Balancing Act: Navigating Mental Health in the Workplace
Author : Wood Buffalo Chapter Committee
As we come to the end of May, mental health awareness month, we still have far to go in breaking the stigma of mental health and taking steps to solve the growing anxiety and depression crisis. In a 2023 national poll by Mental Health Research Canada, we are facing the worst self-rated mental health indicators since the end of the pandemic, with more than one in ten Canadians reporting self-rated high anxiety or depression. The rise in self-rated depression was most prominent in Alberta and Ontario 1
.
According to Statistics Canada, 18% of the Canadian population suffers from an anxiety, mood related, or substance use disorder 2
but if we look left and right in our social circles, we can imagine that this number is so much higher due to individuals that don't feel safe or comfortable to acknowledge the part that mental health may play in their everyday struggles.
So many of our waking hours are spent at work, and though it’s not the only contributing factor, the culture of our workplaces can have a large impact on our mental health. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, 70 per cent of Canadian employees are concerned about the psychological health and safety of their workplace, and 14 per cent don’t think theirs is healthy or safe at all 3
. Some of the ways that employers can respond is by creating normalcy in talking about mental health, and taking action to address bullying, harassment, poor leadership, or toxic work environments.
Many employers are doing the right thing to offer more mental health resources in benefits plans. The greater the personal cost to employees, the less likely those employees will engage in mental health self-care. Instead, team members will often defer self-care and end up falling ill or having too difficult of a time managing their attendance. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, In 2011, mental health problems and illnesses among working adults in Canada cost employers more than $6 billion in lost productivity from absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover 3
. The total cost from mental health problems to the Canadian economy exceeds $50 billion annually 3
.
There are a lot of things that can be done to help, but the question is whether employers are prepared to make these changes for the sake of the employees who create the success of their company. If that doesn’t compel employers, then at the very least recognizing the short-term cost of supporting the mental health of employees will result in long-term financial gains by reducing turnover and absenteeism.
This article was written by the Wood Buffalo Chapter Committee of CPHR Alberta which is currently experiencing higher levels of stress due to Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo Wildfires and evacuation activities. For any HR professionals and leaders working in active wildfire communities this summer, we encourage you to do what you can to show empathy to your employees who make decisions based on their mental health instead of the company’s best interests. We need to have allowances for these at times.
1 “National Polling Initiative.” Mental Health Research Canada, www.mhrc.ca/national-polling. Accessed 16 May 2024.
2 “Using Data from the 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey, This Infographic Presents the Prevalence of Selected Mood, Anxiety, and Substance Use Disorders. Results Are Compared with the Results of the 2002 and 2012 Cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey - Mental Health. the Infographic Also Looks at Unmet Mental Health Care Needs of Those Who Met Diagnostic Criteria for a Mood, Anxiety, or Substance Use Disorder.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 22 Sept. 2023, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2023053-eng.htm.
3 “Workplace Mental Health.” Mental Health Commission of Canada, 21 June 2023, mentalhealthcommission.ca/what-we-do/workplace/.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.
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Original post by CPHR Canada, March 31, 2026
Author: Kanwaljit Chaudhry , 2026 Editorial Committee Member Leadership rarely begins the way we expect it to. It doesn’t arrive with a title, a promotion, or a formal announcement. More often, it begins quietly, in moments that don’t look like leadership at all. A conversation where someone turns to you for direction. A meeting where the discussion stalls and you step in to move it forward. A situation where something feels off, and you choose to address it instead of walking away. These moments are easy to overlook. They don’t come with recognition or validation. Yet they are often where the real work of becoming a leader begins. It Starts Before You Feel Ready Many people assume they need to feel confident before they lead. In reality, leadership often shows up before confidence does. You may not have the answers. You may not feel fully prepared. You may even question whether it is your place to step forward. And yet, something in the situation asks you to. This is where leadership begins, not in certainty, but in response. The quiet decision to engage, to take responsibility, to move something forward. You Learn by Doing (and Re-doing) In the early stages, it’s common to try on different ways of leading. You might imitate someone you admire. You might try to sound more decisive than you feel. You might hold back when speaking up feels uncomfortable. Some approaches will work. Others won’t. That’s not failure; that’s formation. Over time, you begin to notice patterns: When do people respond to you? When do conversations open up or shut down? What feels natural, and what feels forced? This is how your way of leading starts to take shape not through theory, but through experience. The Moments That Stay With You There are certain experiences that leave a mark. A difficult conversation you didn’t handle the way you hoped. A decision you made under pressure. A moment where someone trusted you and you rose to meet it. These are the moments you replay later. Not because they were perfect, but because they mattered. They shape your instincts. They clarify your values. They quietly influence how you show up the next time. This is the deeper work of leadership. The kind that happens after the moment has passed. Learning to See What Others Don’t Yet See As you grow, leadership begins to shift. It’s no longer just about responding well in the moment. It becomes about noticing what might be coming next. You begin to ask: What risks are we not talking about? Where might this situation go if we don’t address it? What does the team need before the pressure builds? This is a subtle but important transition from reacting to anticipating. And it often develops quietly, through experience rather than instruction. Letting Go of What No Longer Works One of the less visible parts of leadership is learning to let go. Letting go of the need to have all the answers. Letting go of habits that once worked but no longer serve you. Letting go of the version of leadership you thought you needed to become. This isn’t easy work. It requires honesty, humility, and a willingness to change. But it’s often where the most meaningful growth happens. The Role of Reflection Leadership doesn’t grow from experience alone; it grows from reflection. Taking time to pause and ask: What happened there? What did I learn? What would I do differently next time? These moments of reflection don’t need to be formal. Sometimes they happen in conversation. Sometimes they happen quietly, at the end of the day. But they matter. Because they turn experience into insight and insight into growth. Becoming, Not Arriving There is a point many professionals are waiting for the moment when they will feel like a leader. For most, that moment never arrives in the way they expect. Because leadership is not a destination. It is an ongoing process of becoming. It is shaped in small, often unseen moments: when you choose to step forward when you learn from what didn’t go as planned when you adjust your approach when you stay open to learning The quiet work of becoming a leader is not always visible to others. But over time, it becomes visible in how you think, how you act, and how others experience your presence. And that is what leadership truly looks like. “Leadership is not built in the moments where everything goes right. It is built in the moments where you pause, reflect, and choose to grow.”
