Putting the Best Minds on the Hardest Matters
October 24, 2025 | Communications, World Mental Health Day, healthcare communications
Mental wellbeing is a defining challenge in health communications. High workloads, constant connectivity and leadership gaps are driving widespread burnout, with serious impacts on creativity, productivity and retention.
Minds on Matters, a new initiative from Fox&Cat and the HCA, aims to move the industry from awareness to action. By spotlighting practical solutions and expert insights, it supports a healthier, more sustainable future for health communications professionals.
Across industries, mental wellbeing has become one of the defining challenges of modern work. In health communications, we work at the intersection of science, creativity and urgency. Yet in the drive to deliver more, faster, many professionals are being quietly depleted by the very systems designed to achieve impact.
The World Health Organization estimates that 12 billion workdays are lost each year to depression and anxiety. Within health communications, studies suggest that high workloads, lack of rest and constant digital connection are among the strongest predictors of stress and burnout. Recent research shows that three-quarters of professionals experience regular symptoms of burnout, and one in three feel unable to disconnect from work.
After years of talking about wellbeing, the problem is no longer awareness, it’s action. Research across health communications shows that unmanaged stress can reduce productivity by up to a quarter and double absenteeism rates. It also erodes creativity and innovation which are the very things our profession depends on.
If we accept that burnout is structural, then the solutions must be, too. Tackling stress effectively requires the same depth of thinking and cross-disciplinary expertise we bring to client challenges. Psychology, behavioural science, leadership coaching and data analytics all have a role to play. From positive psychology we know that celebrating progress and meaning, not just endurance, fosters resilience. The challenge is consistency.
Cultures that balance ambition with appreciation perform better and stay healthier. Recognition schemes, flexible work models and peer-to-peer gratitude programmes have been shown to boost morale and retention. These examples remind us that improving mental health isn’t about grand gestures but alignment: leaders who listen, teams who communicate honestly, and systems that make balance possible.
If health communications is to continue attracting the brightest minds, it must lead by example – treating wellbeing as an operational priority. The leaders performing best are already reframing the conversation from burnout to balance, proving that wellbeing and performance are interdependent, not opposing forces.
Solving this challenge won’t happen overnight, but progress begins when we apply our best thinking to the hardest matters: the human ones.
That belief sits behind Minds on Matters – our new partnership with the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA), created to help our profession move from awareness to action. Over the next year, it will bring together experts and peers to explore the leading causes of stress in our industry and, crucially, share examples of what’s working. By highlighting practical solutions and positive change, it aims to help turn intention into improvement, supporting healthier people, workplaces and outcomes across health communications.
This content was provided by Fox&Cat
Company Details
Latest Content from Fox&Cat
Addressing the Mental Health Strain in Communications
As stress and burnout rise across UK communications, Fox&Cat’s Under the Tree sessions—now evolved into Minds on Matters—show how structured, skills-based support can reduce pressure and rebuild healthier working habits.
Putting the Best Minds on the Hardest Matters
Mental wellbeing is a defining challenge in health communications. High workloads, constant connectivity and leadership gaps are driving widespread burnout, with serious impacts on creativity, productivity and retention. Minds on...
From Burnout to Balance: New Campaign Focuses on the ‘Matters’ that are Really Affecting Our ‘Minds’ in Health Communications
Launched on World Mental Health Day, Minds on Matters aims to highlight mental wellbeing challenges while showcasing practical solutions and positive change
Why Health Comms Teams Can’t Afford to Skip the Mid-Year Review
New McKinsey and Gartner data show that organisations who regularly reset strategy can outperform peers by up to 60%. In fast-moving health communications, the mid-year review is a crucial but...
Why Generic Pharma Companies Need a Comms Partner That Thinks & Works Like They Do
Generics account for 81% of U.K. primary care prescriptions but just 28% of NHS medicines spending, delivering significant value under growing financial pressures. However, persistent pricing challenges and supply chain...
Beyond The Hype: What AI Really Means For Health Communications
While AI is reshaping frontline healthcare at pace—spotting cancers, triaging patients, and summarising records—its uptake in health communications remains tentative. Agencies are experimenting behind the scenes, but real integration is...
From Noise to Impact: Why Simplicity Is The Health Communicator’s Most Powerful Tool
Clear health communication has never been more critical, as shown by the 2025 surge in ADHD self-diagnoses in the UK, driven by misleading social media content. In a noisy, fast-paced...
The Cat’s Out of the Bag… Kim Walker, ex-GCI Health, Joins Fox&Cat as Partner and Managing Director
Fox&Cat appoints Kim Walker as Partner and Managing Director, bringing leadership strength and operational focus to the agency. Her arrival enhances Fox&Cat’s ADAPT™ methodology and consultancy model, reinforcing its commitment...
Fox&Cat Relaunches With An Industry-First Efficiency & Effectiveness Planning Framework, ADAPTTM
F&C network team picture, March 2024 Fox&Cat relaunches today with its new people-first, senior consultant operating model and bespoke planning framework, ADAPTTM. The agency’s lean model...
A new campaign to welcome and celebrate neurodiversity across the UK healthcare communications industry
THINKING DIFFERENT This Neurodiversity Celebration Week (18 to 22 March) the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA), Fox&Cat, and The ADHD Foundation have joined forces to launch a new campaign to help...