EMPLOYERS CONNECT WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH SUMMIT 2020 - MENTAL HEALTH PRESENTATION BY GINA PERIGO, SENIOR MANAGER, LIFEWORKS - MORNEAU SHEPELL

Employers Connect
Workplace Mental Health Summit 2020
Mental Health Presentation
By Gina Perigo, Senior Manager, LifeWorks

Mental Health in
 the Workplace

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Agenda
 What is Mental Health
 Why is Mental Health misunderstood
 Mental Health in the workplace
  Cost
  What does it look like
  What do you do
 Wrapping it all up

Have you…
 Ever broken a bone?
   20% of the population will break a bone before age 80.
 Ever had chickenpox?
   95% of the population will have had chickenpox before the age of 18.
 Ever had a mental illness like depression, anxiety, an addiction,
 or felt suicidal?
   50% of the Canadian population will have experienced a mental illness
   by the age of 40.

What is Mental Health?

   Definition: A person’s condition with regard to
   their psychological and emotional well-being.

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    What is optimal Mental Health?
    According to Health Canada, being mentally healthy means:
      The capacity to feel, think and act in ways that enhance
      one’s ability to enjoy life and deal with challenges:
      •   We feel well
      •   We can cope with stress
      •   We can achieve our personal goals
      •   It’s more than the absence of illness or disease

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    The Mental Health continuum

      Normal ups         Temporary              Active
      and downs         Mental Health           Mental
        of life           Problems             Disorders

       Optimal Health   Impacted Health   Impaired Health

Why is Mental Health
misunderstood?

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Random Brain Fact

There is actually a specific area of the brain that notes when your
tummy is upset and makes the final decision whether to barf or
not to barf. This region is known as the:

                  A. Medial striatum
                  B. Pilateral vomitation center   
                  C. Pukeus Nonobstructus

“Anatomical Man”
by Johan Limbourg,
Circa 1410

The Revigator
By the Radium Ore Revigator Co.
Sold from 1920-1935

Why is it so difficult today?
        Tests for depression are… complicated
        Complex interaction of biological, psychological and
        social factors
        2019 study shows evidence that gut microbes
        influence brain function and mental health
        Hormones, seasonal changes, genetics
        Evidence that learned behaviours can result in
        physical changes in brain structure

What about the workplace?

Quick Brain Fact

The tendency for people to place a disproportionately high value
on objects that they partially assembled themselves, such as
furniture, regardless of the quality of the end result is defined as:

                   A. Phillips effect
                   B. Husbandus efficientus
                   C. Ikea effect             

What is the economic cost
  The cost of mental illnesses in Canada was estimated to be at
  least $7.9 billion in 1998.
  An additional $6.3 billion was spent on uninsured mental
  health services and time off work for depression and distress.
  In any given week at least half a million currently employed
  Canadians are unable to work due to a mental health problem,
  including both disability and casual absence.

What does this look like in your workplace?

              Difficulty concentrating
              Difficulty making decisions
              Challenging relationships
              Absenteeism/presenteeism
              Addictions
              None of the above.

Lazy?
What about when people don’t want to come to work, or have
lower productivity than their colleagues. Are they lazy?
 Lazy
   Being lazy is a normal occasional occurrence. Healthy people can be lazy, it gives
   us a chance to recharge.
 Mental Illness
  Not being lazy – people with depression don’t want to stay in bed all day, they’d
  prefer to be productive.

Well, that’s fun… Now what?

         Frustrating? Yes
         How NOT to fix it
          Not dealing with the problem
          Ignoring harassment, bullying etc.
          Continued stigma

Stigma
Mental Illness (50%)        Cancer (72%)               Diabetes (68%)

                           Socializing (42%)

         Awareness (81%)                       Reduced Stigma (57%)

Organizationally
   Encourage employee           Encourage respectful
   participation and decision   behaviour
   making                       Allow continuous learning
   Define employees’ duties     Support mental health
   and responsibilities         initiatives
   Promote work-life balance    Talk about it, reduce stigma
   Manage workload

Individually
       Focus on basic performance support
          Identify the issues
          Identify expectations
          Discuss gaps
          Collaborate on resources to support success
          Don’t diagnose or treat
          Enable success

Quick Brain Fact

Also known as the Walker Effect, this is the sensation of losing
balance or dizziness reported by some people when stepping
onto an escalator which is not working. It is said that there is a
brief, odd sensation of imbalance, despite full awareness that the
escalator is not going to move.
                   A. Broken escalator phenomenon      
                   B. Balance obscurance
                   C. Ocular disassociation syndrome

In summary

 Mental health is becoming more and more recognized as an
 important factor in overall health and in the environmental
 health of a workplace
 Advancements are being made every day
 Stigma is being reduced
 You can make a difference on all of these fronts!

Thank you