Workplace mental health education

Increasing basic mental health literacy among leaders and employees can:

Improve their self-awareness, decrease stigma of mental health problems, and help them take action on their mental health.
Signal to employees that the employer is taking notice and action on mental health.
Be a response to identified workplace hazards and improve psychological health and safety,

Educating leaders at all the levels of the organization in mental health awareness, psychologically-safe leader behaviours, and how to recognize and assist employees who are struggling, is recommended by top authorities such as the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health and the WHO.

I have pre-built and custom education for senior leaders, line managers, employees, and HR/safety professionals that corresponds with the best-practices outlined by international and Canadian research and standards. I can customize courses and dovetail with your existing curriculum and OHS/HR strategy. All can be delivered in person or virtually.

Employees	Managers & Supervisors	Senior leadership & HR/safety professionals
Mental health awareness (1hr) The Working Mind^TM (4hrs)	Manager & Supervisor Mental Health Training: (4hrs) The Working Mind^TM for Managers (6hrs)	Finding your next steps for workplace mental health (free, 50 mins) Understanding workplace mental health for HR and Safety Professionals (3hrs) Understanding & developing programs for workplace mental health (6hrs)

The Working Mind trademarked Opening Minds

It is important to note that education alone does not create a psychologically healthy workplace but is one component of a comprehensive strategy. Contact me to learn more about education and psychological health and safety strategy.

Pre-built education, some courses customizable:

Mental health awareness:

Every employee and leader views mental health through their own experience and bias. It is critical that all members of an organization learn the basics of mental health. This seminar helps participants begin to answer:

What is mental health and what are mental health problems?
Self-awareness: how is my mental health using the Mental Health Continuum model?
How can I maintain and improve my mental health?

This course is scheduled for delivery to employees of an organization and open enrolment is not available. Group size is up 6 to 25. Please contact me to schedule.

The Working Mind^TM

Ian is a certificated facilitator for The Working Mind, a program developed and licensed by Opening Minds, part of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The program has been developed by experts in the field and its course objectives validated by peer-reviewed published research. The core program content has been adapted for the unique contexts of NHL players (FIRSTLINE), first responders, healthcare, and the legal sector. The program is delivered over 4 hours, in 1 – 3 segments and can be delivered in person (8 – 25 people) or virtually (8 – 15 people). Participants can expect to:

Know what good mental health is and isn’t and how common mental health problems are.
Check in on their own mental health and when to take corrective action and access help.
Learn how to take action on stress and improve their resilience.

Ian delivers this course to organizations and has open courses. Please contact Ian to register or for more information on bringing this to your organization.

Manager & Supervisor Mental Health Training (4hrs):

Managers have a significant impact on followers mental health and managers often feel ill-equipped to recognize and respond to declining and poor mental health in their followers. Worse, managers who ignore or performance manage employees with mental health problems expose organizations to significant risk. As part of this course, Ian explores with organizations pre- and post-workshop how to maximize impact of training and translate the training into effectiveness. Managers and supervisors taking part in the course can expect to:

Create a context of psychosocial safety: on a group level, demonstrate and communicate often your unconditional pursuit of the health, safety, and wellbeing of team members AND persons served.
Develop rapport and relationship with individual team members at the level possible.
Invite and receive non-judgmentally, feedback on how work is done, interpersonal relationships, and other workplace factors.
Notice what good and poor mental health looks like in yourself and others and identify hazards / risks to wellbeing.
Investigate reports/observations of poor team member wellbeing and exposure to hazards.
Act & follow up: jointly, implement steps to remove or mitigate the workplace hazard, develop team member capacity, and monitor results.

Please contact Ian to schedule or to discuss if this program is right for your organization now.

The Working Mind^TM for Managers (6hrs)

This course takes all the elements of The Working Mind above and adds an extra module for leaders covering:

Knowing and acting in your role.
Responding to mental health problems that emerge in the workplace.
Debriefing to a group of employees following a crucial incident.

The program has been developed by experts in the field and its course objectives validated by peer-reviewed published research. It is designed to be delivered in 1 to 4 segments in person or virtually for groups of 8 – 25 or 8 – 15 people respectively. Please contact Ian to schedule or to discuss if this program is right for your organization now.

Finding your next steps for workplace mental health

This 50 minute seminar is designed for senior leaders to rapidly increase their knowledge of workplace mental health to inform their next strategic step. Leaders will learn:

Best-practices in workplace mental health according to Canadian and international standards.
The typical pattern of maturity or progression that organizations experience as they increase their workplace mental health capacity or sophistication.

Ian offers this seminar free virtually or in person to qualified audiences. Please contact Ian for more information.

Understanding workplace mental health for HR and Safety Professionals

Many great HR and safety professionals want to level up in their knowledge and speak knowledgably about workplace mental health. Sometimes workplace mental health or psychological health and safety or “wellbeing” has been bolted onto their role or they are passionate about mental health and want to champion the cause. By participating in this 3-hour seminar, participants will:

Understand the spectrum of various workplace mental health activities and where they fit within best-practice recommendations.
Understand the connection and mechanism between working conditions and mental health based on high quality research.
Identify why “off the shelf” programs may or may not be what is needed for your time in your organization.
Understand what a workplace mental health strategy looks like and the typical pattern of maturity or progression that organizations experience as they increase their workplace mental health capacity or sophistication.

Ian offers this seminar virtually or in person for organizations and industry associations. Please contact Ian for more information.

Understanding & developing programs for workplace mental health

This 6-hour course is designed for HR, safety, and workplace wellbeing consultants looking to implement workplace mental health programs. It is a “deep dive introduction” to the research base supporting the best-practice recommendations of the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace and ISO45003. By participating in this 6-hour seminar, participants will:

Understand the spectrum of various workplace mental health activities and where they fit within best-practice recommendations.
Understand the connection and mechanism between working conditions and mental health based on empirically-validated models and high quality research.
Understand what a workplace mental health strategy looks like and the typical pattern of maturity or progression that organizations experience as they increase their workplace mental health capacity or sophistication.
Be oriented to how to assess and prioritize next workplace mental health program steps are.
Learn what causes interventions to fail and steps to take to avoid.

Ian offers this seminar virtually or in person to interested industry associations. Please contact Ian for more information. The following sessions have open registration:

June 5, 2025 10 – 5pm Eastern

Lewis Health Management Consulting