Recently, a woman in the USA tweeted her CEO’s response to her decision to take a day for mental health:
The response went viral, with the CEO’s supportive words being picked up by international news and shared over 40,000 times. The people of Twitter were shocked and ecstatic to see such a supportive and compassionate response from the tech company’s CEO, and began to share their own stories about the negative responses they received when taking mental health days from work.
It was then the question struck me - why is his response so unusual? Amazing and inspiring as his actions were, why in 2017, with mental ill health so prevalent, is his response not normal? Surely if it were normal it wouldn’t have gone viral as it did. Perhaps the lady emailing so openly that she was taking a day off due to her mental health is not a usual occurrence either, but why? And how can we ensure as much emphasis is placed on mental wellbeing as it is on the physical?
A recent report found that Australians spend less than half as much improving their mental development as they do on their bodies. Think about it, if you were emailing your manager to let them know you were taking a day off to recover from a chest infection, a sore back, a migraine, stomach ache (the list goes on), would you be feel ok about doing this? Would you feel entitled to this sick day and feel it is important if you are to properly and speedily recover? If the boss replied with a “Good on you for putting your health first, you have my support, take the time you need” do you think this would go viral?
I have a close and much loved family member and friend who has to undergo brain surgery soon. Looking at people's response when they know she will be having her brain operated on, I have no doubt that people understand the importance of our mind, yet I wonder if we place more importance on brain health when it is in the physical sense. An operation is a physical thing, its causes can be seen in scans and its result in stitches and scars. Is it that we need a physical presence for something to remove stigmas? Or is it more? I suspect it's a combination.
Whatever it is I applaud the CEO and his message to his ill employee. I look forward to a time where requests and responses like this are the norm and not a viral sensation. It's examples like this we need, we can't always see mental ill health in a physical form, but it is real and it deserves the same respect and consideration as any other illness.