Five Reasons Leaders Find It Hard To Seek Support
Posted on February 24, 2025 by Menah Raven-Ellison, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Leaders often neglect their own well-being, risking burnout and stress. Here are five reasons why seeking support is hard—and why it’s essential.
Are you a leader who struggles to seek support for your mental health and wellbeing?
If so, it’ll come as no surprise that people in leadership positions are not always best at prioritising their own needs. So much so, you’re at greater risk of stress, burnout and a range of mental health problems. These sentiments are acutely relevant for those in the pursuit of social and environmental change.
So why is this so hard? Here are five reasons why – have a read and see how many you can relate to.
1. Not investing in yourself
We’re always told to “put our oxygen mask on first, before helping others”, and warned that “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. It makes good sense to ‘fill your own cup’ in order to be of continued benefit to society, others and the environment. However, being on the coalface of urgent, local and global challenges over time can model the prioritisation of external factors at the expense of your own health. Diverting investment away from personal resources can ultimately mean being less effective too in the long run.
2. The vicious cycle of burnout and mental ill health
If you’re working to effect positive social and environmental change, burnout and mental ill health are well known risks. Whilst this work is often highly enriching, it can also be pretty intense and stressful. You may be subject to high expectations when it comes to outcome and performance and face great economic, social and political pressures, not least uncertain funding and high staff turnover. Sadly the red flags of burnout (emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and depersonalization) and common mental health problems like anxiety and depression, may further undermine your capacity to seek the help you need.
3. Your cultural values and priorities
In your quest to make a positive difference, you’ll likely hold a commendable set of values. However, whilst serving as a motivational driver, leaders with high ethical standards and self-sacrifice can work excessively long hours, neglect their own needs and always put others first. This can mean getting in your own way to receiving needed support. It’s worth developing a tool kit that helps you to prioritise your mental health. This may also model and shape a healthier, work-based culture to others.
4. Lack of resources
You may feel that personal and financial resource constraints are limiting your willingness to take time for self-care. Nonetheless, time off sick only compounds resource constraints at every level. How many of us have covered for colleagues who are signed off for work-related stress and experienced the additional pressures this brings? Protecting time for preemptive self-care, and the timely treatment of mental health difficulties, may actually replenish and sustain resources in the longer term.
5. Not having the skills you need
Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (1989), champions the importance of self-renewal and self-care before assisting others. He describes a woodcutter, labouring painfully to cut down a tree – too busy to notice his saw is blunt and pause to sharpen it. We all need to sharpen our physical, social, emotional, spiritual and psychological tools, but this remains especially true for those in leadership positions. Self-awareness takes practice, and you may feel you need support to recognise your own signs of mental health issues and know when you need support.
If any of this feels relevant, you’re not alone and there is support available. Feel to reach out to me to see how I we can work together.
