From lack of sleep to post-traumatic stress disorders, employees facing a range of challenges that can have an impact on their work. What are some of the causes of mental-health issues and how can employers recognize when an employee is having difficulties? At the 2017 Mental Health Summit in Toronto on Nov. 7, experts provided […]
Despite mental health accounting for more than 30 per cent of long-term disability claims, there’s a disconnect between medical practitioners and insurers that unwittingly impedes the ability of plan members to receive timely care. Samuel Mikail, senior consultant for mental health at Sun Life Financial, told attendees at Benefits Canada’s 2017 Mental Health Summit in […]
When it comes to workplace wellness, health and wealth must go hand in hand, according to a speaker at the recent Mental Health Summit in Toronto. Eric Pfeiffer, a senior health management consultant at Manulife Financial Corp., told attendees at the Nov. 7 event that dealing with financial fitness is similar to dealing with mental […]
Between trouble sleeping, chronic insomnia and sleep apnea, three-quarters of Canadians sleep less than the recommended seven hours a night. “These sleep-deprived people show up to work but suffer from serious presenteeism,” Josée Dixon, executive vice-president of group and business insurance at Desjardins Insurance, told attendees at Benefits Canada’s 2017 Mental Health Summit in Toronto […]
With mental illness the leading cause of disability in Canada, early detection and treatment offer the best and perhaps only chance of a full recovery. That was a key message from Dr. Jeffrey Habert, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s department of family and community medicine, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2017 Mental […]
Despite growing empathy and awareness around mental illness, Canadians coping with mental-health disorders continue to struggle with frequent misdiagnoses, ineffective treatment plans and a lack of timely access to care. With average wait times stretching to more than five months, Julie Gaudry, speaking at Benefits Canada’s Mental Health Summit in Toronto on Nov. 7, noted […]
Clinical depression is much more than a persistent feeling of sadness. It’s a debilitating disease that keeps half a million Canadians away from work in any given week, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Just like diabetes, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis, severe depression can progress into a progressive inflammatory disease. As a […]
Given the stressful nature of their jobs, Canada’s first responders ― police, paramedics, firefighters and correctional workers ― are living with much higher rates of mental disorders than the general population, according to a recent national survey published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. “It’s a community that’s hurting,” Andy MacDonald, a veteran firefighter and […]
Although a national pharmacare strategy seems elusive, the Ontario government is making a fairly aggressive investment in that area by spending $465 million to boost its provincial drug coverage by covering residents under age 25 and from 65 onwards. The program, known as OHIP+, begins Jan. 1, 2018. Children and youth under age 25 will by automatically eligible […]
More than 2,500 Canadians died from opioid-related overdoses in 2016, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The situation is particularly grave in the West. This year, British Columbia alone is on track to see 1,400 deaths due to opioids. The province declared a state of emergency in April 2016, and Alberta followed suit […]