Workplace Mental Health

If you have hired, or are considering hiring an employee with a mental illness, they may need accommodation to maintain their employment. The aim of this guidebook is to provide employers with information about accommodating people with psychiatric disabilities in the workplace.

For people experiencing a mental illness, a good work/life balance is critical. The relationship between stress and mental illness is complex, but certainly stress can exacerbate mental illness for some people. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, employees who considered most of their days to be quite a bit or extremely stressful were over 3 times more likely to suffer a major depressive episode, compared with those who reported low levels of general stress.

In this 2009 submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, the Canadian Mental Health Association advocates that income support and other measures to prevent and reduce poverty can play several roles with regard to mental illness and mental health. We have attempted to mainstream our advocacy to cover three areas of importance to the planning and configuring of the upcoming federal budget. These areas cover modifications to the National Child Benefit Supplement, Canada Social Transfer, and development of Basic Income Support Programs for persons living with mental illness and other disabilities. We believe that our recommendations are realistic and realizable, and that they have the potential to promote mental health and wellness, and optimize psychological, social, civic, and economic functioning.

People living with mental illness are severely affected by social and economic inequality. Through no fault of their own they face extended and often lifetime unemployment, social exclusion, isolation, relationship distress, poor physical health and lack of hope for the future. In Canada, persons who suffer from mental illness constitute a disproportionate percentage of persons living below the poverty line, thus exacerbating problems associated with mental illness and contributing to stressors which cause poor mental health.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) was created by the federal government in its budget of March 2007. The goal of the MHCC is to help bring into being an integrated mental health system that places people living with mental illness at its centre. To this end, the Commission encourages cooperation and collaboration among governments, mental health service providers, employers, the scientific and research communities, as well as Canadians living with mental illness, their families and caregivers. In this, the MHCC’s inaugural Annual Report, we are eager to share with Canadians the progress that has been made towards accomplishing our mandate.

Mental health promotion is not a new concept, but it is still not well understood. Nevertheless, research is showing that mental health promotion initiatives can have concrete, positive outcomes for the entire population. It is a powerful resource with significant potential for grounding the work of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Over the past year, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has received more than two thousand submissions from all across Canada on the subject of mental health, mental illness and addiction. Hundreds of Canadians shared heartbreaking stories that revealed to the Committee the true state of Canada’s mental health, mental illness and addiction “system.” The members of the Committee have come to recognize the reality that profound change is essential if persons living with mental illness are to receive the help they need and to which they are entitled. We trust that readers of this report will reach the same conclusion.

This booklet explores the realities of Canadians’ perceptions towards mental health issues and the impact of 24/7 technology. It also reveals how the pursuit of money and the shift in interpersonal relationships affect the well-being of people’s daily lives. The subject matter also delves into mental health issues in the workplace, offers some tools for stress management, and presents ideas toward achieving a happy medium between work and personal life.

Over the past year, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has received more than two thousand submissions from all across Canada on the subject of mental health, mental illness and addiction. Hundreds of Canadians shared heartbreaking stories that revealed to the Committee the true state of Canada’s mental health, mental illness and addiction “system.” The members of the Committee have come to recognize the reality that profound change is essential if persons living with mental illness are to receive the help they need and to which they are entitled. We trust that readers of this report will reach the same conclusion.

This 2006 discussion paper by the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health provides direction on how to implement a plan for dealing with mental illness when it manifests itself in the workplace.