Healthy Workplace Month

Oct 26, 2023

At Canadian Mental Health Association, Waterloo Wellington we understand the importance of fostering a psychologically healthy workplace. Every week 500,000 Canadians miss work due to mental health concerns which is a $16 billion cost to the Canadian economy.

Pre-pandemic rates of Short-Term Disability/Long Term Disability leaves were 30%, we’re hearing that it is now closer to 50%.

Gallup’s research into wellbeing at work finds that having a job you greatly dislike is worse than being unemployed — and those negative emotions end up at home, impacting relationships with family. If you’re not thriving at work, you’re unlikely to be thriving at life.

Workers are demanding more from their employers as it relates to work-life balance and flexibility as a way to support good mental health. We know that poor working environments – including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity all pose a risk to mental health. Safe and healthy working environments are not only a fundamental right but are also more likely to minimize tension and conflicts at work and improve staff retention, work performance and productivity.

A recent study by Deloitte found that for every $1 spent on mental health promotion or initiatives in the workplace, participating organizations saw a $1.63 return on investment.

Protecting and promoting mental health at work is about strengthening capacities to recognize and act on mental health conditions at work, particularly for persons responsible for the supervision of others. WHO recommends manager training for mental health, training for workers and interventions for individuals.

Our CEO Helen Fishburn was recently interview by CTV Kitchener about Healthy Workplace Month:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2794003

Our corporate and workplace services at CMHA WW are custom designed sessions for professionals in their workplace. These courses provide skills for leadership to support staff, as well as skill building for staff who support clients/patients/consumers. Employee wellness can be seen to improve when approaching mental wellness through a variety of tools. This can include customized training – building resiliency, stress management, certificate programs, wellness program audits, psychological health and safety support and more. Click here to learn more.

As a part of Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is championing psychological health and safety in health care settings.

Ontario’s Your Health Space program, funded by the Ministry of Health, is a workplace mental health training program for Ontario’s health care organizations. It provides psychoeducational training that supports organizations in addressing the burnout and moral injury affecting their teams. Since launching last year, the program has had a profound impact on Ontario’s health care workforce, collaborating with hospitals, long-term care, mental health and addictions, home and community care, and primary care settings to improve employee mental health in their organizations.  

“Your Health Space is an important first step that encourages organizations as a whole to begin having important conversations about fostering workplace mental health and promoting psychological health and safety,” said Camille Quenneville, CEO, CMHA Ontario. “It also works with an organization’s leaders, frontline workers, and support staff to help them recognize symptoms of chronic workplace stress in themselves and their colleagues.”

To learn more or register your organization, go to: https://yourhealthspace.ca/programs/