Mental Health in Tech: The Importance of a Sharing Culture
I’ve been incredibly lucky. Growing up, my friends and family have generally been emotionally open and willing to talk. I’ve matured in an environment in which I’ve been comfortable sharing and discussing the majority of my feelings. Early on, I was taught the importance of mental well-being in myself and others. I often need to remind myself not to take this experience for granted — even at my place of work; at ustwo we’re empowered to be vocal about how we feel and are offered ample support in both personal and professional endeavours. It’s something that I’m truly grateful for and believe that everyone deserves.
“Making Mental Health Cool”
Working in product, I’ve long been aware of the stigma around mental health in the tech scene and it felt like a tremendous step forward when James first introduced me to the concept of Sanctus. It was simple and made masses of sense; ‘making mental health cool’. It seems obvious. After all, the WHO constitution states that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Publicly acknowledging the fact that burning out might be a positive indicator for detached investors or stakeholders, but will have detrimental effects on both you as an individual and the product in the long-term. Having had the privilege of a healthy platform in which I’ve been able to share, I was curious as to how the session would operate. To be completely candid, I wasn’t sure of what I’d gain from the event; initially I had been asked to attend the event as a chaperone since it was being held in our studio. I approached the day with an open mind and an eagerness to learn what I could.
The structure was straightforward. Eight of us would get together for an hour and a half to have a conversation about our mental well-being which would be facilitated by Shayan, the session’s coach. Being someone who was incredibly shy as a child I still suffer social anxiety on occasion. As each participant arrived we introduced ourselves and began to get to know each other. As I listened to all these fascinating people and learned about their experiences I began to question myself. “Do I deserve to be around these people?” The majority of them are founders and must have incredible achievements to their names. “What do I even have to talk about, surely I can’t have anything to complain about?” This feeling isn’t necessarily alien to me. Even being immersed in such a healthy environment I still struggle with anxieties and insecurities. In fact in some cases I’ve been prone to dismissing feelings as insignificant or invalid since I’ve been so lucky. This sentiment has made this a truly challenging piece to write.
I found that the session really cemented some of my beliefs formed while growing up and also offered some new insights.
1) Reflection is Key
Reflection is a fantastically powerful thing. It gives you the opportunity to turn failures into lessons and constantly build on your past experiences. Suitably, the session kicked off with the opportunity to reflect. Having spoken to James earlier on we both had a rough idea of what we thought we’d want to share, however our ideas changed significantly upon reflection. Being able to commit time to this exercise meant that I found myself able to gain clarity into what I may want to talk about whereas considering this in conversation yielded a more shallow or obvious route.
Reflection can be a short exercise but is incredibly rich in return. At ustwo, when we finish a project a coach will facilitate a retrospective to help teams pull out valuable insights from the completed engagement. It’s a huge value add and translates to many different areas. Taking time to look back and draw out these insights can be the difference between making the same mistake twice and avoiding an obstacle.
2) You Are Not Alone
It’s easy enough to end up in a place where you feel isolated and detached from those around you. Unfortunately, it’s also all too easy to push these people away if they don’t ‘get’ what you’re going through. The session was an endearing reminder that by discussing our anxieties we were able to relate to one another. If you’re struggling with a certain issue, chances are that there are countless others who are going through or have gone through a similar thing. This is not to say that your struggle is any less important, rather that there is strength in numbers and that if you’re willing to share then others may be willing to help. I found this to be of great comfort when sharing some of my thoughts which I had been questioning the validity of.
3) This Needs to Happen
About a year back, ustwo released a thought journal app based on cognitive behavioural therapy in an attempt to empower and support individuals in improving their mental well-being. The feedback we received has been a glowing indicator that there is a great need for products and services geared towards this problem.
Despite this, if you search for ‘mental health in startups’ the first results ironically list startups working in the mental health space as opposed to tools and resources to support them. The value is clearly understood yet there is a total lack of solutions for the problem solvers. At the close of the session we shared feedback which highlighted a common theme; the majority of the group had things to talk about but hadn’t previously done so. There simply hasn’t been a culture of doing so. That’s hopefully what Sanctus will solve. Why not?
Your mental well-being can be fragile, if you find yourself struggling then please seek professional help. These sessions offer a forum to discuss but do not constitute the advice of professionals.
