A Call to Action for Employers on World Mental Health Day: The Realities of Imposter Syndrome & Burnout

In 2001 Imposter Syndrome led my GP to put me on antidepressants.

I was doing my best to handle Imposter Syndrome, even though I didn't know what it was called back then.

I was strong. I pushed on through the fear. I was working 14+ hour days to compensate with what I now call the 4 Ps of Imposter Syndrome's coping strategies: Perfectionism, Procrastination, Project-Paralysis & People-Pleasing.

Everyone thought I had my act together and was doing really well. In fact, I was on a promotion fast-track.

The pills didn't work. The side effects made things worse.

I didn't recognise the person I had become, to 'fit in' in my high-stress working environment, to be accepted, to belong. My relationship with my live-in boyfriend failed. And I was formally disciplined for saying the word 'fine' in the wrong tone of voice in a meeting.

And all I could think about at 3am was the terror that today would be the day that my luck would run out, and 'they' would find out I was a fraud, that I had pulled the wool over their eyes, and that I would be fired. Classic, severe Imposter Syndrome.

But nobody knew, but me.

And my latest research study shows that 34% of of your team members are currently experiencing Imposter Syndrome at a level that is similarly severe.

After 6 weeks, I stopped the meds (that was worse than taking them) and I applied for a sabbatical for a year, to study Spanish in South America.

I quit the engineering career I loved, because of something I didn't know even had a name, and which I thought I was the only person struggling with, because there was no one I could talk to.

1 in 4 of your team members will think about quitting this week, due to the stress, worry, anxiety and fears caused by Imposter Syndrome. And it's 1 in 10 TODAY .

I never went back to my engineering job after my sabbatical.

Now, 23 years later, clients tell me that leave of absence and sabbatical requests are sky-rocketing, to the point where many teams can no longer function, due to the pressure of covering that much work.

Do you recognise this? It's often the early warning sign of severe stress, due to Imposter Syndrome.

And that brings me to Imposter Syndrome's really unattractive BFF: Burnout.

My research studies show that there's a causal link between Imposter Syndrome and burnout.

And when you consider that most of the coping strategies people use to deal with Imposter Syndrome involve over-thinking, over-working, and over-worrying, and that they trigger long-term, high-level stress, it's not a surprise.

31% of employees are currently at high risk of burnout.

Source: our 2024 study .

Some of this is down to workload: 51% of respondents said they have far too many meetings, and 61% said their workload is far too high. And two thirds said they're experiencing what I call 'toxic resilience' - the harmful expectation to bounce back from stress, trauma and adversity, and keep going as though nothing had happened.

And when you add in the additional stress and anxiety from Imposter Syndrome, this becomes impossible to manage, directly impacting mental and emotional health.

In addition, the hypervigilance that Imposter Syndrome can cause can leave us stuck on high-alert, constantly on the look-out for threats, experiencing long-term stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, things like pings that require immediate responses add to this, leaving employees stuck in the fight-flight-freeze mode, most of the day. This all has a huge impact on mental health.

Proactively Supporting Mental Health In The Workplace

This year's #WorldMentalHealthDay theme is mental health in the workplace.

But it takes more than meditation apps and beanbags in meeting rooms to fix this.

We need to look at the 3 pillars: the culture, the working environment, and the personal habits, and address all three aspects of mental wellbeing.

And we need to shift from the primary focus being about identifying mental health crises, through to looking at what we can do to prevent someone from ever getting to that point.

Talking About Mental Health In The Workplace

Talking about our #MentalHealth takes courage. And so does being the person who is listening.

?? But I've got a big request for employers on World Mental Health Day - and this one comes straight from my clients:

Please stop marketing your #MentalHealthFirstAiders as counsellors.

They're not. And this is potentially harmful and reckless.

I see this daily. From posters behind the photocopier, through to in-house newsletters, companies are suggesting that if someone is feeling stressed, anxious, burnt out, or struggling with Imposter Syndrome, they should talk with an #MHFA.

But no, they shouldn't.

#MHFA training is SOLELY about how to catch-and-pass in a crisis. It's not a preventative intervention. And it's certainly not appropriate to ask them to act as counsellors.

Using #MHFAs, after just a few hours of training, to provide therapeutic support for emotional issues risks causing serious harm, to both parties.

If you've found yourself in that position, with someone coming to you for help that you've not had the specialist training or support to deliver, please refer them on to someone who has had that training. For their sake, and yours.

Yes, there's a lot we can do with 'tea and sympathy', and sometimes what someone most needs is to be heard.

But that still needs to be with someone who has been trained in how to best support them, who also has their own strategies and professional supervision, to help them to release what they hear.

We need to support mental health proactively, and ?? appropriately??, so that everyone has the chance to thrive.

That means investing in training key staff to be able to support others in this deeper work, safely and effectively, right at the beginning of their journey, to prevent mental health issues, rather than waiting until the crisis has hit.

If you'd like to talk about training in-house team members to be able to do this, either as Imposter Syndrome Practitioners or Imposter Syndrome Master Coaches, DM me, and let's chat.

And I'm curious: looking at the 3 pillars - culture, environment, habits - what could your organisation be doing, to proactively address Imposter Syndrome and burnout, and to prevent the mental health issues they create?

Clare

PS Next year, one of my dream goals is to launch a not-for-profit app to support teens and uni students on a preventative basis, so that their mental health doesn't have to suffer.

[ ?? Let me know if you'd like to be part of that project]

Clare Josa is considered a global authority on Imposter Syndrome, having specialised in the field for over 20 years. She is the author of two books on the subject (Ditching Imposter Syndrome and Coaching Imposter Syndrome ), a sought-after international keynote speaker , and the creator of the world's first Imposter Syndrome-clearing app: Imposter Syndrome Hacks ?.

She is the creator of the Natural Resilience Method?.

It doesn't just help with Imposter Syndrome. It can also prevent #burnout. And by addressing both Imposter Syndrome and burnout at source - at the root cause level, rather than just the symptoms - it can prevent the anxiety and other mental health struggles that go with these, too.

DM Clare to find out more about working with her and her certified Imposter Syndrome Master Coaches, for yourself and for your teams.