The effort did not match the impact

The effort did not match the impact After several years as a volunteer mental health advocate and stigma fighter, in 2015 I transitioned to a professional with a successful business focused on helping clients eliminate mental illness stigma in the workplace. I offered services as a consultant that included workshops, keynote speeches, policy reviews and research.

However, I encountered a problem. Working with companies of all sizes over those years, and always in person, it became clear that the work I was doing was simply not going to reach enough people. Also, as someone living with bipolar disorder who must carefully manage energy output, the schedule was too gruelling and taxing for me to sustain. A change was needed.

With this in mind, I realized the way to have the greatest impact was to build a full-service training offering, including an online program which would make it easy for everyone to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to truly eliminate stigma. An online program would streamline the training process for employees in remote environments, in offices spread across the country, or in demanding work environments where shift work was required. Traditionally in all these environments, live training is logistically challenging. We needed to offer an option where businesses could schedule the learning at their own pace, in the location of their choosing.

Making a great idea a reality

Although I knew this was a good idea and the right decision, I was still nervous facing the reality of what we were taking on. I knew that developing my knowledge base into a fully-fledged online training program was a massive investment both in time and finances.

Also, I wanted to ensure that any online training would have the same high level of impact as the live training sessions and consulting I was delivering. To avoid any loss in quality, I understood that I would need expert help to ensure this project was done the right way, factoring in the best practices of how people learn, education technology, engagement and production.

After an in-depth search, I partnered with Pure & Applied, an education technology and learning design firm who helped us develop our Create Your StigmaZero Workplace Program. P&A served as principal learning designers and played a vital role in the production process. Their ability to take all my knowledge, research, activities and blend it into an online program that keeps employees engaged was exactly what we were looking for.

We also engaged 5 Pound Media, a Montreal-based media agency who produced all the video and graphics for our program. As anyone who enrols in our online program will see, their work is absolutely top-tier.

The StigmaZero Online Training Program

After over a year and countless hours of research, planning and preparation, I am thrilled to officially launch our customizable online program, Create Your StigmaZero Workplace. This new program is designed to help us fulfil our mission to help employers eliminate stigma in the workplace and, ultimately, achieve our vision of a future without stigma.

We achieve this by offering the program in 3 “learning tracks”: Employees, Managers and HR/Senior Leadership. The lessons feature video guides, tools and tips, individual and/or group activities, key takeaways, downloadable resources, curated content and much more. Our content is accessible, entertaining, informative, and impactful – and makes for an engaging learning experience.

Labour of love

This process has been a long one, and in particular the weeks leading up to this launch have been an enormous amount of hard work, but I am so proud of what we have produced. Our Create Your StigmaZero Workplace Online Training Program provides workforces with the training and tools needed to better respond to mental illness and, ultimately, eliminate stigma. Our goal is for everyone to be better prepared to minimize the impact of stigma, as well as the associated costs and lost productivity.

We need your help

We need your help to get the word out to as many employers as possible who can benefit from this training, which is so desperately needed right now. Please share this blog with your colleagues, friends and associates and:

• If you are a business owner, executive or HR leader, I invite you to contact me so we can explore how our Create Your StigmaZero Workplace program may be able to help your company.
• If you know any leaders in the business community that would be interested in this, have them reach out to me.
• If you simply want to learn more, explore our website or comment below.

By now you have likely figured out why I have a vision that would be the end of this business – because without stigma there is no need for StigmaZero. I hope we can get there as quickly as possible.

If you would like to learn more about how your company can better respond to workplace mental illness and stigma, contact us and visit our website at www.stigmazero.com.