Mental Health: Beyond the Surface
- Chelsea Hartner
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Mental health has become a buzzword in today’s culture. It seems most often used to promote productivity, self-optimization, and resilience. However, the reality can often be far more complex.
Mental health isn’t just about thriving or recovering after a crisis. For many people, it’s the daily, invisible work of maintaining stability, even when no one else sees the effort it takes.
As we enter Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to offer a reflection. Not because I have all the answers, but because this year has personally and professionally stretched me in ways that have made mental health maintenance feel like full-time work.
And if you carry invisible weight too, I want you to know: you’re not alone.
Key Topics:
What is Mental Health, Really?
How Mental Health and Neurodivergence Intersect
What it Means to "Work" on Mental Health
Why this Matters in the Workplace
How Leaders Can Support Mental Health — Without Overstepping
Final Thoughts
What Is Mental Health, Really?
The World Health Organization defines mental health as a state of well-being that enables people to cope with life’s stresses, realize their abilities, work well, and contribute to their communities.
Yet, despite how foundational this is, mental health challenges are widespread. One in eight people worldwide lives with a mental health condition. In the U.S., these conditions account for several of the top causes of disability, impacting a person’s feelings, mood, thinking, and behavior.
Conditions can range from anxiety and depression to PTSD, OCD, bipolar disorder, addiction, and others.
How Mental Health and Neurodivergence Intersect
For many neurodivergent individuals, those with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, and related conditions, mental health challenges aren’t the exception; they are often the rule.
Research shows that:
47% of adults with ADHD have depression, and 50% have one or more anxiety disorders.
7 out of 10 autistic individuals have mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, OCD, etc.
People with dyslexia are more likely to develop depression or anxiety and experience low self-esteem.
Nearly 85% of individuals with Tourette's Syndrome (TS) will be diagnosed with a mental health condition, such as OCD or anxiety.
While genetics can play a role, these challenges are often compounded by the stress of navigating situations and environments that were not built for them.
From a young age, many neurodivergent individuals are asked to meet standards that don’t account for different ways of thinking, learning, or processing. They may be labeled as lazy, disruptive, careless, or distracted.
Over time, this constant pressure to adapt, mask, or overperform can lead to chronic stress, internalized self-doubt, and a persistent sense of falling short, even when they’re working twice as hard as students without neurodivergence.
By adulthood, the emotional and mental toll of navigating school, work, and social spaces without adequate understanding or support adds up, making mental health maintenance not a luxury but a necessity for survival.
It becomes another layer of invisible work.
What It Means to “Work” on Mental Health
Mental health maintenance isn’t about crisis management but the daily, ongoing effort to stay grounded. It’s the preventative work that helps avoid escalation before it happens.
This work often involves clear supports such as therapy, medication, exercise, and mindfulness. However, it also resides in the small, quiet decisions people make each day. Actions that seldom receive recognition but demand a lot of effort:
Getting up with the first alarm
Eating a nourishing meal
Drinking more water instead of relying on caffeine or alcohol
Setting healthy boundaries
Managing time to reduce overwhelm
Journaling or processing emotions with a trusted friend
Moving the body at all, even if stretching or a short walk
Prioritizing sleep through a structured nighttime routine
None of these are grand gestures. But they are influential acts of self-preservation, often invisible to others.
Why This Matters in the Workplace
Everyone brings their invisible mental load to work with them.
For some, the effort it takes to function at work while managing mental health, compounded by additional diagnoses, stressors, or accumulated traumas, can be significant.
The disability community often references the “Spoon Theory” to explain this: if energy is like a limited set of spoons, every task (even basic ones) uses one. When you run out, you can’t simply push through.
In the workplace, unaddressed mental health struggles can show up as:
Time management difficulties
Emotional withdrawal
Changes in communication
Decreased focus
Eventual burnout
And yet, many employees feel pressure to hide these struggles, fearing judgment or misunderstanding.
How Leaders Can Support Mental Health — Without Overstepping
You don’t need to be a therapist to create a more mentally healthy work environment. Small, mindful actions can make a real difference.
Here are a few ways to lead with awareness:
Give space for task transitions. If an employee receives difficult news or a complex assignment, allow them a moment to process and compartmentalize without rushing.
Notice, don’t assume. If someone seems off, it’s okay to check in: “Hey, is everything alright? At work or outside of work?” Offer an opening without pressure.
Recognize invisible effort. Praise perseverance and problem-solving, not just final outcomes. You may be acknowledging far more than you realize.
Model your own boundaries. Normalize taking mental health days, setting limits, and practicing self-care out loud with your team. It gives others permission to do the same.
Final Thoughts
Mental health work isn’t loud.
It’s not always visible.
But it’s happening around you, and within you, every day.
By honoring the invisible maintenance it requires, we build workplaces, communities, and relationships that are not only productive but also sustainable.
Because everyone deserves the space not just to survive, but quietly, steadily, and courageously thrive.
To learn more about how we can support your workplace to be more neuroinclusive, contact us at Collectively Neurodiverse to embark on your neurodiversity journey.
We specialize in customized training and leadership coaching. By collaborating with People Operations teams and Leadership, we help workplaces embrace differences where every mind can thrive and do their best work.
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