The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that being able to work is essential to one’s “sense of identity, self-worth and emotional well-being”. Yet many of the 20% of Canadian adults who experience mental illness each year must absent themselves from work, taking a significant personal toll on the workers as well as financial and productivity burdens on employers.

This session is designed to prepare managers, supervisors, union representatives, and other labour relations professionals to work together, with affected workers, to develop and maintain appropriate workplace accommodations and support that result in better outcomes for employers, workers, and workplaces in general.

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Appreciate the differences between medical/psychological concepts of mental health and mental disorders, and legal concepts of disability due to psychiatric disorders;
• Identify attitudes, language, behaviours and practices that perpetuate stigma;
• Recognize signs someone in the workplace may be struggling, perhaps due to health issues, including their mental health;
• Communicate with employees/members who are struggling, possibly due to mental health problems, in a helpful, non-threatening way;
• Provide effective, flexible and sustainable workplace accommodations; and
• Promote psychological safety and mental well-being in the workplace