MENTAL HEALTH ALLIES: WHY OUR FRIENDS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED？

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Let’s open with an explanation. What is a mental health ally at work?

At the basic level, a mental health ally is somebody who acts as a mental health resource for their colleagues. They are there to listen to anybody who is struggling and provide support and resources. They offer a safe space in which other people can unload their concerns and anxieties, talk through difficulties, and feel valued. Often, they are volunteers who have training in how to handle mental health issues and who want to assist their fellow employees.

Mental health issues can plague anybody at times. As our awareness of this grows, we increasingly realize the importance of providing support for individuals everywhere, both at home and at work. Work makes up a huge part of life for many people, and yet it’s a space in which mental health issues are often tricky to deal with. Desires to remain professional and the needs of the business can often be given precedence over mental health, which is why allies are so important.

We’re currently at a critical time in terms of mental health. In the US, 2022 saw the highest number of suicides on record. In 2024, 1 in 5 youth had at least one major depressive episode. This is combined with significant shortages of mental health staff in various countries. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many issues in a variety of ways, triggering staff burnout and causing social isolation. It’s estimated that in Great Britain in 2022, 17 million work days were lost to stress, anxiety, and depression.

While staggering, those numbers help illustrate how critical this is, and why organizations everywhere need to be prioritizing this. That’s true across the globe. Mental health allies at work could prove a key to tackling the mental health crisis.

Why at work?

Humans spend a huge portion of their lives working, with many estimates suggesting about 90,000 hours are spent at work over the course of a human’s life. Work is also a place where emotions exist uneasily at best. Nobody wants to bring tears, depression, stress, anger, or other strong negative emotions to work. That means that often, people feel they have to bury their feelings at work, which leaves them with a lot less time and scope to process their emotions than they would otherwise have.

We can change that by establishing mental health allies in the workplace. These individuals would have the responsibility of helping people deal with their emotions in healthy, productive ways. Creating a supportive atmosphere in the workplace could do a lot to improve mental health issues, and might even boost an organization’s productivity. Happy, supported employees are much more likely to do good work, after all!

It’s also important to remember that mental health issues can affect anybody. They are not limited to gender, class, nationality, age, or any other factors. They can be crippling and even deadly. We have to take them seriously and, on a global level, find ways to combat their impact on our species.

So, what roles does a mental health ally network play at work? Let’s look at 3 critical areas!

Providing a starting point

A lot of people suffering from mental health issues aren’t sure where to turn, especially at first. They might feel that their personal problems have no place in the workplace and that they should just ignore them. By providing mental health resources, employers can specifically combat this idea, encouraging people to think about their feelings and open up. Having the service reminds people that their feelings matter and that the organization wants to support them.

This alone can be a great way to open up conversations about mental health issues and encourage employees to come forward when they are struggling. Given the stigmas that surround mental health, it’s important for employers to take the first step and send employees the signal that it’s okay to talk about mental health in the workplace.

Offering resources

Getting people in contact with the right services can make a world of difference, but it’s often hard for individuals to find the services they need on their own. Since many mental health issues lead to apathy or difficulty with organizing things, having others supply the resources can make a huge difference.

Mental health allies can offer a myriad of resources to help connect people with the right organizations, whether they need help with bereavement, depression, anger management, or something else.

By acting as a connection service, mental health allies can ensure that employees receive the assistance they need promptly, helping them realize what options are out there and making it easier for them to advocate for themselves.

Valuing employees

Perhaps one of the most important things that providing mental health allies in the workplace does is demonstrate that the organization cares about its employees’ well-being. This alone can be very empowering and reassuring for individuals. Again, huge stigmas still revolve around mental health issues, and overcoming these enough to ask for help can be enormously tricky. People may fear that their professional image will be damaged and that they’ll suffer from prejudice or bias if they talk about their feelings at work.

By establishing a structured mental health service with allies, the workplace can signal that it will not mistreat employees who are struggling mentally. It instead sends the message that they are valued and that the organization wants to take care of and support them. That message alone can be enormously meaningful to somebody who is struggling with their emotions and feeling worthless.

Sometimes, just knowing that the option is there can help people. It stops them from feeling trapped and powerless, giving them solutions even if they ultimately choose not to utilize them.

These three key areas help us understand the value and importance of having a strong mental health ally system in today’s workplaces. Mental health needs to be given as much consideration as physical health in today’s world, and a network of mental health allies can transform a workplace, making it supportive, welcoming, and more open for everybody.

Time to get hands-on!

Take a moment each day to check in with a colleague. Ask, "How are you really doing today?" and listen without judgment. Offer a supportive presence, show empathy, or simply acknowledge their feelings. Small acts like this help normalize mental health conversations and create a more understanding workplace. Your support, no matter how small, can make a meaningful difference.