So I decided that one way to help bring about the change is to pull together stories from colleagues so it's not just me boring people (i'm not suggesting my colleagues are boring of course). The result looks like this. It's a load of individual stories from people that people will know. The type of stories that will make them say 'oh I never knew that' or 'thanks for sharing that was really interesting' and maybe even 'oh my god, i'm like that too.' Talking and sharing stories is so important:
Lived experience leadership is central to breaking the stigma and people with experience of mental health challenges play a key role. So that’s the document will be helpful with work colleagues sharing the challenges of mental health. It's important to show that it’s ok to talk about mental health regardless of your place in the organisation and career progression isn’t affected. Unfortunately this is the area I have struggled most with. I've approached people for their stories because invariably they have shared with me when I was open. Sharing creates sharing, it's amazing. But I don't know of many senior leaders who have had struggles. This may be because they don't want to share, that there is a stigma amongst leaders of sharing or perhaps none of them have had any struggles. But let's face it, it's unlikely to be the latter because all of our leaders are people, so I guess it must be stigma related. It is inspirational and gives hope that things can improve if you can read one of your colleagues stories. Could it be even more powerful if we could get more of our leaders to share? If we hope to normalise mental health conditions then we need to show that it can affect anyone, regardless or your experience, seniority or grade.
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AuthorMr Paul Wyse Archives
January 2021
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