It is fitting that our upcoming November 30, 2017 symposium will address mental health in the workplace. While there has long been an awareness of the importance of mental health support within the workforce, it is more recent that many safety and health professionals recognize the direct linkage between our psychological and mental health, and our ability to work safely and be healthy.

Our interests in Total Worker Health^® and well-being naturally bring us into this discussion, and we look to our professional partners and experts in occupational health psychology to help us learn how to most effectively address the topic at our symposium. We hope that you will join us on Thursday, November 30, 2017 at the Smith Memorial Center at Portland State University as we address Navigating Mental Health in the Workplace: What do we know and where do we go? Through the guidance of Jennifer Dimoff, Assistant Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Portland State University, and our own Leslie Hammer with her expertise in Occupational Health Psychology and joined by a handful of advisors, we have created an agenda that we believe to be particularly innovative and appropriate.

In our own office, recently, we have been discussing the impact of so many troubling issues confronting us today – political worries, immigration concerns, hurricanes and fires – sometimes making it more difficult to get started and be productive each day. Those of us in Oregon mourn as some of our most beautiful places burn and as our friends and neighbors evacuate homes and communities. The daily smoke impacts our lungs, eyes and our emotions. And we send our thoughts to those farther away dealing with other natural disasters.  Now, perhaps more than ever in recent times, we need to be aware of and learn a skill set to prevent, recognize, accommodate, treat and heal the mental health conditions impacting our workforce and ourselves.

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