This issue, the conversation is between Riding for the Disabled Association’s Rachel King and her leader Lee Heard, who speak about navigating how to lead when you have – or are supporting someone with – a chronic mental health condition
Rachel King: What have been the defining moments in your leadership journey?
Lee Heard:
When I have supported individuals to progress within the organisation or into other things. I’ve always had the mindset that my role in supporting people on their leadership journey isn’t necessarily to keep them in the organisation in which we’re involved, but to support them to develop skills to contribute to the organisation now and to use in the future.
Lee Heard: What has your leadership journey looked like so far?
Rachel King:
It started within sport: I was very active as a young person. I volunteered to coach younger teams and was the Young Voice rep for my local netball club. During my placement year from university, I joined the 12-month City Year programme, volunteering in schools to support young people at risk of exclusion. Once a week, we attended a leadership learning programme, which really drove me forward into the leadership space. Through different periods of my life, I have struggled with my mental health. Pre-diagnosis, I wouldn’t have been able to recognise how my mental health was impacting or shaping my leadership journey, whereas, post-diagnosis – and now living openly with bipolar – I am now able to really recognise how much my lived experience shapes how I show up as a leader.
Lee Heard: How did the diagnosis impact your working life?
Rachel King:
One of the biggest impacts has been being able to verbalise it. Before, I struggled to express how I was feeling because I often thought ‘how can I possibly explain this to you if I can’t even understand it myself?’. With bipolar, when things are good, you feel like you can achieve so much. But then comes a low episode: you go from feeling like you can take on the world to not being able to get out of bed. I learned that this isn’t just about me; it’s about a mental illness – so it’s not a case of ‘I can’t handle these things’ or ‘I need to be more resilient’, but rather how can I get the support I need so, in turn, I can continue to support others?
Bipolar disorder and leadership
Rachel says: “Only around 20% of people living with long-term mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, are in employment. In many ways, we are navigating a professional world that was never designed with us in mind. Aside from a handful of high-profile celebrities, I have rarely seen someone openly living and leading with bipolar disorder, and certainly not in a senior leadership position. That absence of visibility is part of what motivates me to speak about this openly.”
Lee Heard: How have you learned to navigate these episodes so you can remain in an effective leadership position?
Rachel King:
I try to be really disciplined, to ensure I work within boundaries, so I don’t start slipping to the manic end of the mood scale, because it can become quite dangerous territory. Therapy and coaching have also really helped me. I attend a monthly support group and having the space to be open about things, in a way that doesn’t have to be filtered, is so beneficial.
Rachel King: Where have you found support when things have been tough?
Lee Heard:
In charities, senior leaders’ relationship with the board is so critical. Trustees should be providing that effective support for you – yes, to hold you to account, but also to create the environment in which you can thrive. And, as you mentioned, external groups that you can lean into for peer support are really important, because the C-suite can be a lonely place.
Rachel King: From a senior leader’s perspective, what does effective support for a team member with experience of mental illness look like?
Lee Heard:
Leadership is a very personal thing. A leadership relationship works when two individuals find out how they best work together. Every individual should be led based on their own wants and needs, but, obviously, there are additional things that you and I have had to work on and consider. For me, that’s understanding some of the bipolar triggers: how do I manage those scenarios and how do I support you? It’s also about how I advocate for you in the wider space and protect you when you need some extra support. That’s been a key learning for me: how I lead to help you in those moments when helping yourself proves quite difficult. The key point is to have open communication and to be honest with each other when there are challenges, to find effective ways to create the right environment for both of us.
Lee Heard: How do you think leaders can create cultures in which people feel able to be open about their mental health?
Rachel King:
It’s so much easier to navigate a workplace when transparency and honesty are at the heart of it. Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) is the first workplace in which I have been very open about the bipolar diagnosis, and I hope that I’ve empowered other people to be honest about their experiences as well. The most powerful tool you have as a leader is your voice, so leading by example is important. I don’t believe that grand gestures make someone a great leader. A lot of leadership happens in the shadows, and the smaller things that make people feel seen, heard and valued create those spaces where future leaders can thrive.
Rachel King works at RDA UK. She has been documenting her journey of living, working and leading with bipolar disorder while building a career in charity sector leadership, particularly within the volunteering profession.
Lee Heard is RDA UK’s chief operating officer and a trustee at Onside Advocacy, which supports vulnerable adults to have a voice and access to the support they need.
