About Guarding Minds at Work

Guarding Minds at Work is a free and comprehensive set of resources designed to assess risks and address and manage psychological health and safety at work.

Guarding Minds at Work helps employers identify and measure employee experience with psychosocial factors and hazards that may impact workers and the workplace. These factors and hazards are known to have a powerful impact on organizational success, the well-being of individual employees, and the financial bottom line.

For more information read our frequently asked questions.

Guarding Minds was created in response to an increasing demand for organizations to protect the psychological safety of employees. These demands address the following issues:

Legal duty – Employers are required by law to protect the health and safety of employees.

Bottom line – Awareness that psychologically unsafe work activities and workplaces can have negative impacts on recruitment, retention and reputation.

Performance – Recognition that employee psychological well-being has a direct impact on productivity, performance, and organizational sustainability.

Well-being – World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”¹

Guarding Minds was commissioned in 2007 by The Canada Life Assurance Company and continues to be supported by Workplace Strategies for Mental Health. Guarding Minds was the first of its kind and is foundational to the evolution of psychological health and safety in Canada. Since 2007 it has undergone a process of continual improvement. It is hosted by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) which is responsible for preserving the confidentiality of all data collected.

Guarding Minds was originally developed by experienced research-practitioners from the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was significantly updated in 2022-2023 by Dr. Heather Stuart from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

¹ World Health Organization (2020). Constitution of the World Health Organization – Basic documents: forty-ninth edition (including amendments adopted up to 31 May 2019). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO

History

2007

Dr. Martin Shain developed a concept of assessing and addressing risks to mental health which would be embedded in the organization and design of work. Dr. Shain coined the term “Guarding Minds” to underscore the importance of locating the protection of mental health at work within the legal framework of occupational health and safety.

2008

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health (then called the Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace) commissioned the creation of a practical, web-based employer resource, with the generous funding support of The Canada Life Assurance Company. The developers were Dr. Joti Samra, Dr. Merv Gilbert, Dr. Martin Shain, and Dr. Dan Bilsker.

2009

Guarding Minds at Work was launched.

2012

Guarding Minds was updated by Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Bilsker, Dr. Samra, and Dr. Shain to ensure that it remained current with emerging research, practice and regulatory developments, including the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.

2013

A collaborative partnership was formed with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) to provide user support, website design, hosting, data collection, storage and technical services.

2018

Guarding Minds was enhanced by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Bilsker using more recent comparison statistics, along with a new look and improved functionality provided by CCOHS.

2020

Guarding Minds was updated by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Bilsker to ensure it remained current with emerging employer and organizational needs, research, practice and regulatory developments. Updates included changes to both the survey and resources. New benchmark data was collected in collaboration with Queen’s University and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services.

2022/2023

As part of over a decade of continual improvement, Guarding Minds was updated and validated by Dr. Heather Stuart from Queen’s University. Survey items were aligned with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 45003:2021, which is a guideline for psychological health and safety developed in collaboration with countries around the world. The original psychosocial factors as identified in the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) z1003 have been maintained. Added to the report are indicators related to inclusion or stress and trauma. Even with these additions, the entire survey takes no more time to complete. For more information see Dr. Stuart's report.

Contributing Researchers

Guarding Minds was created with support and input from a wide range of participants. In addition to the insight of occupational health researchers and practitioners, perspectives were obtained from small and large businesses, organized labour, and public sector and not-for-profit organizations. The majority of contributors were from across Canada, but select international experts also provided consultation.

The main contributing researchers include:

Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych.

Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych. is a national thought leader on issues relating to psychological health, wellness and resilience. She is the CEO and founder of MyWorkplaceHealth, a full-suite national workplace consulting firm, and the Psychological Health & Safety (PH&S) Clinic, a virtual counselling and resilience/leadership coaching practice.

Dr. Samra is a highly-regarded expert in psychological health and safety (PH&S). Over the past two decades, she has been involved in numerous national initiatives that have contributed to policy change in Canada, and is a Founding & Ongoing Member of the CSA Technical Committee that developed the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace (CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ9700-803/2013). This Standard is the first of its kind in the world, and has shaped policy development for workplace PH&S at the international ISO level.

Dr. Samra is the lead Research Scientist who created Guarding Minds at Work: A Workplace Guide to Psychological Health and Safety, in which the psychosocial factor frame adopted by the Standard was developed. She is also the developer of the Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment, an assessment and action planning resource that aligns leaders’ skills with the requirements of the Standard. Dr. Samra and her team have extensive expertise in helping organizations implement initiatives related to workplace psychological health and safety including implementation of the CSA Standard; providing leadership development, training and coaching services across a broad range of areas, including emotional intelligence, psychologically safe leadership and mental health awareness; and, providing a breadth of services to enhance employee psychological health, wellness and resilience.

Dr. Samra has received a number of awards and accolades for her clinical and research work. She is proud to be the recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association’s New Researcher Award and the British Columbia Psychological Association’s Advancement of the Profession of Psychology Award. She is also the former President of the BC Psychological Association and past Chair of the BC Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards Committee.

Dr. Merv Gilbert, PhD.

Dr. Merv Gilbert has over thirty years experience providing psychological services in direct clinical and leadership roles at regional, provincial, and international levels. He has published and presented at a diverse array of forums on the importance of workplace psychological health and safety for individuals and organizations. Dr. Gilbert has served on a number of professional and non-profit organizational bodies including the Steering Committee of the American Psychological Association’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Network. He has held academic appointments at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. He has collaborated on research and development projects with colleagues in Canada, the United States, Portugal, Denmark and Australia.

Dr. Gilbert is a Director of Vancouver Psych Health + Safety, a consulting partnership providing planning, training, implementation and evaluation services that enable organizations to foster psychologically healthy employees and workplace climates. Dr. Gilbert is a primary participant in the development, evaluation and dissemination of resources for workplace psychological health and safety including the Mental Health Commission of Canada, WorkSafeBC and the Manufacturing and Safety Alliance of British Columbia.

Dr. Martin Shain, PhD., S.J.D.

Dr. Martin Shain is the principal and founder of the Neighbour at Work Centre, a consulting agency in workplace psychological safety and health. He is an adjunct lecturer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. In his role as an academic lawyer Martin wrote two policy papers that laid out the legal foundations and general specifications for the Canadian National Standard on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. His fifth book, The Careful Workplace, was published by Thomson Reuters in 2016.

Currently he is partnering with Workplace Safety and Prevention Services in the development of education and training resources for the occupational health and safety community.

Dr. Dan Bilsker, PhD.

Dr. Dan Bilsker has worked for several decades in the public mental health system (as an emergency psychologist) and in a research unit focused on innovative ways to enhance the psychological health of the Canadian population.

In recent years, he has primarily engaged in consultation to organizations seeking to improve psychological safety of their workforce and clinical practice of cognitive-behavioural therapy. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of B.C. and an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Heather Stuart, PhD.

Dr. Heather Stuart is a full professor in the Departments of Public Health Sciences, Psychiatry and the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University. She holds the Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-stigma Research Chair at Queen’s. Dr. Stuart is also the Senior Consultant to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Opening Minds, Anti-stigma initiative and the past Chair of the World Psychiatric Association’s Stigma and Mental Health Scientific Section. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the Order of Canada.

Collaborators

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety collaborated to increase the use of Guarding Minds by raising awareness and promoting it as a leading organizational resource supporting psychological health and safety in the workplace.

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health was established by Canada Life in 2007 as a public initiative to increase knowledge and awareness of psychological health and safety and improve the ability to respond to mental health issues at work. It provides free, practical strategies and tools for all employers and employees. Guarding Minds at Work was commissioned and funded by The Canada Life Assurance Company.

Visit website

Guarding Minds at Work was originally developed by experienced research-practitioners from the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA), the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1965, SFU has become Canada's leading comprehensive university with vibrant campuses in British Columbia's largest municipalities — Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey — and deep roots in partner communities throughout the province and around the world.

Visit website

CCOHS is Canada's national resource for the advancement of workplace health and safety, and provides credible information, education and innovative solutions to create positive change in the lives of working people in Canada. CCOHS operates, hosts and maintains the Guarding Minds at Work website, and also provides English and French technical support for users.

Visit website

In 2022-2023 Dr. Heather Stuart from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada made significant revisions to Guarding Minds at Work, leveraging the research data collected by Mental Health Research Canada. Established in 1841, Queen’s University is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities. It continues to be ranked among the best universities nationwide.

Visit website