About Workplace Mental Health
When a well-known figure speaks publicly about their mental health struggles, the response is often immediate and overwhelmingly positive. They are praised for their bravery, applauded for raising awareness, and held up as an example of what openness looks like. Articles are written, interviews are shared, and social media fills with supportive messages.
Now consider what happens when an ordinary person — a colleague, a friend, a team member — shares that they are struggling. The response is often very different. There may be awkward silence, a change of subject, or quiet scepticism. In some workplaces, the person may even find themselves viewed differently — less capable, less reliable, less promotable.
This is a double standard that deserves honest examination.
The Celebrity Effect
There is no question that public figures who speak about mental health do a great deal of good. Their visibility helps to normalise conversations that have been suppressed for far too long. When someone with a platform shares their experience, it gives others permission to consider their own.
But there is a risk in how we collectively process these moments. Celebrity disclosures are often treated as events — moments of inspiration to be consumed and shared. They happen at a safe distance. We can admire the courage without being asked to do anything ourselves. We can applaud openness in principle without practising it in our own environments.
The difficulty arises when that same openness is attempted closer to home.
What Happens at Work
In the workplace, mental health disclosure carries a very different weight. When someone tells their manager or their team that they are struggling, the response is shaped by a complex mix of factors: the culture of the organisation, the confidence of the manager, the attitudes of colleagues, and the unspoken rules about what is acceptable to share.
Too often, employees who speak up about their mental health encounter responses that, while rarely malicious, are unhelpful. These might include well-meaning but dismissive comments, a subtle shift in how they are perceived, or a sense that they have crossed an invisible line between acceptable vulnerability and uncomfortable disclosure.
This is not because people do not care. In most cases, it is because they do not know how to respond — and because the organisational culture has not created the conditions for these conversations to happen safely and constructively.
Why the Gap Matters
The gap between how we respond to celebrity mental health stories and how we respond to real people in real workplaces is not just an interesting observation. It has practical consequences.
If employees see that mental health openness is celebrated in the abstract but penalised — or simply made uncomfortable — in practice, the message is clear: this is not a safe place to be honest. And when people do not feel safe to be honest about how they are, problems go underground. They show up as disengagement, absence, presenteeism, and ultimately, as people leaving.
Organisations that genuinely want to support mental health cannot afford to let this gap persist. It is not enough to share awareness campaigns on social media or mark Mental Health Awareness Week in the company newsletter. The real test is what happens on an ordinary Tuesday when someone says they are not coping.
Closing the Gap
Addressing this double standard requires action at every level. It starts with leadership that models openness — not performatively, but authentically. Leaders who are willing to acknowledge that work is sometimes difficult and that struggling does not equate to failing set a powerful tone for the rest of the organisation.
It also requires investing in manager capability. Line managers are the front line of workplace mental health, yet many have never received meaningful training in how to have supportive conversations, how to respond when someone discloses a mental health concern, or how to signpost to appropriate resources.
Beyond individual capability, the organisational culture itself must be examined. Frameworks such as ISO 45003, which provides guidance on managing psychosocial risks at work, offer structured approaches for assessing whether your workplace environment genuinely supports psychological wellbeing — or whether it quietly discourages honesty.
From Admiration to Action
The next time you see a celebrity being praised for their mental health openness, consider this: would the same openness be welcomed in your workplace? Would a colleague sharing the same message receive the same support, the same understanding, the same respect?
If the honest answer is no, that is not a reason for guilt — it is a reason for action. Building a workplace where mental health honesty is genuinely supported is not easy, but it is essential. And it starts with recognising that the person sitting next to you deserves the same compassion we readily offer to someone on a screen.
At Being Real, we help organisations close this gap — through consultancy, training, and practical strategies that move workplace mental health from aspiration to reality.
Peter Kelly, Founder and Director, Being Real