Psychological Health and Safety Toolkit for Primary Care Teams and Training Programs
What is psychological health and safety?
Psychological health is a form of well-being that allows individuals to think, feel, and behave in a manner that enables them to perform effectively in their work environments, personal lives, and in society at large (Samra et al, 2022).
Psychological safety is a condition in which people are free from threats of harm to their psychological health (MHCC, 2019).
Psychological health and safety is a way people interact with one another as well as the way working conditions and management practices are structured within the workplace (CSA, 2013).
Seven themes for workplace psychological health and safety
The resources in this toolkit are organized by seven themes, based on a clustering of the psychosocial factors identified in Canada’s National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.
Organizational and team culture
1. Organizational and team culture
An organization’s culture is made up of the norms, values, beliefs, meanings, and expectations employees share and base their behaviour on (CSA, 2013). Positive traits of an organizational culture like trust, honesty, and fairness can promote psychological health and safety in the workplace.
What defines a psychologically healthy and safe organizational culture?
- Civility and respect: Staff are respectful and considerate of each other, patients, caregivers, and other health-care disciplines.
- Psychological and social supports: Co-workers and supervisors are supportive of employees’ psychological health and safety, and respond appropriately as needed. This support could include vacation time, health leave, and wellness time.
- Engagement: Staff enjoy their work and are motivated to do their jobs well.
- Involvement and influence: Workers are included in discussions about the way in which their work is done and have a role in relevant decisions related to their jobs.
- Recognition and reward: Workers’ efforts are acknowledged and appreciated in a fair and timely manner. This could include events such as worker or team celebrations, recognition of good performance and years served, and milestones reached.
Sources: CSA, 2013; CCOHS, 2023
Workload management and work-life balance
2. Workload management and work-life balance
Having too much work and not enough time to do it is one of the most significant stressors in workplaces across Canada. To effectively balance work demands with their personal and family lives, primary care staff must have enough time to complete the tasks and responsibilities they are assigned (CSA, 2013).
Supporting success, promoting well-being
- Resource management and access: It is not just the amount of work that makes a difference, but also the resources an employee has access to in order to perform well. This can include physical space, equipment, funding, technology, and human resources support.
- Growth and development: Workers are encouraged and supported in the development of their interpersonal, emotional, and job skills. Internal and external opportunities to develop or hone their competencies, which will help with both current and future job preparation.
- Psychological demands: A work environment where there is a good fit between employees’ interpersonal and emotional competencies and the requirements of their role, such as working hours that support workers’ psychological health and safety.
- Work-life balance: Employees must be able to effectively manage the demands of personal, family, and work life. Workers should be encouraged to take their entitled breaks, such as lunchtime, health time off, and parental leave.
Sources: CSA, 2013; CCOHS, 2023
Clear leadership and expectations
3. Clear leadership and expectations
Leaders provide clear, effective communication. They ensure that employees understand their roles and how they contribute to the organization (CSA, 2013). Leaders provide helpful feedback on their expected and actual performance. Also, they ensure that employees are informed about important changes at work in a timely manner.
Each leadership style impacts the psychological health and safety of team members. For example, instrumental leaders focus on outcomes and pay little attention to the organizational and team culture or team members as individuals. Transformational leaders, on the other hand, focus on long-term goals and care about team members’ growth and development. They are agents of change who transmit a sense of purpose and motivate others (CSA, 2013).
Psychological protection
4. Psychological protection
A workplace is psychologically safe when staff feel comfortable enough to ask questions, seek feedback, report mistakes and problems, or propose a new idea. Leaders must also actively work to protect employees from stressors that could harm their mental health, including harassment, bullying, discrimination, violence, and stigma (CSA, 2013; CCOHS, 2023)
Stigma related to mental health and/or substance use
In the context of mental health (MH) and substance use (SU), stigma can be defined as “devaluing, stereotyping, labelling, and discriminating against people living with MH and/or SU problems or illnesses based on negative assumptions and beliefs” (Henderson & Gronholm, 2018; Knaak et al., 2017, as cited in MHCC, 2023). MHSU-related stigma can interfere with other factors important to workplace well-being, such as psychological and social supports, psychological protection, and psychological self-care.
