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The Missing Piece: Turning Awareness into Action for Mental Health
By Charmian Johnson
Mental Health Awareness Week invites us to focus on action. But what if the reason so many of us struggle to take action isn’t a lack of awareness but a lack of understanding?
You’ve probably heard the advice before. Take a break, go for a walk, breathe.
And yet, when you’re in the middle of a stressful day, a difficult meeting, or lying awake at 3am replaying everything, you still feel stuck.
This isn’t because you’re doing anything wrong. It’s because there’s a piece of the puzzle most of you were never taught.
You don’t think first, you feel first.
So when the body is in a stress response, the mind will follow. Which means you can’t always think your way out of it. After all, you don’t “think” anxiety or overwhelm, you “feel” them.
Once you understand that, action starts to look very different.
Action/s for Myself
For years, I believed that taking action for my mental health meant pushing through, thinking positively, working harder or trying to “get on top of things.”
Now, it looks very different.
It starts with awareness - not just of my thoughts, but of what’s happening in my body.
For many women in high-pressure environments, such as law, you’ll be used to holding everything together and overriding how you feel. You stay in your head, overthink scenarios and keep going, but ignore the signals shouting at you to take notice: tension, shallow breathing, racing thoughts, fatigue. But those signals are not weaknesses, they are messages from the nervous system. No one mentioned how chronic stress affects your nervous system and influences how you show up.
So one of the most important actions I take now is simply noticing.
Am I feeling calm and focused?
On edge and anxious?
Or flat, stuck and unable to engage?
That awareness creates choice.
From there, action becomes practical and accessible - small things you can do in real moments to shift your state, not just when life is calm (because it rarely is).
For example:
- Before public speaking or a difficult meeting or conversation, when your heart is racing and your mind is already anticipating the worst, trying to think clearly can feel almost impossible. In that moment, your emotional brain is in the driving seat (and emotions will tend to override logic every time!). Something as simple as steadily tapping your hands alternately on your legs (a form of bilateral movement), or slowing your breath, can help settle your nervous system. This allows your rational thinking to come back online so you can communicate more clearly and respond rather than react.
- When your mind won’t switch off at night, it’s often because your body is still in a state of alert. Techniques like 5-2-8 breathing (in for 5 seconds, hold for 2, and out for 8) or taking a physiological sigh (two short inhales through the nose followed by a long exhale) can help signal safety to the nervous system, allowing the mind to follow.
- In the middle of a busy day, when everything feels overwhelming, engaging your senses, for example, what you can see, hear or feel, can bring you out of your thoughts and back into the present moment. When you engage your senses, it becomes much harder to stay caught in negative thinking. It promotes a sense of calm and presence, helping to bring you back into the rational, logical part of the brain. For me, something as simple as inhaling a scented balm can interrupt the stress response and help me regain calm and focus, or holding something icy cold like a glass of water, or simply stepping outside and feeling the breeze on my skin.
- If you feel stuck or unable to start something, or notice procrastination creeping in, this may not be a lack of motivation, it may be a ‘freeze’ response. Gentle movement, like walking, stretching or even wiggling your hands and feet, can help your system re-engage, providing more energy into the body.
These actions may seem small, but they are powerful when done consistently. It’s not about adding something else to your to do list, it’s just about taking action little and often. Each time you regulate your nervous system you build emotional capacity, so you’re not just coping in the moment, but becoming better able to handle future challenges.
It’s not about waiting for life to calm down either before you take action. It’s about learning how to create that sense of calm within your body so you can take action anyway.
Action/s for Someone Else/Others
When you begin to understand your own responses, something else shifts - you start to see others differently.
In the workplace, particularly in law, behaviours are often judged at face value. Someone may be labelled as prickly, disengaged, micromanaging or underperforming.
But what if those behaviours are not character flaws but stress responses?
Taking action for others doesn’t always mean fixing or advising. Often, it means creating an environment where people feel safe enough to be honest.
That can look like:
- Listening without immediately trying to solve the problem
- Creating a space where someone can speak openly without fear of judgement
- Sharing your own experiences to normalise theirs (leaders can have a huge impact here by showing humility and vulnerability)
- Recognising when someone may be overwhelmed rather than underperforming, or in a fight/flight response rather than simply being “difficult” or irritable
One of the most powerful things we can do is remove the sense that something is “wrong” with someone. Instead of thinking, “what’s wrong with them?”, it becomes, “I wonder what’s going on for them?”.
Because when people feel understood rather than judged, their nervous system begins to settle. From there, they can think more clearly, communicate more effectively and engage more fully. And they’re much more likely to access resources earlier rather than waiting until they’re in crisis mode.
Sometimes, the most meaningful action is simply showing up with awareness, patience and curiosity.
Action/s for All
While individual and interpersonal actions matter, meaningful change also requires action at a wider level.
Mental health challenges are rising. Systems are overstretched. Many people are operating in a constant state of pressure, particularly in demanding professions like law, where long hours, high expectations and “always on” cultures are the norm.
If we want to create mentally healthier workplaces, we need to move beyond surface-level wellbeing initiatives and look at what’s really driving behaviour and performance. Too often, organisations focus on surface-level wellbeing initiatives without addressing the chronic stress states their people are operating in every day.
This includes:
- Training leaders and people managers to understand how stress responses show up in themselves and their teams (not assuming legal excellence or a promotion equals management ability)
- Training teams so they can recognise their own stress responses and empower them with practical tools to regulate themselves
- Acknowledging and valuing people management responsibilities (eg, reducing targets)
- Creating psychologically safe environments where people feel able to speak up so asking for help is seen as a strength not a weakness
- Shifting from reactive support to proactive, preventative approaches
- Recognising that wellbeing is not separate from performance, it underpins it
When you give your leaders, people managers and teams this understanding, you’re not just improving workplace wellbeing. You’re providing a supportive environment, so teams are more collaborative, innovative, productive and there is less conflict, absenteeism and attrition. Great for individuals but great for the business too.
Importantly, if we expect lawyers to perform under sustained pressure, then understanding how stress impacts the nervous system should not be optional - it should be treated as essential professional knowledge.
But action also needs to extend beyond the workplace and into our communities.
We are increasingly isolated (despite being more technologically connected than ever before) and craving connection. We need more accessible, in-person spaces where people can come together, feel understood and learn practical ways to support their mental wellbeing.
For example, community groups, peer spaces, workplace initiatives - not therapy, but preventative, community-based environments - where people can build emotional resilience, understand their nervous system and realise there is nothing “wrong” with them.
Because when people feel safe, connected and informed, meaningful change becomes possible.
Closing Thought
Awareness is the first step but action is what creates change. When that action works with your body, not against it, everything starts to shift.
This is the kind of education many of you were never given. But once you understand it, you can’t unsee it. And as well as enhancing your own life, it has a ripple effect on those around you, both in the workplace and beyond.
And that’s where real, lasting change begins.
Charmian Johnson
Trauma-Informed Coach, Charm Johnson Coaching
Partner of The Mental Wellbeing Company
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charmian-johnson-4a99725b/
https://charmjohnson.thementalwellbeingcompany.com
May 2026