Mental health costs Canada $50 billion a year, with $20 billion of that representing the cost to the workplace (think temporary workers, stress on team members, hiring costs, retraining).
But mental health is not just business, said Denise Balch, president of Connex Health, speaking at Benefits Canada’s Benefits & Pension Summit in Toronto. “It’s personal.”
Balch, herself suffering from bouts of anxiety, talked about her family’s struggles—she believes that her father was likely misdiagnosed and had Asperger syndrome and her daughter has Asperger’s as well. It’s not just depression, but other issues that can affect mental health.
Society has made progress in the mental health arena through medications, cognitive behavioural therapy and public awareness campaigns, she said, but there are also steps the workplace can take.
One is education—not just of employees but of managers, too, she said, telling the audience that there are a lot of online training courses and resources available to help supervisors.
Chris Anderson, president of Medaca Health Group, agreed. He looked at what an organization can do when an employee has symptoms of a mental illness. “What are the options for getting to that person early?” he asked.
The first step, he said, is recognizing that early intervention helps employees recover and lowers costs for organizations.
An early intervention program includes five steps:
- • identification;
- • self-rating;
- • triage;
- • assessment (professional assessment of an employee’s condition by a psychiatrist); and
- • care (partnership between the psychiatrist and the family physician).
Organizations need mentally healthy employees, Anderson concluded, because 85% of new jobs in North America will demand cerebral, not manual skills.
All the articles from the event can be found on our special section: 2014 Benefits & Pension Summit Coverage.
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