My Two Cents on Mental Health

Mental health is a slippery, slippery slope.

We talk about it all the time.

We give importance to it.

We have employee assistance programs for it.

We think it is a priority.

But the question I ask myself: "What is it really?"

This article is not intended to give you a clinical description of what mental health is, and also not intended to be "preachy" about a topic I am not an expert on medically.

All I know is that people experience it and we definitely see it insidiously becoming a real challenge in the creases of society's fabric.

Especially here in the Philippines, when you are going through something, often the default is to talk to your family, closest friends, or find solutions through your trusted bosses or mentors.

The people with the best intentions to help us are not equipped on how to handle people who go to them when they struggle mentally.

And I am not just talking about those requiring clinical support. I am also talking about those requiring nurturing, psychological support.

Working in human resources has exposed me to range of mental health challenges for varied reasons which may be a matter of personal circumstance, variances in personalities and abilities to cope.

I do see cases where people go to me for support and I can only lend them an authentic listening ear, though often, I can only do so much.

Managers, HR and their colleagues can only do so much to support.

Often, individuals are not even aware they require support because society expects us to cope, society expects us to always be fully-functional adults and expects us to be agile and flexible and generally okay no matter what.

Mental health need not be medically understood to know its real, and it's here.

It doesn't have to be proven or studied thoroughly to grasp how it should be top-most priority.

Mental health is one of those tongue-in-cheek topics we try so hard to ignore because it's uncomfortable, its awkward and it's well, just not the smoothest topic to discourse about.

My two cents on mental health is to start with us and start within.

People need help, and they need it now.

It should be "normalized" and certainly not something that only a very specific sub-set of people have to be medically treated on.

People experience it on varying levels, at varying times, and often compounds if left unchecked or if left unacknowledged at all.

I hope that it gets discussed more and be made an integral part of every individual's health and wellbeing.

Little do we know, if we only look around or beside us, the person we are sitting next to or having daily (virtual) calls with, may be the one requiring more support than we think.