WISCONSIN UNITED
for MENTAL HEALTH

Mental-Health Friendly Workplace Trainings

In 2009 the WUMH Business Team is producing web-based training modules using materials from  presentations we have done on this topic in the past. One of the workplace training modules will focus on tips for managers and supervisors. Co-Chairs Rebecca Cohen and Patty Branton will lead the WUMH coalition and are supported by a consistent core of volunteers.

Workplace Symposiums

The Workplace Symposiums, such as Promoting Mental Health in the Workplace: The Competitive Advantage, continue.  Partners such as Rogers Memorial Hospital, United Way of Fox Cities, Affinity Behavioral Health, NAMI Fox Valley, WorkSource WI and the Disability Navigators Program are making these programs possible. Most symposiums consist of a panel of presenters: an attorney to discuss ADA compliance, an insurance industry representative to address the cost-benefit analysis of mental health services, local business and health advocates, and a consumer representative.

 

Disability Program Navigators

A Disability Program Navigator, a program funded through the Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration, assists persons with disabilities “navigate” across multiple systems. Navigators help people to access and navigate the complex provisions of various programs that impact their ability to gain, return to, or retain employment. They develop linkages and collaborate on an ongoing basis with employers to facilitate job placements for persons with disabilities. Navigators work to facilitate youth transitioning (aging out) from schools to secure employment and economic self-sufficiency through schools and the Cooperative Educational Services Areas (CESAs). They also serve as a resource to businesses to expand workplace opportunities for persons with disabilities to enter and remain in the workplace.

The Navigators will partner with WUMH to offer train-the-trainer (TOT) opportunities for Navigators to increase understanding and awareness of stigma and discrimination as it impacts mental health consumers, adolescents/youth and their families in rural and urban areas.

• Learn more from this DPN Brochure
• Wisconsin Disability Navigators Program - information about finding a Navigator in your area and access to the DNP Newsletters
• Microsoft Accessibility Features (30 second PowerPoint training)

Related Resources:

• Employment (resources from the ADS Center)
• Pathways to Independence  lead by two Wisconsin state agencies, The Department of Health and Family Services and the Department of Workforce Development, this organization strives to assist people with disabilities in their efforts to secure employment
  
• WorkSource Wisconsin (download a .pdf flyer about the organization, which is a public/private partnership providing effective, practical and sustainable resources for employers by employers to hire and retain persons with disabilities through education, partnerships, mentoring, and legal assistance.)
• Employer Innovations Online  from the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health.   Employer Innovations helps employers take action to address mental health at the workplace by providing case examples of successful corporate approaches. Search for actual practices of leading employers in key areas, such as screening and education, Employee Assistance Programs, and disability management. Then apply these strategies to your own workplace - and come back to share your story with others!
  
• Mental Health Works (.pdf) - This recent issue of "Mental Health Works," a quarterly newsletter by the Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Foundation, focuses on employees with a psychiatric disability.