Douglas College offers free training with new mental health initiative November 20, 2014 by Travis Prasad Consider it training for the trainers. On November 13, Douglas College launched a program to improve the skills of mental health workers who help people with mental illness find employment.

The initiative comes in the form of six online seminars, or webinars, funded by $75,000 from the BC Ministry of Advanced Education. Based on extensive scientific literature, the webinars are designed to provide mental health practitioners with techniques to better serve their job-seeking clients. They are presented by various experts in the field of supported employment, a service where people with mental health issues are assisted in finding stable jobs. All six webinars are free of charge. “Thereʼs still a lot of stigma towards people with serious mental illness in our society, and it makes it difficult for them to get jobs,” says John Higenbottam, a clinical psychologist and creator of the webinar-based initiative. One of the main purposes of the program is to move beyond the stigma and ensure potential employersʼ confidence when hiring someone with a mental illness, he adds.

Preetika Naidu is a mental health employment worker with Options Community Services BC, and experiences the difficulty of moving beyond the stigma everyday. “Employers donʼt have the education,” says Naidu. “They think that if people are sick, they can take a magic pill and everything will be ok. It doesnʼt work like that.” Naidu believes Douglas Collegeʼs webinar-based program would be beneficial to her and other mental health and rehabilitation workers. “Itʼs good to hear different points of view and approaches. Iʼm always open to things like that. I think itʼs a great idea,” she says. The program is in a three-month pilot stage and will be evaluated by Douglas College in February 2015. If the results are favourable, the school will request funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education to establish the webinar program permanently.      

Preetika Naidu, mental health employment worker with Options BC. (Travis Prasad/BCIT News)