Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

Mental Health Should Always Be A Priority And Here's Why

25 Jul 2022 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker shares a personal history of volunteering for mental health, beginning in elementary school with door‑to‑door canvassing to raise small donations for mental‑health charities. They recount the prevailing Wall Street culture that equated discussing mental or even physical illness with weakness and unreliability, emphasizing how such attitudes discouraged openness about well‑being. The speaker then notes a cultural shift toward a healthier narrative that values both mental and physical health as essential components of long‑term professional success, highlighting the growing recognition that whole‑person well‑being supports sustained performance in demanding careers.

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I'd always been volunteering for mental health in my spare time, but I had never talked about it before. So actually, as far back as elementary school, I used to go into my neighborhood and knock on every single door to canvass, literally door to door, and just ask for like $5 donations towards mental health organizations. And I had never talked about that piece because I think more or less on Wall Street, there was this sense that if you talked about mental health, you were weak. I still remember some of the prevailing Wall Street conversations back then where, you know, even if you were to get sick physically, that's a sign of weakness. Why would you ever get sick? How could I find you to be reliable if you're getting sick all the time and you're not able to deal with all this stress and lack of sleep? But I think over time we've really developed a much healthier narrative around the whole human experience of physical well-being, mental well-being, and whole well-being being a very important part of long-term success in a profession.