Mental Health in the Workplace

Recently, one Saturday afternoon, I came to the scary realization that I was facing a severe case of burnout! That week, I diligently worked to prepare scripts for the next five podcast episodes. I struggled to get going, but that isn’t completely abnormal. I thought I was making real progress when I sensed significant internal pushback.

We ALL experience pressure. Pressure from work, school, or our career. Stress from relationships or trying to meet expectations from friends or family. There might be pressure in your marriage or your relationship with your kids. The point is that we all have different factors that can increase or decrease the pressure we experience on any given day.

Going through brain health challenges can be one of the most challenging seasons a person will face. When it comes to brain health or mental health challenges, sadly, people tend to keep the details to themselves. As humans, whether at work or at home, we struggle to ask for help. Instead of opening up, we suffer in silence, keeping the struggle to ourselves. 

Maybe you have been there. You land a new job and are thrilled about the opportunity. After a long and grueling job search, you accept an offer from a fantastic company. In many ways, you feel like you’ve won the lottery.

Have you ever sensed that a coworker was eager to share something with you? I’m not talking about work stuff like details about a big project, gossip about a coworker, or that you need to do something specific for a presentation. I’m talking about personal stuff you would only tell a close friend. We discuss physical health topics at work, like our diet or the new CrossFit gym we joined recently, but not brain health. 

Oh, the holidays. It is a joyous time in late fall and early winter when people celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, and more. It’s a season filled with delicious food, caroling, gift-giving, and parties galore. It is a time when people speak of slowing down, yet they speed up in the same season. 

You wake up one day and find yourself in a place you never thought you would be. At least, that is what I thought as I sat in front of my office, waiting for 7:53 a.m. to arrive. You see, 7:53 was the optimum time to leave my car and walk up the steps to the office. This was enough time where I did not have to hurry, but not too much time where I would be at my desk more than a few minutes before 8. 

You’ve just landed your new job! After months of searching, applying, and being ghosted, you receive and accept a job offer. Your first week of training begins next week. You mentally prepare yourself for what could be a fun or dreadful first five days. How bad could it be, right? It couldn’t be as bad as the search process, or could it?

Updating your LinkedIn profile, tweaking your resume, searching through job listings, and preparing for interviews, the process of finding a job is a stressful one. Today, more and more people who find themselves out of work are living with a mental health condition. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five adults, or 57.8 million Americans, has a mental health condition. While many organizations invest in mental health, there is still a long way to go to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace.

It is no surprise that the pandemic forever changed how many people now work, shop, and eat. Employers and employees both know that prioritizing mental well-being is now a necessity. The shared experiences of many worldwide provided tangible evidence on a massive scale that mental health impacts business. Organizations no longer question how brain health affects the bottom line, productivity, and office morale.