{"id":2566,"date":"2023-11-03T11:17:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T15:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanpotentialadvisors.com\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2023-11-03T19:25:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T23:25:59","slug":"reframing-mental-health-challenges-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanpotentialadvisors.com\/reframing-mental-health-challenges-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Reframing Mental Health Challenges in the Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

During last month’s Diversity & Economic Inclusion Summit<\/a> hosted by the Greenville Chamber<\/a>, I had the opportunity to hear from Natasha Bowman<\/a> during a breakout session entitled: “Breaking Barriers, Building Resilience: Redefining Workplace Mental Health with DEI Principles.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was both galvanizing and frustrating to learn about Natasha’s personal journey and I found myself inspired by her bold decision to become a “Mental Health Warrior.” As such, we felt moved to share it with all of you.<\/p>\n

Like so many of us, COVID turned Natasha’s life upside-down. As a facilitator and speaker, her contracts were cancelled, and her jet-setting career came to a crashing halt. Because so much of her identity had been tied up in her work, she found herself searching for identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She lost her way, gave a large sum of money to a stranger on the internet, and ended up feeling shame when she finally \u201csnapped out of it.\u201d She continued to spiral downward and attempted to commit suicide.<\/p>\n

As she was recovering from this attempt, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. While this explained a great deal about her sometimes manic behaviors and the dark times she experienced, Natasha wondered how this would impact her career. She found herself putting the incorrect stigmas related to mental health conditions on herself, until research informed her that significant people in history had similar battles.<\/strong> One of them was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who was a two-time suicide survivor.<\/p>\n

In the days that followed, Natasha decided she was going to change the way mental health was talked about amongst business colleagues and within organizations. Her first move as a “Mental Health Warrior” was announcing publicly to her large network on LinkedIn that she was bipolar.<\/p>\n

While she had an overwhelmingly positive response, she had an equal number of people who said they wished they could share their own mental health challenges or diagnoses in their places of work.<\/strong> So many people continue to hide their “full selves” for fear of stigmatization. They do not want to be labeled.<\/p>\n

The stigma that comes with having a mental illness or other mental health conditions is significant. Below are shared common misconceptions about people with mental health conditions:<\/p>\n