Let’s Get to Work on Mentally Healthy Workplaces!
This week is Mental Health Week. Mental health isn’t just about an absence of illness – it’s also about feeling well. And there is a connection with your physical health.
Being mentally healthy or ‘mental wellness’ can protect against chronic illness. Many of the things that contribute to our physical wellness can also have a positive effect on our mental wellness – like eating healthy foods, being active, building a strong foundation from early childhood, social inclusion and having adequate income.
Beyond our physical bodies, our mental health or wellness can impact how we navigate the messy stuff of life – our emotions, response to stress and even self-identity.
Some of the factors that protect against mental illness share “many features of positive mental health, such as self-esteem, emotional resilience, positive thinking, problem-solving and social skills, stress management skills and feelings of mastery.”
In BCAHL’s next webinar,’ On the Path to Better Health – A Closer Look at 3 Routes’ on May 26th, Stephen Smith Director of Mental Health Promotion and Prevention of Mental Disorders at the BC Ministry of Health will discuss the connection between mental and physical wellness. He’ll look at how places like schools and workplaces can be used as settings for putting in programs or policies that improve the health of the people who learn or work there.
We hope you’ll join us but in the meantime, check out this video and these other resources about creating psychologically healthy workplaces:
Rita Koutsodimos
Manager, Advocacy & Communications
