Let’s Not Talk About It.

Why avoiding conversations about burnout, trauma, and psychological risk might be the most dangerous leadership strategy of all.

Let’s be honest.

In some workplaces, “psychological safety” has quietly become the HR version of Voldemort:

the word that must not be named.

I’ve been asked to deliver burnout prevention training—as long as I don’t use the word burnout.

I’ve been told to avoid phrases like vicarious trauma, psychological hazard, even psychological safety—because “staff might misuse the terms.”

And I get it.

These words carry weight.

They suggest responsibility.

They open doors that some leaders aren’t ready—or resourced—to walk through.

But here’s the thing:

Avoiding the language doesn’t remove the reality.

It just silences the people living it.

The Fear Behind the Silence

Most leaders aren’t malicious.

They’re overwhelmed.

When they ask me to soften the language, I hear the fear beneath it:

“I don’t even understand what this really means.”

“What if naming it makes it worse?”

“What if we can’t handle what comes up?”

And it’s true—psychological hazards aren’t as tangible as faulty wiring or broken stairs.

They’re invisible. Subjective. Contextual.

They require emotional fluency, nuance, and support systems that many leaders were never taught to build.

And yet, they’re just as real.

And just as measurable in impact.

It Is Complex—And Leaders Are Often Left Alone to Navigate It

Let me be clear:

I don’t blame leaders for their discomfort.

In fact, I understand it deeply.

With recent legislative changes around workplace psychological health, leaders are now responsible for managing risks that feel abstract, unpredictable—and sometimes impossible to measure.

They’re being told:

“You’re responsible for mitigating psychological hazards.”

But no one tells them how.

There’s little training.

Even less language.

And almost no cultural scaffolding for navigating emotions in professional environments.

As the leader of a psychological training organisation if someone told me I was now solely responsible for managing the cybersecurity of my entire company—with no guidance or specialist support—I’d be out of my depth.

But we don’t treat cyber risk like that.

We outsource.

We educate.

We invest in systems, software, and ongoing learning.

We treat it as a priority.

Because we understand what’s at stake.

Psychological safety is the pulse of your workplace. 

It is what makes it feel alive.

The Human Cost of Avoidance

When we don’t name what people are experiencing, we leave them alone in it.

And that’s where burnout festers.

Where chronic stress calcifies.

Where trauma responses get misread as “difficult personalities” or “lack of resilience.”

In my work with mental health professionals, educators, lawyers, and frontline staff, the most heartbreaking thing I see isn’t the workload.

It’s the silence.

The gaslighting.

The subtle suggestion that their exhaustion is a personal failure—not a systemic issue.

The quiet belief that if they were “strong enough,” they’d just push through.

But here’s the thing:

If your staff are craving safety, it’s not because the word is trending.

It’s because something doesn’t feel right.

A Different Way Forward: Leadership That Names the Unnameable

The most powerful leaders I’ve worked with don’t always know the perfect thing to say.

But they know how to hold space.

They’re the ones who can walk into a room and say:

“I may not get it right, but I’m here to listen.”

“We don’t want to avoid hard conversations. We want to learn how to have them.”

“We care about our people more than appearances.”

They choose presence over performance.

They understand that safety isn’t a checkbox—it’s a culture.

A feeling. A frequency. A set of consistent behaviours over time.

Because here’s what I know:

When people feel psychologically safe, they don’t weaponise the term.

They don’t run wild with ungrounded claims.

They relax.

They regulate.

They become more generous, more creative, more resilient.

The Invitation

So no—leaders shouldn’t be expected to do this alone.

But they do have a choice:

To avoid it.

Or to face it with the right support.

At Relate Training Institute, we offer psychologically informed, emotionally intelligent training to help leaders move from fear to clarity, and from compliance to real cultural transformation.

We don’t offer band-aids.

We offer depth.

We offer fluency.

We offer partnership.

Because silence is not neutral.

It’s a message.

And in some workplaces, it’s the loudest one being heard.