The link between mental health and social-emotional intelligence
Mary-Anne Murphy
The link between social-emotional intelligence and mental health is significant. Our mental well-being is heavily influenced by our ability to navigate our social-emotional world. How we regulate our emotions, the people we choose as friends, and how we manage stress, solve problems and interact with others underpins the quality of our lives.
"Perhaps the problem isn’t that we have too much anxiety or depression, but that we’ve been taught to ignore the things that truly matter." Johann Hari, Lost Connections
EI for a better life
Think of mental health as the foundation of a building. A strong and secure base of safety and security from where every other aspect of life grows. A safe and dependable place that we lean into for extra support.
Now think of the structure of the building that is on top of the foundation. A well-designed structure and purpose-built building is strong, resilient and efficient. This is your social-emotional intelligence.
Good mental health gives people a strong and stable foundation for everything else. Our quality of life is entirely underpinned by the quality of our mental health. You can have the best structure on top, but if the foundation is lacking, then everything else will fall over.
A purpose-built social-emotional structure determines how we interact with others, and the relationships we build and nurture - it shapes the lens through which we interact with the world around us.
Even if our foundation is a bit wobbly or our structure has a few missing pieces, just like buildings can be renovated, people also have ways to repair, strengthen and enhance our lives. EI offers limitless possibilities for an improved quality of life, but it needs a strong foundation to lean on.
The first step in this life-long journey is self-awareness. Really looking at all of the cracks in the foundation and acknowledging that there are parts of our structure that need work, is a pivotal step in the right direction. And it is often the hardest of them all.
Community connection for anxiety and depression
“Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people, he said—it’s the sense that you’re not sharing anything that matters with anyone else.” ― Johann Hari, Lost Connections
So what use is a great building on a strong foundation if it is empty? It needs people who want to come and live, work and hang out in the building. Being connected to a community is one of the vital elements of mental wellbeing.
The first stage of the Four Stages of Psychological Safety (Timothy Clark) is inclusion. It is a fundamental human need to belong and to connect with others. When people feel included, they feel safe to share, learn and challenge the status quo. Community connection is directly linked to how people's mental health is supported.
Te whare tapa whā - five ways to well-being
Te whare tapa whā, developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984, describes mental health and well-being as a wharenui (meeting house) that has four walls and a foundation.
The four walls represent pillars of what makes up our mental health and wellbeing and the foundation represents our community, our family, our roots.
The idea is that when all of these elements are in balance, our well-being thrives. When they are disconnected and out of balance, then we become disconnected and out of balance too.
Taha wairua
spiritual wellbeing
Taha hinengaro
mental and emotional wellbeing
Taha tinana
physical wellbeing
Taha whānau
family and social wellbeing
Whenua
land
"The endpoint is to have someone who is well in every sense of the word." Sir Mason Durie, creator of Te whare tapa whā
The relationship between EQ and mental health
The correlation between high levels of emotional intelligence and good mental health has a significant impact, that much is clear. So how do we get this, who teaches this to adults and where do people even start?
Because emotional-social learning is a model, a capability concept and a tool kit, all of the skills can be learned, developed and finessed. Anybody can be taught and learn these skills at any stage of their life.
Working with the expert facilitation of the skilled team at Momentum Learning can help individuals and teams develop and culturally locate these cross-cultural skills.
If you are interested in knowing more about EQ training for yourself, your team or your organisation, we would love to hear from you. Contact us today.
Work with Us
Momentum Learning has been supporting Leaders, Teams, Teachers, Rangatahi and their Whānau to develop their social and emotional intelligence since 2020. Talk to us about exploring this for your organisation.
Let’s work together.