Heads Up! Community Mental Health Podcast

SUMMARY

More than half of the seven million Canadians who face mental health challenges every year, won’t seek help for fear of being stereotyped and discriminated against. To help unravel the complexities of stigma that often bind people with mental illness, we’re joined by Samaria Nancy Cardinal, a Metis woman whose battle with intergenerational trauma and misdiagnosed mental illnesses left her homeless, suicidal, and steeped in self-stigma. Now, twenty years later, she’s studying social work, running a business, and advocating for Indigenous people in Canada’s health care system. Dr. Stephanie Knaak, a researcher with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, brings science to the mix and talks about different types of stigma, Canadian efforts to reduce stigma, and how we all can learn to recognize and purge our own biases about mental illness. And yes, we all have them!

TAKEAWAYS

This podcast will help you understand:

• Mental health stigma and its impacts on individuals, families, workplaces, and communities
• Social and economic impacts of stigma on communities and the country as a whole
• Structural (institutional) stigma, its impacts, and opportunities for systemic change
• Barriers to reducing structural stigma
• Key priorities for disrupting and dismantling mental illness-related stigma in health care environments
• Role of government in reducing stigma
• Public (external) stigma, its impacts, and opportunities for cultural change
• Self (internal) stigma, its impacts, and opportunities for personal change
• Intergenerational trauma and stigma experienced by Indigenous people
• The role of culture in healing
• Canadian efforts to reduce stigma
• Role of the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Open Minds program
• Role of lived experience in the fight against stigma
• Link between systemic racism and stigma
• How stigma benefits those in power
• Role of personal identity in recognizing and healing from stigma

SPONSOR

The Social Planning & Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) is a leader in applied social research, social policy analysis, and community development approaches to social justice. Lorraine Copas and her great team support the council’s 16,000 members, and work with communities to build a just and healthy society for all. THANK YOU for supporting the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit and the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Podcast.

RESOURCES

• Mental Health Commission of Canada (structural stigma)
• Mental Health Commission of Canada (Opening Minds)
• Mental Health Commission of Canada (Combating Mental Illness- and Substance Use-Related Structural Stigma in Health Care)
• Mental Health Commission of Canada (Mental illness-related stigma in healthcare: Barriers to access and care and evidence-based solutions)
• Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (Mental Health & Addiction 101 Series – Stigma

SUMMARY

Recovery from COVID-19 provides remarkable opportunities for transition to a just and green economy that would ultimately boost universal mental health. Policy professionals Trish Hennessy (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) and Arden Henley (Green Technology Education Centre) talk about transformative concepts such as ‘doughnut economics’, ‘well-being budget’, ‘inclusive economy’, and the ‘three-sided coin’. They also explore how lessons learned about mental health during the pandemic, can guide economic reform while informing solutions to other global challenges, such as systemic racism and climate change.

TAKEAWAYS

This podcast will help you understand:

• Role of policy in economic reform that supports social, environmental, and economic well-being
• Link between policy and mental health
• Role of all levels of government in the move toward a just and green economy that fosters mental health at all scales
• Alternative Federal Budget (Recovery Plan 2020)
• Rebuilding BC: A Portfolio of Possibilities
• Social solutions within a green economy; environmental solutions within a just economy
• Challenges such as systemic racism, poverty, and inequality in a market economy vs. solutions in a just and green economy
• Potential for positive change using emerging concepts such as ‘doughnut economics’, ‘well-being budget’, ‘inclusive economy’, and the ‘three-sided coin’
• Economic reform and the World Health Organization Sustainable Development Goals
• How lessons learned about mental health during the pandemic can guide economic reform while informing solutions to other global challenges such as systemic racism and climate change
• Upstream approach to economic reform that supports universal mental health

SPONSOR

The Social Planning & Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) is a leader in applied social research, social policy analysis, and community development approaches to social justice. Lorraine Copas and her great team support the council’s 16,000 members, and work with communities to build a just and healthy society for all. THANK YOU for supporting the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit and the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Podcast.

