Workplace campaign encourages employees to look around, realize they’re not alone
Following a month of active campaigning to bring awareness to the issues around mental health and to create healthier workplaces, Partners for Mental Health marks its Not Myself Day @ Work, a national day of action on June 6.
Over the course of the four-week campaign, Partners for Mental Health enlisted the support of 102 organizations, representing more than 225,000 Canadian employees. By participating, organizations and employees play a pivotal role in helping to transform the way mental health is perceived and supported at work, the organization says.
With the campaign culminating on June 6, businesses and organizations will call attention to the issue in a big way from coffee mental-health breaks, lunch-and-learns and fundraising and speaker events in offices across the country. Employees will also be encouraged to wear their mood button pins to enable co-workers to declare their support for one another and to stimulate new conversations about mental health in the workplace.
"It takes courage to step up and lead change, especially around an issue that is so strongly stigmatized," says Jeff Moat, president, Partners for Mental Health. "It is only with the support of committed organizations that we can end the detrimental effects of unmanaged mental illness in the workplace."
In addition to benefitting the health and well-being of employees, investing in workplace mental health can also help employers avoid the financial consequences of ignoring the issue. It has been estimated that $51 billion is the annual economic cost of mental illness in Canada, the organization says, citing an earlier study. The costs incurred directly by employers due to mental health issues and illnesses could be reduced by 10 to 25 per cent, the organization also says, citing information from the Canadian Standards Association Group.
Partners for Mental Health is a national charitable organization dedicated to transforming the way Canadians think about, act towards and support mental health and mental illness.
