Mental Health and Identity
Our mental health is part and parcel of who we are. The trouble is, ‘who we are’ sometimes holds us back when it comes to speaking out.
I write about mental health most days. As ‘The Wellness Writer’, I’ve made a business out of helping other people to articulate what they’re struggling to voice. But listening to the inimitable Shereen Daniels talk about the relationship between race and mental health gave me a whole new perspective.
During Shereen’s recent podcast chat (video of the talk here) with Rob Stephenson, the influential Founder and Managing Director of HR rewired, Vice Chair of the Black Business Association, and staunch Advocate for Anti-Racism in Business, said something that really got me thinking.
“You stop trying to share when you don’t feel heard.”
I’m paraphrasing, but the overarching message – the message that struck me – was that some groups, groups who already feel marginalised, are reluctant to raise their heads above the parapet for fear of being singled out, discounted, penalised, or misunderstood.
Whether you feel marginalised through race, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, or even through your identity as a working mum in a predominantly male environment, you feel you have to work that little bit harder; to fit in that little bit more. So if you’re also struggling with a mental health condition, you stay quiet out of fear that no one will be able (or willing) to empathise.
But there’s also the flip side: the men who, through societal expectation to be ‘strong’, hide their emotions through fear of being judged as ‘unmanly’. Or the driven, ambitious, purpose-led individuals who can’t admit when they’re struggling; who view their need for a break as weakness; who push their mental health to their back of their minds until they burn out. Or worse.
The need for ‘safe spaces’
The intersection of mental health with all other aspects of our identity is a fascinating and complex subject. Everyone has mental health, but not everyone can process it – or articulate it – in the same way.
As a heterosexual white woman, I can only talk from my experience as a working mum. I’m lucky that in the space I work in, I can talk freely about mental health, but many of my peers – who don’t have the freedom of working for themselves, and are reliant on continued employment – fear being judged, and stunting their own careers.
Like the career-driven mum who, following the first lockdown, ended up having a breakdown (and unavoidably, a huge chunk of time off work) because she didn’t feel safe speaking out about the impact that working round the clock whilst caring for her toddler full-time was having on her mental health.
When you feel you have something to prove, it can take a great deal of encouragement to open up and confide in those around you; particularly in the world of work.
During her chat with Form Founder Rob, Shereen spoke about the need for safe spaces, but also specific interventions. At present, Shereen believes we have a “GP-led” approach in business, but where marginalised groups are concerned – or when dealing with parts of our identities that don’t conform to stereotype or societal expectation – we need a “specialist consultant” approach.
In other words, a generic one-size-fits-all solution can’t always cut it.
If you’re struggling with your mental health and you don’t feel safe or able to share, you’re not going to get the help and support you might desperately need. And that’s why we can’t rest when it comes to mental health.
We need to keep learning from one another; keep identifying the triggers; keep exposing anything that stands in our way of truth and expression, and ultimately, keep finding new ways to smash the dangerous stigma that still surrounds mental health for so many.
Help us to keep learning
Our Form community is full of inspirational people determined to make a difference in the world of mental health. So if you have any insight into how you think workplaces could adopt a more specialist approach to supporting mental health, or if there’s anything you think we should be talking about in future editions of FridayForm, please get in touch with us.
Article by Emma Attenborough-Sergeant, The Wellness Writer.
With a passion for mental health and wellbeing, Emma set up The Wellness Writer to help leaders and organisations improve culture and engagement through relatable wellness content.