Prevention & Promotion

Guarding Minds @ Work™: History

An Ipsos Reid survey commissioned in 2007 indicated that many organizations want to positively address issues that impact the psychological well being in their workplace. The Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace indentified that many organizations are unsure of where to start or which approach may work in their particular situation.

Guarding Minds @ Work™ (GM@W) was developed to help fill the gap by engaging leading Canadian mental health researchers to create this resource for all Canadian employers. In 2012 this resource was updated to more effectively align with the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.

GM@W provides the tools that will allow all organizations, large or small, public or private to understand the issues particular to their workplace, and to evaluate a number of approaches recommended by researchers. Rather than a single approach, organizations are given criteria to make an informed decision about the change or intervention they are considering. These tools also include an approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken.

GM@W was commissioned by the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace and funded by Great-West Life and is publicly available to all interested parties at no charge at: www.guardingmindsatwork.ca.