Would you like to hear a joke? The punchline ends with your mental health. For far too long in Saint Lucia mental health is often touted as capital S- Serious when a young person or a talented professional loses their lives to suicide.
On the public stage it was most similar to when Chadwick Boseman passed, many people swore on the Wakandan salute to never use physical looks to disparage someone due to fear of them suffering from an unknown illness. That promise as we all know went by the wayside as many seek to slander, sneakily diss or offend persons who undergo dramatic physical changes not sure of the traumatic experiences.
The same patterns follow closer to home comedy first, condolences later. They make memes and parodies all in the name of a laugh. Gossip and innuendo follow you close by before the sharp realization of how stark and unforgiving your mental health was. And then come the many checks on your strong friends’ posts. The cries to be more aware of mental health struggles and not to take everything for a joke. For a while. Before the cycle repeats itself.
Stress as the National Health Services of England illustrate is a natural reaction of the body to feeling under pressure or threatened. Stress manifests itself in physical, emotional and mental avenues leading to burnout. Employers know about stress.
They often pretend to care about stress.
They hold seminars on stress.
They have professional development programs on how to manage stress.
Yet when push comes to shove, I love that turn of phrase, they are revealed to be the first who are guilty of creating and enabling toxic environments through subtle bullying and rank favoritism. The toxic-work culture whether it be within the private or public sectors is often generational and gendered with women clashing with women and boomers and GEN Z and Millennials often at bitter loggerheads. The silence over how toxic local work cultures are and how they impact and impede mental health is often a dirty little secret. (Rasool et al., 2021) determine that these toxic cultural environments will persist in engendering negative attitudes among coworkers and foster diminished worker productivity, the latter often the main concern over employee welfare.
Still there is an escape. The use of off days, lieu leaves, personal and sick leave, special leave and the occasional stated mental health day are all allegedly available for persons to utilize if they feel under pressure and burnout. The government provides assistance via the Employee Assistance Program via counseling and therapy as an extra battle in the fight against mental illness and powerlessness. These tools, though welcomed, are often stigmatised,first by the user and then by those in power.
“Gassa HR go wonder if I’m going off, I always need a day.”
“ So what is really going on at La Croix eh, that French teacher is always taking a personal day.”
“Mr Tertullien is a pleasure to have at the company but we doubt he is able to handle the pressures of a promotion due his constant use of the company’s counselling program.”
“ These days teachers take that self care thing too seriously eh .”
The subtle discouraging that unfolds when attempting to take care of one’s mental health within the confines of what is regulated is usually the first step to employees calling out and seeking riskier alternatives such as drugs, alcohol, sex and over/under eating to deal with their stress and mental faculties. And now everyone becomes worried and concerned about the methods you chose and why you didn’t do it the right way the first time! But there is hope and we can pursue our mental health care just the same way we do our psychical health.
It may be the first battle we need to win.