Organizational Workplace Mental Health: An Emerging Role for Occupational Therapy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is threefold: firstly, to provide a brief overview of current practice in workplace mental health and introduce an emerging role for occupational therapy in this field (i.e., practicing at the organizational level where “clients” are workplaces or organizations, and not individual workers); secondly, to present the findings from a small qualitative study which describes this emerging role from the perspectives of occupational therapists who have worked in this area; and thirdly, to provide suggestions for future work which could advance this emerging role for occupational therapy world-wide.

KEY MESSAGES

• Previous research suggests that there is an increasing interest among employers to address workplace mental health through organizational initiatives and that occupational therapists are beginning to consult on the topic.

• Occupational therapists in our small qualitative study described their role in organizational workplace mental health as one which involves adopting a business lens, practicing in an organization-centred manner, and focusing on population health promotion.

• Suggestions for future work to advance this emerging role include identifying the fundamental elements of the business lens, investigating models and frameworks to guide organization-centred practice, evaluating the short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of interventions, exploring the fit between an occupational perspective and workplace mental health, and examining the impact of COVID-19 on current practice.

Keywords:

• Occupational health
• psychological health and safety
• mental health services
• health promotion

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our participants for taking the time to share their unique experiences and engage in member checking, as well as the occupational therapists across the country who helped with recruitment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra N. Thompson

Alexandra N. Thompson, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont) Doctoral student in the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the time of this study, A. Thompson was a student in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at the University of Toronto.

Madison I. Fugard

Madison I. Fugard, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont) Occupational therapist at Queen’s Family Health Team, Belleville, Ontario, Canada. At the time of this study, M. Fugard was a student in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at the University of Toronto.

Bonnie Kirsh

Bonnie Kirsh, PhD, OT Reg. (Ont.) Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.