Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

Volume 6 (5), September/October • 2004

CAOT President’s message

Diane Méthot

The importance of workplace mental health is finally becoming recognized and I am very pleased that CAOT has published a special edition of OT Now to explore this in depth. It’s a topic that everyone relates to as workers. Every day we cope with pressures that call upon our mental health and it’s important that we understand how these affects us.

My own professional experience is in mental health, working in a hospital milieu. I deal daily with the challenges that people face to maintain their well-being. The relationship between work and mental health is a struggle not only for our clients who are coping with mental illness, but one that we also deal with as workers facing stress caused by management structures, position cuts or isolation. As we know, these pressures impact not only on work performance but also on all our activities of daily living and the quality of our social relationships.

In 2000, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health’s (CAMIMH) published Building Consensus for a National Action Plan on Mental Illness and Mental Health. In this call for action, they stress that “preserving and promoting mental health can contribute to healthy families, productive workplaces and nurturing communities.” As occupational therapists we couldn’t agree more and are well aware of how emotions can play an important role in workers’ performance and their work environment.

It is important, even crucial, to pay attention to what people experience emotionally at work, with or without a mental illness. The needs are often similar: the need for recognition, support from coworkers and supervisors, structured and balanced activities throughout the week, and the opportunity to use our strengths and potential. Our professional values and beliefs related to occupation make it imperative that we join the many initiatives, from public and employer education to increased funding for research and services. We must help decrease the stigma and prejudice which I believe is the main barrier to mentally healthy workplaces and we must work in collaboration with clients, families, other professionals, researchers, the business community and government.

We look forward to further collaboration with CAMIMH to create a fundamental shift in how Canada deals with mental illness and mental health issues. We must ensure that it moves to a higher priority on our country’s health and social policy agendas. The statistics gathered from CAMIMH tell the story: “While mental health care accounts for as much as 16 percent of heath-care costs and directly affects 20 percent of the population, Health Canada’s program spending on mental illness and mental health promotion combined is less than $5 million a year. Only about four percent of all public research dollars go to mental health and mental illness research.”

Health professionals are not immune to the increase in burnout, stress and depression. It all affects performance at work and needs to be addressed. Occupational therapists are well positioned to help others but it is also very important to practise what we preach. We must maintain a balanced life, where we take time to do our own meaningful activities, laugh and play and practise our four Ps to prioritize, plan, pace and position in our daily activities — at work as well as at home. We must also advocate for healthier work places where people feel empowered, are allowed to make choices, get recognition for a job well done, have a sense of belonging and an opportunity to support each other.

About 15 years ago our society began to take concrete action to accommodate the needs of people with physical disabilities. While there is still much to be done for universal design to be fully integrated into our society, the work and the momentum has begun. The time has come to take on similar processes for all Canadians and make our environments truly inclusive and supportive of everyone’s mental health.

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