October is Mental Health Awareness Month and is meant to serve as period focused on promoting understanding around mental health issues and to also challenge the stigma surrounding mental health. The month is meant to encourage and emphasise the importance of mental wellbeing and encourage those struggling to seek help and take care of themselves.
I wanted to start this by encouraging everyone to take a nap and rest but, I thought I could spend some time being vulnerable and brave before we talk about the naps.
I joined the Innovation Fellowship back in December 2020. Prior to this, I had been diagnosed with a couple of mental disorders. I was heavily depressed and spent so much of my time with mental health professionals, trying to get back to myself. I couldn’t see beyond 2019 at the time. I would have laughed in your face if you told me I’d be sitting at my desk in 2025, writing an article on mental health.
I was incredibly lucky to have met the women of the Fellowship. At the time, Iris Nxumalo-De Smidt was my manager. I decided to lead with honesty and tell her about my mental health issues. I did not know what the outcome of that conversation was going to be, but to my surprise, it was met with an incredible amount of kindness and was held so gently. I felt safe communicating that I was, in fact, still struggling and that starting this role was daunting. I felt at the time that I needed time to find my feet because I was scared, I’d fail, not because I wasn’t capable, but because I couldn’t control the chemical imbalance in my brain, and the imposter syndrome that was getting louder and louder with each passing day.
I was able to, with the time granted to speak to my therapist and put in place a plan that ensured that I would thrive. Medication doses were increased; sessions were happening a lot more frequently than usual. This time allowed me the freedom to come back stronger than I could have ever imagined. I wasn’t fully there yet, but because of the way I was held and supported by Iris and the rest of team – I had a soft landing. This soft landing was made up of the ability to trust that my mental health issues would never be used against me, and that I could trust that I was truly being seen and heard by my manager and the rest of my team. Today, I am no longer on medication, no longer seeing a therapist, and I am able to manage and identify episodes when life gets a little hard. I no longer have to bargain with my brain to experience joy and whatever else life has to offer. I do not think this would have been possible without me leading with honesty and not shying away from the fact that I truly was struggling and needed support.
I say all that to say this: the work we do in civil society is incredibly hard and can at times be mentally taxing. And as we move across different organisations or careers, we often find ourselves still carrying loads from our previous experiences. The fear of communicating my mental health issues wasn’t because of anything Iris or other teammates had done or said, but was because of previous experiences. My time in the Fellowship has made me realise how important it is to lead from a place of kindness, of trust and understanding. Trust enables people the ability to communicate their struggles and discomfort. This can open honest communication channels, which can be beneficial for the work people do. People can trust that they can ask questions, ask for feedback and communicate when they do not understand a task or even say when they are overwhelmed.
Beyond this, organisations and leaders have a responsibility to ensure that people are taken care of. If you know that the work you do has the ability to emotionally tax people, you have a responsibility to put systems in place to ensure that people are still able to thrive beyond the work. This can take shape in many different ways; it can be a day off (hell, even a week off after an emotionally or physically taxing week), designated mental health services people can access, different work schedules that allow people to recharge, working in different spaces (let people touch grass), or naps. To know me is to know that I will advocate for a nap. Feeling tired? Nap. Happy? Nap. Sad? Nap. While offering this as an organisation, or leader – practice what you preach and do the same thing. We all deserve rest, regardless of our ranking in our organisations. Mental health is not an individual issue, and it never has to be. We do not work or exist in isolation, and we are people with real feelings, with day-to-day struggles and can all benefit from being kinder to each other.
To those currently struggling, it gets better. It really does. I know it might not seem like it will, but I promise you it does. My story is proof that it does. I am thriving at work, in my personal life, academically and mentally. Is life perfect? No. But is it better than what it was? Absolutely. People are willing and ready to help you.
Compassion and kindness saved my life, and for that, I will forever advocate for them as core values in leadership.
By: Charity Sebopela