Fostering a culture of understanding and acceptance of people with mental illness is the foundation to building psychologically healthy and safe workplaces. This workshop is designed to help build comfort in talking about mental health and mental illness, and learn how to respond in a supportive way to co-workers who may be experiencing a mental illness. This 1 to 2-hour workshop is suitable for employees and general audiences. This workshop begins by building an understanding of the continuum of mental health, and the risk and protective factors that influence our current state of mental health. It uses personal stories to help build awareness of what it is like to experience mental illnesses like anxiety disorders or depression at work. This workshop often includes an interview with a guest speaker to share their experience of living and working with a mental illness. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and leave with a list of resources available to help support your mental health. The workshop fee is $500 to $750. This workshop is available for delivery across BC by the following certified trainers: Julia Kaisla, Laura Allen, Gord Menelaws, Margaret Tebbutt, Lucette Wesley. To learn how to bring this workshop to your workplace, please contact Julia.kaisla@cmha.bc.ca or 604-678-8952 Our certified trainers are also available for speaking events, custom workshops and to help you plan and implement your workplace mental health strategy. Contact us to learn more!
CMHA Programs and Services
The Canadian Mental Health Association provides recovery-focused programs and services for people of all ages and their families. Follow the links below for details.
Blue Wave: For Youth
Youth mental health program
Many BC youth are struggling with mental health and substance use problems. We know the teen years are when mental health and substance use problems often show up for the first time. That’s why Blue Wave is working to provide youth with skills and support to face challenges in their lives. Blue Wave offers two main programs:
- Living Life to the Full for Youth Our fun and interactive course has been shown to improve mood and well-being and reduce stress and anxiety. It offers tools for building problem solving skills, anger and anxiety management skills, social support, self-esteem and healthy thinking.
- Janice Lee Blue Wave Bursary This post-secondary bursary program is open to BC youth under the age of 20 who have experienced a significant mental health or substance use problem.
Blue Wave began as a foundation run by a couple from Langley who lost their teenage daughter, Janice Lee, to suicide. Since 2013, CMHA BC has been continuing their legacy through the Blue Wave program. Learn more about Blue Wave and how you can get involved at www.bluewavebc.ca Learn more:
Bounce Back®: For Adults and Youth
Feeling overwhelmed, tired or like you’re in a rut? Are you more worried than usual or find yourself feeling angry more easily? Bounce Back® may be able to help. Bounce Back® teaches effective skills to help adults and youth aged 15+ overcome early symptoms of depression, and improve their mental health. Participants can learn skills to help combat unhelpful thinking, manage worry and anxiety, and become more active and assertive. Available for free across BC, Bounce Back® has been shown to help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety by half, and over 90% say they would recommend it to a friend or family member. Bounce Back® offers two forms of help:
- An instructional video
- A customized series of workbooks with 4 to 6 coaching sessions by phone
The video is available in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and is available through your doctor or by calling 1-866-639-0522 (toll-free). The Bounce Back® workbooks are available in English with telephone coaching in English, French, Cantonese, or Punjabi. Please talk to your doctor to request a referral to Bounce Back® workbooks and coaching. Learn more:
Info for practitioners:
Bounce Back® is led by CMHA BC with funding provided by the Provincial Health Services Authority.
Confident Parents: Thriving Kids
Confident Parents: Thriving Kids is a family-focused phone-based coaching service effective in reducing mild to moderate behavioural problems and promoting healthy child development in children ages 3-12. Through a series of 6 to 14 weekly coaching sessions, along with exercises and workbooks, trained coaches empower parents and/or caregivers to learn effective skills and techniques that support social skills and cooperation in their child. These techniques are proven to prevent, reduce and reverse the development of mild to moderate behaviour problems that create challenges at home, school and in social settings. Confident Parents: Thriving Kids is offered at no cost to BC families, and coaches are available to speak with parents during day, evening and weekend hours to meet each family’s needs. If you are interested in Confident Parents: Thriving Kids, please talk to your family doctor or pediatrician to request a referral. Learn more:
Confident Parents: Thriving Kids program is grounded in the Parent Management Training – Oregon Model developed by Implementation Sciences International Inc. The program is offered in partnership with Implementation Sciences International Inc. with funding provided by the Province of British Columbia.
