How CEOs Can Use Therapy and Coaching to Help Their Teams Thrive

Despite their career success, high-functioning individuals, including chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs), often experience mental health problems. From participating on a board of directors to managing a sales team, working in a high-pressure career can make it challenging to maintain a healthy work-life balance and practice self-care.

If you’re struggling to manage your mental health, you’re not alone. In a recent study, psychologist Michael Freeman found that 49% of entrepreneurs in the United States experienced a mental health condition within the last year. Depression was the most commonly reported mental health condition, with 30% of participants reporting diagnoses (compared to 7% of the U.S. general population).

For high-level executives and their teams, psychotherapy can help alleviate the stress that comes with a high-pressure job. With the help of counseling and psychotherapy, CEOs and CFOs can boost productivity, improve interpersonal communication skills, and set a better example for their team.

How can psychotherapy help CEOs and their teams?

In corporate America, CEOs, CFOs, and other top executives often spend their careers ignoring their mental health to help their companies grow. Psychotherapy and counseling can help chief executives navigate their mental health problems and learn different ways to push through them. With mental health treatment, chief executives can learn how to overcome burnout, balance their professional life and home life, and improve their business and personal relationships.

Whether you’re a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, or chief operating officer, openly expressing your thoughts and behaviors to a licensed therapist can open the door for healing and positive change. By developing a framework for positive mental health, executives can learn how to build better workplace relationships, leading to improved teamwork, collaboration, and employee morale. In turn, this helps boost workplace productivity, retain employees, and build trust throughout your organization.

Psychotherapy effectively treats a wide range of mental health problems, from relationship problems to mental health conditions like bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If you’re experiencing psychological symptoms that interfere with your ability to function in daily life, your psychologist may recommend a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Social workers, counselors, and psychologists can provide referrals to a psychiatrist, who can help you determine whether medication is right for you.

Types of Therapy for Chief Executives

Some different types of therapy that can benefit chief executives include:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) uses a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy to help executives transform negative thoughts and behaviors into more positive ones. During therapy sessions, you’ll work with a psychotherapist to identify unhealthy patterns of thought and how they can cause self-destructive beliefs and behaviors.
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) helps prospective clients improve their interpersonal skills, regulate emotions, and develop healthy strategies to cope with challenging situations. During the therapy process, you’ll work with a licensed therapist to accept uncomfortable thoughts and feelings and develop a gradual plan toward recovery.
• Psychodynamic therapy: With roots in psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy explores how specific challenges may have originated in past experiences. During the therapeutic process, your psychotherapist may use free association and open-ended questions to help you explore your thoughts and feelings and form a deeper therapeutic relationship.
• Humanistic therapy: Humanistic therapy encourages executive officers to practice free will and personal agency to make decisions and promotes the concept of taking responsibility for their actions. Existential therapy, a type of humanistic therapy, focuses on self-determination to help executive officers recognize their strengths and capabilities.

Many psychotherapists also offer different treatment modalities, including family therapy, couples counseling, and group therapy sessions. For example, if you’re experiencing relationship problems at home, working with a family therapist or couples counselor can help you improve your communication skills with family members. With the help of family therapy, you’ll be able to improve your mental health and learn valuable interpersonal skills for the workplace.

How To Find the Right Therapist

Regardless of your job title, psychotherapy is hard work. However, finding the right therapist can boost your success in treatment and help you feel more comfortable working through difficult emotions.

The best therapist should provide empathy, emotional support, and a safe space to explore your thoughts and feelings. During your first session, your therapist should also be willing to answer any questions you have about health insurance and insurance coverage, the length of your treatment, and the therapeutic process.

If you’re searching for a more discrete option, more and more psychologists, social workers, and counselors offer online therapy and online counseling services, providing a convenient alternative to traditional face-to-face therapy sessions. Both live video online therapy sessions and in-person therapy sessions are confidential, meaning your psychotherapist cannot share the contents of your therapy sessions under psychotherapist-patient privilege.

To find a therapist, reach out to a mental health professional through the Therapy Group of NYC. We know that starting psychotherapy can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re already struggling to manage your mental health. Our licensed therapists provide personalized, data-driven treatment to help you manage your mental health and lead your team confidently.