What do you do when a coworker shares a mental health concern with you? Do they even feel comfortable doing so? We spend almost as much time with our coworkers as we do our families, so it’s important that we are able to act as a line of defense against these concerns. But, how can we accomplish this?

Today’s guest, Dennis Shinski, is all about raising our collective wellness, and he joins me today to share a plethora of ways we can achieve this. From simply acknowledging that things need to change to organization-wide training and education, he shares from experience how being proactive in the mental health space can create a culture of wellness that benefits everyone.

If you’re ready to take the steps to make it work in your organization, listen in!

About Dennis Shinski:

Dennis Shinski, a 4th year Social Work student at the University of Calgary. Dennis worked in the Trades & Industry for 14 years with many different roles from labourer to supervisor, before transitioning out of Oil and Gas Industry and into Grande Prairie Regional College to work towards getting accepted into the UofC’s Social Work program. He has worked and volunteered in the mental health field for over 7 years, and has been helping people in recovery from addiction for over 8 years. He was also in a documentary called “Digging in the Dirt” that aired on CBC. The documentary focuses on men’s mental health and the crisis in the Trades & Industry sector around suicide and addiction.

Currently, Dennis works at a high school as a Youth Advocate and a FNMI liaison where he shares his lived experience to make a difference in the lives of others, inspiring hope and the courage to change. Follow him on Instagram to learn more.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Centre for Suicide Prevention

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Your organization talks the talk. As leadership, it’s also your responsibility to walk the walk.

From the very beginning in recruitment and onboarding, company values should be apparent. On today’s episode of the podcast, we learn from Shahzia Noorally the best way to accomplish this through storytelling and building a culture surrounding vulnerability about personal experiences. Share your story, look for connection, and allow space for your people to be human in the workplace.

Listen in as we discuss cultural context and its place in workplace mental health, compassion and intentionality in engagement, and vulnerable connection in an isolating workforce. Shahzia’s insights into cultural competency provide practical and actionable steps your organization can take to elevate employee experience.

About Shahzia Noorally:

Shahzia Noorally is a senior HR professional based in Calgary, AB who is on a personal mission to change the HR industry by challenging the norms around how great cultures should be built and infused to make high performing, engaging, and authentically diverse workplaces. She is a proud introvert, published writer, speaker, and blogger, and holds both a Bachelor of Management degree from the University of Lethbridge as well as a Masters of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. She currently works as a HR Business Partner for FortisAlberta and prior to joining Fortis, she spent nearly 6 years at ATB Financial where she worked in a variety of progressive HR roles.

When she's not working, you can find her building her side hustle, the Colour Gap, a podcast focused on unconventional career strategy for women of colour.

To learn more, follow The Colour Gap on Instagram and Twitter, and connect with Shahzia on LinkedIn.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Listen to The Colour Gap 
• The Working Mind 
• Guarding Minds at Work 
• Subscribe to Mental Health in Minutes

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Is your workplace accessible? If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that accessibility accommodations for persons with disabilities are not only highly feasible, but necessary for improving the overall mental health of employees. The one-size-fits-all approach just doesn’t work anymore.

Darby Young joins us on the podcast today to discuss why accessibility in the workspace is so important and how it can be implemented in the office. Different employees will require unique approaches, and the workforce needs more forward-thinking leaders making offices more accessible and inclusive for all. By being flexible and making the workplace accessible, organizations prove that persons with disabilities are valued workers and not simply there to check boxes.

If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your company.

Tune in!

About Darby Young:

Darby Lee Young is a former para-alpine ski racer who was born with mild cerebral palsy and a passion for removing barriers. She created Level Playing Field (LPF) in November 2015 to mitigate the barriers she faces every day. As the Principal Accessibility Strategist, Darby works with architects, designers, property owners, facilities management, and more to ensure spaces are Universally Accessible.

Darby is a well-known public speaker and has been very active in the community. She has been volunteering with Hockey Canada since 2010 and served as co-chair on the City of Calgary’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility (ACA) from 2011-2015. She also represented the City of Calgary at the International Summit on Accessibility. She was recently named top 25 Women of Influence and has a shoe line named after her, called the "Darby" Fellowship by John Fluevog.

To learn more, visit Level Playing Field and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Darby Young on the Hope Motivates Action Podcast 
• Level Playing Field

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

When thinking about increasing productivity, what is your organization doing to support that? Many organizations fill employee’s time with meetings and throw task management systems at them that they don’t know how to use. And while the intentions may be good, the typical outcome is just added stress, wasted time, and less deep work done.

So what’s a real solution to the productivity problem?

Today’s guest, Dawn O’Connor, is a productivity expert and she has practical, actionable advice that can help improve productivity by reducing stress for employees across the board. With proper support, training, and boundaries, employees will naturally improve their efficiency and display higher job satisfaction.

