Keep Calm & Stay Positive
• 20-25% of Canadians will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.
• 12% of Canadians will experience a mental illness during a 1-year period.
• Less serious mental health problems are even more frequent.
• 15-30% of Canadians will experience a mental health disorder during their working lives.
• Depression is an example of a mental health illness where 4 times more work hours are lost to presenteeism than absenteeism.
• If these ratios are correct, check 3 friends around you, if they’re ok, you’re not!
The difference between mental illness and mental health issues:
• Mental health issues:
- Are usually less serious than mental illness.
- Involve brief intense periods of emotional turmoil and stress.
- Usually will require short-term professional intervention.
• Yet, the majority of employees experiencing mental health issues still fail to ask for help.
• Although we’ve come along way in terms of acceptance of mental health and mental illness in the workplace, there is still stigma attached to it.
• Employees may feel that they do not want to be labelled as having a problem or, that they can resolve the problem on their own.
• Today, we are here to celebrate Mental Health Week in Canada!
• I wish to congratulate Delta Hotels & Resorts for being on the leading edge in the hospitality industry for bringing wellness to the workplace.
Aspiria has been a part of this journey as we offer you the following suite of services to address your health in the workplace:
• Confidential professional counselling for you and your dependents.
• Nutrition, LifeCoaching, Child Care, Elder Care, Legal, Financial and Smoking Cessation, services.
• We’ve just launched our interactive worklife website for you to use, which include:
- Self-Assesssments on stress, anxiety, depression
- Health Articles
- Tip Sheets
- Financial Calculators
- Direct Link to a live counsellor
- Self-help topics covering everthing from the ‘cradle to the grave’
The message I would like to leave with you today is this: when you are feeling out of sorts, don’t wait until your situation becomes too serious to deal with. Ask us to help you when your issues are still relatively manageable. This could save you, your family, and, your employer, a lot of anguish.
I would like to leave you with two prescriptions:
- The 12 Warning Signs of Good Health (if several or more appear, you may rarely need to visit a doctor) and,
- Some practical advice
1. Regular flare-ups of a supportive network of friends and family.
2. Chronic positive expectations.
3. Repeated episodes of gratitude and generosity.
4. Increased appetite for physical activity.
5. Marked tendency to identify and express feelings.
6. Compulsion to contribute to society.
7. Lingering sensitivity to the feelings of others.
8. Habitual behavior related to seeking new challenges.
9. Craving for peak experiences.
10. Tendency to adapt to changing conditions.
11. Feelings of spiritual involvement.
12. Persistent sense of humor.
Lastly, some practical advice that a wise man once told me: ‘on the keyboard of life, always keep your finger on the escape key!
THANK YOU

Over the years, employers have done a lot to improve the health and safety of employees in the workplace—but the mental health side of the house has been left out, says Dr. Heather Stuart, a professor in the Department of Community Heath and Epidemiology at Queen’s University. Dr. Stuart spoke today at EAPAT’s session on Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Illness in the Workplace.

It’s only in the last few years that employers have started thinking about mental health in the workplace, she said. But the new focus is with good reason: 15% to 30% of us will experience a mental disorder during our working lives. And mental illness is among the most frequent causes of disability, she said.

There is also cost to consider. Though there’s not a lot of data in Canada on workplace costs, data from the European Union indicate that workplace disability is estimated at 3% to 4% of GDP. In the U.S., more workers are absent because of mental disability than physical disability.

In mental illness, there are two pathways that affect productivity, she explained. First is absenteeism (an employee is physically not at work and takes time off). More significant, however, is presenteeism, which is when an employee comes to work but has diminished productivity. Stuart pointed out that for every hour lost for an absent employee, add four hours lost for a present employee who is ill and not producing.

However, the problem is that many people with a mental illness do not seek help. In a small study conducted by Stuart, only one-third of workers with depression sought help in the form of a doctor, healthcare provider or employee assistance program. And 18% waited more than 10 years to seek help.

