Vicki DeBlasi

Vicki DeBlasi is a mental health advocate and founder of State of Us, a network dedicated to providing accessible mental health support for professionals across marketing, communications and PR. Living with an eating disorder herself, she combines personal insight with evidence-based research, including a collaboration with Harvard and CCgroup that revealed one in two employees experienced burnout in the last year. As a qualified Mental Health First Aider since 2019, Vicki equips leaders and teams with practical strategies to prioritise wellbeing, embrace vulnerability, and create workplace cultures where people feel safe seeking support without stigma or fear.

When Vicki DeBlasi completed her Mental Health First Aid training in 2019, she had no idea how urgently the world would need that expertise. The pandemic exposed a mental health crisis across workplaces, with burnout, isolation and anxiety becoming the norm rather than the exception. Drawing on her own lived experience of managing an eating disorder and years of advocacy work, Vicki recognised that whilst conversations about mental health were becoming more open, meaningful support structures remained frustratingly out of reach for professionals who needed them most. Her response was to create State of Us, a dedicated network designed to bridge that gap and provide accessible mental health support across the marketing, communications and PR industries.

Vicki's credibility stems from a powerful combination of personal insight and rigorous evidence. Research she conducted in collaboration with Harvard and CCgroup revealed that one in two employees have experienced burnout in the last 12 months, a statistic that underscores the scale of the challenge facing organisations today. State of Us directly addresses one of the most significant barriers to seeking help: the discomfort many employees feel when approaching their own organisations during times of struggle. The network connects professionals with trained Mental Health First Aiders who understand the unique pressures of their industries and can offer informed, compassionate guidance without judgement. Vicki's approach is rooted in lived reality, not theory, and her willingness to speak openly about her own mental health journey lends authenticity and trust to everything she does.

As a speaker, Vicki helps audiences move beyond awareness and into action. She equips leaders with the tools to model vulnerability, demonstrating that openness about mental health is not a weakness but a strategic strength that builds trust and resilience within teams. Her sessions explore practical ways to prioritise wellbeing in high-pressure environments, dismantle stigma, and foster workplace cultures where people feel genuinely safe seeking support. Audiences leave with a clearer understanding of how to recognise burnout, respond effectively, and create sustainable change that protects both individual wellbeing and organisational performance. Vicki's message is clear: mental health support should not be an afterthought or a luxury, but an essential foundation for thriving teams and successful businesses.