Listen in to learn from Dawn’s expertise!

About Dawn O’Connor:

Driven by a need to connect people in the throes of pandemic life, Dawn O’Connor built a community for individuals to work ‘separately-together’ inside a Focus Bubble. Focus Bubbles launched in mid-January and has surpassed 170 Bubbles and over a thousand hours of productivity! Bubblers work on projects and tasks that run the gamut from taxes, cleaning up email, and other admin stuff to creative writing, podcast prep, client work and PhD studies. The growing Focus Bubble community is kind, supportive, and welcoming.

To learn more, visit the website and follow Focus Bubbles on Instagram and Facebook.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Focus Bubbles 
• Think Productive

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Data analytics is used in so many different aspects of a business⎯ customer satisfaction, sales, web traffic, etc.. But are you tapping into all the data you can be gathering from your employees? It’s often overlooked, but employee data analytics can affect retention, employee mental health, resolving workplace issues effectively, and more.

But data analytics is just one of the elements in making employees feel happy and valued at work. Today’s guest, Aoife O’Brien, is a Happiness at Work expert, and she joins us to share her expertise in how keeping employees happy is beneficial for everyone. By using data, knowing and meeting the unique needs of employees, and aligning the values of your organization, the workplace can be a psychologically safe space that builds trust, loyalty, and authenticity throughout its ranks.

Listen in and dig deeper into how you can make your employees happier at work.

About Aoife O’Brien:

Aoife O’Brien is a Happiness at Work expert. Her mission is to help organizations to increase employee retention by using culture-fit in their hiring decisions. She is passionate about ‘fit’ and specifically how creating the right environment can help individuals to reach their full potential and support organizations to thrive. She helps HR and business leaders to make data-driven decisions, with a specific focus on values, needs, and strengths. Aoife has been featured on several media platforms and podcasts speaking about ‘fit’ as well as imposter syndrome. She has also delivered a number of keynote speeches on these topics.

Her podcast, Happier at Work, has 14,000 listens in more than 50 countries. Before launching her own business, Aoife had a successful 17 years in the corporate world working with global companies like Coca Cola, Unilever, and Heinz to solve marketing problems using data analytics. She has lived and worked in Dublin, London, Perth, and Sydney and has a MSc in Work and Organizational Behavior.

To learn more, visit her website and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Making Mental Health a Focus with Adam Nebbs

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Did you know 45% of Canadians report being bullied at work? Or that workplace bullying can be in different forms? Ruthann Weeks, our guest this episode, has firsthand experience with toxic workplace environments and has dedicated her professional life to creating psychologically safe spaces for all. Join us this week as she shares some amazing insights into stress management, creating healthy workplaces, professional self-empowerment, and how to keep from becoming just another bystander in these situations. You won’t wanna miss this episode.

Key Takeaways:

• Take the time to make an appointment with your emotions-- catharsis is a great form of intentional self-care.
• Your emotional state influences that state of your body.
• There are different forms of bullying that can take place in the workplace such as mobbing.
• Looking at turnover rate is a good indicator of a workplace’s environment. Anything between 5% to 10% may be cause for caution.
• SNAP method for being a good bystander-- See it, Name it, Ask about it, Provide support.
• Leaders embracing the concepts will be the talent takers in the 21st century as Millennials and Gen Z take their place in the workforce.

About Ruthann Weeks

Ruthann Weeks is a Cultural Change Strategist and Principal Consultant at Harmony In The Workplace. She is a change agent whose efforts have helped to bring the importance of an abuse-free work environment to the forefront of public awareness. She is a best-selling author and gifted speaker who delivers a powerful message about today’s workplace challenges.

Working as a Certified Resource Specialist in the human service sector, Ruthann went on to graduate as a Human Resource Manager. She is a Certified Psychological Health & Safety Advisor and specializes in diversity and inclusion, workplace bullying, sexual harassment, domestic violence and mental health in the workplace.

Find her on her website.

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Our cultural experiences shape who we are and the color of our skin often shapes the culture we get to experience. To be good leaders, team members, and allies understanding how to approach the topic of race and ethnicity in the workplace is necessary to ensure equal opportunity and clear communication! Join Kanchan Prinsloo, an Executive Coach with a focus of diversity and equity in the workplace, and I as she educates me on race, leadership, and the often overlooked experiences of BIPOC in the workplace.

Key Takeaways:

About Kanchan Prinsloo:

As a leader who worked in various senior positions for over twenty five years, Kanchan Prinsloo has experienced first-hand the unique pressures associated with being at the intersectionality of race and gender in a leadership role. It is these experiences along with ongoing work, that shape Kanchan’s approach to coaching and building her company to support culturally diverse leaders and organizations.

