Aspiring Workforce

What We’re Doing

In 2013, the MHCC released the research report The Aspiring Workforce – Employment and Income for People with Serious Mental Illness. It made recommendations to reduce employment barriers for people living with mental illness and identified innovative practices to help them secure and sustain meaningful employment. Based on these recommendations, the MHCC is working at three different levels to accelerate change:

For Policymakers:

• On November 28, 2017, MHCC hosted a forum for all levels of governments, researchers, community service providers, and people with lived experience to promote the exchange of ideas and promising practices to raise employment levels for people living with a mental illness. The goal of this day was to co-create actionable recommendations for government in the areas of disability and income supports, targeted employment and social enterprises, and supported employment that will be effective in reducing employment barriers for these individuals. Review the summary report and discussion paper.

For Employers and HR Professionals:

• A Clear Business Case for Hiring Aspiring Workers examined five Canadian businesses from three different provinces where the employers took active steps to hire and accommodate workers living with mental illness. For each of the businesses, data was gathered to form a comprehensive economic breakdown of the estimated net benefit and benefit-to-cost ratios for the employee and employer.  In all of the case studies completed, there was a significant return on investment for providing accommodations to workers with mental illness, meaning there were financial gains associated with the accommodation measures for both workers and employers. For more information, read the summary of key findings.
• Building on this work, the MHCC developed A Practical Toolkit to Help Employers Build an Inclusive Workforce. This toolkit is meant to help human resources (HR) professionals and those with HR, wellness and diversity responsibilities increase accessibility and inclusiveness and address the needs of workers living with mental illness.
• MHCC has invested in the Social Enterprise Ecosystem Project, which connects training, marketing, and impact measurement resources for social enterprises anywhere in Canada. A social business is a commercial venture that markets goods and services to the public and uses this economic activity to achieve social outcomes.
• MHCC is partnering with the Social Enterprise Institute to deliver webinars, online learning and coaching support to social enterprises who hire people with mental illness.

For Employment Agencies and Job Seekers:

• MHCC completed an environmental scan of supported employment agencies across Canada to determine where and how evidence-based approaches (such as the Individual Placement Support model) are being implemented to support individuals living with a mental illness get into the workforce. The scan identified over 518 programs that offer services to people with mental illness. The results of this scan were mapped on an interactive tool that was based on Canada’s provincial and economic regional data and the recent 2016 Census data (including information from 2.9 million persons aged 18-64 who self identified as having a mental illness). We invite you to have a look at the accompanying guide for more information.
• On June 19, 2018 the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) hosted a one-day workshop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This workshop brought together over 100 people consisting of supported employment professionals, employers, people with lived experience, researchers, social enterprises, and experts from across Canada to explore opportunities for greater engagement and collaboration focused on addressing the complex employment needs of individuals living with mental illness. For more information, review the summary report.
• The MHCC partnered with the Canadian Association for Supported Employment (CASE) to launch a National Community of Practice (CoP) on Supported Employment. Participants of this CoP are key experts and seasoned leaders who work to deliver employment supports for people living with mental illness. Twenty-seven members belong to the CoP and represent Provinces and Territories from across Canada. This group will provide a strong foundation for undertaking collective work across the sector and will be well-positioned to offer needed leadership and infrastructure in this field with a focus on practice, education and awareness and policy.

More Resources:

• Aspiring Workforce Report
• Aspiring Workforce Report Appendices
• Aspiring Workforce Overview