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Secrecy around mental health at work

Secrecy around mental health at work
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Previously I talked about the idea that mental health is bad for your career, in fact busting the myth wide open. But along with this commonplace myth come a load of other issues. Enter: secrecy around mental health at work.

While the topic is gaining momentum, we’re still not in a place where people openly volunteer information about their mental health in the workplace. Thanks to COVID19 I’ve seen the media and employers paying far more attention to mental health, which means companies are looking for ways to address the issue and bring mental wellbeing to the forefront of their agenda. I couldn’t be more excited!

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Mental health is bad for your career

As always, one of the reasons I write these posts and maintain this blog is to raise awareness around mental health so there are fewer myths and we’re able to talk about it more openly.

One of the main challenges with mental health and people feeling comfortable speaking up is that there is still a lot of stigma around it. We’ve definitely made progress but we’re not yet in a place where you can openly say to your employer “I suffer from depression” without being afraid of getting fired.

So today I want to address this common myth that mental health is bad for your career and break it down. Why do we believe this, what are the fears and most importantly, how do we overcome it?

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Job hunting and mental health

Job hunting and mental health

Long read

The past few months I wrote a few posts revolving around the corona crisis, but there’s one very important topic I haven’t covered yet – you guessed it – job hunting.

This topic is close to my heart as I’ve been unemployed, and have experience with the ups and downs that come with it. Now due to coronavirus things are different: many people have lost their jobs unexpectedly, perhaps overnight or without much warning. This creates difficult conditions in which to be searching for a new job, not to mention the mental health struggles that come with it.

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The emotional damage of working in a toxic environment

Photo by Nathan Cowley from Pexels

It’s been a while since I wrote a blog post on the topic of mental health at work. Understandably a lot of other things have happened the past few months, but this remains my core area of interest and where I want to break down barriers. I decided it was time I got back to it, and was listening to Esther Perel’s podcast “How’s work” when this topic came to mind.

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Mental health is everyone’s problem

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Wow! A lot has happened in the past few weeks and months. In fact, 2020 has thrown quite a lot at us when it comes to mental health. I’m not the type to write off the year because of that, but I have to acknowledge that it’s come with its challenges and that many people are struggling.

First corona virus hit us hard, and in the past few weeks there have been a lot of uprisings around the world against racism and social injustice after the death of George Floyd. It’s clear to me that these issues and many more are affecting our mental health, they are weighing heavily on us and creating stress. The fact is this isn’t new, many people and especially minorities have borne the burden of their status for decades or even centuries. But it seems that finally this burden is coming to light and prompting new conversations. I can only hope these will also provoke lasting change.

In this context, it felt appropriate to highlight how mental health concerns each and every one of us: mental health is for everyone.

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Mental health myth busting

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

This year I’ve taken a lot more to video for several reasons. Partly, I am more comfortable with it now and it’s an easier format to share as if I were talking to you. Partly because I finally have video editing software that means I can make half decent videos. 😅

Regardless, I was inspired to start a myth busting series around mental health. In these videos I cover the following topics:

  1. Therapy is only for crazy people
  2. Vulnerability is weakness
  3. Just “turn off” your negative emotions
  4. Don’t be so emotional, it’s not professional
  5. Feeling depressed? Just throw yourself into work
  6. Mental health is bad for your career
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The road to recovery – my mental health journey

Emma Brooks
Emma Brooks

If you’ve followed me over the past few years, by now you might have followed bits and pieces of my mental health journey too. It all started with my blog post “living with anxiety“, and since then I’ve gone on to share more via YouTube. Below is a summary:

And in this blog post as you might have guessed, I want to cover the topic of recovery.

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The importance of feeling supported

The importance of feeling supported

The theme for this year’s mental health awareness week is kindness, and in light of that I want to talk about the importance of feeling supported when you’re experiencing mental health issues.

The Mental Health Foundation chose this theme because “kindness strengthens relationships, develops community and deepens solidarity. Wisdom from every culture across history recognises that kindness is something that all human beings need to experience and practise to be fully alive.”

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Why it’s important to have mental health conversations

As you may know, it’s always been a goal of mine to break down the stigma around mental health and encourage people to have more open conversations about it. That’s one of the main reasons I continue to share my experience, to help encourage others to open up about their own difficulties.

Now with COVID19 we are going through a public health crisis, but it’s also going to become a mental health one. That’s why it’s so important for us to have mental health conversations.

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becoming comfortable with uncertainty

Becoming comfortable with uncertainty

This blog post had been in my bank of ideas for a while, and now seems like a fitting time to write it. In case you’re reading this years later or have been living under a rock, right now we’re in the middle of the corona virus crisis. Corona what? Basically, a “flu like” virus that’s gone rogue and is causing havoc (don’t quote me on that scientific description). For a humorous interpretation see the below (in French)

But back to serious business, we are now collectively going through a time of uncertainty. And that can be scary, so what can you do to deal with it?

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Taking care of your mental health during a crisis

Photo by Fausto García on Unsplash

As I sit here writing on a Saturday morning of March 2020, it feels like we’re really living in a strange world, or strange times. And I say this, as I am trying to ignore what’s happening “in the rest of the world”. I just spent 20 minutes dancing to disco music in my kitchen and that definitely lifted my spirits.

Still, I felt the need to write a short blog post because our mental health is going to be (if not already) impacted by the events, and we have to take care of ourselves and each other.

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Is “me time” selfish? taking care of your mental health

Is me-time selfish? Taking care of your mental health
On top of the dune du pilat

When it comes to good mental health, hopefully by now you know the importance of looking after yourself. This will look different for everyone, but I believe it’s a key element to staying on top of your sanity and being able to give your best in all areas of life. But as I was having conversations with friends and family over Christmas the question dawned upon me: is me-time selfish? Spoiler alert! In my opinion: absolutely not. Me-time is of utmost importance and is practically sacred.

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Building resilience for mental health

Guest blog post by John Dyer – 10 minute read

resilience for mental health - John Dyer

Not a day goes by that we don’t hear the word resilience mentioned in some context. So what is it? Often it’s linked to the concept of recovering or bouncing back from setbacks. You might think of people going through incredible hardship and coming out the other side, or athletes going through an injury and coming back to compete. 

While I certainly think this is part of the definition, I also find it a bit narrow. We all know life has ups and downs, and for some these are more extreme than for others. 

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A decade of mental health

A decade of mental health

With the ushering in of a new decade, naturally I started thinking about what I had accomplished in the past 10 years. There were many different things and it seemed more sensible to break it down into categories, which is when I thought of the last decade purely in terms of mental health.

What happened, and what has it represented to me? I wanted to take the time to reflect and put “pen to paper”. After all, “That’s mental” wasn’t born out of thin air.

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