Linked – New NAMI Poll Finds Employees Reluctant to Discuss Their Mental Health at Work
I’m not surprised by this.
I’m pretty open about my mental health and my history of trauma and depression. It’s no secret. I write this blog using my real name, and many people know about it. I make no effort to hide it from my coworkers. My employer does everything you’d want them to do regarding providing resources and talking about stress, burnout, and other workplace issues.
Despite all of that, I also wouldn’t talk about an active mental health crisis if I was having one. The reality is that no matter how much a workplace supports you, it can’t stop everyone on your team from viewing you differently. That stigma is a lot to deal with. I’ve written before about the boss I had when I had to take leave for my mental health and how she was great. I haven’t written so much about how I spent the rest of my time working for her without a lot of friendly interaction with the rest of the group. They were professional. No one was outright mean. But no one made much effort to get close to me either. There were no more jokes or chat about TV shows and concerts. Just me, doing my work, and going home.
I also suspect that over the years, there have been people who knew about my history and took it upon themselves to “protect” me from stress by not making some projects or promotions available to me. I’m not claiming to know that, but I suspect it. I have heard from many others, though, that it happens frequently. It’s nice that employers are looking out for someone, but not at the expense of their career growth. It’s not doing them any favors to prevent them from exploring different career options that might interest them.
Those are just the reasons why many with supportive workplaces would be reluctant to talk about mental health at work. We also know that many workplaces are not supportive at all. In the era of the current administration pushing hard against DEI policies, workplace accommodations, and the mass layoffs happening all across the economy, why would we bring attention to ourselves and our mental health? Too many employers are looking for a reason to fire employees, and a mental health struggle might be one.
It’s not worth the risk. We’re creating a society that refuses to support mental health in a meaningful way. For many, there is no plus side to talking about mental health at work, only minuses.
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