The Unseen Cost Of Frontline Work

SPEAKER_01 0:04

There are people in the world who pour themselves into causes bigger than them and then quietly fall apart in private. The work feels too important to pause. The cost they pay never makes the news. So today we are talking about the frontline workers of democracy, the activists, the organizers, people holding the line, and the mental health support they so deeply deserve and so rarely receive. Welcome to Healthy Mind, Healthy Life. I am Nazish, and today my guest is Ashley Williams, who is here to share the work of Mind the Movement and mental health support being built for the people doing democracy work on the front lines. Ashley, I welcome you to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah. So before we begin, listeners, some statements reflect personal belief and experiences and are presented as individual views, not medical advice. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for medical condition.

Life Outside The Mission

SPEAKER_01 1:14

So, Ashley, before we get into your work, tell me, what does a non-mission day look like for you when you are not carrying the course? Like who is Ashley at that time?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Oh, uh, good question. Uh anyone who has started their own business or nonprofit knows there aren't a lot of non-mission days. Um but uh one of the so I I live in New York City and it's spring, suddenly very hot, almost summer like here. So try to spend a lot of time in the park. Um, I also figure skate, which is a little bit random for an adult to start doing in your 30s, to pick up figure skating. So spend a lot of time doing that. And um yeah, and then honestly the rest of the time I kind of spend it working, which is is not great. I'm very much like the target audience for my own organization of, you know, people who push themselves to the point of burnout, but um, it's also fun to me. So like if I had to choose between like, I don't know, watching a new movie or a new show or like working, I'd kind of rather work because it's fun to me.

Why Campaign Staff Stay Invisible

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah, so when most people picture uh, you know, protecting democracy, I think they kind uh they imagine resilience, conviction, and a kind of public courage. They don't always picture the burnout and sleeplessness and the anxiety attacks in the parking lot before a long day. So, from everything you have seen, what do you think is the biggest misconception that the public has about the mental health of frontline democracy workers?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Um, well, honestly, I don't think the average person is thinking about those workers. They, you know, most people don't really think about elections or, you know, I think politics is so in our face these days. People might think about it, but they usually think more about, you know, the staff in the White House or in the, you know, uh in government, and they don't think about the people who actually get the candidates to that point, and that's the campaign staff. Um, so I don't think I don't think the average person thinks about them or knows much about them. And that's maybe part of like part of the problem is that like we sort of operate under the radar and are this like unseen like thousands of people who every couple of years work to, you know, help their candidates win. Um, but I think those who do have an awareness of, you know, that there are, you know, thousands of people working on campaigns every year, um, probably think, probably don't realize how short term it is, how low paid it is. Um, just in the last couple of years, it's new that campaign staff get one day off a week. Um, and that's because of, you know, a lot of unionization that has happened. So I I think they would be shocked to learn like the expectations and sort of the the weight of expectation and um responsibility put on the shoulders of campaign staff.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yes, that is that is true. I mean, you know, we all have those misconceptions, but listening to somebody clear them off for us really says a lot about it. Like, I think there's something in what you said that I want to hold for a second. Like the cost of being seen as endlessly strong is that nobody checks on you.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah. You just keep going and going, and then people realize that okay, she he or she, they don't care. They can manage, they can go through, they're strong. But I believe when they say it, even the strongest person needs somebody at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Mm-hmm. Definitely. And so much of the work that we do on campaigns is working with volunteers and working with voters. And so you do always kind of put on a happy face of like everything is fine. Like, we're gonna win, we're doing great, I'm fine, I'm sleeping, I'm eating, when in reality, like you're not eating well, you're not sleeping well, and you're just sort of like dragging yourself over the finish line.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah, and uh and then the iron thing so you can also go to them and tell them that uh yeah, you know, this is a little messed up because if it it does I I think it's a real thing that it takes a lot of time for you to just go out there and say about talk about your problems or what you're feeling.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, I mean, and and I think in, you know, in the work environment, it's a tricky thing to talk about your mental health. And that's one of the things that we're trying to do is like make normalize it to talk about, you know, that you're exhausted or you're burnt out or you're having anxiety or you're not sleeping um within your team and to create teams that function in a more healthy way so that you can bring those things up um in the workplace in a, you know, work appropriate way, and so that you can be a little bit more transparent and honest about how you're feeling um throughout an election cycle.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah.

