03: David Sokol – Optimizing Your Mental Health & Relationships

David Sokol has been in the management workforce for over 20 years. In between a corporate IT management career in the insurance and finance sector and Regional management experience in the community services sector David spent 10 years as a counsellor, both in Sydney and in the Central West of NSW. In his personal life David has lived a life that mirrors so many others in the community - two marriages, two daughters, and most recently his first grandchild. But David's interest in working in areas of grief came from his own experiences - he is the first generation of parents who came to Australia as a result of the Holocaust when most of his extended family were exterminated, he has been retrenched a few times in his work life, and his second wife died of cancer when she was aged 34. But David was so busy working and being a father he never realised how all of these life experiences and circumstances were adding up. Then, in 2013, after his first trip to Israel, which turned out to be a very emotional trip, things began to fall apart for him. Now, after 8 months on antidepressant medication he can talk about his recent experiences and how many men he has met along the way who were also seeing the life slide downwards - some of whom are still not at the point of going to the doctor. David and I dive deep into a profound conversation about the stigma around mental health, especially amongst men, and how this manifests in the workplace in areas as seemingly diverse as business, leadership and personal relationships.