Thursday, August 1, 2019

Avoiding A Skewed Narrative: Finding Ways To Learn From Those Who Can't Speak

It's inspirational to hear mental health success stories: people who finally made the brave decision to reveal their struggles and were greeted with kindness and support from their friends, family, colleagues, employer, and the profession. We can learn so much from these stories and the courage it takes to share them.

But we have to be careful. We can't assume that it works that way for everyone. We have to actively wonder about and find ways to investigate and learn from the stories we don't hear. What about the ones who received unkind and/or unsupportive responses, perhaps resulting in a negative outcome? In such circumstances, people will often be far more hesitant to come forward, if it is even possible to contemplate. Coming forward with a negative story in relation to barriers, stigma and an unwillingness to accommodate mental health issues may not be easy or even possible. Such stories may have implications for personal relationships (speaking up about how unsupportive those around you were can damage already strained relationships), employment (speaking up about unhelpful or damaging responses by an employer could very well have negative consequences for the ability to remain employed and/or find new employment), and professional reputation (it's harder to share a story when the outcome at the end is that the problem continues or has worsened, not that it has been overcome). Moreover, being treated in such a manner can exacerbate the existing health issues and make someone less able to reach out or speak up. 

Even when stories with negative outcomes are courageously told, they are unlikely to be given the same opportunities to be heard. When employers bring forward speakers to share their mental health struggles, they are unlikely to select the employee who feels aggrieved by their treatment at the hands of the employer, but rather will select one who has a tale of overcoming the obstacles in a way that reflects positively on the workplace culture. In this sense, those who have a positive story that casts everyone in a good light don't have to worry about offending or being silenced by those around them in the same way (although it still takes great courage, which I'm in no way trying to downplay). 

The problem is that the obstacles in the way of sharing more discouraging narratives can give us a skewed perception of the barriers people face and the work that still needs to be done on improving our professional and workplace cultures. If there is no mechanism for hearing about the stories that don't have a successful outcome, then there will be challenges we never learn about, perhaps from people who are the most marginalized and in need of support to begin with. 

So let's continue to enjoy and learn from the inspirational stories of people who have overcome obstacles. But let's not assume it's the only story. Let's do the work to challenge ourselves to find a way to also learn about those whose experiences have not been encouraging, who may not be able to speak up, or may not even want to, given the negative outcomes they suffered when they attempted to reach out in the past.

If we truly care about mental health in our profession, we won't shy away from the hard work of looking for not only the positive and inspirational stories but also the discouraging and maybe even devastating. We can't assume that those who have suffered such an outcome will feel ready and able to share the lessons learned from them with us. We need to figure out how to learn from them...

As always, please note that I am a lawyer, not a mental health professional of any kind. I have no expertise in trauma or mental health. Also, please note that any opinions and views expressed in this blog are solely my own and are not intended to represent the views or opinions of my employer in any way. For more information about the purpose of this blog, please see here and for a bit more information about my personal perspective on this issue, please see "my story" here

I am very grateful to have received a "Clawbie" Award for this blog (which reflects the importance of this topic): https://www.clawbies.ca/2019-clawbies-canadian-law-blog-awards/

For some of my external writing on this topic, see:  
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