Publicly Funded Mental Health Resource (Benefit Tips ® - © 2018)

Supporting your employees’ health can improve productivity, cut down on absences, increase worker retention and support a positive organizational culture.  Since mental illness is a leading cause of disability in Canada* , employers often provide an employee assistance program to ensure staff and their families have quick access to high-quality solution-focused mental health care both preventatively and during crises.

For individuals with mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety, the Canadian Mental Health Association has designed a free program called BounceBack® to facilitate the development of healthy thinking patterns, self-awareness and positive coping skills.  Based on the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approach, BounceBack® contains self-paced skill-building tools including…

• an online video series with downloadable tools for daily use,
• supportive telephone coaching and access to additional resources when referred by a family doctor or nurse practitioner.

Reducing barriers that often accompany the search for mental health services such as cost, wait times, inconvenience and stigma can help to minimize preventable losses in employee and organizational potential.

 

* Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: Facts and Statistics