Kanchan holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and Certification in Executive Coaching. Her commitment to women of color executives leading powerfully aligns with her extensive international diversity program training. You can learn more about her on LinkedIn and her consulting company, KaPri Consulting Inc.

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

When it comes to your leadership, are you walking the talk? Think about it. You’re probably saying all the right things to your team, like telling them to take their breaks and vacations and that they can always come talk to you. But are you actually modeling that behavior for them and providing the mechanisms to make sure these things are happening?

This is just one piece of what’s called “mindful leadership”, and it’s what today’s guest, Sarah Jenner, is here to talk about today. She understands the disconnect that is often found between organizational leadership and their employees. Sarah teaches that through having a true commitment to your team and their mental well-being, you will watch them flourish and grow along with your organization.

Listen in to learn how you can be a mindful leader and build a healthy connection of trust, respect, and safety with your team.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Mindful Leader Program 

About Sarah Jenner:

Sarah Jenner, the Executive Director of Mindful Employer Canada believes dealing with the challenges of today requires problem-solvers who bring different perspectives and are willing to share their journey with you. Mindful Employer Canada, a non-profit, emerged out of a pursuit to inspire and support organizations to create workplaces that are productive, inclusive, innovative, and ambitious.

Sarah and her team do this by creating programs that teach leaders how to resolve workplace challenges using strategies that focus on commitment rather than compliance and empowerment rather than criticism. This helps leaders meet goals like commitment-based management, having difficult conversations, fair process leadership, and setting personal goals. You can find Sarah and Mindful Employer on LinkedIn, Instagram and their website.

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with our monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let us focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

It’s apparent that the “typical” workplace is changing, especially with such a huge shift to working from home during the pandemic. But what changes will we see in the next ten years, and how can we evolve our company culture to keep pace?

While there’s no crystal ball or silver bullet to answer all of our questions, Jordan Friesen hopped on the podcast today to discuss what we can probably expect. At the heart of it all is the fact that we are humans and we have needs and feelings. If a company’s culture and systems cannot evolve to accommodate the human side of the workforce, they will continue to face an increasing number of challenges.

From selecting the right people to adjusting how growth and development are viewed to simply asking your employees what they need, tune in to hear Jordan’s expertise and rethink the way your organization supports mental health and wellness.

About Jordan Friesen:

Jordan is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Mindset Mental Health Strategy.

He is a senior leader with many years experience in Canada’s non-profit sector, leading national initiatives focused on corporate mental health. Since leaving the non-profit world, Jordan uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

In addition to consulting, Jordan has experience in training, education, mentorship, public speaking, and research. He prides himself on being able to distill complex ideas into actionable insights for a wide range of audiences, from executives to students. He is a sought-after subject matter expert on workplace mental health.

Jordan is a registered occupational therapist who holds a Master of Occupational Therapy degree from the University of Manitoba.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Mindset Mental Health Strategies Resources 
• Mindshare Partners: Why 50% of Millennial and 75% of Gen-Z Workers Have Left Jobs

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with my monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let me focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.

Whether virtual or in-person, employee or consultant, the importance of the workplace being a safe space can’t be overstated. It opens the door for needed conversations, regardless of what is going on in the world or in personal lives, and it helps build strong team relationships.

Today’s guest, Heike Cantrup, was eager to come on the podcast and share how a leader in her life has been able to accomplish creating a psychologically safe space at work. As a contractor, Heike found this especially valuable in making her feel welcome and part of the team. So, how was he able to accomplish this?

It really breaks down to keeping an open line of connection and showing vulnerability and compassion. He understands that his employees and contractors are human and need that element of freedom and trust in the workplace. Listen in for the details and the steps you can take to start creating safe spaces in your own teams.

About Heike Cantrup:

Heike Cantrup is a PMP accredited Project and Program Manager within the IT sector. With over 15 years of experience, she thrives in environments where projects need to be rescued and teams need to be organized. Infrastructure and software upgrade projects are her forte, and she enjoys speaking with business centric stakeholders as it enables her to practice speaking without using technical specific terms.

She is an active women of IT coach, and has recently taken on a Board position as VP of Relationship Management with WomenIN. They are a not-for-profit group uniting women 20+ transform the future through unique events, networking, leadership and providing a platform of resources.

Heike is a proud mother of two kids, loves fitness, enjoys movement activities outdoors, and has a passion for live music and streamed content of funk, jazz, hiphop, house, drum and bass, and more.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Brené Brown on SuperSoul Sessions: The Anatomy of Trust

About Mental Health in Minutes:

Make hard conversations easy and meet your team where they're at in their mental health maturity with my monthly digital download subscription of done-for-you presentations. Designed to increase the well-being of your employees, let me focus on research and content creation and you can focus on delivery and employee support, the value-added activity that really makes the most impact with your teams! Download your FREE Training Tryout all about stopping the slide into Burnout HERE.