Meet Caroline Ribeiro-Nelson

Interview

Caroline is the founder of The Free Choices | Diverse Mental Health, a group of highly dedicated mental health, inclusion & well-being professionals supporting businesses to effectively deal with these challenges.

They recognise that, in order for people, relationships and businesses to thrive, a positive culture of diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), mental health and well-being needs to exist, in which its leadership, management and employees are fully included, engaged and supported.

We spoke to Caroline about some very current challenges in the workplace and what it would take to tackle them. Mental Health & DEI are tough issues to talk about and to deal with. “But talk about and deal with we must, if we are to bring about any meaningful and significant progress.” 

Discover our interview with her.

1. You have been working with businesses for 25 years aiming to improve our mental health & well-being culture. It looks like the topic has gained more ground over the past few years, but where would you say businesses are in this area today from your perspective? And would you say there is a shift accelerating more now?

Yes, certainly over the past few years, we cannot have failed to have recognized the growing interest in the promotion of mental health awareness and strategies. All part of the movement to instigate positive change in our mental health perspective and status. There is definitely more media coverage, bolstered by world prominent figures and members of the British Royal Family and celebrities speaking out. All of this accompanied with a rise in mental health advocates and charities, as well as people sharing their personal experience.  

It is clear that many businesses have begun to recognize the significance and impact that poor mental health and ill health have on our human functioning, productivity, economic development, community relations and happiness. This is particularly in light of what we have experienced during the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have witnessed higher levels of poor mental health, which inevitably reduces an employee’s and business’s ability to perform at their best level.

In response, organisations have seen a rise in positions with a focus on well-being or happiness. However, these moves have often tended to be added on to other roles, such as Human Resources, Health & Safety or Diversity and Inclusion. I see a number of major problems here, namely, that the employees taking on this additional role and responsibility may not be mental health or well-being professionals. Therefore, they may lack appropriate knowledge and skills to develop adequate or effective strategies to meet the needs of their workforce. Another difficulty is that these strategies also tend to be piecemeal in nature, rather than a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach, which is connected throughout the organization and embedded in the company culture.

Although the development of a more open and positive perspective on mental health is encouraging, we have a long way to go yet. Businesses require a greater transformation, involving the implementation of qualified professionals, adequate support structures, relevant collaborative partnerships, along with long-term and comprehensive mental health & well-being strategies. 

2. Getting to mentally healthy, diverse & inclusive cultures still needs a lot of work to make it truly happen in our everyday realities. Why would you say changes are so slow or difficult to make and how do you approach working with businesses to create that type of culture with them?

Culture change is challenging, however when it comes to creating mentally healthy, diverse and inclusive cultures, this is particularly tough. Here we are dealing with a number of extremely complex issues. We are confronted with the powerful stigma associated to mental health, along with the pervasive discrimination, abuse, inequity and injustice faced by women and people from certain diverse backgrounds / groups. This situation has been formed through an enduring cultural and historical progression, which has become deeply rooted from children and over centuries. As a consequence, this has become psychologically embedded in our behaviour and mindset. All of which is sustained through, strong social, economic and political processes and institutional structures.

These present both huge barriers and provoke strong resistance, primarily due to the fact that this situation is upheld by the dominant (White, Male, Heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon) culture, who have a vested interest in the continuation of the status quo. Change then means a fundamental shift in the dismantling of its destructive structures, the unlearning of negative and harmful mindsets and behaviour and the development of a new way of interacting. 

Psychological safety plays a big part in this. People need to be safe in talking about and engaging in these issues, without fear of judgement, being penalised or losing out. This of course is an immense and difficult challenge, which requires time, long- term investment, resources, strong leadership and genuine commitment.  Unfortunately, to date much of this has been lacking.  

I don’t claim to have all the answers, however what is clear to me is that our mental health is strongly connected to the status of our diversity, equity and inclusion. Increasing evidence reveals, that women and people from diverse backgrounds face adverse societal factors, which are detrimental to their mental health & well-being. These factors, have been prevalent throughout history and stem from aspects of abuse, violence, discrimination, inequity related to: a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, physical or developmental ability, sexual orientation / identity, religion, class, economic status, age and others factors of diversity.

My Diverse Mental Health Approach then addresses the inextricable link between our mental health and the status of these DEI factors. I work with individuals and businesses in understanding this crucial connection, along with developing well-being strategies and psychologically safe work cultures, which support better health, greater engagement, increased productivity and constructive relationships.

