When the Job Itself Is the Hard Bit.
Mental Health Awareness Week ran 11–17 May this year. This year’s theme – chosen by the Mental Health Foundation – was Action, on the basis that awareness on its own only goes so far. With the week now done and the LinkedIn posts quietly fading, we wanted to take a step back and write something that might actually be useful when the spotlight has moved on and the demands of the job are still very much there.
Because the awkward truth is this: looking after your mental health at work isn’t really about doing what the awareness posters tell you. It’s about knowing what helps in the moment, when to talk to someone, and how to spot when something needs more than a long walk and an early night.
Work Stress Is Real – and Common
Let’s start with the scale of it. The HSE’s annual statistics show that work-related stress, depression or anxiety affects around half a million workers in Great Britain each year, and accounts for over half of all working days lost to ill health. Common triggers include workload, lack of control, poor support from managers, and difficult relationships at work.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, anxious about an upcoming meeting, or just drained in a way sleep doesn’t fix, you’re describing something millions of people experience. It isn’t a personal failing. It’s often a signal that something in your working life – the volume, the relationships, the lack of recovery time – needs attention.
Small Things That Actually Help in the Moment
There’s no magic solution, but there are practical techniques that tend to work better than scrolling your phone and hoping the feeling passes.
Move, briefly. A five-minute walk – outdoors if possible – has a measurable effect on mood and stress hormones. It’s not a cure, but it shifts the state you’re in. We covered this in March’s piece on better breaks.
Name it to a colleague. Even a quick “today’s been a lot” with someone you trust takes the edge off. Carrying it silently makes it heavier.
Single-task for ten minutes. When your brain feels frazzled, switching between five things makes it worse. Pick one thing, give it your full attention, finish it. The sense of completion helps.
When It’s More Than a Bad Week
Sometimes it’s a tough patch and it passes. Sometimes it doesn’t. The signs that suggest it might be more than that include: sleep going off for more than a week or two, persistent low mood, losing interest in things you usually enjoy, drinking more than you’d like to, or feeling consistently overwhelmed by tasks that wouldn’t normally faze you.
If any of that sounds like where you are right now, talk to someone. Your GP is the right first step for anything that feels persistent. NHS Every Mind Matters has a good free self-assessment tool. Mind runs a confidential infoline and has practical information on workplace mental health specifically. None of this is a sign of weakness – it’s the same logic as going to the GP for a physical issue that isn’t shifting.
Try This: Pick one small action this week that supports your wellbeing at work. Just one. A proper lunch break away from your desk. A walk on a tough morning. A conversation with someone you trust. Awareness Week was about Action, after all – and action almost always starts small.
Looking After Yourself Isn’t Optional
Work matters. But so do you, and so does the version of you that walks back into your home in the evening. Looking after your mental health at work isn’t a luxury or a soft skill – it’s part of doing the job sustainably for the long term. Most of our alumni will hit a tough patch at some point in their working life, if you haven’t already. Knowing what helps, knowing when to ask for support, and not waiting until things tip over – that’s the actual action worth taking.