'I went from being head of HR at a mental health hospital to becoming a patient'

In 2020, Natasha Bowman was riding high. A successful head of HR, sought-after lecturer, acclaimed author - she was even named as a Top 30 Global Guru. And, for a while, it seemed like the world was her oyster.

Then the pandemic hit and pulled the rug right from under her.

“March 2020, the lights turned all the way off,” Bowman tells HRD. “All my projects and speaking opportunities dried up – but my brain, the brain that had been so active for so long, didn’t know how to stop. I didn’t know how not to do things. It felt like I lost my identity along with my professional work. And that was really hard to handle.”

From diagnosis to self-stigmatization

After the murder of George Floyd, Bowman’s professional career picked up again – organizations were keen to launch more diversity training and have active conversations around race and equity. But Bowman’s mind was stuck in a really strange place.

“I didn’t want to be married,” she tells HRD. “Even though I’d been happily married for years. I didn’t want to be a mother anymore – I was hanging around with strangers, giving out large sums of money. Then one day, the light bulb just came back on I returned to normality, but I didn't really know what that was. And that was very scary for me. Who was that person? Why did that happen? How did that happen? I fell into a very, very deep depression realizing all the damage I’d done and everything I could have lost.”

Bowman’s marriage was saved – but she was still down. And in January 2021, she attempted to take her own life.

“I woke up in an inpatient facility and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The real irony is that I was hospitalized at the sister facility of where I was head of HR. So the leaders of the hospital I was institutionalized at were also the leaders of my workplace.”

After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Bowman started stigmatizing herself – convinced that she wouldn’t be seen as that competent, capable person she once was. After struggling with her own internal monologue for a time, Bowman eventually confided in her mental health professional.

“I’ll never forget what they told me,” says Bowman. “They said that I’d probably had this diagnosis for at least 20 years – and that everything I accomplished I did so with the bipolar. Nothing has really changed. After hearing that, and doing more research on my condition and mental health issues in general, I learned that there’s plenty of people with diagnoses that are fully thriving.”

Addressing mental health in a meaningful way

Bowman’s decision to share her story wasn’t an easy one – making it all the more poignant. While a lot of employers talk the talk on mental health, fewer walk the walk. According to data from Time to Change, 30% of people who have a mental health issue say they’d find it difficult to publicly attest to it.

After Bowman’s story went viral, a lot of individuals reached out to applaud her bravery and candidness. More worryingly, people would say that they wished they could be as courageous in revealing their own diagnosis, but were terrified of what their employer would think.

“I kept hearing that over and over again,” she tells HRD. “It caused me to reflect on my experience of being in HR - how we’d not been cultivating an open culture for mental wellness, how we’d not been creating safe spaces for people to talk about their mental health. So that became my new mission – to work with organizations to create authentic, phycological safety – ensuring people have the resources and benefits to make a real difference.”

Changing the narrative on psychological wellbeing

And, as Bowman points out, mental health support is no longer a nice-to-have perk – it’s an absolute, strategic necessity.

“Whenever there’s a crisis, the corporate training kicks in,” says Bowman. “When the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, organizations were focused on sexual harassment guidelines. When George Floyd was murdered, the onus was put on diversity initiatives. After the pandemic, people are more set on mental health – with employers concerned their teams were spiraling towards a crisis point. I don’t want to see this mental health focus die off – employers need to keep up that momentum and let their people know that it really is okay not to be okay.”

And investing in mental wellbeing isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s certified business gold.

“There is definitely a strong correlation between mental wellbeing and the success of an organization,” says Bowman. “We've got to continue to emphasize that, making that correlation through data and any other qualitative ways we can – especially in remote work.”

With more and more people opting to work from home, identifying employees that are struggling is made that much harder.

“The feelings of isolation in remote work can lead to mental health issues,” says Bowman. “However, so too does working in a toxic environment and experiencing microaggressions. Unfortunately, that’s one of the main reasons people are quitting in their droves – to search for a better working environment free from toxic managers.

“Now, organizations are waking up to the importance of risk assessment in promoting psychological safety at work. What strategies work best? How can they leverage these tools to make the most impact?

“Telling my own story, explaining the stigma I faced after my diagnosis, the workplace and societal sigma, it helps others have the courage to share their own story. And that really drives change both on an individual and organizational level.”