THUNDER BAY — Stigma surrounding mental health at work has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Superior Mental Wellness @ Work Advisory Group and Thunder Bay District Health Unit are aiming to make change.
On Friday at the Thunder Bay Arty Gallery, the Get Real photovoice project began its month-long display.
“We asked the community to send us their stories and their pictures that would relate to their mental health experience at work. We specifically asked how do you really feel at work and how do you take care of your mental health at work. The exhibit you see today are selected entries and the whole idea is to inspire positive change, to reduce the stigma of talking about mental health at work, and also to inspire people to be intentional about taking good care of their own mental wellbeing,” said Lynda Fraser, health promotion planner at Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
Fraser said people were courageous in telling their stories.
“What you'll see here, is a very eye-opening opportunity to see to see what people are feeling on the inside and how their job impacts their mental health.
“We don't want people suffering in silence, we want people to speak up if they feel that they need support, and we want that support to be there,” she said.
The Get Real project is a mobile art exhibit. It was developed in 2017 and has toured through 43 workplaces and conferences since that time.
Dr. Vicki Kristman, director or EPID at work research institute and Ontario research chair in injury and disability prevention at Lakehead University, said mental health has been an issue for some time in Northwestern Ontario.
The Northwestern Ontario Workplace & Worker Health Cohort Study (NOWWHS), conducted by EPID @Work, has found some statistics around workplace mental health.
“We found that about 90 per cent of our participants are actually experiencing both depression and or anxiety, which is problematic. It's a very high amount.
“A big portion of those actually report that it's due to their workplace, and I think that's the signal that tells us we need to start focusing on workplaces and what can workplaces do to help prevent what's happening throughout the population,” she said.
Kristman said there were also some good findings through the study.
“Even though there's a substantial amount of workplace anxiety and depression and other mental health challenges, what we are finding is that people are still resilient and they are still reporting that their mental wellness is still quite high. They're able to, in spite of what they're experiencing in the workplace, still function,” she said.
The study currently has over 1,700 participants, but the aim is 6,000.
“We really need more participation, and we love to hear from people and hear what their workplace experiences are because by learning more, that's how we can create more interventions such as this, that can help to address the problem.”
The Superior Mental Wellness @ Work Advisory Group holds the Get Real photovoice exhibit, and it can be brought to individual workplaces. For more information visit the website.