What Really Drives Burnout

SPEAKER_01 6:20

So, you know, from from what you have learned through minds the movement, what are the root causes underneath the burnout, like what we are seeing in the community?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah, um, I would say, I mean, I hate to say this about my own industry, but I think there's a real lack of um good management. So I think it starts with like how people are treated. Um, we all go into this knowing it's gonna be intense and stressful and long hours and short term. And I think you can work on a healthy team and and your your staff is gonna be a lot more okay than if you're working for a manager who doesn't know how to support people well. Um, the other thing is that campaigns are really short term, right? They like within a week of election day, you're out of a job and and the stress of knowing that you're gonna be unemployed, um, that in a few weeks after that, you're not gonna have insurance. Uh, and so there's always this like impending sense of like, even if we get the outcome of the election that we want collectively, like individually, we're gonna be like back at zero and have no income and have, you know, no medical care and things that are really stressful. And then it's just like the goals that we have are so big that, and every campaign is always under staff. There's just never enough money. And so I think it's like if a normal business was run the way a campaign was run, people would be like, this is nuts. Like, how do you expect to like succeed? Um, so it's just like a lot of like extreme pressure that isn't managed well, and also you know you're about to be like broke and kind of out on out in the cold in in you know a few months, which is kind of daunting.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yes, yeah, that is that is very true. And even though it lasts for a short duration, it puts a lot on people working in it, it puts a lot on people around it and in it as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's uh there's very high goals and very high expectations, and everything is public, right? Like if you mess up, if you say the wrong thing, if you send an email to someone you shouldn't, like it could make the news, it could bring down a candidate. Like it's all high pressure all the time.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah, I I agree. And you know, uh movement workers do not always recognize their own burnout because they're surrounded by other people who just look as tired. So like it's been normalized, like normal becomes unwell, and unwell becomes invisible.

Early Signs Someone Is Struggling

SPEAKER_01 8:42

So in real ordinary days, what does that what are the small signals that someone in the work is sliding into the mental health crisis?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, um, good question. Um, so I think it looks different for everyone. I think it can show up as um, you know, someone who was a very consistent, reliable staff member, all of a sudden not doing their work as well as they used to, maybe coming in late all the time, um, maybe their appearance changes dramatically. Um they, you know, might start saying, oh, well, it doesn't matter anyway, none of this matters. Um, and then, you know, you talk about getting into like an actual crisis situation, talking about like, even if we win, like my part of this is pointless, my life is pointless, and sort of that more like hopeless-ness um coming into it, that is a big, a big red flag. Um obviously anyone threatening to harm themselves or someone else is a big red flag. Um, and yeah, just any like major changes in in the way the person behaves is is something that people should look out for for a potential crisis.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, I mean, that is that is something. And you know, it reframes all of this with so much honesty because you know, we keep waiting in our daily lives for for a dramatic sign to show like we we need like a full flesh to break down. But I think there are little, little things that are going on quietly that comes for first, which we often ignore because of so much pressure around us.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, yeah. And so one of the things that we offer is crisis training for organizations and campaigns. And in going through that, I actually recognized my own some signs that I exhibited in the workplace in the past and um I didn't realize. But even things like if it's a Zoom meeting, like a person not being on camera when normally they're on camera or not engaging when they normally engage, like, yeah, it doesn't always have to be this big dramatic, like someone's in crisis. It's just like um almost like like that like quiet quitting in a way, um, of just like slowly sort of removing your your yourself from the group, from uh projects, things like that can can actually be a sign that someone's having, you know, some mental health struggles.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yes, yeah. And you know, it is such a beautiful these are such little, little beautiful things that you have mentioned because these are the things that we often ignore, these are those things that somebody's not showing up on camera and all that. Are these things that we think okay, it's just another day for him and and all that, but these are those little things that if we notice, they can bring a lot of change in someone's life. It could give them that hope that they're looking for or that motivation, the need to get through another day.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah, and I think that's where it's important to like pay attention to your colleagues and your team, if you're the manager, to know to be able to know when it's a change, right? Like you need to know their baseline, you need to know some things about them. What do they have going on in the rest of their lives? Are they, you know, a caregiver? Are they under some other stress? Are they going through a divorce? Are they moving? Like all those things. And again, I think that really comes back to like improving management, right? Like so being a manager, I think is such a privilege if done well, and also can like ruin a person's life if done badly, um, ruin your staff's life. And so, like establishing from the beginning that like I care about you as my team member, as my staff member, I know things about you, you feel comfortable coming to me about small work things. Like, if you can't tell me that like you messed up and forgot to send an email, you're probably not gonna come to me and say, like, hey, I'm like unexpectedly going through a breakup and it's, you know, affecting my mental health, right? Like, so I think that is a big part of this, addressing this, you know, mental health stuff in the workplace is um creating spaces where there is like emotional safety to be able to speak up and also to be able to speak up when you're noticing something about a colleague and being able to go to your, you know, a manager or HR or whoever and say, like, hey, I'm I'm concerned about this person and I don't know what to do. Um that has to be okay as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yeah, yes, yes, that is very true.

