Registrations are now closed.
Date/Time: March 16, 2023 12:00pm - 1:15pm CT
Location: Virtual (please register to receive meeting link)
Did you hear that? Am I understanding you correctly? What’s going on now? We often make assumptions about what others tell (or don’t tell) us about their workplace concerns.
Relying on gut instinct and stereotypes to drive effective decision-making is never ideal. Workplace decision-makers should strive to capture as much accurate data as possible, which is why protecting workplace psychological safety should be central to every employer’s health and safety program.
Besides lack of training or skills, feelings of anxiety, fear and mistrust can increase the likelihood of near misses and unsafe workarounds. Physical safety is directly linked to how psychologically safe a person feels. Over time, psychologically unsafe working conditions will diminish employee productivity, drive poor mental health (and eventually illness), increase rates of burnout, and worsen turnover. Optimal organizational decision-making cannot occur in psychologically toxic work environments.
During this 60-minute session, psychological health (aka “mental health”) will be defined within the context of workplace psychological safety. Apart from conceptualizing this ‘new way’ of viewing mental health, tools and strategies will be discussed that help identify root causes of psychosocial hazards. Instead of imagining mental health and psychological support in terms of “individual wellness” and maximizing employee assistance plans, participants will learn how psychological health and safety is a shared responsibility and that it takes genuine employer commitment to improve workplace culture.
Speaker:
Geoffrey Thompson is an occupational health nurse with 15+ years working in cross-cultural health, community development, quality improvement and organizational change management. He has a master’s degree in public health and has extensive international experience delivering healthcare services in diverse community settings. For more than seven years Geoffrey has led the Occupational Health Centre’s strategic initiative on workplace psychological health and safety. He specializes in promoting positive workplace mental health through joint worker and management training focused on how to identify and control on-the-job psychosocial hazards.