Create Your Roadmap
Using the Building Blocks below, it’s time to create a customized Mental Harm Prevention Roadmap for your organization.
The Building Blocks are designed to be flexible. You can begin anywhere, but if you’re just starting out, we encourage you to begin with the Getting Started building blocks.
Level 1: Getting Started
During this initial stage, your main goals are to gain leadership buy-in, identify a budget and create a communications plan. By starting these conversations in your workplace, you can begin to build awareness, reduce stigma and identify support for workplace mental health. These Building Blocks will also help you take your first actions to promote mental health and reduce mental harm. As you work through this level, you’re on route to creating a psychologically healthy and safe workplace.
Building Block 1: Foundation
Establish organizational readiness, a budget, resources and senior leadership buy-in.
Building Block 2: Support
See what support currently exists to promote mental health and prevent mental harm.
Building Block 3: Planning
Decide what actions you will take to create workplace mental health programs and policies.
Level 2: Gaining Momentum
At this stage, you’ll be focusing on the specific activities, programs and policies that support your organization’s vision for a psychologically safe workplace. Your main goals are to promote two-way accountability between the employer and employees, define actions that can shape a positive workplace culture and assess the employee experience to look for hazards that could be creating mental harm.
Building Block 4: Leadership
Define organizational expectations and behaviours for managers and employees, and look at the well-being of leaders.
Building Block 5: Culture
Identify specific actions that can help shape a positive workplace culture and promote respect, civility, teamwork and more.
Building Block 6: Connections
Help employees connect with one another, build inclusive communities and reduce the risk of perceived isolation and loneliness.
Building Block 7: Prevention
Take action to proactively reduce the risk of workplace mental harm, and promote mental health.
Level 3: Raising the Bar
At this advanced stage, the focus is on establishing and maintaining processes to ensure your workplace mental health strategy is sustainable, integrated, continually improved and aligned with The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (“The National Standard”). These efforts are often integrated with other management systems, and can provide an opportunity for greater recognition and certification.
Building Block 8: Excellence
Define how you’ll implement, sustain and continually improve a psychological health and safety management system (PHSMS), aligned with The National Standard.