Stigma abounds
One of the root problems of mental illness is the fact that those with an illness are not disclosing their issue. This has a lot to do with the stigma attached to mental illness, said Stuart. “[Stigma] is much more than prejudicial attitudes.” There are various components to it: cognitive, emotional, behavioural and structural (e.g., someone might work in an organization that treats people with mental illness unfairly).

With an unfair work environment, there is also employment-related discrimination. Eighty percent of those with mental illness with employable skills don’t have a job; 20% of mentally ill workers employed in various organizations report discrimination. And 30% of those with mental illness in the U.S. were counselled to take jobs below their educational level (i.e., underemployed).

As for employers, according to research in the U.S., one in two employers would rarely employ someone with a mental illness, and one in four would dismiss someone for a previously undeclared psychiatric illness. “That’s blatantly illegal,” said Stuart. And one in three people were turned down for a job once their psychiatric status was known.

In the U.K., one in two employers admitted they would never hire someone with a diagnosis of depression for an executive position.

In Canada, there is workplace disability legislation, which imposes on employers a duty to make “reasonable accommodations” in order to accommodate an employee with a mental illness. For example, an employer might consider a more flexible work schedule, supported employment or part-time work.

However, Stuart added, the catch to the accommodation is that an employee must disclose that he or she has a mental illness. That’s often hard to do, simply because of work-related stereotypes.

Stuart pointed to the types of work-related stereotypes that people with mental illness face. Those with mental illness are considered…
unemployable;
unable to handle stress;
unpredictable (can’t be sure they’ll show up for work);
unreliable;
untrustworthy;
inappropriate in behaviour;
unable to recover; and
malingering (they’re deceitful, taking days off when they’re not sick, etc.).

What employers need to do
Stuart said employers have to think about changing corporate culture. In 2003, less than half of Fortune 100 companies in the U.S. had a workplace disability policy that expressly included people with mental illness.

They need to recognize that mental health issues are a legitimate work-related concern and develop prevention and promotion policies.

And employers need to provide managers with appropriate training and education to recognize that an employee is struggling. “You need to know how to read the symptoms,” Stuart explained.

“It’s the workplace stigma that’s undermined the ability to improve the mental health of workers,” she concluded. “Corporate cultures are going to be have to become stigma-free.”

Essentially, the program is designed to help employees who are experiencing mental health issues and who may be candidates for either STD or LTD leaves. The service may also be used for employees who are already on STD or LTD.

The Advance Health Management Program is a service that provides expert consultation, professional psychological assessments, and, summary and treatment recommendations to the employer within 14 business days! The program also provides case management, treatment options, return-to-work planning, and follow-up.

The program is the result of our clients asking us to help them with a simpler, faster and, expert solution to what currently exists in the market for difficult mental health workplace personnel issues. By providing this service to our clients, we are not only saving the organization time and resources, we are providing the employee the help they need sooner than with other traditional channels.

“We believe that the Advance Health Management Program is a viable, expedient alternative to the disability management programs available in the market today. “, said Founder & CEO, Charles Benayon. “When it comes to the arena of disability management, those who are experiencing mental health issues are often left behind…The Advance Health Management Program has been designed with those individuals specifically in mind to get them the help they need before a mental health disability management claim is triggered, in order to keep them productive and at work.”

To find out more about this service, simply call Aspiria at 1.877.277.4742 and ask to speak with either the Clinical Director or Account Manager today!

“In my 25 years of experience in the EAP industry, I am seeing an increasing trend of workplace issues in connection with mental illness. This has not only disrupted the family unit, but it has negatively impacted the world of work in the areas of productivity, absence, and, disability costs. It is refreshing to see that employers are taking stock of the issue, bringing it to the forefront of their priority list, and addressing it in their Employee Assistance and Training Programs. Aspiria is proud to be a leader in providing services that specifically address mental illness in the workplace”, says Charles Benayon, Founder & CEO, Aspiria.

