Who Supports HR? Learning from the Mental Health Professions

By Dr. Mira Zakharia

If HR is the one listening to everyone else’s challenges, then who is listening to HR?

If HR is the safe space for the organization, then where is the safe space for HR?

If HR is the calm in the storm, then who calms the storm for HR?

We don’t ask these questions often enough because we are too used to HR being strong, silent, and fine. But if we are honest, real HR often plays the role of the organization’s emotional caretaker, the unlicensed therapist managing chaos with a smile, composure and spreadsheets.

And during organizational transformation, restructuring, crisis or change, that pressure multiplies. HR is the translator of trauma, the keeper of secrets, the shock absorber between leadership decisions and people’s real-life consequences.

 HR: The Emotional First Responder

When layoffs happen, HR is the one delivering the news then comforting both those who leave and those who stay.

When toxic behaviour bubbles up, professional HR handles it diplomatically, quietly, and fast.

When culture shifts, HR becomes the emotional regulator, balancing urgency with empathy, and change with care.

 All while staying composed. Strategic. Professional. But that doesn’t mean they are okay.

 What the Mental Health Professions Can Teach Us

Between health practitioners and professionals and mainly in psychology and psychiatry, emotional burden is taken seriously because it must be. These professionals deal with trauma, grief, anxiety, and burnout every day. And they have built systems to protect themselves:

1. Supervision & Peer Support: Psychologists regularly meet with peers or supervisors to debrief, reflect, and offload pressure. It is not optional; it is healthy practice.

 HR takeaway: We need our own networks, safe spaces, and mentors. No one understands HR like other HR people. For sure keeping confidentiality intact.

2. Boundaries Are Sacred: Therapists are trained to leave the work in the room. If they don’t, it consumes them.

HR takeaway: Protect your energy. You can care deeply and still log off on time.

3. Yes, Therapists Have Therapists: The best therapists are the ones who invest in their own mental wellbeing. It is not weakness; it is wisdom.

HR takeaway: Coaching, therapy, and mental health support aren’t indulgences. They are maintenance. 

4. Recovery Is Planned, Not Accidental: Mental health professionals schedule emotional downtime like it is oxygen.

 HR takeaway: A holiday isn’t enough. You need intentional reset time even if it is just a walk without your phone.

5. Ethical Codes Require Self-Awareness: In psychology, if a practitioner is emotionally unfit to serve others, they are required to pause.

 HR reflection: What would happen if we applied that same principle to ourselves?

 HR Is Not the Problem. The System Is.

Let us be clear: this isn’t about weakness. HR professionals are some of the most resilient, emotionally intelligent, and multi-skilled people in any organization.

But when every department pours its pain, urgency, and politics onto HR without offering support in return, we have created an imbalance. And worse, we have normalized it.

So Who Supports HR?

• Leaders who see HR not as “support staff”,  but as people who carry the organization’s emotional weight.

• Peers who hold space without judgment.

• Cultures where even the strong are allowed to say, “I’m not okay.”

• Organizations that invest in HR wellness as seriously as they invest in strategy.

• And most importantly, HR professionals themselves who educate others, follow best practices, create their own system, let go and do not take things personal. HR people who become professional and mature.

If we want HR to continue being the heart, conscience, and compass of the organization, we must stop treating them like they are made of stone. They don’t need sympathy. They need space, structure, and support.

Because no one can carry the weight of others forever without someone helping them carry theirs.

Dear HR people, it all starts with you.

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