RESOURCES

• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Think Upstream
• Seth Klein (The Good War)
• The Leap
• Well-Being Budget
• Rebuilding BC
• The Spiritual Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
• A Roadmap to a Renaissance
• Amsterdam City Doughnut

GUESTS

Trish Hennessy

Trish Hennessy is a senior communications strategist at the C

SUMMARY

If you’re wearing a mask to hide mental health challenges, why not swap it for a superhero cape and brainpowers so strong they’re sure to save the day! Sharon Blady, PhD (comic book geek, former Manitoba Minister of Health, founder of Speak Up: Mental Health Advocates) and Dr. Simon Trepel (a psychiatrist and member of Sharon’s treatment team) openly talk about Sharon’s multiple diagnoses, what’s helping her heal, and how you, too, can embrace neurodiversity and load your mental health toolkit with superpower solutions. They also touch on the impacts of stigma and childhood trauma on mental health, the effects of COVID-19, the need for resilience, and the importance of strong doctor/patient relationships.

TAKEAWAYS

This podcast will help you understand:

• Personal experiences from a person with multiple mental illness diagnoses, and those same experiences from the vantage point of her psychiatrist
• An individual’s experiences with post-partum depression, ADHD, OCD, Bipolar 2, and suicidal ideation
• Challenges and opportunities associated with multiple diagnoses
• Mental health “superpowers” and how they can help promote personal healing and support others
• Superhero Toolkit
• Benefits of neurodiversity (seeing that brain differences such as ADHD and autism are not deficits)
• Impacts of stigma (structural, public, and private) and reducing its negative effects
• “Resilience” from personal, professional, and community perspectives
• Impacts of COVID-19 on mental health
• Doctor/patient relationships and what makes them work

SPONSOR

The Social Planning & Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC) is a leader in applied social research, social policy analysis, and community development approaches to social justice. The SPARC team supports the council’s 16,000 members, and works with communities to build a just and healthy society for all. THANK YOU for supporting the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Summit and the HEADS UP! Community Mental Health Podcast.

RESOURCES

• Speak Up: Mental Health Advocates Inc.
• Embrace Your Superpowers program
• Managing Multiple Diagnoses of Mental Illnesses
• The Importance of a Complete Diagnosis: Managing Multiple Mental Illnesses
• Neurodiversity in the Modern Workplace

GUESTS

Sharon Blady, PhD

Sharon Blady is former Minister of Health and Minister of Healthy Living for the Province of Manitoba, an academic, and a comic book geek turned mental health superhero who empowers others with her fandom-based Embrace Your Superpowers program. Using her lived experience of multiple mental health and neurodiversity diagnoses, she helps others better understand and achieve improved mental health and well-being. Her diagnoses became a source of strength – Superpowers – which she harnessed and directed for personal, organizational, and community growth.

Sharon's life experiences range from being a si

SUMMARY

Given that most Canadian workers clock between 35 and 40 hours weekly, it’s vital that time be invested in healthy workplaces that care as much about mental, emotional, and social well-being as they do about physical health. In Part 1 of this podcast, join workplace mental health expert Dr. Merv Gilbert, along with WorkSafeBC’s Trudi Rondou and Lisa Smith. Together they explore Canada’s groundbreaking National Standard for Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace, the subsequent Case Studies Research Project, regulatory approaches driving the much-needed move toward more supportive workplaces, and the vital roles played by progressive leaders, cultures of compassion, peer support, and training. In Part 2, discover how this “new normal” is rapidly playing out in CLAC (a Canadian labour union) and AECOM (an international infrastructure consulting firm).

TAKEAWAYS

This podcast will help you understand:

