Resources for managers for mental health in the workplace

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1 or go to your local emergency department.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline.

If you are in distress, please contact your Employee Assistance Program.

Resources and Services

  • Mental health supports for managers

    Learn how to maintain your own mental health, as well as support employees and teams.

  • Financial well-being

    Access information, tools and videos about managing your money, debt and investments, planning for retirement and protecting yourself from consumer fraud.

  • Employee Assistance Program

    Federal departments and agencies in the core public administration are required to make available to employees a confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP). An EAP provides free short-term counselling for personal or work-related problems as well as crisis counselling. More than 90 federal departments and agencies receive their EAP services through Health Canada, while other organizations provide this service internally or purchase it from the private sector. If you are not sure who your provider is, please access Find your organization’s Employee Assistance Program provider. If your department or agency is not listed, contact your manager or your organization’s Human Resources team for EAP information.

  • Disability management

    Find information in the Disability Management Handbook for Managers in the Federal Public Service to help you deal with mental health issues in the workplace and to promote employee wellness, workplace attachment and productivity. You can also read the summary of disability management best practices.

  • Duty to accommodate

    Consult the Duty to Accommodate: A General Process for Managers to find information on the duty to accommodate people in the federal workplace who have special needs, and the roles and responsibilities of key players in the accommodation process.

  • Preventing harassment and violence

    Learn about the requirements for employers to prevent harassment and violence to foster a culture of respect.

  • Improving your mental health

    Find information about mental health and ways to improve it at work and in your daily life.

  • Grief and loss

    Loss of an employee or employee’s loved one

    These guidelines have been developed to help managers play a key role in helping their employees deal with a loss, be it a colleague or a loved one. 

  • Health Canada’s Specialized Organizational Services (SOS)

    Health Canada’s Specialized Organizational Services (SOS) are available to public service managers for their teams. Specialized Organizational Services operate on a cost-recovery, not-for-profit basis, and are committed to identify the best-qualified professional counsellor at the most reasonable cost. Examples of services requested include team building, workplace health assessment and change management.
    Contact Health Canada’s Specialized Organizational Services:

    • By phone: 1-888-366-8213
    • By email: info-sos@hc-sc.gc.ca

Tools

Raising Awareness

  • Mental health in the workplace: make a difference

    View and share the Mental health in the workplace: make a difference video that demonstrates the Government of Canada’s commitment to creating healthy workplaces, to keep the dialogue on mental health open, and to continue to raise awareness.

  • Federal Speakers’ Forum on Lived Experience

    The Federal Speakers’ Forum on Lived Experience is a platform for public servants to share lived experiences related to mental health, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion. Learn about the process to host or become a speaker.

Taking the pulse

  • The Federal Public Service Workplace Mental Health Dashboard

    The Federal Public Service Workplace Mental Health Dashboard (the dashboard) (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) is a statistically validated, evergreen tool for reporting on the psychosocial factors outlined in the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Examples of psychosocial factors include psychological support, organizational culture, and workload management.

    The dashboard can help you identify psychological health and safety strengths and gaps in the federal public service, individual departments and sub-organizational units, track progress over time, and compare between various populations of public servants.

  • Guarding Minds @ Work

    Guarding Minds @ Work provides organizations with proactive, comprehensive ways to assess the psychological health and safety of their specific workplaces, combined with information on appropriate solutions and a method of measuring the effectiveness of those solutions.

Other tools

  • Health Canada’s Specialized Organizational Services (SOS) team maintains a roster of mental health professionals with expert skills, knowledge and experience to provide a wide range of psychosocial training:
    • development and delivery of customized training on topics across the mental health continuum (for example, work-life balance, effective stress or anger management, respectful workplace, change management, conflict resolution, career coaching, team building) or issues that affect mental health such as nutrition, smoking cessation, fitness, dealing with chronic illnesses, etc.
    • delivery of standardized programs such as The Road to Mental Readiness and the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Working Mind and Mental Health First Aid.

    Contact Health Canada’s Specialized Organizational Services:

    • By phone: 1-888-366-8213
    • By email: info-sos@hc-sc.gc.ca
  • Disability Management Cases

    Access the Handling Disability Management Cases – The Tool for guidance, from the time a case is identified, through the case management process to the successful return of the employee to work.

  • People-to-people communication

    Explore the subject of harassment prevention and resolution in the federal workplace, and contribute to building a healthy workplace by learning key communication skills.

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