Mental health — we are not alone

Published in

Sanctus

5 min readFeb 25, 2016

Last week, I wrote a post about mental health in startups. This was a difficult post for me to send out and I’ll admit when I clicked ‘publish’, I was a little nervous. All I wanted was for people to talk about this issue more, I wanted people to feel comfortable opening up and I wanted to make the first move. I thought, if one single person can relate and it inspires them to say something— it will have been worth it.

What followed, I could never have imagined. Mental health in startups has received more than 10,000 views across Medium and Linkedin. I’ve received 100s of personal e-mails, countless messages, 100s of comments and my twitter has been constantly going crazy.

People want to talk to talk about mental health.

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read the post, liked it, commented on it and shared it around. It would never have reached that many people without others sharing it with their colleagues, friends and family.

This article alone has achieved its one goal, we took the first step and people started talking about it. However, it is just the first step and there is more to be done. We shouldn’t stop now.

I want to follow up on the reaction I have had and maintain this momentum. Like before, I’m going to keep it simple and make just one point:

If you’ve experienced mental health issues, or are having them now, you are not alone. There are thousands of people like you.

I’ve touched a nerve, and if anything, it’s proven to me how big this problem really is and how much people want to talk openly about their mental health. It’s been an eye-opener, I didn’t realise how deep these issues were and just one week in, it’s been an incredibly liberating learning experience.

I’ve learnt:

Mental health issues are highly prevalent in startups (and outside of them too). Startups are an intense pressure cooker where these issues are at first hidden, but then brought to the boil when the lid comes off.
People want to talk about their mental health more. Yet, they do not know where to turn or are afraid of showing weakness. They do not think that others will understand and are scared of the possible repercussions, usually around their reputation and how they may be perceived by others.
Hearing someone else open up, encourages people to do the same. Specifically, if someone with a similar background or experience to them opens up, then they can relate. It can be healing to hear that someone else feels the same way and also cathartic for the person opening up.
When people talk about their problems, they feel better. Writing something down or saying something aloud allows you to review it and understand it more. If you can start to understand your struggles then initially it can be a great release of pressure.

These are my learnings so far, but I am sure there are plenty more to come. I’ve already been asked to write a piece for The Guardian on Mental Health which should be a great way to give these problems some well needed coverage.

Granted, I’m nowhere near an answer or solution and my heart tells me there isn’t something that works for everyone. However, I hope this post can show that if you’ve suffered with your mental health; you are not alone.

To continue the dialogue and understand these issues more, I’ve created a really short, private and confidential survey. It will only take 2 minutes of your time and you can fill it in anonymously if you’d like.