Free workplace mental health resources from Canada Life

Mental health and well-being concern everyone. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, “in any given year, 1 in 5 people in Canada will personally experience a mental health problem or illness” and “by age 40, about 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness.”¹ That’s why I’m proud to work with Canada Life^TM, which has made resources for mental health and psychological safety available to all Canadians.

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health

Since 2007, through Workplace Strategies for Mental Health, Canada Life has provided evidence- and practice-based tools and resources to all Canadians, at no cost. While the resources on this site mainly apply to the workplace, you can apply these to other aspects of your life.

What’s available? Here’s a small sampling of the wealth of resources, many of which business owners in particular will find valuable.

Organizational strategies

Need information on how to build or strengthen your organization’s support for workplace mental health and psychological safety? You’ll find:

• Guidelines for building policies on challenging subjects, such as a bereavement leave policy or an impairment 
• Resources on implementing programs to build a stronger, more inclusive culture at your organization, and programs to support your employees through difficult times 
• Resources to help you understand the importance of psychological health and safety at work and how you can build systems to help improve this
   

Approaches for people leaders

If you’re a leader or you’re working towards becoming one, Workplace Strategies has strategies and tools that will help you build your people skills. For example, you can learn how to handle implicit bias (including your own) to help build an inclusive environment. There are resources to support your employees through a loss. You can also learn how to take care of your own mental health and well-being while in a leadership role.

Assessments, tools and workshops

Passionate about sharing your knowledge with your colleagues and peers? Workplace Strategies offers complete kits for running your own workshops, including facilitator guides, slide presentations and participant handouts. Again, these are available for you to use at no cost.

Topics include work-life balance, inclusivity and discrimination, engagement and culture and policy prevention. A full list of topics is available here.

Resources for Canadians

These tools and resources not only apply to the workplace, but also to your family life. Topics include how to prevent burnout and resolve personal conflicts. You’ll also find a list of vetted mental health apps and resources on building your emotional intelligence, a skill many industries say they want in their employees. You can access resources that will help you plan for a mentally healthy retirement, one of the biggest changes in your working life.

Achieving your goals isn’t just about your financial plan – your health is vital to your ability to carry out your plans. And mental well-being is a key component of your health. I encourage you to take time to discover what’s available at Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.

All this comes at no cost and with no strings attached. Workplace Strategies’ goal is for more Canadians to work in environments where they’re given every chance to succeed.

Contact me to talk about how I can help you plan for your success.

1. “Fast Facts about Mental Health and Mental Illness”, Canadian Mental Health Association, https://cmha.ca/brochure/fast-facts-about-mental-illness/ , accessed 2021/09/17.