The four types of MHSU-related stigma
- Self-stigma: Occurs when an individual living with MH and/or SU problems or illnesses internalizes negative stereotypes about themselves (MHCC, 2023).
- Interpersonal stigma: When a person holds prejudicial or discriminatory attitudes toward people living with MH and/or SU problems or illnesses, such as stereotyping, judging, labelling, and distancing behaviours (MHCC, 2023).
- Intersectional stigma: Arises when MHSU-related stigma overlaps with other types of stigma and forms of inequity and discrimination, such as racism or homophobia (MHCC, 2020, as cited in MHCC, 2023).
- Structural stigma: Occurs “when laws, policies, and practices of social institutions are inequitable, restricting the rights of and negatively impacting people living with MHSU” (Livingston, 2013, as cited in MHCC, 2023). “Structural stigma in health care happens when MHSU laws, policies, and systems of care reflect and perpetuate negative biases and beliefs about people with MHSU problems and/or illnesses” (MHCC, 2020, as cited in MHCC, 2023).
Protection of physical safety
5. Protection of physical safety
A physically unsafe environment creates concerns and anxiety among team members. For on-the-job safety, staff must be protected from hazards and risks in the physical work environment. Risks could stem from policies, training, a lack of demonstrated concern for employees’ physical safety, and other factors (CSA, 2013). Leaders and organizations can protect staff members’ psychological and physical safety by ensuring that safety concerns are taken seriously, providing sufficient training for them to perform work safely, allowing staff to refuse work they believe is unsafe, and ensuring that work schedules allow for lunch time and rest periods.
Protection from moral distress
6. Protection from moral distress
Staff should be able to perform their roles with a sense of integrity and the support of their profession, employer, and peers. Along with psychological self-care, this factor is especially critical in health-care settings. Organizations and teams can protect staff from moral distress by showing support during adverse situations, ensuring that staff has the human resources and equipment to provide quality care, providing access to bioethics consultations and training, and developing policies and guidelines to address morally distressing events (Grady et al., 2022).
Support for psychological self-care
7. Support for psychological self-care
Organizations and teams should encourage staff to care for their own psychological health and safety, including encouraging them to take breaks and vacations. Psychological self-care should be promoted and embedded into the organizational and team culture (Grady et al., 2022).
Resources
Browse through the list or use the advanced search filters to find the resources that best meet your needs.
Indigenous Canada
Indigenous Canada
- 2023
A website that offers a 12-lesson MOOC (massive open online course) for students outside the University of Alberta’s faculty of Native studies. The course explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada.
This link opens an external web page. The Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Mental Health Commission of Canada do not control the quality or omission of translations.
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Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue: Healthcare
Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue: Healthcare
- 2023-2024
This course teaches nine powerful skills for working through disagreements and concerns in health-care settings to achieve better outcomes for employees and patients.
This link opens an external web page. The Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Mental Health Commission of Canada do not control the quality or omission of translations.
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Commensality Groups
Commensality Groups
- 2023
This resource uses group work to build a sense of connection and collegiality among physicians and foster comradery and meaning in work. By providing protected time for facilitated group discussion, commensality groups can improve various dimensions of physician well-being, including meaning and engagement in work and stress reduction.
This link opens an external web page. The Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Mental Health Commission of Canada do not control the quality or omission of translations.
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Workplace CARE Training for Community Social Services
Workplace CARE Training for Community Social Services
- January 2021
A staff training and workplace certificate program designed to support leaders working in community social services. It offers practical steps to building a psychologically safe and healthy workplace and culture and helps leaders better understand their role in this process.
This link opens an external web page. The Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Mental Health Commission of Canada do not control the quality or omission of translations.
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Disclaimer: This inventory is by no means exhaustive. The Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Mental Health Commission of Canada are unable to comment on the quality of individual programs or services. Consequently, their inclusion in this toolkit should not be considered an endorsement of particular programs or organizations.