Rediscovering Strength: A Mental Health Reflection for Leaders

The challenges facing nonprofit leaders today are real and daunting. You may find yourself wondering: How can I effectively lead my team, run an organization, and meet urgent community needs when I am struggling just to stay afloat?

It’s tempting to avoid lifting the lid on the issues that keep you awake at night, fearing that addressing them might only deepen your anxiety. Yet avoiding them often perpetuates that sense of being overwhelmed. Left unaddressed, this can erode not just your own mental health but also team cohesion, optimism, and resilience.

This Mental Health Month, we want to offer a simple but powerful reminder: It’s okay to ask for help.

Instead of trying to work harder, problem-solve better, or ignore the rising tide of stress, we encourage you to step back and engage in a practice we call "help mapping." Help mapping is a strategic way to identify the different sources of support available to you, both within and outside of your organization.

Think about your sources of support across key domains:

Within Your Organization:

• Staff leadership team

• Board members

• Volunteers

External Organizational Support:

• Community partners

• Funders

• Consultants and nonprofit advisors

Individual Leadership Support:

• Peer networks

• Leadership groups (such as the Colorado Leaders’ Circle)

• Executive coaching

Help Mapping reveals a powerful truth: you are not alone. Reaching out to the sources of support that you’ve identified will help you rebuild confidence, reconnect with your purpose, and regain a sense of control. Not necessarily control over every external challenge - but control over your approach, your mindset, and your resilience.

Given the uncertainty and challenges of today’s environment, it’s also important to consider the well-being of your team. Organizing a team retreat can offer a meaningful reset: a space to reconnect with your mission, strengthen team bonds, and rediscover the sense of hope and purpose that fuels the nonprofit sector. A well-designed retreat isn’t just a break from routine, it’s an investment in your organization's resilience and future.

The Nonprofit Strategy Group specializes in facilitating retreats of this type. When you're creating your Help and Support Map, we invite you to include us as a resource. We are committed to supporting nonprofit leaders and organizations because your success, now more than ever, matters to the communities you serve.