The Intermediary – February 2025 - Flipbook - Page 57
B RO K E R B U S I N E S S
Opinion
Finding respect in a
mental health crisis
W
hen I worked
originally
as a clinical
psychologist,
I would have
been thrilled to
realise that the phrase ‘mental health’
would be finally be in use in the 2020s.
The only problem is that at times it
can be a misnomer.
I am all for a focus on building
good mental health and wellbeing,
through enhanced resilience, coping
strategies, building character, grit and
some stoicism. Yet currently, when
people speak of their mental health,
they oen allude to what they consider
mental ill health – not the big issues
of psychosis, paranoia, schizophrenia,
bi-polar disease, clinical depression,
which are of course the big guns. The
term, nowadays, can just be used for
feeling a bit ‘off ’, anxious, a bit low or
anhedonic – lacking joy in life.
Older generations have responded
with irritation, labelling the young as
‘snowflakes’, showing weakness and
lack of character.
Chaing to a peer the other day,
he described my age group as having
lived through a ‘golden era’. There
were youth clubs and sports activities
available to many as parents were
not able to lay on a timetable of paid
tutoring. We got to play and hang out
more. There were libraries. Oen
one parent was a homemaker and
the workers got home at a reasonable
hour. Not all families were great, but
they tended to be available.
Many of our parents had not had the
opportunity for the further education,
so while they encouraged offspring
to ‘stick in’ and use education for
advancement and security, they had
insufficient knowledge to hot-house
them into careers or convince them
to follow in their own professional
footsteps. We had freedom to choose
our path.
We got away from home and lived
independently without a great deal
of contact with parents – calls were
expensive, leers unlikely. Above all,
the Government paid for us to study,
and we could manage our rent even
if it did require part-time jobs. We
le university with lile or no debt,
and were told the job market was
waiting for us.
We got mortgages early – even if,
as a woman, I was given a very hard
time. Interest rates rose dramatically
at points, but so did house prices, so
we rode the wave of inflation and had
equity in our property right through
to retirement, when we also knew we
had good pensions to fall back on.
Times have changed
The younger generations, in contrast,
have experienced 14 years of austerity,
cuts in all youth services, working
parents under pressure, hot-housing
with extra-curricular activities just
to fill the university application
form – music exams, sporting wins,
maths tutoring. Then came the
global pandemic. Home schooling,
separation from friends and
colleagues.
Alongside all that, exposure to the
internet – good and bad – changed
relationships and offered the paradox
of choice on all sides. Having limitless
examples to choose from, there is
the expectation that you can achieve
perfection in everything you do and
own. That way disappointment lies.
As seekers of information, they
check what every guru has to say about
child-raising, running your career,
personal health and fitness. They
oen feel they are failing because of
a lack of alignment with the selfappointed experts in the field.
While young people want to work
hard, they have never necessarily felt
that was contingent on going to a place
of work. The debates on hybrid work
oen demonstrate the variance in
beliefs and the bias, oblivious at times
to the facts and what the research tells
us about productivity and wellbeing.
AVERIL LEIMON
is co-founder at White
Water Group
While our clients have always
needed to work on recognising their
strengths, building their confidence,
finding ways of coping with challenges
and staying resilient in the face of
rising and falling markets, different
generations hold different points of
view about how it should be done.
Where once it was acceptable to
work men – predominantly – to
the bone and let them die soon
aer retirement of heart aacks or
strokes, younger people saw their
parents on that treadmill and found it
unacceptable. They want to factor in
their health.
Good business
Above all, we need to find respect
rather than saying ‘it wasn’t like that
in my day’, and find ways to promote
good business and good lives. The two
are not diametrically opposed.
A happy worker with friends
among their colleagues is likely
to be more productive. If there is
space for building family life and
incorporating healthy habits, the
wellbeing and commercial benefits are
both profound.
However, it is not entirely down to
the company to make this happen.
Each individual has a responsibility
for growing their own resilience.
There is no room for passivity
and helplessness. Coaching oen
encourages agency in clients – taking
control, shaping life how you want it
to be. Seing and pursuing goals.
Life is pressure. Otherwise, it isn’t
worth geing up in the morning. We
must develop the mental and physical
techniques that stress-proof us and
prepare us to learn through diversity,
and take action where changes need to
be made. Ask me how! ●
February 2025 | The Intermediary
57
