The Workforce Advisory committee is in the process of developing its work plan to ensure that key organizational personnel make mental health in their own workforces a priority. The idea is to help all workforce leaders change the way mental health is dealt with so that workforce environments are more capable of dealing with mental health matters in a manner that leads to the betterment of the workforce and the workplace.

The committee is also focusing on the barriers that must be recognized then dismantled as they pertain to: job re-entry, finding employment, sustainable income, skill development, and even housing.

The committee is now working on projects to:

• Introduce mechanisms by which key organizational personnel and resources can be committed to reducing stigma and addressing and improving mental health in the workplace and workforce;



• Identify and evaluate the best kind of support, both clinical and workplace-based, for employees dealing with mental illness and further enhance the positive role that work can play in the recovery process;



• Investigate issues (including the role of disability benefits) surrounding the employment and potential for employment of persons with mental health concerns in an effort to determine how best to ensure access to gainful employment and/or continued employment, sustainable income, and essential health benefits for such persons.