything you’ve done in radio is transferable. Everything. You’re not stuck. You’re in a moment that requires a new plan.
For someone in radio who is struggling but resistant to seeking help — whether out of pride, stigma, or just not knowing where to start — what would you say to them?
Bob VandePol: Although the natural tendency is to urgently focus on caring for those being led, leaders do best to intentionally activate stabilizing strategies for themselves first — because doing so makes them more effective in implementing them for their team. Put on your own oxygen mask first.
Kelly Orchard: You don’t have to wait until it’s unbearable. Most people do. They wait until something breaks — physically, emotionally, professionally. Brain science shows us that your thoughts create patterns. The more you repeat a thought, the stronger that neural pathway becomes.
If your default is fear — “I’m going to fail,” “I’m stuck,” “I’m out of options” — your brain will keep reinforcing that. Positive psychology gives you a different approach. You don’t ignore reality, but you train your brain to look for solutions, possibilities, and what’s still within your control. Start small: pay attention to what you’re thinking. Identify what you’re feeling. Talk to someone you trust. You don’t have to solve everything. Just start.
Dave Bethell: I’ve learned in life that some of the most powerful words we can say are no, I’m sorry, I love you, thank you, and help.
Asking for help is not weakness. It is strength. I say that as someone who has lost people to mental health struggles, helped people through moments of crisis, and faced my own challenges too. It’s OK to not be OK. Maybe you’ve been telling yourself you’re fine, but deep down you know you’re not.
Then this is your moment to take the first small step. You don’t have to solve your whole life in one go. You just need the next honest step. Talk to a doctor. Talk to a therapist. Talk to a trusted friend. If the first person isn’t the right fit, keep going until you find the right support. Let someone help you.
This extended roundtable is part of Radio Ink‘s Mental Health Awareness Month coverage. The full feature is available now in the May issue of Radio Ink magazine.
