When it comes to mental health issues in the workplace, what is your management style? How would you rate your mental health issue competency? How do you handle the stress? Managing Mental Illness in the workplace is a holistic approach of monitoring ourselves, supporting the employee, and contributing to the implementation of organization policies and programs. This section of the toolkit will provide you with the tools to begin this process.

Employees who experience high demand, low control, high effort, and low reward in the workplace are more likely to suffer the adverse psychological and physical consequences. The “costs of these consequences are staggering” whether it is experience by the individuals or the impact on the organization.

Did you know that Canada Safety Council found 80% of bullies are bosses, some are coworkers and a small number of bullies are higher-ups. Let’s take a moment to reflect on our own behaviors. Here are some tools to support you in better understanding yourself as a manager who may have to help support and work with others who have mental health issues:

• Manager Competency Indicator Tool – to allow managers to assess whether they currently have the behaviors identified as effective for preventing and reducing stress at work
• Managing Emotions Skills Assessment for Managers
• Assessing How Your Management Style Contributes to Staff Wellbeing and Performance
• Exercise: Envision Others’ Evaluations Exercise
• Connecting two Canadian frameworks: The LEADS in a Caring Environment Capabilities Framework and the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace

Where do we go from here? Look at the other sections for the packages that will provide you with comprehensive information on how to continue to monitor your own stress, how to assess your program’s ability to support individuals with mental health issues and decrease the potential for harm, and support your organization in changing the stigma against mental health issue in the workplace.

The Psychological Health & Safety: An Action Guide for Employers is intended for employers and human resource personnel who are considering programs and policies to improve psychological health in their organizations. There are other stakeholders who may also value this information, including union leaders, occupational health care providers, frontline managers, legal and regulatory professionals. The guide is built upon a P6 Framework which aims to help in the facilitation of program implementation. This framework describes the change process in terms of six successive components: Policy, Planning, Promotion, Prevention, Process and Persistence.

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As written on the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace website:

Managing Mental Health Matters (MMHM) is a “first of its kind” program focused on helping managers, supervisors and other leaders learn how to effectively recognize and manage mental health related issues in the workplace. MMHMs uses a story-based approach, portraying realistic episodes of workplace “characters” dealing with situations common to everyday worklife. The user engages in the process, rather than simply being given information.

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The interactive film and story-based scenarios enable users to participate in the process of a new manager’s introduction to his first week of his new position, learning the principles and practicalities of effectively managing issues related to employee mental health in the workplace. The user has the power to direct the new manager, (John) through different scenarios, experiencing the challenges and successes in managing the situations that arise. This level of training is designed to provide the facts, change the way learners ultimately perform in their jobs, and how they think about mental health in the workplace.

This resource was produced by the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace as part of its commitment to expand knowledge on this important issue and to make practical tools and strategies available to employers.

• Managing Emotions- Episode 1: Addressing employee issues & reactions.
• Managing Accommodation- Episode 2: Is there a duty to accommodate?
• Managing Performance- Episode 3: Managing performance of an emotional employee.
• Managing Conflict- Episode 4: Resolving co-worker conflict.
• Managing Return to Work- Episode 5: What do they mean “less stress”?

Are you looking for more hands-on mental health education for yourself or employees? If so, check out the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Canada program which was recently launched under the leadership of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Open to healthcare professionals and the general public, the MHFA program aims to improve mental health literacy, and provide the skills and knowledge to help people better manage potential or developing mental health problems in themselves, a family member, a friend or a colleague. As noted on their website, the program does not teach people how to be therapists but it does teach people to:

• Recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health problems
• Provide initial help
• Guide a person towards appropriate professional help

The main goals of the program are to ensure individuals are able to:

• Preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others
• Provide help to prevent the mental health problem from developing into a more serious state
• Promote the recovery of good mental health
• Provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem

Find out more on the Mental Health First Aid Course!

Best Practices for Supporting the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers During Covid-19

Resources for Healthcare Sector

Statistics Canada: Canadians’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic