Employment Works! at CAMH

Employment Works! is a CAMH Human Resources recruitment and retention initiative targeted to recruit people with lived experience of mental health and/or addiction challenges, into vacant CAMH positions. This initiative was created in order for CAMH to "walk the talk", demonstrating to other employers that people do recover from poor mental health and that most can return to work in a dignified and productive manner.

A Manager's training curriculum has been developed and a draft toolkit has been made available. The training includes discussions regarding the prevalence of mental health and addictions in today's workplaces, how to hone early detection skills, the impact of discrimination on the return to work process, the role of stigma in attempting to get assistance, the roles of the various internal departments in a return to work process, creating healthier workplaces, etc. The Employment Works! coordinator is available to managers should they wish to discuss concerns or issues related to their employees, or if they wish to develop an employment opportunity.

An affinity group has been created. The Unusual Suspects is a group of CAMH employees with mental health and/or addiction histories who meet on a regular basis. The membership respect the importance of confidentiality, as about 50% of the members have not disclosed their status. At CAMH's monthly new employee orientation sessions, there is a presentation about the Employment Works initiative, and new CAMH employees are provided with a number to phone should they wish to join. They are also reminded that they may not know the status of a coworker, and need to be aware of their language and attitudes.

The Coordinator is available to anyone with a mental health and/or addiction history who wishes to compete for positions within CAMH. The coordinator will meet with individuals, discuss the culture at CAMH, look over and discuss skills, potential for work, education, etc. and provide resume tips or information, and then track the process. All individuals submit their resumes directly to ensure confidentiality, and the coordinator then tracks the status of the competition.  The Employment Works! Coordinator maintains strong employment-related partnerships, both internally and externally to CAMH, maintaining an ongoing relationship with communities impacted by mental health and unemployment.

Approximately 110 individuals have been employed through the Employment Works! initiative. Future planning includes fostering workplace mental health discussions through small in-house services (mental health literacy), clarifying for both managers and employees the various roles and responsibilities in our accommodation processes, and developing a recognition award for CAMH's Healthiest Workplace teams. 

 

For further information, do not hesitate to contact:

Diana Capponi
Employment Works! Coordinator
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Tel: (416) 535-8501 ext 2403
Fax: (416) 583-4316
Diana_Capponi@camh.net

 

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