In most workplaces, when someone starts struggling with their mental health, it rarely begins in a way that’s easy to recognise.
There isn’t usually a clear moment where something is said outright, and it’s rarely something that immediately feels serious or urgent in the way people sometimes expect it to be.
More often, it starts much more quietly than that, like a change in someone’s behaviour or a shift in their energy. Something that feels slightly different to how they usually are, but not necessarily something you can easily put your finger on in the moment.
And I think this is where many managers first find themselves noticing that something doesn’t feel quite right, even if they can’t explain exactly what’s changed.
It doesn’t always look the way you’d expect
The difficulty with this is that early signs don’t tend to present themselves in a neat or obvious way. They’re rarely labelled, and they don’t usually arrive as something you can easily point to. Instead, they tend to show up in the small, day-to-day moments of working life.
For example:
- Someone who is usually quite engaged in meetings might become a little quieter than usual.
- A team member who is typically reliable may start to miss deadlines they would normally meet without issue.
- Or maybe attendance patterns begin to shift slightly over time in a way that feels different from their usual routine.
On their own, none of these things necessarily mean something is wrong. But when you start to see them together, or over a period of time, they can begin to suggest that something has changed for that person.
What managers tend to notice first
When managers look back on situations like this, they rarely talk about formal signs or defined indicators.
They talk about people. About someone not quite being themselves, and about a sense that something felt different, even if it wasn’t immediately obvious what it was. Less engagement than usual. A bit more withdrawal. Or simply a change in presence that doesn’t quite align with how that person normally is at work.
These are often the first moments where awareness begins to build, even if the next step isn’t always clear.
Why this matters
It’s really important not to jump to conclusions in situations like this, because there are often many different reasons why someone’s behaviour or performance might change.
What is helpful, though, is being able to recognise when something feels different, rather than explaining it away too quickly in isolation. Because in many cases, the pressures people are carrying don’t necessarily start in the workplace, but the workplace is often where those pressures first begin to show. So this becomes less about trying to identify a cause, and more about being aware of change over time.
A closing thought
Most managers aren’t missing these moments because they don’t care. It’s usually because the early signs are subtle, and when you see them day to day it isn’t always obvious how much weight they might be carrying.
And over time, it’s often the patterns, not the individual moments, that start to tell the fuller story.
SUPPORTING MANAGERS TO RESPOND WITH CONFIDENCE.
This is something that sits at the heart of our Mental Health Awareness Training for Managers Course — helping managers feel more confident in recognising those early changes and understanding how to respond appropriately when they do appear in the workplace.
The focus isn’t on turning managers into mental health experts. It’s about giving them practical, real-world confidence to handle situations they are increasingly likely to encounter as part of their role, and helping them feel better equipped to support people while maintaining healthy workplace boundaries.
If you’re interested in creating a more confident and supportive approach to workplace wellbeing within your organisation, I’d be happy to have a conversation about how the training works and whether it might be a good fit for your team.
