Story Booth: Natalie Porias

Andy Smallman: Do you ever, in your life, get to have… again, you said protection might not be quite the right word, but let's use it just unless we come up with something better. Do you ever get a form of protection in any way, either in your role or even at…

Natalie Porias: In your personal one? Absolutely, so I'm very vocal and open about it. I'm seeing a therapist once a week, and I think everybody should do that. I'm very vocal, I'm open, I think it shouldn't be this stigmatized thing.

I always say, well, I go to the gym once or twice a week, so why not go and see a therapist? Because that's gym for my soul. And especially when you're feeling well, I can't emphasize that enough. Don't go and see a therapist when you don't know how to deal with your life anymore.

Go when you're feeling well, because that's also, again, that's not the binary. You're good or bad, or you feel well, or you don't feel well. It can literally be both, and strengthen the things that are going well, because they become your tools when things are not going well. So, sidestep being an advocate for mental health and therapists.

Yes, I do that. Also, obviously I have a big family and my friends, so they're also a big line of support network or a line of defense. I have to say, what took me a while is especially when you want to share stories from the field, as I call it. This is difficult to share, even with your best friend or your partner or something, because if people didn't experience it, it's not quite the same.

So, I think whoever works in humanitarian aid, or in this line, or even a social worker, nurse, everyone, I think it's best to talk to your peers. So, to have, then I sometimes call a person that I know they're always… they also go on mission, and then to just exchange stories there. So that's helpful, and like I mentioned before, obviously. I created this system of psychosocial support, either a group session or an individual session for all of our artists and also other employees.

And obviously I would take it myself if I would need it. I have my own therapist, so I usually make sure that when I come back from a mission that I have a session scheduled. Where I can just vent, and even the beautiful things, they also make them real, right? And it's, yeah, so that's my own support.

I need a lot of sleep when I feel like it, so I learned to take care of that part, also to allow myself to have a quiet morning, or take a day off. Yeah, that's possible. Even as a CEO, you can take a day off, or even two days, because I'm always saying if I'm promoting mental health, I need to lead by example. Yeah, so this is little things.

And then, travel is very important to me, so I always need to have something on the horizon. And when I know that I do, I find I can listen to my thoughts again. So yeah, trying, or maybe even just take a weekend where I don't talk to anyone, I just go for a hike, something, so these are my protections. I had to learn a little bit to find a good, Natalie Porias: good way, and also to work through the belief systems of Natalie Porias: people-pleasing, and striving for excellence, and all of these things, because… and then I realized, but a clown never strives for excellence, so why should I?