How BrandPoint Services is Changing the Conversation Around Mental Health

BrandPoint Services understands that people want to be a part of something bigger than their jobs. Sonya Bohmann, VP of Strategic Relationships for BrandPoint Services, has seen firsthand how the company’s employees have embraced that mindset.

“BrandPoint [Services’] goal was to create a space where our employees connect to things other than construction project management,” Bohmann said. “We want people to feel like they’re part of something like they’re contributing to a bigger cause, and that we’re all greater than the sum of our parts.”

Giving back is a central value for BrandPoint Services, especially among their employees, and for the last five years, BrandPoint Services has partnered with the TKD Foundation, local suicide awareness, and prevention charity. Todd K. Delaney and Steve Hearon, BrandPoint Services’ president, were best friends growing up. After Todd took his own life 17 years ago, Hearon started the TKD Foundation to memorialize his friend and offer support to those who needed it the most. When BrandPoint Services started working with the TKD Foundation, employees responded to the new partnership almost immediately.

“Unfortunately, everyone has been touched by suicide in some way,” Bohmann said. “Research has shown that creating a safe space for conversation around a person’s suicidal thoughts, offering resources…it saves lives. That’s why people have really responded to this initiative. We want to help make a difference.”

Since partnering together, BrandPoint Services has helped the TKD Foundation raise nearly $250,000 in donations. The TKD Foundation has, in turn, donated scholarships to three local area high schools, offered specialized counseling services, training to help recognize adolescents in crisis, and given multiple donations to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Ultimately, Bohmann is hoping that their efforts start really important dialogues.

“There’s this large stigma around mental health, especially in the construction industry,” Bohmann said. “There’s this attitude where you’re only as good as your last project, and that mindset creates isolation and loneliness. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention even has developed programming specifically for the construction industry. We need to be having these conversations.”

This year, BrandPoint Services is hosting a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament on September 10th, with a portion of the winnings going to the TKD Foundation. The next day, September 11, will be the 17th annual TKD Foundation golf tournament, and because of the date, the TKD Foundation will make donations to both the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to a local charity dedicated to first-responder crisis intervention. Despite the excitement around events themselves, Bohmann made it clear that neither of them is really about poker or golf.

“Our motto this year is ‘it’s not about the golf,’” Bohmann said. “It’s about changing the conversation around mental health, and rethinking what that phrase actually means. We’re encouraging everyone [at BrandPoint Services] to contribute in some way. Whether it be their time, their money, their creativity. We want people involved because we believe in what we’re contributing to.”

If you want to learn more about the TKD Foundation and how you can get involved with BrandPoint Services’ contribution, contact Sonya here.