This World Mental Health Day, who’s looking after the comms team?
Every World Mental Health Day, charity comms teams fill our feeds with reminders to rest, check in on each other and ask for help.
We’re very good at telling everyone else to look after their mental health. We’re not always as good at doing it ourselves.
I learned that the hard way.
A few years ago, I burnt out in what I thought was my dream job. I was burnt out for weeks before I realised, and it took my coach naming it for me to see it. I said yes to everything, picked up work from roles we couldn't afford to replace, and scheduled posts from my sofa at night. Nobody around me could tell, and I thought that meant I was coping. It actually meant I'd got very good at hiding it.
So this World Mental Health Day, I'd like us to turn some of that care inwards.
Why mental health in charity comms needs more attention
We carry other people's stories, deadlines and crises. We read the cruel comments. We're often the first to hear it when someone needs help, or when someone's angry.
As the CharityComms wellbeing guide puts it:
"Just because it's not about you personally, doesn't mean that it's not internalised and won't impact your wellbeing."
And because we care about the cause, it's easy to keep pushing past our limits. But the cause doesn't need you to run yourself into the ground.
Three things to do this weekend
Take your own advice. Whatever your charity told its audience this week, whether that's to rest, talk to someone or take a break, do one of those things yourself.
Turn off push notifications. If it's urgent, someone will call. The comments will still be there on Monday.
Protect one thing in your diary next week. Lunch, a walk, leaving on time once a week. Something small that doesn't move. I didn't have one, and I think it could have made a real difference.
How charity managers can support their comms team
Start your next one-to-one with "how are you?" before "where are we with…?"
If someone opens up, your job isn't to fix it. It's to make it safe for them to keep talking. "Thank you for telling me" goes a long way. "Everyone's stretched right now" doesn't.
And ask twice. "I'm fine, thanks" is usually an autopilot answer.
Burnout in comms isn't a personal failing
If you're struggling, you probably don't need more resilience or better time management. More often, you need clearer priorities, fewer last-minute requests and your expertise to be trusted. Burnout is usually a systems problem, and comms teams tend to feel it first.
So if any of this sounds familiar: you're not failing. You're doing too much, for too long, with too little support.
Mental Health UK has free resources on burnout, and Samaritans are there any time on 116 123. The CharityComms wellbeing guide is worth bookmarking too, especially if you want to make the case for better support where you work.
Look after yourselves this weekend. You spend all year looking after everyone else's messages.