For My Health! Workplace Screening
Health screening and education events
For My Health is a fun and interactive health promotion event that integrates physical and mental health screening and education. Especially well-suited for workplaces, the program empowers participants to learn more about their physical and mental health, set plans and goals for improvement, and track their progress. At a For My Health event, participants cycle through several health screening stations covering issues from blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, to anxiety, stress and resilience. After the screening stations, participants meet one-on-one with a coach to review the results and set a health improvement goal. With regular events, participants can track their progress over time. In a recent survey, 100% of participants said they would recommend For My Health to a friend or co-worker. To learn more about bringing For My Health to your workplace, please contact Julia Kaisla at Julia.kaisla@cmha.bc.ca or 604-678-8952 For My Health was developed by CMHA BC and Impact BC in partnership with the Provincial Health Services Authority
Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses
Janice Lee Blue Wave Bursary
Post-secondary bursary for youth
We know the teen years are when mental health and substance use problems often show up for the first time, and that this can get in the way of school and career goals. Offered as part of the Blue Wave youth mental health program, this post-secondary bursary program is open to BC youth under the age of 20 who have experienced a significant mental health or substance use problem. The vision of the Janice Lee Blue Wave bursary program is to invest in the resilience, wisdom and potential of young people, and to reduce some of the barriers during the transition from high school to higher education. Several bursaries of $700 are awarded each year. Applicants are asked to write a letter of hope and encouragement to other youth who may be struggling. You can read some of these letters below. To learn more or to apply for a bursary visit www.bluewavebc.ca To help us provide more bursaries to BC youth, please donate. Learn more:
Living Life to the Full
Want to know how to feel happier, more confident and worry less right now? Would you like to learn new ways of dealing with life’s challenges? Living Life to the Full is a fun, interactive course that will leave you with the inspiration and tools to get the most out of life! This 8-week community-based course provides simple, practical skills for coping with stress, problem solving, boosting your mood, and busting bad thoughts. Living Life to the Full certified facilitators present a new topic at each weekly class, bringing the skills to life though booklets, worksheets, group activities and discussions. Living Life to the Full is based on principles of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and has been shown in research studies in the UK and Canada to be effective at improving resilience, well-being, mood, anxiety and social support. This CMHA flagship program is available in many communities across Canada, with courses geared toward youth, adults, and older adults. We have adapted and seen the course used in such diverse settings as workplaces, schools, on Aboriginal reserves, in faith communities, in prisons, in seniors’ centres, in residential treatment facilities, and even in group medical visits. To learn more and find a course near you, visit www.livinglifetothefull.ca. Living Life to the Full booklets are also available to purchase in English, French and Chinese. Order booklets through our online store. Learn more:
Living Life to the Full for Youth
Living Life to the Full for Youth is a fun, interactive course that will leave youth with the inspiration and tools to get the most out of life. Offered as part of the Blue Wave youth mental health program, this course has been shown to improve mood and well-being, and reduce stress and anxiety. Living Life to the Full for Youth is an eight-week community-based course that provides simple, practical skills for coping with stress, problem solving, boosting your mood, and busting bad thoughts. Adapted from the adult course, the course is designed for youth ages 13-18. Young adult facilitators ages 20-25 deliver the course alongside experienced adult Living Life to the Full certified facilitators. Together they present a new topic at each weekly class, bringing the skills to life though booklets, worksheets, group activities and discussions. In a participant survey 100% agreed that overall the course was useful to them and would be likely to recommend the course to another young person, and 90% agreed that the course was useful in improving their self-esteem. To help us provide more Living Life to the Full for Youth courses in BC, please donate.
Learn more:
- Watch a video on Living Life to the Full for Youth
- Read our Living Life the Full for Youth Pilot Evaluation Report
Living Life to the Full for Youth is supported by the Morris Foundation
Mental Health Works
Solutions for Responding to Mental Health at Work
Talking about mental health at work can be challenging. But becoming more aware of signs of mental illnesses, and learning how to have those difficult discussions are part of being an effective leader. This workshop is suitable for leaders and supervisors, and builds skills to respond immediately and appropriately to employees who are showing signs of being unwell. It helps leaders navigate between performance or productivity issues and underlying mental health issues, and gives them the tools to fulfill their duty to inquire. This workshop is highly interactive, with activities and discussion throughout. It includes experiences of people who work and live with mental illness, either live or through video. Leaders leave the workshop with the awareness to recognize signs of mental illness and the skills to supportively address them. The workshop fee is $1500 for a half day and $2750 for a full day. This workshop is available for delivery across BC by the following certified trainers: Julia Kaisla, Gord Menelaws, Margaret Tebbutt, Lucette Wesley and Mary Lu Spagrud. To learn how to bring this workshop to your workplace, please contact Julia.kaisla@cmha.bc.ca or 604-678-8952. Our certified trainers are also available for speaking events, custom workshops and to help you plan and implement your workplace mental health strategy. Contact us to learn more! Learn more: