What We Keep Getting Wrong About Mental Health Awareness
In this issue: What We Keep Getting Wrong About Mental Health Awareness / Is Your Leadership Hurting Or Helping Your Employees Mental Health /Empathetic leadership positively influence employees' mental health / The (Somewhat) Lighter Side of Mental Health
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I'm Andrea J. Miller and this is my “On Leading Well” Newsletter. I send this to people in my networks, people I’ve met recently, and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can unsubscribe (SEE THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL) anytime, I won’t be offended.
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What We Keep Getting Wrong About Mental Health Awareness
We live in stressful times (yes, I am a master of the obvious :).
I’d go through the list of all the possible reasons we have for being stressed, but that would be a bit counterproductive.
Our often seemingly endless scrolling through negative news stories or watching them on television can feel like a continual assault on the senses that can leave us in a state of hyper-vigilance… similar to our ancient ancestors, always on high alert for predators.
While it may feel a bit disheartening to start a post about mental health awareness on such a gloomy note, that is exactly the point—we are all far too aware that our mental health is continually at-risk.
Yet, we’re conditioned from a young age to conceal our emotions and "be strong."
It’s a lie I personally internalized early on and remained faithful to it for a very, very long time (and still occasionally slip up).
Emotions can be complex, difficult, and often unwieldy.
And try as we might, not easily controlled.
This can make people uncomfortable.
It made me uncomfortable.
Partially because I was raised by a mother who was VERY emotional.
She grew up during a time when mental health was not a topic that was discussed, let alone have a whole month dedicated to it.
In her day, if you were struggling with your emotions, the expectation was that you deal with it and by all means, keep them to yourself.
However, my mother couldn’t always do that.
This was difficult for everyone involved.
In hindsight, I can now see that it was most difficult for her.
At the time, all I wanted was for her to be more like everyone else's mother.
For things to just be calm for once.
My mother passed away a few years ago from cancer, otherwise, I’d never be writing this.
Up until near the end of her life, she still struggled and refused treatment.
Somewhat ironically, it was only through her cancer and the sense of loss and fear at losing her life at such an early age that she was able to briefly give herself permission to finally get a little of the support she so dearly needed all of her life.
I often think that if mental health had been more openly discussed when she was younger, she would have had a very different, and much happier life…my whole family would have.
However, she was born at a time when this subject was not discussed.
After she died, I asked my father how he could leave us alone with her, and he replied that she had told him that she “thought she could handle it.” Spoiler alert, she couldn’t.
But her illness was never something to just be "handled."
She, like so many people today, needed and deserved treatment and care.
Growing up with a mentally ill parent, I didn’t understand.
It made me angry and left me with my own misconceptions and scars.
Mental illness does not affect only that one person, it impacts all of us.
While it is great that we now devote a month to mental health awareness, I look forward to the day when we no longer require such reminders and merely accept it as a given that each of us has the need for and right to good mental health care.
So, until that day, be kind to those around you (and yourself :), because you never know who is “handling” what and who may just need a bit more support at that moment.
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RECOMMENDED LISTENS, READS And other interesting things
Is Your Leadership Hurting Or Helping Your Employees Mental Health
This recent Forbes article highlights the critical role that leadership plays in mental health both in and outside of the workplace.
Empathetic leadership positively influence employees' mental health
Practicing empathy in leadership goes a long way with employees, according to a new study.
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The (Somewhat) Lighter Side of Mental Health
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Are there any other subjects you want me to cover? Hit “Reply” and tell me!
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Andrea J. Miller
+1 (646) 556-5401 (Whatsapp)