In the current fast-paced environment, building a career is not just about reaching the top of the corporate ladder or achieving financial success. It's about creating a professional life that also supports your mental well-being. Mental health is becoming a global issue, and it is crucial to pay attention to how your work environment, daily tasks, and long-term goals relate to your mental health. Whether you are a student entering the job market or a mid-career professional reflecting on your career, this blog is designed to inspire you to develop a rewarding and mentally sustainable career through actionable tasks and tools such as SkilTrak to support you along the way.
Why Mental Health Should Be a Priority in Your Career
Mental health affects how we think, feel, and behave in our daily lives. It has an impact on productivity, creativity, relationships, and, in some cases, physical health. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 15% of working adults have a mental disorder. It is important to find ways to rethink career paths.
Work-life balance, toxic work environments, job insecurity, and purpose are a few things that can negatively impact mental health. On the other hand, a career path that is nourishing for your mental health.
Understanding the Connection Between Work and Mental Health
Now let's go through how your job impacts your mental health precisely:
• Culture: A toxic culture at work increases feelings of stress, anxiety, and burnout.
• Job Role: If you are in a job that is repetitive or does not challenge you enough, it can lead to feelings of frustration or depression.
• Workload and Hours: Heavy coming and going, or heavy workloads, especially outside your regular hours, can interfere with your sleep, nutrition, rest, and well-being.
• Job Security: An ongoing feeling of potential layoffs or of contract expiration (for example) becomes chronic stress.
• Purpose and Passion: If you are in a line of work that does not align with your interests and values, it will lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and disconnection.
This implies that when you begin to think about your career about your mental health, you are not trying to avoid challenges, you are trying to find valuable work in an environment that is supportive of your mental health and where you are put first.
Step by Step: Creating a Mentally Healthy Career
1. Get to know yourself: Figure out what you value most
Before you embark on any career, ask yourself the following:
• Values: What causes, missions, or industries reflect your values?
• Skills: What are you naturally good at, or want to learn more about?
• Interests: What work energises or excites you instead of draining you?
Start self-reflecting and identify career mismatches to avoid workplace stress.
2. Choose workplaces that support well-being.
Good mental health comes from companies that offer:
• Psychological Safety
• Open communication
• Mental health policy (i.e., counselling support, mental health days)
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Reasonable workloads (work-life balance) and flexible arrangements
Ask during interviews:
• What kind of mental health supports does your organisation have?
• What is your approach to work-life balance?
• What is your work-from-home policy, or your policy on mental health days?
Don't trade your peace of mind for a pay cheque.
3. Flexible and Lifelong Learning
Mental well-being increases when we feel in control, and flexible work options (time, location, or responsibilities) reduce stress due to rigidity.
Additionally, careers that allow for lifelong learning are more rewarding for our minds. They promote mind-challenging experiences, support self-confidence, and create exciting new directions.
SkilTrak provides flexible student placements where learning, upskilling, and options are offered through an innovative platform that allows the user to track their goals, connect with mentors, and professional development that aligns with their learning style and pace.
4. Learn to say no!
Burnout does not only stem from poor leadership. Sometimes it’s from never knowing when to stop.
• Don’t take on more than you can handle.
• Protect your time outside of work hours.
• Learn to say no, don’t feel guilty about it.
• Respect rest time the same way you would respect productive time.
Bear in mind that saying yes to everything that comes along with your career might lead you to success, but success may result in emotional depletion, too.
5. Concentrate on purpose, not prestige
Most people aim for high-paying, high-pressure job options, believing that it will lead to happiness. Research suggests that meaningful work has greater benefits for our mental health than a salary.
Ask yourself this:
• Will the work I am doing help others' lives or help something larger than myself?
• Do I feel good about what I am doing every day?
• Are my opinions aligned with the mission or culture of my employer?
With SkilTrak, student placements are individualised and tailored not only by the skill level, but also by the passion and goals of the student. The goal of SkilTrak is to facilitate students finding personal meaning early in their careers.
6. Invest in Mental Health Literacy
Learning the basics of mental health makes it much easier to recognise the signs of distress in yourself and others.
• Complete courses on emotional intelligence and stress management.
• Learn about burnout, anxiety, and toxic stress.
• Encourage your peers and colleagues to do the same.
Many organisations and education providers are starting to incorporate mental health literacy and awareness into workforce training, quite rightly.
SkilTrak advocates for emotional intelligence training in its placements, for the benefit of subsequent community services, education support, and allied health students.
7. Obtain Support through Mentoring
The support of a mentor or mental health coach can make a significant difference in your life! Do not attempt to make difficult career choices without help.
To get the support you need, consider reaching out to:
1. Career counselors
2. Workplace wellness officers
3. Industry mentors
4. Mental health professionals
Peer support groups can also be a valuable resource to help you on your journey! When a student is referred through SkilTrak, they benefit from not only being placed in an industry-aligned role but also being assigned a professional mentor. The mentor helps students during their transition, addresses their mental health concerns, and assists them in building resilience.
8. Utilise Technology Purposefully
Remote work is hard. It has blurred the lines of our personal and professional worlds. Be mindful of when you:
• Log off every day at a fixed time
• Turn notifications off after hours
• Spend screen time more than you need to
• Utilise productivity applications in ways that promote wellness
For example, SkilTrak's mobile platform encourages students to track tasks, feedback, and messaging within one space but also promotes balance by streamlining check-ins and reducing digital overwhelm!
9. Plan for Progress and Not Just Survival
Don’t just plan to survive - plan to thrive.
• Where do you want to be in 5 years?
• What kinds of tasks make you feel alive?
• Are there jobs that include pieces of what you love to do and that pay you appropriately?
Jobs that support mental health can change with your personality and life changes. I encourage you to be flexible and take time to periodically reassess what your goals are.
10. Celebrate the Small Things
Mental health is mostly supported through action, but not only in the form of externally imposed structures. Action can be supported by internal habits. I suggest that you be sure to:
• Recognise progress (not just results)
• Acknowledge your work
• Keep a gratitude journal
• Assess the event, what is working, and what is not
Success is an entire journey. Be proud of how far you have come, and not just how far you still have to go.
SkilTrak: Mental health enabled through positive placements
SkilTrak began as a connection between students and the working world. It has developed into a lot more than just a placement platform; it is the mental wellness enabler.
Here's how:
✅ Student-Focused Placements: Customised positions based on unique values, learning styles, and goals
✅ Mentorship & Learning Check-Ins: Nurturing ecosystem with feedback and mentoring
✅ Holistic Growth: Stimulates emotional, social, and intellectual growth
✅ Flexible Opportunities: Variety of work placements in community services, education, health, and business, regularly offering hybrid or flexible employment
✅ Mental Health Awareness: Workshops and resources to teach resilience and create emotional intelligence
SkilTrak promotes that students are not only gaining work experience, but can build careers of mental, emotional, and social well-being.
Choose Growth That Matters to You
Your mental health is not a luxury - it is the starting point of a purposeful life and fulfilling career. When considering your path, don’t just ask “How much can I earn?” ask “Will I be well?”
Building a career that fosters your mental health includes:
• Knowing your values
• Finding flexibility and purpose
• Avoiding toxic environments
• Establishing the mindset to say no and understand your boundaries
• Seeking mentorship and community
• Finding support systems like SkilTrak
You are not building a résumé, you are building a life - choose wisely, and choose yourself along the way.