Dr. Heather Stuart, Professor in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology at Queens University is the keynote speaker at this event. In the past 15 years, Professor Stuart has focused on describing the experienceof stigma from the perspective of people who have direct experience with mental illness, and evaluating the effectiveness of anti-stigma programs. She is author of several books dealing with mental health related stigma.

The Employee Assistance Program Association of Toronto (EAPAT) is an organization for individuals involved in Employee Assistance Programs in greater Toronto. EAPAT was founded in 1984 and promotes the use of EAP’s, sets professional standards and assists in the professional development of its members.
For more information, please go to www.eapat.org

With our experience providing EAPs in the education sector to institutions such as Confederation College in Thunder Bay and Nipissing University in North Bay, this decision confirms that Aspiria is the provider of choice because of our responsiveness, quality, passion, integrity.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you out for a day that is sure to be filled with food, fun, and friendship all in the support a very important cause. For more information on how to register, or simply make a donation, please visit www.tourette.ca.

Thank you, and I hope to see you all on the tee!

During the tsunami of 2004, I was living in Thailand at the time and I experienced firsthand the utter devastation an event like this can unleash. In addition to the terrible loss of life, there are the struggles that remain for the survivors and the nation as a whole. Newly made orphans will need food and clothes, communities will need to be rebuilt, and the collective consciousness of a nation will need to be mended. All of this will require money.

Aspiria has made a donation to the Canadian Red Cross to help support our friends in Japan. We can all help in our own way. If you would like to make a donation, simply go to http://www.redcross.ca and look for Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami Fund.

It is when incidents such as these take place that I am reminded how lucky we all are to live where we do. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan in the days, weeks, and months ahead as they face the challenges that await them.

Robert Gould
Account Manager
Aspiria Corp.

(Kingston, ON – January 26, 2011) – The Empire Life Insurance Company (Empire Life) and Aspiria Corp. (Aspiria) are pleased to announce the creation of a new Employee Assistance Program (EAP), AssistNow™, designed specifically for Empire Life Group Benefits customers.

AssistNow™ offers expert assistance to employees and their families, as well as to managers and company leaders. It includes confidential counselling, life coaching, health information, self-assessments, interactive training modules, management consultation, and a crisis management service.

“We are very pleased to offer our customers AssistNow™. An EAP is the ideal complement to an employee benefits plan. It helps employees and their families navigate life’s challenges and complex choices, and it provides expertise, coaching and crisis management to company leaders,” says Janet Jackson, Vice-President, Group Marketing. “We know that people are stressed by the demands of today’s fast-paced world, and that mental health issues are one of the top causes of productivity loss in the workplace. AssistNow™ offers affordable, reliable help in challenging times.”

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Empire Life to offer their customers a fresh EAP. Empire Life and Aspiria share a focus on understanding the needs of small business and a commitment to quality, integrity and being easy to do business with. Working together, we can make the most of each other’s strengths and provide a high quality benefit to this underserviced market,” says Charles Benayon, Founder & CEO, Aspiria Corp.

About Empire Life
A subsidiary of E-L Financial Corporation Limited and in business since 1923, Empire Life helps Canadians build wealth and protect their financial security with competitive individual and group life and health insurance, investment and retirement products. The company’s vision is to be the leading, independently-owned, Canadian financial services company committed to simplicity, being easy to do business with and having a personal touch.

About Aspiria Corp.
Founded in 2003, Aspiria has taken over 30 years of industry best practices and created a complete continuum of care with Employee Assistance and Wellness Programs (EAP) dedicated to helping Canadian businesses excel through the power of their people. Aspiria is the newest EAP company in the industry, a boutique EAP provider with a national reach, that makes a difference in people’s lives when it matters most.

Contact:
Laurie Swinton
Manager, Corporate Communications, Empire Life
613 548-1890 ext. 3374 laurie.swinton@empire.ca

Charles Benayon
Founder & CEO, Aspiria Corp.
905-415-0500 ext.102 cbenayon@aspiria.ca