Struggling?

An email invitation has arrived in my inbox, a webinar for educators struggling with their mental health.

'Struggling with mental health' has become a bit of a nonsense catchphrase, something I've become more and more aware of over the last two years teaching First Aid for Mental Health. I struggle with the phrasing.

The Oxford Languages online dictionary used by Google defines 'striving to achieve or attain something in the face of difficulty or resistance'. We 'fight' physical disease, do we really merely 'struggle' with mental health?

The implication seems to be that the responsibility is wholly on the individual to put a bit of effort into their 'struggle' and that any failing in their mental health is due to their failure to will themselves well through the magical medium of 'struggle'.

Impossible workloads, work-related stress, assaults in the workplace, and biological causes of mental illness, seem to be minor influences on mental health in comparison to the perceived ability to, through sheer force of willpower, attain an above-average level of health for all individuals.

Language is important. Focussing on the individual rather than the external factors which influence mental health handily transfers all responsibility away from institutions and onto the individual.