The Empire Club of Canada
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
The Empire Club of Canada Presents:
Addressing Mental Health in Young Adults: Implications for Workplace Leaders
Young adults are reporting mental health issues at a significantly higher rate than older adults. In fact, two thirds of women aged 18-34 report living with a mental health condition, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Association of Social Workers.
Workplace leaders must confront these changes in order to recruit and retain young employees.
Our speakers will share their experiences in advancing mental health in the workplace, give tips on addressing the changing needs of young workers, and discuss the importance of building cultures that support mental health at work.
The panel discussion will shed light on the urgent need to address mental health in young adults, including racialized individuals, in the workplace. The discussion will provide workplace leaders with actionable solutions to destigmatize and improve mental health in the workplace, and provide relevant resources to employees, which will ultimately lead to better recruitment and retention of young employees in this new working environment.
*The content presented is free of charge but please note that the Empire Club of Canada retains copyright. Neither the speeches themselves nor any part of their content may be used for any purpose other than personal interest or research without the explicit permission of the Empire Club of Canada.*
*Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the speakers or panelists are those of the speakers or panelists and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official views and opinions, policy or position held by The Empire Club of Canada.*
News Article
Ontario Association of Social Workers | June 13, 2023
Employers Must Pay Attention to Young Workers: Social Workers
As a strategist, futurist and parent, Karena explores trends impacting our lives. In 2015, she noticed a significant shift in the way technologies were entering the workspace and changing the way we work and live. COVID-19 has accelerated some of those adjustments. Changes expected in 2030 e.g. remote work that seemed implausible in 2015 are already a post-COVID reality.
Karena discusses how we survive and thrive in this new environment – focusing on the questions raised by Generation Z, the workforce of today, the leaders of 2035 and beyond.
Karena brings a rich and complex diversity to her conversations. A refugee as a child, an immigrant as an adult, she has lived on four continents. She discovered her interest in strategy & futurism in her long career as VP-IT & Communications Officer at Morgan Stanley before moving to Canada where she added Small Business and Entrepreneurial experience.
She published ‘Contours of Courageous Parenting – Can we tilt towards better decisions?’ for parents just like her, struggling to equip their children with decision-making frameworks robust enough to survive unforeseeable futures such as a pandemic. She is working on her second book.
Her focus is helping GenZ understand and successfully embrace the new and evolving Nature of Work.
Stephanie Jones focuses on bringing a new and modern narrative to mental health while fighting stigma and breaking intergenerational trauma. She combines her lived experience with major depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder with her work, clinical and academic experience to help others address their mental health needs and make meaningful and tangible changes for individuals and groups. Her aim is to fill the very large knowledge and experience gap between having and recognizing mental health challenges and successfully getting help.
Dr. Deepy Sur is the Chief Executive Officer of Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW). She is an innovative and collaborative leader with diverse social work expertise, including, clinical social work experience in private and hospital settings, health promotion experience within public health, various leadership roles during her 12 year tenure at Trillium Health Partners. She has worked with government and focused on health system change and has also been an Assistant and Adjunct Clinical Professor at McMaster University. In addition, Deepy is a Faculty Instructor and Curriculum designer for the Medical Psychiatry Alliance – Collaborative Care Certificate Program. She has specialized training in several other areas, including child trauma, DBT, trauma assessment, PTSD, EMDR, and suicide, crisis and transformational leadership. Deepy holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Ryerson University, a Master of Social Work from York University and PhD in Social Work Administration from Walden University, where her research focused on interprofessional teamwork and empathy and the development of Interprofessional Intentional Empathy Centered Care (IP-IECC).
Following a 30-year career as an auditor, most recently as lead of the Ottawa KPMG Enterprise private company practice, Denis is now Corporate Canada’s first Chief Mental Health Officer. This is his newest role at KPMG. He and his wife Yolande are recipients of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Inspiration Award. Denis’s latest award is the Fellow of Chartered Professional Accountants designation, principally for his contribution to improving mental health in the professional milieu. Denis is the Mental Health Lead on KPMG’s National Inclusivity and Diversity Council, and is a sought after speaker for his insights into reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness.
