System Change or Self-Help? Why We’re Aiming Too Small on Mental Health
Let’s be honest: if yoga, journaling, and breathing apps were enough, we’d be there by now.
We're already halfway through Mental Health Month, and it's a powerful reminder to pause, reflect, and re-commit to mental wellness - and yet, year after year, the conversation so often circles back to individual coping. To self-care tips. To mindfulness challenges. To “just reach out” messaging.
It’s not that these are bad things. It’s that they’re incomplete.
We’ve over-indexed on the individual. We’ve placed the burden of mental health on the very people trying to survive the conditions causing the distress.
If we want to make meaningful strides in mental health - in our workplaces, communities, and country - we have to stop pretending that personal resilience is a substitute for systemic responsibility.
The Problem Isn’t a Lack of Grit
Workforce burnout isn’t happening because people aren’t trying hard enough.
It’s happening because workloads are unsustainable, psychological safety is lacking, and trauma goes unacknowledged or unmanaged.
We’re asking employees to manage stress while ignoring the structures that create it.
A construction worker is told to “speak up” while working under a supervisor who retaliates.
A project manager is sent to wellness training and returns to chronic short-staffing.
A teacher is gifted a mindfulness app but carries 32 students and has no prep time.
This isn’t a self-care issue. It’s a systems design issue.
When We Focus Solely on the Individual…
We reinforce the idea that struggling is a personal failure, not a response to an unwell environment.
We send the message that mental health is a solo journey, rather than a shared responsibility.
We risk gaslighting people into thinking that if they can’t meditate their way out of burnout, they’re the problem.
That’s not resilience. That’s avoidance.
What Systemic Mental Health Looks Like
Systemic change means building environments that support, not sabotage, well-being. It means moving from one-off initiatives to embedded practices. From posters to policies.
Here’s what it can look like in practice:
Trauma-informed cultures and leaders: Build organizational processes and systems that are trauma-informed. Create a culture that understands the prevalence of trauma, its impact, and seeks to minimize harm. Training managers to recognize stress responses, hold space for hard conversations, pull in the right resources, and support recovery, not just performance.
Realistic workloads and timelines: Because no amount of meditation can fix chronic overwork.
Clear repair pathways: When harm happens, what happens next? How do people know they’re safe to speak up?
Paid time off that’s usable: Not just a policy on paper, but a culture that respects rest. (I'm looking at your 'Unlimited PTO' that no one is taking)
Equity and inclusion baked into a wellbeing strategy: Because mental health is profoundly shaped by identity, access, and belonging.
Let’s Be Bold
If you’re in a leadership seat, this is your moment to do more than repost inspirational quotes or sponsor a wellness webinar.
Ask better questions:
How are we unintentionally causing harm here?
What expectations are driving burnout in our culture?
Who benefits from the current system — and who is paying the cost?
We don’t build resilience through platitudes. We build it through courage, accountability, and systemic repair.
Final Thought
This Mental Health Month, let’s honor the truth that resilience is not an individual act. It’s a collective outcome of the environments we shape, the policies we uphold, and the choices we make together.
It’s time to think bigger than self-care. It’s time to build systems that care.