Study urges collaboration to find work for the mentally ill

OTTAWA— Ninety per cent of Canadians with serious mental illnesses are unemployed due largely to prejudice about their conditions — a startling state of affairs that costs the Canadian economy an estimated $50 billion a year, according to a sweeping new report.

The Aspiring Workforce report, commissioned by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, delves into the challenges facing those Canadians, targeting all levels of government, businesses, policy-makers and the not-for-profit sector in addition to the attitudes of Canadians themselves towards those who suffer from mental illness.

Obtained by The Canadian Press, the report — conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the University of Toronto and Queen’s University — recommends collaboration between all sectors to find work for mentally ill Canadians, many of whom have training and skills.

“This report represents hope, it really does, for many people who are voiceless,” Patrick Dion, vice-chairman of the commission, said in an interview. “It’s astonishing that 90 per cent of the mentally ill are unemployed. Our lives are a threelegged stool — a home, a job and a friend — and so if that job leg isn’t there, the journey to recovery is made that much more difficult.” In its executive summary, the Aspiring Workforce report urges a “national program of action to change this situation. There are effective ways to increase employment; this is a problem that has solutions.” “If provincial governments across the country were to move in unison to provide adaptability on those types of programs, that would certainly provide a whole lot more hope and a whole lot more employment.” The report, to be officially released on Wednesday in the midst of a worldwide Mental Health Awareness Week, also calls for stable funding for what’s known as “best practices” — programs that support the employment of the mentally ill. Many of the affected Canadians who responded to a survey by the Aspiring Workforce researchers reported that the stigma surrounding mental illness was a major barrier to their return to the workforce. “People are afraid,” one survey respondent said. “They don’t understand (mental illness) and don’t want to be educated. They don’t want to realize it is the same as diabetes or epilepsy.” In 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the creation of the non-profit Mental Health Commission of Canada after a Senate committee studied mental health, mental illness and addiction. “Harper has moved forward where other governments haven’t, and he should be applauded for it,” Dion said.