Yaneek Page | Mental health, a major business risk we keep ignoring

Every October the world pauses to observe Mental Health Awareness Month. In Jamaica, it sometimes feels like we barely take time to blink, as messages are drowned out by sirens of crime, violence, inflation, high-energy prices, geopolitical upheaval and the daily scramble to survive.

But this October, the whisper is impossible to ignore. In recent months and days, there’s been a spike in suspected suicides, including the high-profile case of former Miss Universe Jamaica contestant Tyra Spaulding, which has renewed calls for mental health reform.

We’re not witnessing isolated tragedies though. This is a part of a pattern and reality we must confront, especially within the business community and the entrepreneurial space.

Jamaica’s suicide rate was once among the lowest globally, but it has been quietly climbing. In 2021, the World Bank estimated it at 1.69 per 100,000. That same year, 67 people took their own lives, the highest annual number in 25 years. Of those, 61 were men.

The data signal what many of us feel intuitively: the emotional toll is burning throughout the society. Yet, we don’t need intuition to see it; we need only look to the research of the late esteemed psychiatrist Professor Fredrick Hickling, who estimated that 70 per cent of Jamaicans live with untreated mental illness.

To understand how alarming that figure is, consider that the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates one in seven people globally struggle with mental illness. If Professor Hickling’s numbers are even partially accurate, they show a nation ignoring a mental health emergency, to its peril. Beneath our music, creativity, athletic prowess and the resilience we proudly display, lies a corrosion of collective sanity.

When mental illness goes unaddressed on a mass scale, it doesn’t just corrode individual lives, it will reshape a country’s soul. It shows up in loss of civility, anger that flares too easily, hopelessness that drives migration, violence that shocks us, but no longer surprises, and numbness to tragedy.

Our mental health crisis is not confined to Bellevue. It’s stewed into daily life, constantly unleashing its trauma through hostility, injustice, inequality and distrust.

Until landmark investment in healing, emotional literacy and trauma-informed governance, the violence will remain a symptom of deeper festering wounds, not an isolated crime problem. Perhaps it might also be a key missing piece in our enduring productivity puzzle.

We are not okay.

Entrepreneurship distress

In a groundbreaking 2023 study by the Inter-American Development Bank titled The Invisible Factor, over 60 per cent of high-impact entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean reported burnout. However, 30 per cent reported severe psychological distress. Imagine almost one in three founders struggling to function mentally, many while appearing successful.

What if we had equivalent numbers for Jamaica? Still, we know the terrain: volatile currency, relentless utilities, high taxes, bureaucratic roadblocks, inconsistent cash flow, and physical threats. Notwithstanding, our cultural narrative remains hustle hard, man up, strength of a woman, tough it out, and stop complaining. But what if yuh tuff like rock stone and still can’t tek no more?

Years ago, I wrote about a friend I’ll call ‘Anonymous’ who had a major business breakthrough crossing $20 million in income after years of barely staying afloat. When I asked what changed, he admitted that his biggest transformation wasn’t in marketing or mindset. It was mental health. A prescription given for pain turned out to be treating his undiagnosed depression.

Within weeks, his focus returned. Energy soared. Projects that once drained him became doable. It was like watching the fog lift. At the time, I called it a “eureka moment”. But in 2025, it’s more than that. It’s a cautionary tale, because for every entrepreneur who stumbles into healing, others are suffering in silence, grinding harder, but dying quietly.

We must call out the truth: entrepreneurship will send you to an early grave without the right support.

This isn’t an exaggeration. Globally, studies show that entrepreneurs are more likely than the general population to experience depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation. The very characteristics that drive innovation – such as risk-taking, grit, passion, perfectionism, over-commitment – are also risk factors for a breakdown.

So what do we do?

1. Acknowledge the invisible: Mental health is not a “personal issue”. It’s a business issue, policy issue, and public health issue. Burnout leads to bad decisions, lost contracts, closed shops, and worse. It is everybody’s problem.

2. We must build systems. The IDB, to its credit, isn’t just publishing reports; it is piloting programmes across the region to integrate well-being into entrepreneurship support.

It’s overdue for Jamaica. Imagine if Jampro, Development Bank of Jamaica, Jamaica Business Development Corporation or UWI Ventures required mental health modules in their training. What if banks offered free monthly therapy check-ins for clients with business loans? What if grant agencies made space for burnout recovery in their budgets?

3. We must talk, especially to men. Especially in high-stress fields. We need national campaigns that target entrepreneurs and professionals, not just at-risk young women and men. High achievers are at risk too, because the higher the climb the harder the fall.

4. We must help each other. Do you know a business owner who’s been unusually withdrawn? A friend who’s not meeting deadlines or dropping out of touch? Don’t assume they’re lazy or unreliable. They might be exhausted beyond words. Check in. And if you’re the one struggling, please don’t wait until it’s too late.

Call 888-NEW-LIFE. Talk to someone. Entrepreneurship goes beyond boldness. It demands balance. Remember, no profit is worth your peace, and no brand is worth your life.

One love!

Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA, and a certified trainer in entrepreneurship.yaneek.page@gmail.com