What Mind The Movement Provides

SPEAKER_01 12:54

So what does mind the movement actually offer to these frontline democracy workers? And like, how is that support shaped differently than traditional therapy or the generic wellness programs?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, well, most campaigns and grassroots organizations don't have even generic wellness programs. So that like isn't a thing in these spaces. Um, so what we offer is that we will subsidize the cost of people's therapy. So we don't have our own therapist, but we help uh people find the therapist or tribal care person that they want to see, and then we'll pay for it if they're in our pilot program states. Um, so that's like the most straightforward part is like literally like if cost is a barrier, and that is like the number one barrier across, you know, all industries of getting care is the cost or insurance not covering it or therapist not taking insurance. So we eliminate that barrier by paying for uh people's care up to a certain amount of money per person. Um, and we help them find the therapist that has availability, help negotiate a sliding scale, all of that. The second thing that we do is we have peer-led support groups. So we have a group for campaign managers, we have a group for men in movement spaces, we have people who work in rapid response. So we have all these different sort of niche groups where people can gather and commiserate and support their colleagues. We just started one for people who are job searching, uh, which is brutal right now. And so that's our biggest group. Um, and then as I mentioned, we also offer crisis training for organizational leaders. Um, so how to know what the signs are that someone on your team is in crisis, whether that's mental health crisis or substance use crisis, um, and actually knowing the steps and like how to have those conversations and when to bring in, you know, an actual like um, you know, calling 911 or calling 988 for suicide prevention or things like that. So um both individual care and then like the collective care of supporting um groups and organizations.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Wow, yes. I mean, those are some beautiful approaches, and I'm so glad that what you guys offer is actually not those mainstream things that a bunch of people are doing. They are something that sounds so personalized, they sound something so relaxing. And you know, it's like when someone is finally met where they are, and that is the whole movement in one breath.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, I love that. Well said. That's the whole thing, right? Is to is to meet people where they are, and we try to make things really easy because when you're not doing well and you're stressed and you're busy with work, like trying to find a therapist and figuring out how you're gonna pay for it is like one more stress. So we try to alleviate that as much as possible.

Rest Guilt And Making Work Sustainable

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, and you know, I think that the work is not a sprint, like it is not safe to treat it like one. The political climate shifts, the threats evolve, and the workload rarely lighters. So, how do you help workers sustain themselves over here? Like not just weeks, but what do you say to ones who feel guilty every time they rest?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, good question. And I I definitely relate to that. I think, you know, uh I don't I don't think there's any one thing we could say that's gonna like get people to all of a sudden change their mind and be like, it's okay for me to rest. I think um we have to um we have to I think like acknowledge like why we all feel this way, like why we feel like we can't take a break. And I think a lot of that, and I'm not a therapist, but I, you know, from everything I've seen and heard over the the years of a lot of, you know, mental health stuff and professional development stuff I've done for myself is so much of that is like a trauma response and is us feeling like we need to earn our place in the world and and earn, you know, earn love or whatever. And so I think, and that's a great thing to bring to like a peer support group of like, why do we all feel like we're not allowed to rest? Like what's going on there and actually impact unpack that. Um, so I think again, a lot of like 95% of our work is just like normalizing this stuff and being like, yeah, we all feel this way. And if we are doing movement work, we're probably more inclined to feel this way for whatever reason. And like, let's unpack like why that is and not to necessarily solve it or change it because like that's also what makes us really good at our jobs, um, you know, and we're all doing work we're passionate about. So, how can we find balance and be healthy without sacrificing our passion for the work we're doing?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

That is that is something so beautiful, and you know, something such these these are some so simple things that anybody can do, and it does not have to be something that they have to go out of their way and try, or something that you know that comes with a lot of struggle, or something they have to pay anything extra for. Yeah, this is something so easy, like eat healthy, and you know, this is the piece that most conversations give past it, and I'm glad we did not like rest for the people doing this work. It's not about withdrawal from the cause. I think it is about how the how to survive the cause.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. We there's this quote that I saw at a rally once that said, to change everything, we need everybody. And so it's, you know, we gotta keep good people in this work and keep them healthy and keep them well so that it can be sustainable and long term.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah.

One Message For Exhausted Organizers

SPEAKER_01 18:20

So just one thing. Like if someone is listening today and is doing frontline work and feeling invisible inside their own exhaustion, what is the one thing you would want them to walk away with today?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Uh, that it's normal to feel that way. And there are lots of other people going through the same thing, and uh that their work is really important and that they, you know, their their work their life matters as much as their work, and um that I'm really proud of them for what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

And it's that is such a sweet thing to say, and I believe it is gonna land in the hearts of a lot of listeners today because you know it is motivating. It it does stress a lot of people out, but realizing that you are not alone, you have people there to help you out, you have yourself, and you and it is it is something that a lot of people go through. It is so it is so beautiful that you said that.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Thank you. I really mean it. So I, you know, I started this organization not because I wanted to run a nonprofit or a mental health organization, but because I saw the need for it. And it's been really fulfilling to see people actually reap the benefits of all the hard work.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

That is that is so beautiful. Thank you so much for

Where To Find Support And Closing

SPEAKER_01 19:33

sharing that. So, Ashley, before we close, tell us where can our listeners find you and mind the movement? Like how can they support and access the work?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, so everything is on mindthemovement.org. Um, and we're also on LinkedIn and Instagram and Substack, which I need to update more often, but we're there.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I will make sure to include all these details into the show notes so that a lot of people can reach out to you and you know get the support they need from you.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, and the that line about democracy being only as healthy as people protecting it, that is going to stay with me and a lot of our listeners tonight.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Awesome, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah, thank you, Ashley, and to everyone listening and the people fighting for the world deserve a world that fights for them too. So we will see you in the next episode of Healthy Mind, Healthy Life, and I hope to see you soon. Till then, take care of yourself.