Ontario makes commitment to employee mental health

Ontario has made a commitment to help support the mental health and wellness of employees, by partnering with the Career Education Council in Guelph.

The partnership will help develop an occupational health and safety awareness program for teachers, youth and parents, alike.

“By working with excellent partners like the Career Education Council on advancing mental health support, we can make a real difference for our workforce,” explained Kevin Flynn, Minister of Labour.

“This is how Occupational Health, Safety and Prevention Innovation Program projects are helping Ontario to move forward on our goal of ensuring every worker goes home safe at the end of their shift.”

The partnership will focus on supporting employers and those who provide employment-related services to vulnerable workers, and will:

• Develop and deploy education programming and provide customized, widely accessible resources, including an app
• Support the mental health and wellness of vulnerable employees such as young workers and new Canadians, as well as workers in their second career, who work in stressful front-line positions such as retail, call centres, hospitality services and the health care sector

“Support from programs such as the Occupational Health, Safety and Prevention Innovation Program are helping to make Ontario jobs among the safest in the world,” added Liz Sandals, MPP for Guelph.

“I want to congratulate the Career Education Council on helping to make that a reality here in Guelph.”

Through the Occupational Health, Safety and Prevention Innovation Program (OHSPIP), Ontario is investing $183,065.