Mental Health Within the Workplace
It can be rough suffering through mental health struggles at work, especially if you are a minority. Not only can the mental struggle at work already be an uphill battle because of the outdated and shallow solutions provided, but if you’re a minority, then there’s even more factors you have to deal with. The guidance and solutions may feel one-sided. You may feel uncomfortable. You may not feel seen or heard when there are discussions about mental health. You may be afraid of how others might perceive you if you ask for different mental health solutions or ask for any help at all. It’s a tough battle to fight, and because of how trivial the situation is portrayed, some people may be unfamiliar with how to effectively talk about mental health within a multilingual team.
How to Talk About Mental Health in Multilingual Teams
To have productive discussions about mental health within multilingual teams, the first thing that you must possess is openness. Be kind, listen to others, and recognize other people’s culture and their identity for what it is. This sense of openness will not only benefit you, but it will also encourage people from other backgrounds to be more comfortable during mental health discussions.
Cultural sensitivity involves more than just recognizing, however. You must be proactive as well. Now that you are familiar with a culture different from your own, ask questions. Ask questions so that you can get a sense of how different cultures go about treating mental health. Ask questions about how mental health is discussed in other cultures. Ask questions so that you can come up with solutions that are culturally appropriate. And ask these questions so that you allow even more opportunities for a once faint voice to finally be heard loud and clear.
A Call to Action
Following these steps will surely equip you with the skills necessary to discuss mental health on a multilingual level. What’s most important though is activity. If you are on a multilingual team, it’s important to follow these, and any others steps you may have learned, so that you can slowly bring the best out of the team each and every day. Don’t just look at the DEI department and assume that it’s there for a corporate quota. Take advantage, instead. You can make everyone’s lives a little easier each day by simply listening and talking.
