Improving Mental Health in Your Workplace

Did you know, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental illness with 1 in 2 having, or have had, a mental illness in their lifetime by the time they reach the age of 40? A recent report from the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) also shows that mental health of Canadians is three times worse than before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One thing is for certain: You may never know what someone is going through. Many individuals don’t share when they need help, especially in a working environment. Workplaces have an opportunity and responsibility to change the narrative and help to fight the stigma surrounding mental health in their workplaces with programs, initiatives, encouragement, resilience, and support.  

No matter your work environment or the type of work you do, always remember your employees are just as important as the work. 

Wellness and the importance of disconnecting 

Workplace wellness programs and psychological health and safety committees help to establish a work environment that promotes employees’ mental health by positively impacting their physical, social and mental wellbeing. Such programs and committees also help to foster a strong, positive organizational culture and sense of community, while also being shown to lead to increased productivity and reduced absences.  

Examples of wellness programs and committee initiatives include: 

• Employee assistance programs. 

• On-site fitness centres or classes. 

• • Right now, run clubs are all the rage. Maybe having a workplace running or walking group before or after work, or even during lunch, would be of interest!  

• Health campaigns and challenges. 

• Coffee chats. 

• Outdoor meetings.  

• Lunch or healthy snack programs. 

• Book clubs. 

• Employee check-ins.  

• Encouragement of allowed breaks.  

• Access to mental health resources, available in an easy to access location like on a company portal or posted in a lunchroom. 

• • Include numbers to call like 988 (National Suicide and Crisis Support) and 1-833-677-BOOT (2668) (Boots on the Ground for first responders) 

It’s important for workplaces to have a safe space for honest conversations where employees can share ideas of their own to boost workplace mental health, relay concerns within the workplace, and ask for help.  

Along with these initiatives, it’s important to also remember the importance of disconnecting from work. While leaving work at work can be challenging for some, being present during personal time is important for mental health. As of June 1, 2022, all Ontario workplaces are required to have a disconnecting from work policy for all staff. Such a policy encourages employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance and supports them in setting boundaries and disconnect from their working environment. 

Resilience training for leaders

Resilience is often defined as the process of coping with, adapting to and overcoming adversity, obstacles or significant sources of stress. This may include family and relationship troubles, health issues or work and financial strain. While people often refer to resilience as “bouncing back” from difficult experiences, being resilient is not as simple as being down one moment and up the next – it’s more like running a marathon with hurdles to jump through. Our one-day private delivery program for leaders helps them to understand what resilience is and how qualities for resilience can be used to increase organizational capacity and integrated within prevention programs to build a resilient organization.

First responder organizations can learn to building resilience in both personal and professional environments in our self-paced eLearning programs based on the work of Dr. Michael Ungar and the Resilience Research Centre. 

There is no clear roadmap, and we are all affected differently by life’s challenges, but it is our resilience that guides us to a more balanced life, enabling us to survive and thrive. 

Commitment from leadership is essential 

It all starts at the top. Supportive leaders are those who focus on identifying the required changes and support to ensure the wellbeing of their team and, in turn, deliver a high standard of performance by alleviating any unnecessary obstacles. 

Employees who work for psychologically safe leaders are more likely to report higher job satisfaction and engagement, better workplace relationships and better mental health. It helps to have clear policies, programs and initiatives in place to hold employers and employees accountable for creating safe environments where all can communicate or express concerns around workplace mental health.