Featured Image – ‘In the last year painting has become a meditative way for me to support my mental health and reconnect with a creative side I pushed away for so long.’
This week is Canadian Mental Health Week put on by Canadian Mental Health Association, and this year’s theme is “Unmasking Mental Health”. This theme challenges us to look beyond surface appearances and truly see the people around us, including everything they may be carrying behind the metaphorical masks they wear.
Living with a mental health or substance use challenge is already hard enough. But for many, the burden is compounded by the need to mask: to hide their pain, pretend everything’s fine, and protect themselves from judgment, stigma, or discrimination. The heavier the stigma, the heavier the mask becomes, the more energy it requires to carry around and the more isolated people feel as a result.
This week has been used to raise awareness of that challenge and work to break those patterns. When we embrace honesty and vulnerability – whether it’s by sharing our own stories or simply showing compassion – we create the conditions for deeper connection, understanding, and healing.
What Masking Has Looked Like for Me
Before I ever had the language for mental health – before I knew words like “anxiety,” “depression,” or “ADHD” – I was already an expert at masking. It was something I learned very young as a way to protect myself and stay safe.
As a queer, racialized person, I grew up hyper-aware of how I was perceived. I learned early how to shape-shift to avoid judgment; to neutralize my voice, manage my emotions, and say yes when I really meant or wanted to say no. I worked hard to appear “put together,” even when I was sometimes quietly unraveling inside. I understand now that this wasn’t just about identity; it was about survival.
And as someone who’s always been ambitious, I carried an extra fear: that if people knew I struggled with my mental health, I wouldn’t be taken seriously. That I’d be seen as less capable, less reliable, especially in professional settings where I already felt immense pressure to prove myself. I worried that, as a queer person of colour, I had to be even more perfect to be seen as “good enough”.
That fear kept me quiet about my struggles for a long time.
Over time, though, I began to connect the dots. This lifelong pattern of masking contributed to persistent anxiety, depression and burnout. And when I was eventually diagnosed with ADHD, another layer came into focus. I started to see how much energy I had spent suppressing some of the very traits that made me different. Traits that, in many ways, were also strengths that I was hiding. Just to fit into a narrow idea of what a “good employee” looked like.
So when we talk about mental health, we also need to talk about the ways people are forced to hide; not just because of stigma around illness, but because of cultural and societal expectations, systemic bias, and the fear of being rejected. The truth is, many of us aren’t only managing our mental health, we’re managing how acceptable our mental health appears to others.
Unmasking Isn’t One Big Reveal. It’s a Daily Practice.
There’s this idea that unmasking is one big, bold moment: you come out with your story, and you’re free. But for most people I know, including myself, it doesn’t work that way.
Unmasking is a daily, often uncomfortable practice.
- It’s saying: “Actually, I’m struggling,” even when you’d rather pretend everything’s fine.
- It’s choosing to dress in a way that reflects your identity, even if you worry it’ll be “too much” for the room.
- It’s asking for accommodations at work instead of burning out in silence.
- It’s disclosing a diagnosis you used to hide, in hopes of receiving understanding rather than judgment.
- It’s bringing a same-sex partner to a family or work event.
- It’s choosing to bring up mental health during a team check-in. Not as a performance, but as an act of truth.
And every time we do it, especially as senior leaders or people with influence, we show up a little more honestly and give others permission to do the same.
Creating a Culture That Makes Unmasking Possible
Featured Image: “In the last year painting has become a meditative way for me to support my mental health and reconnect with a creative side I pushed away for so long.“
Unmasking is brave, but it shouldn’t have to be this hard. The more we talk about mental health in open, nuanced ways, the more we normalize the full range of human experience. We start to chip away at stigma, not just around specific diagnoses, but around the vast spectrum of differences we all carry as human beings.
This Mental Health Week, the invitation is simple: look beyond the mask. Ask better questions. Listen without judgment. Share your own story, even the messy parts.
Because when we start to see each other fully; beyond titles, beyond smiles, beyond coping strategies, we begin to build a culture of care. One where people feel less alone. One where mental health isn’t something we hide, but something we honour and understand as part of the human experience.
One Small Step Toward Connection
In today’s world, I think the thing we’re missing most is authentic connection. We’ve become so focused on how we come across on LinkedIn and Instagram, which awards we’ve won, how perfect our vacations look. But this week, I invite you to try one small act of unmasking.
Express the honest way you are feeling. Ask for the support. Let someone in.
Yes, it might feel scary. But it could also be the beginning of something liberating; not just for you, but for the people around you who are quietly waiting for permission to do the same.
