The quiet struggle: Leaving a job I love to care for my family and mental health (workforce.org)

The struggle to maintain mental health is a universal experience in the American workplace. Before the pandemic, one in four American workers had been diagnosed with depression[1] and one in three reported having experienced some form of depression[2]. This is even more relevant in this current crisis.

As February comes to a close, we are approaching 12 months of the battle against COVID-19 and the upending of what work, safety or even community looks like. We are bombarded daily with stats on infections and lives and jobs lost, but even that does not show us the full picture.

What is often unspoken, and likely not fully understood, is the mental toll, which cuts across sectors, business size, geography and even socio-demographic statistics. If we are honest, we are waging a war on three fronts—physical, financial and emotional—and winning will require not just successful vaccines, stimulus packages, and widespread equity and inclusion, but a new approach to supporting and developing our workers.

Job loss is forcing workers to make tough decisions between providing for basic needs and putting their own health at risk to generate an income. Racial and gender inequities place extreme burden on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) individuals, often forcing them to carry the weight for broken and fractured systems. Women and mothers have also been hard-hit by unemployment during the pandemic and have been expected to fill the child care gaps created by school closures.

The mental toll of this crisis is not reserved for those who have lost work or even loved ones. It shows up in surprising ways, such as guilt that we are still working or able to pay bills when others are not, pressure to minimize Zoom appearances of children or pets lest we seem unprofessional or uncommitted, embarrassment at letting others down or leaving things unfinished, concern when taking leave that we are being left behind, fear that we are not doing enough to help or protect others, physical sickness, and even terror at saying out loud that we are not okay.