Скачать или смотреть “Workplace peer support programs can change lives”

Mental health issues are a growing workplace problem, with 500,000 Canadians on average absent from work in any given week for psychiatric reasons(1), and $51 billion(2) the estimated economic toll of mental illness in Canadian workplaces each year. http://sunlife.ca/mentalhealth

One way employers can help employees with mental health issues is by offering a workplace peer support program. A workplace peer support program is based on people connecting who have a shared experience with mental health issues. The confidential face-to-face interaction with a co-worker who has lived with similar problems can be very effective in helping overcome the stigmas related to mental illness – and in helping promote mental health in the workplace.

As part of nationwide efforts to counter the hazards of mental illness, the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace calls on employers to implement, document and maintain a psychological health and safety management system, and continually improve its effectiveness. Offering a workplace peer support program can help employers meet the Standard and implement processes that can reduce the impact of mental illness on your organization. And since (retired) Lieutenant-Colonel Stéphane Grenier helped develop the Standard, you’ll have access to first class consulting advice.

Through a new referral arrangement with Mental Health Innovations (MHI), Sun Life can provide employers with access to a consulting service that can work closely with you to foster the peer to peer employee networks that have been proven to work effectively.

1. Calculated from data in Dewa, Chau, and Dermer (2010), “Examining the Comparative Incidence and Costs of Physical and Mental Health-Related Disabilities in an employed Population, and Statistics Canada employment data
2. Smetanin et al. (2011), The life and economic impact of major mental illnesses in Canada: 2011-2041