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
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