This CEO’s revelations could save lives

IT’S not easy to talk about your darkest days. But in doing just that, Georgie Harman shows you don’t have to tough it out, writes Wendy Tuohy. We need more CEOs like her.

WOULDN’T it be great if more CEOs talked about their own bouts of mental illness, something that must affect far more of them than we ever know about.

Beyond Blue boss Georgie Harman set a new benchmark for Australian business leaders last week, and showed why we need more CEOs like her, by telling a room of 300 people about hers.

Looking strong in her grey power suit, and sounding authoritative, Harman showed her humanity to 300 people by discussing what sounded like a near mental breakdown six years ago.

She described how, after she ended a long relationship, her mood deteriorated, she started drinking at what she now recognises to be potentially dangerous levels, stopped exercising and put on 20kg — all the while functioning at a high level at work.

She “put on a mask” every day.

Beyond Blue CEO Georgie Harman was upfront about her own struggles. (Pic: Supplied)

Harman told the hushed audience at the Diversity Council of Australia’s 2018 Anna McPhee Memorial Oration how, despite her then challenged mental health, remaining included and engaged at her then workplace gave her the “sense of purpose” to get through.

Her generous revelations have the potential to save lives. When it is currently estimated 180 Australians try to take their lives every day, it is time we had more grand gestures like it.

At the same event, former PM, Julia Gillard, noted that far from making people worse employees, having gone through some very heavy stuff can often enrich people as workers.

There are plenty of people going through that stuff right now: “One in five working Australians (are) affected at any given time by mental health challenges,” she said.

“One in two of us … will experience poor mental health at some point in our lifetime, one million Australian adults live with depression at a given time and two million have an anxiety condition.”

Gillard’s speech was powerful, but seeing the leader of a high profile organisation being vulnerable, with her head held high, put a face to the statistics.

It signalled that the time for assuming people with mental health issues can’t continue to be great contributors at work, and need to hide it, is over.

As Beyond Blue’s chair, former PM Julia Gillard is an advocate for mental health . (Pic: David Caird)

Australia’s suicide rate is more than double our road toll, with eight people dying by their own hand a day (a statistic that has been stable for 10 years).

“While some (people with mental health issues) are locked out of meaningful employment, the vast majority of these people work. They value work. They are highly productive. Yes, they may need flexibility, reasonable adjustments, time off from time to time. But who doesn’t?” the Beyond Blue chair, Gillard, noted.

“Too often, all employers see is a diagnosis, not the value of the richness of experience these people bring. Too often employers view mental health in the workplace through the lens of deficit and risk.”

We’ve all seen workplaces being great at supporting people to deal with physical injuries, illness and even family breakdown, but when it comes to mental health issues people still feel they need to hide.

Bulldogs player Tom Boyd has revealed his own mental health issue. (Pic: Julian Smith/AAP)

Many sufferers of depression and anxiety isolate themselves, yet as Georgie Harman said, remaining connected with people around you at work can be a key to hanging in there and getting to the other side.

It is wonderful to see so many footy stars, for example, opening up about the stress toll on their mental health. Tom Boyd did young male sufferers a service this week by throwing his support behind Headspace’s new campaign to support that, high-risk, demographic.

But you don’t have to be a pressurised sporting hero to suffer symptoms that can derail your life, to a greater, or lesser, or even catastrophic extent.

Everyday workers need to see prominent people in their own fields willing to open up and normalise these often transient and curable conditions too.

We need as many prominent Australians as possible, across business, industry and employers to be brave enough to not only commit to a more inclusive approach to the people they manage, but, ideally, to also be ready to show the face behind “the mask”.

@wtuohy

If you or someone you love is in crisis or needs support right now, help is available. Please call: Lifeline: 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636.