Over my career, I’ve worked in places where speaking up came at a cost.
Sometimes the cost was obvious: a raised voice, a cutting remark.
Other times it was subtle: silent punishment, being left out of decisions, or quietly made to question your sanity.
It’s easy to put “psychological safety” in a slide deck or a corporate strategy.
It’s much harder — and braver — to live it, especially in cultures shaped by fear, covert narcissism, and an unspoken rule to avoid rocking the boat.
So where do workplace wellbeing programmes fit into this?
Can a few minutes of breathwork or a lunchtime yoga class really shift a culture?
What psychological safety really means
It isn’t about constant positivity or avoiding difficult conversations.
It’s about people feeling able to:
- Share ideas that might not work
- Challenge the way things are done
- Admit mistakes without fear of being blamed
- Speak honestly, knowing they won’t be punished or humiliated
In unsafe cultures, even small acts of honesty feel risky.
How wellbeing programmes help change the culture
At first glance, yoga, mindfulness or breathwork can seem like a nice extra, but not something that changes deep-rooted culture.
In practice, they do far more:
- Shared moments of pause
Stepping out of ‘survival mode’ together makes it easier to reflect instead of react. - Normalising emotional language
Words like overwhelmed, grounded or anxious become part of everyday conversations. - Modelling safety
Wellbeing sessions show what it feels like to be in a non-judgemental space. - Self-regulation tools
Staff learn to notice their triggers and settle themselves, rather than pass stress onto others. - Leadership vulnerability
When managers join, it signals that being human at work is valued. - Creating shared language
Phrases like “Let’s pause for a breath” slowly become part of team meetings. - Showing people matter
A genuine wellbeing programme says: we care about you, not just your KPIs.
Real change takes time
A single breathwork session won’t fix a culture shaped by bullying or fear.
But it can offer something many people have never experienced at work:
The felt sense of psychological safety.
And from that first experience, real change can start — conversation by conversation, breath by breath.
What about you?
Have you worked somewhere that felt psychologically safe?
Or somewhere that speaking up came at a cost?