ABOUT

The Working Mind (TWM) is an education-based program designed to address and promote mental health and reduce the stigma of mental illness in a workplace setting.

There are three versions of TWM: one for trainers (five days, $3,250), one for managers (eight hours, $200), and one for employees (four hours, $140). These courses include scenario-based practical applications and custom videos of people with lived experience of mental illness, reference guides and related handouts.

The Working Mind First Responders (TWMFR) is a similar program tailored to addressing and promoting mental health and reducing stigma in a first-responder setting. (This program was formerly known as Road to Mental Readiness).

Notes About this Intervention

• Manager and Train-the-Trainer courses are available online. If the available courses do not meet your needs or you wish to provide an employee course at your organization, you may contact The Working Mind to discuss options.
• With the Train-the-Trainer option, individuals are certified to teach the employee and manager courses within their organization for two years. Organizations pay a small fee per person trained by the trained instructor.
• The Working Mind will do course evaluations upon request.
• Based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Contact-Based Stigma Reduction theories.
• Provided by the Mental Health Commission of Canada

Evidence

Opening Minds in the Workplace: Interim Results of a Mental Health Promotion and Anti-stigma Intervention – The Working Mind

An evaluation was conduction to determine the effectiveness of The Working Mind at Husky Energy in partnership with Alberta Health Services. This site had 300 employees who participated in 10 sessions (four manager and six employee) over a 3-month period. Surveys were used to collect data at three time-points: immediately before the start of the workshop (pre), immediately following the workshop (post), and approximately 3 months following the end of the workshop (follow-up). The survey used was the Opening Minds Scale – Workplace Attitudes (OMS-WA). Quantitative analyses using paired sample t-tests show a significant decrease in overall OMS-WA scores from pre to post and pre to follow-up for 74% of participants, which indicates a reduction in stigmatizing attitudes following training and maintenance of this decrease after 3 months. In addition, it was determined using qualitative analyses that 54% of participants felt the program had increased their resiliency and 48% felt the program helped improve their mental health.