Your Workplace Wellness Program Is Gaslighting You
They handed us yoga mats and meditation apps while ignoring the trauma they caused.
They sent inspirational emails about "resilience" while denying promotions, disrespecting boundaries, and overloading our plates. They told us to go for a walk while they quietly moved the finish line again.
This is what workplace wellness has become: a polished, passive-aggressive way of saying "we'll keep harming you, but here's a lavender-scented apology."
And the worst part?
Many of us believed them. I did too.
We stayed because they offered therapy stipends.
We stayed because they hosted mental health panels.
We stayed because they said the right things—while continuing to do the wrong ones.
That's not support.
That's gaslighting.
When Wellness Becomes a Distraction from the Truth
Workplace wellness isn't all bad—but when it's weaponized, it becomes another performance.
Because let's be honest: If the same people causing your burnout are the ones funding your wellness, that's not healing.
That's harm repackaged as care.
They teach you breathwork but ignore your back-to-back meetings.
They host lunchtime yoga while you eat at your desk—again.
They talk about self-care in staff meetings but reward over-functioning and punish boundaries.
In a 2024 Businessolver survey, 90% of employees said having mental health benefits available was important to them.
Yet only 35% reported actually having access to them.
Wellness shouldn't feel like a PR campaign.
It should feel like a cultural shift.
But real culture change requires accountability.
And that's the one thing these programs never fund.
Let's Talk About Who Actually Gets to Rest
You'll notice who really uses those PTO policies without guilt. Who takes mental health days and still gets promoted.
Who says "no" in meetings and gets labeled assertive, not aggressive. Because even in wellness, whiteness is centered.
According to McKinsey's Women in the Workplace study, Black women are promoted at a significantly lower rate than white women at the first step up to manager, and more than a quarter of Black women say their race has led to them missing out on an opportunity to advance. Yet when we finally speak up about the weight of it all, we get told to take a day off. As if rest can reverse betrayal.
Black women are taught to feel lucky for the scraps of care we're offered—even when they're soaked in disrespect.
We're praised for our strength while being denied softness.
We're given visibility without value.
The Lie of Personal Responsibility
Workplace wellness turns structural harm into personal failure.
You're burned out? Must be your morning routine.
You're anxious? Maybe try gratitude journaling.
You're overwhelmed? Meditate more. Complain less.
No one says: Your workload is unsustainable.
No one says: The culture is toxic.
No one says: We expect too much and support too little.
Research from the National Safety Council shows that organizations spend over $15,000 on average annually on each employee experiencing mental health issues. But instead of addressing the root causes, they'd rather you regulate yourself back into functioning within their dysfunction.
They want you regulated, not resourced.
They want you calm enough to continue functioning in their dysfunction.
What Real Healing Actually Requires
Healing isn't a checkbox. It's not a Thursday workshop.
It's nervous system repair. Emotional recalibration. Soul return.
And it can't happen in a place that benefits from your suppression.
Real healing requires spaces where your truth isn't pathologized.
Where your softness is sacred. Where your rest isn't a strategy—it's a right.
It requires community, not company policy. Accountability, not performance.
Boundaries that are honored, not negotiated.
If the culture never changes, your healing has to.
You Don't Need a Wellness Webinar. You Need a Way Out.
If you've been gaslit by workplace wellness, you're not alone.
You're not broken. And you're not weak for needing more than a guided meditation and a gift card.
I created Beneath the Bloom because I realized no workplace was going to give me what I actually needed: space to fall apart, tell the truth, and start over.
🌀 This Time, I Choose Me —a guided journal that won't fix you, but will finally make space for the real you. Preorders open July 15. When you're ready, it will be waiting.
🌀 Sister Circles that don't need your title, your resume, or your mask. Just your presence.
🌀 1:1 Bloomkeeper Sessions for women unraveling in silence and ready to rebuild in truth.
🌀 A retreat where your healing doesn't need to be explained or justified.
This isn't self-care. It's soul reclamation.
If your workplace won't make space for your wellness, you can.
🖤 And I'll hold that space with you.
