Four strategies to help you talk about mental health at work

Talking about mental health at work isn’t easy. Stigma, job insecurity, and a lack of psychological safety are only a few reasons it has been difficult to normalize the conversation around mental health in the workplace.

You’re under no obligation to share anything about your own mental health in the workplace and your safety and wellbeing always come first. But talking about mental health at work can help provide a safe space for those who are struggling with their mental health, increase trust between coworkers, and create an organizational culture where employees feel like they can bring their full selves to work.

If you want to normalize the conversation around mental health, share your own experience, or create a nurturing environment for others, what can you do to start talking about mental health at work?

First, figure out your own goals for talking about mental health at work

Once you’ve decided to start normalizing the conversation around mental health at work, create a little plan! Having clarity around your personal goals will help you focus, have difficult conversations if needed, tell your story with confidence, and assert yourself with bosses or company leadership.

Think about what you’d like to gain by normalizing the conversation around mental health in your workplace. Maybe you’re trying to reduce stigma in general, get leadership to devote more resources toward mental health support, or provide guidance or support to a struggling coworker. Do some brainstorming and come up with your goal—put it on a post-it to stay focused on your north star!

Find out and share what mental health resources are available at your company already

Do you know what resources your company already has to offer? In a 2020 study, 45.9% of employees said their company has not proactively shared what mental health resources are available to them. Even if resources were shared during onboarding, there’s little chance you remember them. And if you’re in HR—don’t assume anyone remembers what was mentioned in onboarding, ever!

All resources should be organized and accessible for employees to access when needed. Especially if someone is in crisis, the added burden of jumping through hoops to access information and resources can mean that people don’t get the help they need.

Think of everything that could be considered a mental health resource or policy, like leave info, mental health days, an EAP, meditation tools, tips and other resources about topics like stress and burnout, etc., and ask HR to put it in a one-sheet or folder in an easily accessible place.

If you’re in HR or employee engagement, create a company-wide communication that explains what resources are available to all employees (and if you’re not in HR, suggest it to your HR team). Organize a week-long campaign where your company highlights the different ways they support mental health. This will not only inform employees of the support available to them, but signal that utilizing the mental health resources available is supported by the company.

A 2019 survey found that the most common resources that employees wanted—from individuals to the C-suite—were mental health training, more easily available information about mental health resources, and a more open and supportive culture for mental health at work. These things can take time to create and implement, but compared to buying nap pods or expensive meditation apps, they’re basically free. Figure out what you have to work with first, and grow from there.

Find allies who are mental health champions

Create an unofficial (or official!) mental health squad. Tap execs or company veterans for institutional knowledge, feedback, and buy-in, find other mental health advocates who will collect and share resources alongside you, organize a panel or a lunch and learn about mental health in the workplace, or commit to being open about your mental health needs with your team. There are so many ways to find connection and build community. As soon as you open up, you’ll find that others were just waiting for someone to speak up.

Ask your CEO or company to make supporting mental health official

Your squad is great, but company buy-in can seal the deal. Leverage the power of HR or your CEO to reduce stigma at work. If it’s not there already, ask if language around mental health can be included in onboarding and HR materials and HR communication with employees. Management and other leadership training should include sections about mental health, having difficult conversations, burnout, psychological safety, and other ways to support employees.

If your CEO hosts ask me anything sessions, Q&As, fireside chats, roundtables, or other opportunities for employees to ask questions and give feedback, ask them to discuss their own mental health experience and views if they’re comfortable doing so, their plan to reduce stigma and normalize the conversation around mental health, and how they think your company addresses and supports mental health.

If this sounds scary or impossible, it could be helpful to consider why you might feel that way. Your reasons for not wanting to discuss your mental health at work are totally valid, but if you feel like your team or company wouldn’t support you and accept you as you are, this can be a sign of a deeper organizational culture issue—which means that they might not deserve your time and energy.

The most important thing is to take care of your own mental health first

If you decide that being a mental health champion and normalizing the conversation around mental health at your company is something you want to do, creating a plan with your personal goals, finding out and sharing what mental health resources are already available at your company, connecting with allies, and getting leadership buy-in are four great strategies for starting to talk about mental health at work.