Leanne Ehren — Why I Care for the Communicator
I am not a mental health expert. I am just one comms person trying to continue the conversation about the mental health challenges we face in our industry after having my own eyes opened wide to this negative stigma.
Every time I tell my story, I get a little stronger. At the same time, I have to relive those moments of darkness and challenge. I used to see this as weakness but I’ve learned over time it is not; it’s simply me connecting with my mental health, tuning in to my body and reassuring myself it’s okay to not be okay.
I’ve said that phrase a lot over the past year and to more comms people than I can count. Because one thing I have noticed first-hand is that when you stand up and start to tell your story other people start to tell you theirs.
I am not a mental health expert. I am just one comms person trying to continue the conversation about the mental health challenges we face in our industry after having my own eyes opened wide to this negative stigma.
Why out myself? It all started in 2018 when I was approached to speak at a big comms event, and when the organisers went through the line-up of best practice, awesome campaigns, and crisis tactics, I felt like there was only one thing I could talk honestly about. One thing that I had really learned over the past year that was absolutely imperative to good comms – but also was the one thing I had rarely heard being discussed openly: the mental health of comms professionals.
As a comms professional I bet you’ve written about it – mental health that is. Been asked to develop and deliver a campaign to tackle the stigma; a news release about your organisation signing a mental health pledge or pictures of staff undertaking mental health training. So, we can talk about mental health, write about it. But when it comes to telling our story, the story of the communications industry and some of the negative impact it’s having on our mental health, we seem pretty tongue tied.
Outing myself as someone with a diagnosed mental health illness (PTSD) and as someone who has experienced periods of poor mental health was not easy. I thought I would be judged; be shunned to the side; be overlooked for new jobs and career progression. All of this was utter bullsh*t that was in my head.
The more I talked about my experience, the more people listened and the more people started talking back to me. The more people started to care for the communicator. I have heard dozens of heart-warming and heart-wrenching stories from comms people about their mental health. These conversations usually kick off after I’ve spoken at a conference, posted a few lines on LinkedIn, or piped up about the state of the industry on Twitter.
We know that as a society we’re now talking about mental health more than ever before, which is a fantastic thing, and I think as an industry, we are getting there. Slowly.
The latest stats in the UK released on World Mental Health Day (October 10 2019) by PRCA revealed the highest ever percentage of PRs in the UK are reporting to have experienced poor mental health in the past year. Every single measure in this survey plus another released by CIPR earlier in 2019, is showing a rise. I’d like to think this is because we are starting to feel more comfortable acknowledging our mental health and it’s quirks, and also that people are starting to feel it is okay to not be okay.
No one is expected to be superman – or woman – there is no 24/7 resilience in one individual. We’ve seen that when expert comms teams lean on each other and on mutual aid during major incidents and times of crisis. But there are contributing factors to poor mental health that seem prevalent in the comms industry like our 24/7 online world, mobile devices muddying the waters, our deadline driven environment and the lack of respect and understanding for our profession.
I genuinely believe that by telling our stories we can be part of an important conversation about mental health; a conversation that helps to normalise poor mental health; a conversation that helps leaders understand what they can do to support their teams through times of challenge; and a conversation that makes it easier for those people who need help, to reach out and get it.
Finally, we must drive this if we want things to change for our profession. The challenge is having difficult conversations with bosses who are just used to you managing every social media enquiry out of hours (with no additional pay); who are used to you just turning up for the 11th day on the trot without needing some time off; who are used to you undeniably putting your work and the organisation in front of everything else you do. It’s hard, I know that, so we must encourage a culture of change and tell leaders what they can do to support us in being healthy, happy and productive people.
I don’t believe having poor mental health has made me less of a person, nor do I think that what happened to me has broken me permanently. Yes, I broke for a period of time, but like a broken leg, I mended over time. My mind will never be the same and I have to adapt and am still learning to work with my new mind, but I am getting there. Someone once explained to me that when the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.
So this is my message to you: if you are a beautiful, gold-infused, person, talk to others about it. Write about it. Stand up on a stage and share with our industry your experiences, what you have learned and how you are now an even better version of yourself. Someone always has to be the first – why shouldn’t it be you? As communicators, we are storytellers and I think it’s about time we started telling our story of mental health – do you?
Leanne Ehren – Communication Specialist and Mental Health and Wellbeing advocate
@leanneehren