Peace, mental health, and the workplace
Where does global destruction start? I propose that while problems such as environmental disasters, wars and child labour may have many beginnings, it is typically at the workplace where the flame of death, war and violence is fanned and nurtured so that it breaks out into a full-blown fire. The BP oil spill, Bhopal, and even the Air India crash all sprung, in one way or another, from decisions and omissions in the workplace. I further propose that these disasters happen because workplaces are typically dysfunctional. Turf wars, lack of concern for safety and an aversion to taking responsibility for the consequences of people’s actions, to name only a few examples, are considered normal in most workplaces. This is dysfunctional, it is unhealthy. It lacks mental health.
My idea is to invite participants to become aware of the wide spectrum of mental health, from managing chronic mental illness to fostering vibrant mental health take responsibility for their individual mental health in the workplace take responsibility for their part of the mental health of their workplace as a whole.
Isabella Mori is a counsellor and writer. Born in Germany, she grew up listening to endless conversations about art, philosophy and psychology. After living in the UK, Paraguay and Chile, she came to Canada in 1982. She has steeped herself in psychology, focusing on topics from chronic pain to transformative learning to eating disorders and brief therapy, and has a BA in psychology and philosophy and a Masters Degree in Distance Education, where she focused on the psychological aspects of adult learning. Isabella has led meditation groups, conducted research projects, and for some years, worked in the trenches of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In her own words, “I am passionate about supporting people in making a better life for themselves and believe that everyone has the power and knowledge to create goodness for themselves and the world around them”. Her blog, change therapy, is Canada’s oldest and most populated blog written by a mental health professional. It discusses psychology, creativity, spirituality and social justice. She is the co-organizer of Mental Health Camp, a series of conferences on the intersection between mental health and social media.
