Managing mental health and grief as a young professional

Written by Molly Fellows

The irony of writing a blog post about dealing with mental health as a young professional when just a few weeks ago I was ugly crying to my colleagues and grappling with the third anniversary of my Dad's death is really not lost on me. Spoiler alert – I have not found a magic button to solve all my problems. My mental health is not all sunshine and rainbows but I am keen to share my experiences so others feel less alone in theirs.

Managing your mental health as a young professional is HARD. It's hard because we have consumed an unrealistic ideal that we should always be hungry, driven and eager to get stuck in (I blame LinkedIn culture). Don't get me wrong they are all valuable skills for a person starting out in their career to have however, we seem to forget that it is often during the lowest ebbs of our mental health struggles that we learn the biggest skills. Hello resilience, empathy and emotional intelligence.

For me, my lowest came in 2021 just 2 months into my long-awaited training contract (solicitor lingo for 2 years of training on the job), when my Dad died and then 6 weeks later my Grandma. Two bereavements in such a short space of time is not only medal-worthy but it also forced me to reassess my priorities and how I was supporting my own mental health.

As an employment lawyer, I am always championing employers to build a supportive and inclusive workforce where employees can bring their whole selves to work – dead Dad stuff and all. Young professionals sometimes forget that includes them too! We are such assets to organisations (and ultimately their future leaders) so why not understand from the start of our careers the importance of practicing good mental health?

You'll have gathered from reading this that my emotions and grief in particular are not topics I shy away from talking about but for some people talking and sharing will fill them with dread and that's perfectly okay. We all have our own ways of handling our mental health and I want to encourage you to explore what yours is.

Annoyingly the clichéd tips like regular exercise and developing a good sleeping pattern all work for improving mental health. I am not saying you should be running marathons and drinking horrible green smoothies (just because it was the London Marathon recently doesn’t mean you're obliged to start Couch to 5k again). But what I am saying is instead of feeling the pressure to work intense/nocturnal hours, prove your worth and have your whole life in order, be kinder to yourself. Go get yourself a glass of water, take a deep breath of fresh air and allow yourself to see the value-added service in managing your mental health.