By Shauna Mazenes
Patient care starts from within.
That's the key message behind a new course for members of TeamUHN.
The Working Mind is an evidence-based training program that aims to reduce stigma in the workplace by changing how employees think, act and feel about mental health.
“Our number one priority at UHN is delivering quality patient care," says Tania Williams, Workplace Wellness Manager at UHN. “But how can we take care of others if we're not taking care of ourselves?"
Tania says mental health stigma is something that's built into our society and overshadows every aspect of our lives, including work. Becoming an optimal health care worker means understanding and reducing the impact of that stigma in the workplace — including its effect on patient care, she says.
“People don't think twice about sharing their experience with a broken ankle or other physical injury," Tania says. “But when it comes to a mental health challenge, often people won't share because they're worried about being judged.
“They're worried about being treated differently."
Thanks to a generous donation from UHN Foundation, Workplace Wellness was able to partner with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to host 24 sessions of
The Working Mind for employees and leaders in 2023. A total of 307 successfully completed the course.
Now, selected TeamUHN members among that group have been trained and certified to teach the program to their colleagues.
The course is open to all levels of staff for registration on
MYLearning. Leaders can request a course specifically for their department, unit or team via the
KICS course request form.
Fahreen Ladak, an interprofessional educator at Toronto Rehab, Lyndhurst Centre, is among those who took the course in 2023 and is now certified to teach it at UHN.
At times, she says, clinicians can be so focused on taking care of their patients that they forget to check-in on themselves. The course taught her self-care isn't selfish, and to prioritize her mental well-being without stigmatizing herself for it.
"I sometimes thought self-care could be selfish because it was taking time away from my kids," Fahreen says. "But I realized, when I take the time to do things for myself," like yoga, she says, "I eat better, I sleep better — I'm a better mom."
Fahreen says anyone can benefit from the skills taught in the course, and she even uses them as a tool to discuss mental health with her children. For example, she says if her child is ever having a "yellow day" they will talk about it and figure out what they can do to "get back to green."
"It's helpful to talk about mental health with colours as opposed to stigmatizing language," she says, emphasizing that even children can learn to take care of their mental health at their tender age using these strategies.
Fahreen adds some of the material from
The Working Mind was integrated into the professional development days in Toronto Rehab's Spinal Cord Rehab Program. The content enabled team members to have an increased awareness about how they're feeling to better recognize when they need support or self-care.
This heightened awareness has led to improved patient care and experiences, she says.
Dr. Peter Seidelin, a cardiologist at UHN's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, echoes that sentiment.
As the first — and so far, only — UHN physician to take the course, he says doctors should be curious and develop an understanding that taking care of their mental health will reap benefits for themselves, their patients, their family and their community.
"It's important to be able to recognize when we are over-stressed, exhausted, and less well on the mental health continuum, to feel supported and comfortable talking about our concerns, and to have strategies that can fix them," he says.
"My biggest recognition was that these strategies and awareness have the potential to improve patient care, patient safety, interaction with colleagues, and even personal well-being and engagement with family.
"You can address all of these things by just taking care of yourself."
He says the strategies taught in the course can be thought of as power tools in a personal toolkit.
"Like all power tools, they work the first time you use them and they work better every time you use them," Dr. Seidelin says. “And, regular practice will continue to improve results and lead to change."
Tania says while mental health stigma can be a barrier to care for patients, it can also be the very factor that prevents someone from understanding how they can do better not only for others around them, but for themselves.
Only once someone understands the true impact of that stigma can they take a step back and analyze their own mental well-being at work, including recognizing concerning changes in behaviour, being able to have conversations about mental health with colleagues, friends and family, and equipping themselves with the tools they need to overcome it—all of which are covered in the course, Tania says.
"This course encourages you to ask yourself: Am I feeling my best right now? And if I'm not, what can I do about it?" Tania says.
"Maybe you're not in crisis, but we're human, challenges and stress are unavoidable.
"We can be proactive and equip ourselves with tools to better manage it."