• The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace (voluntary guidelines, tools, and resources) and the subsequent Case Studies Research Report (key findings, promising practices, and supports and barriers to implementation)
• ‘Promising practices’ identified during research project (commitment across the organization, leadership support and involvement, supportive structures and resources, communication and awareness building across all levels and departments, a business case that includes baseline indicators, measurement approaches that track the rate and impact of change, sustained and updated implementation efforts)
• ‘New normal’ vs. ‘old normal’ workplaces
• Awareness of evolving ‘language’ (mentally healthy workplaces vs. psychologically healthy workplaces vs. psychologically safe workplaces)
• Psychosocial issues and solutions
• Province of BC (WorkSafeBC) perspective and priorities on workplace mental health
• Importance of psychological injury prevention through policy and education
• Overview of WorkSafeBC’s mental health-related policies and programs
• Overview of WorkSafeBC’s commitment to getting members back to work after being injured
• Requirements of businesses to help prevent psychological injuries
• How employers’ and workers’ responses to mental health challenges have changed over the years
• What progressive unions and businesses are doing to help build mentally healthy workplaces
• Return on investment for businesses that do workplace health and safety right
• Types of stigma existing in the workplace
• Prevention of bullying and harassment
• Impacts of COVID-19 on workplace mental health
• How leadership, culture, peer support, and/or training impact workplace health and safety

SPONSORS

WorkSafeBC is a provincial agency in British Columbia, Canada that promotes safe and healthy workplaces for more than 2.3 million workers. Serving more than 230,000 employers, WorkSafeBC’s services include education, prevention, compensation and support for injured workers, and no-fault insurance to protect employers and workers. WorkSafeBC is committed to creating a province free from workplace injury or illness. By partnering with workers and employers, WorkSafe helps British Columbians come home from work safe every day.

CLAC is the largest independent, multisector, national union in Canada, representing more 60,000 workers in almost every sector of the economy including construction, education, emergency services, healthcare, retail, service, transportation, manufacturing, and more. CLAC has 14 member centres in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatche

SUMMARY

While Part 1 of this podcast targets trailblazing research and regulatory approaches to workplace mental health, Part 2 chronicles the evolution of organizational policies, practices, and programs at two very different and unique organizations. Join Quentin Steen (CLAC Labour Relations Representative) and Trever Amendt (AECOM Site Safety Lead, Energy Operations & Maintenance in Lacombe, Alberta) as they share their personal mental health stories and their groups’ commitments to building cultures of compassion with strong leadership, workplace-wide peer support, regular training, and ongoing employee communication and engagement. They also touch on the impacts of stigma and the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19.

TAKEAWAYS

This podcast will help you understand:

• The evolution of workplace mental health policies, practices, and programs in both union (CLAC) and engineering (AECOM) environments
• Union approach focused on cooperation rather than confrontation
• Corporate culture that cultivates employees’ social and emotional well-being
• The importance of authentic peer support throughout organizations
• Types of training needed to optimize workplace mental health
• Impacts of COVID on workplace mental health
• What’s been learned from COVID that will guide future polices, practices, and programs
• Return-on-investment for businesses that do workplace health and safety right
• Types of stigma existing in various workplaces

SPONSORS

WorkSafeBC is a provincial agency in British Columbia, Canada that promotes safe and healthy workplaces for more than 2.3 million workers. Serving more than 230,000 employers, WorkSafeBC’s services include education, prevention, compensation and support for injured workers, and no-fault insurance to protect employers and workers. WorkSafeBC is committed to creating a province free from workplace injury or illness. By partnering with workers and employers, WorkSafeBC helps British Columbians come home from work safe every day.

CLAC is the largest independent, multisector, national union in Canada, representing more 60,000 workers in almost every sector of the economy including construction, education, emergency services, healthcare, retail, service, transportation, manufacturing, and more. CLAC has 14 member centres in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC, along with 25 active, independent, affiliated locals. Based on values of respect, dignity, and fairness, CLAC is committed to building better lives, better workplaces, and better communities.

AECOM is a global engineering firm whose infrastructure services for public- and private-sector clients include transportation, water, energy, and environmental projects. Employing about 87,000 people, AECOM was ranked #1 in Engineering News-Record’s ‘2020 Top 200 Environmental Firms,’ and named one of Fortune magazine’s ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’ for the sixth consecutive year. Transforming the ways it works through technology and digital platforms, AECOM leads the engineering world in environmental, social, and governance solutions... leading to the Ethisphere Institute naming it one of ‘2021 World’s Most Ethical Companies.’

RESOURCES

• National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace and the resulting Case Studies Research Report
• Addressing the mental health effects of COVID-19 in the workplace: A guide for workers
• Managing the men...