I have just spent a brilliant couple of days with the Mental Health Commission for Canada.
Two and a half days spent talking with passionate, skilled and determined people with different backgrounds, experiences and cultures, all with a shared passion – shifting the dial and making mental health an everyday conversation; challenging mental health stigma, building mental health literacy, helping folk keep healthy and ensuring anyone who needs support gets it.
The Commission was set up in 2007 as an arms-length governmental body accountable to the Health Ministry at a time when Canada was the only country in the G8 not to have a mental health strategy.
We talked Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), adult learning principles, Instructor training, certificates, booking systems, suicide prevention, positive psychology, neuroscience, first aid, diversity, partnerships, social media content, blended learning, stigma and much more.
The Commission is the license holder for MHFA in Canada. As with license holders across the world, the team uses the model first developed in Australia almost 20 years ago to train Mental Health First Aiders, whilst ensuring it is culturally appropriate and relevant for different groups including the Inuit and First Nation communities, seniors and the Police.
The Commission is committed to building workplaces who better support the wellbeing of their employees. As in the UK, adults spend at least a third of their time at work and as we know, an active work life has a positive impact on our health and wellbeing, but can also present challenges.
Like MHFA England, their training and support for workplaces is based on the premise that a ‘whole organisation’ approach is needed to create a positive culture. Their work aims to build mental health literacy, creating a language for, and comfort with, talking about mental health. It is also underpinned by a national framework for psychological health and safety in the workplace.
Time and again throughout the two days we returned to the negative impact of stigma on talking about mental health and on seeking help. We know that change is going to take a generation, and in Canada, just like England, youth led initiatives are creative, inspiring and challenging the status quo.
The Commission harnesses the power of youth leadership through a powerful youth anti-stigma programme, Headstrong. Multi-agency collaboratives work together to create youth-led summits that explore mental health and stigma and create an agenda for action back in the school.
Given the importance of eliminating stigma the Commission was a co-founder of the Global Anti-Stigma Alliance along with Time to Change, the UK based anti-stigma initiative. The Alliance aims to share learning, knowledge, evidence and best practice to accelerate the elimination of mental health stigma. You can find out more about the Alliance here and follow them on twitter @_AntiStigma.
I am grateful to Mike Pietrus and the team for their warm welcome and generous sharing of knowledge and ideas. I head for home via New York City to visit NYC Thrive – the city wide Mental Health Programme with new knowledge, new ideas and a new global collaborator.
After a rebooked flight, an unscheduled stopover in Toronto and a dash through an extremely busy customs to make my connection, it's fair to say my stress container has not been at its emptiest. Now finally on my way to Thrive NYC, I will follow up to share my learnings from the other half of North America next week.
Find more information about the Mental Health Commission for Canada by visiting their website at www.mentalhealthcommission.ca.