Contributed by Monica Alves, Communications & Event Planning Intern

Have you ever come into work one day and simply not felt like yourself? We all have days when we don’t feel like ourselves. Acknowledging these feelings is part of caring for our mental health.

For the second year in a row, posAbilities has taken part in a workplace mental health initiative called Not Myself Today, as we strive to create and maintain a mentally healthy workplace for all employees.

Not Myself Today is led by the Canadian Mental Health Association, with the goal of engaging workplaces across Canada to support mental health and those who may be facing challenges. It is an issue that affects everyone. To be at our best, we need to take care of our mental health, as it is just as important as our physical health.

• Most people will face mental health challenges at some point in their lives, either personally or through a friend or family member.
• 1 in 5 Canadians will have a mental illness this year.
• 44% of workers say they have, or have had, mental health issues.
• In the workplace, only 23% of people would talk about their mental illness with their employer and less than one-third report accessing help.

Stigma remains a huge barrier to people getting the help they need. At posAbilities, we acknowledge this issue and are committed to driving positive change. We invited our team members to join us in supporting the Not Myself Today campaign, to take part in the conversation and learn more about this important issue. Together, we ran through 3 phases…

Phase 1: Build awareness & understanding of mental health

Phase 2: Reduce stigma

Phase 3: Foster a safe and supportive work culture

This last phase encouraged team members to participate in a “Positivity at Work” activity. Not Myself Today provided us with compliment posters and Pay It Forward cards to show our gratitude and appreciation of others.

At posAbilities, we take employee wellness seriously, and believe it is important to promote an awareness and understanding of mental health. We recognize that our employees are our most valuable asset. Paying attention to employee well-being helps individual employees, and also strengthens our organization as a whole.

A critical part of creating a mentally healthy workplace involves engaging and consulting with employees to identify our current strengths and areas for improvement. We distributed a confidential online employee survey to help us understand our employees’ knowledge and attitudes towards mental health and mental illness, perceptions of our workplace and of the Not Myself Today campaign.

To thank our team members for their engagement and support throughout the campaign, we picked two lucky winners who completed the survey to be awarded prizes valued at approximately $150 each. Congratulations to Mary Ann Sellado and Lisa Petersen! They each won $150 which will be used towards massage therapy for Mary Ann and the purchase of a Fit Bit for Lisa. A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Not Myself Today survey, we greatly appreciate your feedback on the campaign.

We look forward to reviewing your survey responses to plan in supporting a mentally healthy workplace at posAbilities!

Follow us on Twitter for more #NotMyselfToday tips and facts,

and visit www.notmyselftoday.ca for more info.

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