Cultural change is challenging

when it comes to creating mentally healthy, diverse and inclusive cultures, this is particularly tough

3. We talked together about burnout and I wanted to touch base on this topic too as many times working under high, permanent stress seems to be totally normalised or even glorified, sadly, which is the antithesis of well-being. Last year Covid has also exacerbated anxiety in a lot of people. What would be your advice in recognising and approaching the signs of burnout?

First, I think it is important to understand that burnout is not a medical diagnosis. It is a severe work-related stress condition characterised by extreme emotional, mental and physical exhaustion. This is accompanied by a deep loss of motivation or interest, feelings of hopelessness, cynicism, self-doubt, failure, helplessness and resentment. Burnout is not something that just happens, this builds up overtime and becomes progressively worse. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly made our work lives more stressful, we need to recognise that this has been a traumatic event, which has led to heightened stress, fear and anxiety. Therefore, recognising and responding to the signs of burnout and the impact of the pandemic, as early as possible is crucial to how well we are able to cope.

Important things to look out for would be consistent signs lasting more than 4-6 weeks of symptoms such as: tiredness, anxiety, low mood, irritability, as well as physical indications such as headaches, stomach problems and high blood pressure. You mentioned stress becoming glorified, we can see these mindsets and behaviour with people who feel overwhelmed or pushed to their limits, yet believe that continuing to deal with the situation is a show of great strength or achievement. This merely serves to damage our health. Caring for our health and building resilience can be found in regular self-care, reacting before we reach our limits, as well as setting personal and professional boundaries.

4. I have the feeling that one of the only and perhaps most impactful ways to truly move things forward when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion is by giving a voice to people suffering from discrimination and hearing their stories. We are all humans and when that type of emotional connection happens, as it happened last year through the Black Lives Matter movement for instance, it opens doors and creates motion that nobody can ignore which can be an incredible trigger for growth. Would you agree and what would you say we can do to better understand each other?

I would have to say that I partially agree. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement had a strong impact on raising awareness around the long-standing racism, abuse, discrimination, inequity and injustice faced by Black people. However, we can now see that this momentum and much of the pledged commitment for change has significantly decreased. We have also seen an increase in discussions about race along with people sharing their lived experience. This has been helpful in developing more awareness of the existing issues. Openly talking, reflecting on one’s bias, confronting discomfort and one’s role in the perpetration and continuation of racist and restrictive systems are positive first steps. This is something we need to continue to do. Needless to say, it takes much more than this to transform internalised destructive attitudes, negative feelings, early learned behaviour and to dismantle old and harmful structures.

If individuals, health services and businesses want real and meaningful change, then we need to understand and address the strong relationship between people’s mental health and the status of their equity, inclusion and diversity within our culture. This means fully supporting everyone, in considering the specific issues and impact of the problems related to trauma, inequity, exclusion, injustice and discrimination.

change means a fundamental shift

dismantling destructive structures, unlearning negative and harmful mindsets and behaviour and developing a new way of interacting

5. Talking of diversity and inclusivity, I loved one of your recent posts when you described a lot of people ‘groups’ who may more likely suffer from a lack of inclusivity. There would be many we could mention such as older age groups for example who may become ‘unwanted’ all of a sudden in the workplace. It can be a real stigma, I have witnessed this so many times and I don’t think we talk enough about it because it can really impact people’s mental health and lived experiences. How can we recognise better the value of diversity and what various people can bring to the table?

I think that the real value of diversity cannot be fully realised, until we develop a truly inclusive, equitable and respectful perspective for the experience, knowledge and skills of everyone from diverse backgrounds. For this to be achieved, it is essential to listen to different viewpoints, invest in diverse communities, dismantle restrictive systems, along with the provision of adequate resources and support (social, economic, political, psychological and physical). This is a long and challenging process, which requires courage, commitment and conviction.

There is also a need to develop safe diverse cultures, where people are not judged or penalised and where this is not just the norm, but acts  as a catalyst for learning, problem solving, building inclusive systems, as well as promoting the expression of our uniqueness and human creativity. 

My moto is “Good mental health needs good diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)”

We now require the implementation of more adequately funded support services and effective collaborative, long-term strategies involving the tackling of deep-rooted stigma, removing negative stereotypes, dismantling detrimental systems, addressing the lack of resources and discrimination associated with poor mental health and mental illness. These are all necessary if we are to create a more productive, safer and inclusively diverse society, in which people and workplaces can benefit and thrive.

Author: Ingrid Lung | Interview with Caroline Ribeiro-Nelson

Website: Free Choices