Prioritizing BIPOC Mental Health At Work

Mental health struggles can affect everyone, regardless of race, gender, age, industry, or income bracket. While dealing with mental health can often feel isolating, it’s not an uncommon experience: millions of Americans live with mental health concerns each year.

If you identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), you are likely all too aware that racism and racial trauma can add an additional layer of complexity to mental health struggles. Since 2008, July has been recognized as BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month in an effort to destigmatize and uplift the unique importance of prioritizing mental health in BIPOC communities. Supporting BIPOC mental health, however, must also be a priority year-round.

At Empower Work, we know work can have a profound impact on well-being—for better or for worse. We regularly hear from workers struggling to prioritize their own mental health at work, or wondering what they can do to support their coworkers or employees.

Though Empower Work is not a mental health resource, we do have some tools that can help.

I identify as BIPOC. How do I prioritize my mental health in my workplace?

If you identify as BIPOC and find yourself struggling with mental health concerns, there are a number of resources available for support. First, it can be helpful to understand the nature of the stressors you’re experiencing.

Understanding your stressors

One place to start is understanding your stressors: what, specifically, is causing tension or stress? Racial stressors at work can include microaggressions, more overt actions, or systemic racial trauma, and it all can take a heavy toll.

Perhaps you’re experiencing microaggressions, or subtle, brief behaviors that show bias and make you feel “othered.” Or perhaps the comments or actions of a particular manager or coworker are more blatant, contributing to an ongoing toxic work environment where you’re constantly on guard.

One texter shared:

“Everything I seem to do seems to be wrong. My perfume. The way I talk. I'm 'aggressive' instead of 'assertive.' I'm so stressed I can barely function, I'm depressed, and I have a health flare up due to all of this. It's truly making me sick."

The cumulative impact of these stressors can have negative short-term and long-term consequences physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Then, there’s the world outside of the workplace. Racial trauma describes the ongoing individual and collective injuries from exposure and re-exposure to race-based stress—threats of harm, humiliating and shaming events, witnessing racial discrimination, and more. Especially in recent years, with the increase in viral footage of violence against Black people and Asian American people in the United States, racism can quickly shift from a chronic stressor to an acute trigger.

Struggling with any or all of these stressors is not something to be ashamed of—in fact, it’s unfortunately all too common. If you find yourself struggling with racial stressors, the most important thing to remember is that you’re not alone, and support is available to you.

Finding the support you need

First and foremost, it’s important to identify and cultivate the support you need so that you can protect and prioritize your own mental health. Systems of oppression aren’t going to change overnight, so even if you’re actively pushing to make your workplace more inclusive, it’s important to ensure your own mental health is supported along the way.

One option is to find individual support. Some mental health providers are specifically trained to support the needs and experiences of BIPOC clients, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness has a list of recommended questions to help you assess whether someone will be a good fit.

In addition, a number of new resources have emerged with the express purpose of connecting people with mental health providers who value and understand different cultures and experiences—including organizations like LatinxTherapy, Therapy for Black Girls, Therapy for Black Men, the Asian Mental Health Collective, and the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network.

You may also consider seeking out more community-oriented support. The BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month 2021 Toolkit from Mental Health America explains the importance of community-developed systems of support, which seek to fill in the gaps in traditional systems that tend to overlook specific historical and cultural factors that impede BIPOC mental health.

This toolkit identifies three types of community-developed systems of support:

Community care: Practices in which communities of color have historically provided support to each other, including mutual aid, peer support, and healing circles.
Self-directed care: Practices that emphasize that people experiencing mental health and/or substance use conditions have decision-making authority over services they receive.
Cultural care: Practices embedded in cultures, and passed down through generations, that naturally provide healing and resiliency.

If your organization has an Employee Resource Group (ERG) or affinity group for BIPOC employees, that group may be able to provide a space for honest conversations around racial trauma and mental health in the workplace. If the group has the necessary support and resources, it could invite an HR representative and/or someone from the organization’s mental health benefits provider to speak with the group about BIPOC employees’ concerns, or ways the organization can better support you and others.

Prioritizing your mental health

Prioritizing your mental health at work can take many different forms. For some, the best option might be to take time off of work, hopefully through paid leave, or by exploring other available options. For others, supporting educational training on addressing microaggressions at work, through an ERG or with company leadership, can feel like a productive step in the right direction. Others might choose to simply leave. Finding support and assessing your options will help you decide what’s best for you.

Regardless of what you choose, taking steps to prioritize your mental health can have a positive impact not just on your own life, but on everyone around you—your family, friends, neighbors, and community. Chances are good that others you know are also struggling, and addressing your own mental health concerns can help destigmatize a shared experience and create space for others to do the same.

How do I support my BIPOC colleagues?

Employers have significant influence over culture, norms, and workforce well-being—and can take a powerful leadership role in prioritizing BIPOC mental health at work.

In recent years, employers have been increasingly addressing inequities in recruitment, promotion, and retention for BIPOC employees. However, supporting BIPOC mental health goes beyond these trends, and most employers have a lot more work to do.

Here are a few additional practices to consider:

Invest in BIPOC leadership and community. Build BIPOC employee representation at all levels of your organization and support BIPOC-led efforts within the organization to create community. This can lead to an increased sense of well-being for BIPOC staff.
Offer mental health benefits that work. Ensure your benefits prioritize access, cultural responsiveness, provider diversity, effectiveness, flexibility, and specialty coverage, and take intentional steps to increase benefits usage through education and partnerships.
Take meaningful action. Research shows that the way organizations respond to large-scale race-related incidents can significantly impact employees’ mental health and institutional trust. As an employer, how you acknowledge, affirm, and act will show—not just tell—your priorities.

Even if you’re not in a formal leadership role or an employee in HR, there are specific steps you can take to support the mental health of your BIPOC coworkers. Check out our series on contributing to an inclusive workplace, including practices to commit to your own learning and concrete steps for taking action.

Prioritizing BIPOC mental health year-round

BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month may be over, but the commitment to BIPOC mental health at work must be prioritized throughout the year. Regardless of your identity or position within your organization, this change can start with you.

If you’re wondering what steps you can take to protect your own mental health, free, confidential support is just a text away: 510-674-1414.

Note: Empower Work provides non-legal peer support for workplace challenges. We recognize the impact our workplace experiences have on our mental health. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, we recommend seeking immediate support.