At CMHA Toronto, we are dedicated to providing high-quality mental health workshops and trainings across Toronto. Our team has designed these workshops to address the specific needs of our community and promote mental health and wellness. Our workshops offer up-to-date, informative content, guidance, and performance support tools to groups of all kinds, including those in the social service sector, the business community, families of individuals living with mental illness, and the general public.
To book, please email workshops@cmhato.org.
CMHA Toronto aims to raise awareness and understanding of issues related to stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness and mental health. Our goal is to provide support not just to the 1 in 5 individuals who live with mental illness, but also to the 5 in 5 members of our community who have mental health. Our workshops aim to improve the mental health of all through education and community building.
Our workshops are great professional development opportunities for corporate groups as well as team-building and staff engagement activities. All workshops can be delivered virtually or in-person, unless otherwise noted.
As we continue to revamp our workshops, please email workshops@cmhato.org if you don’t see a topic that interests you. Our website does not reflect all the workshops that we offer and it is possible that the workshop you are looking for is in the final stages of development!
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
14 hours
ASIST, from LivingWorks, is a 2-day intensive, interactive and practice-dominated course designed to help individuals recognize the risk of suicide, and learn how to intervene to prevent the risk of suicidal thoughts from becoming suicidal behaviours. Suitable for all persons in positions of trust: health professionals, social service workers, teachers, counsellors, youth workers, police and correctional staff, and community volunteers. Prepared caregivers can help prevent suicide.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the ways that personal and societal attitudes affect views on suicide and interventions
- Provide guidance and suicide first aid to a person at risk in ways that meet their individual safety needs
- Identify the key elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions required to implement it
- Appreciate the value of improving and integrating suicide prevention resources in the community at large
- Recognize other important aspects of suicide prevention including life-promotion and self-care
ASIST is only available in-person.
Fee: $275 per person
Workshops for individuals can be booked online here.
Email workshops@cmhato.org for group bookings.
Coping with Stress
90 minutes
This workshop is aimed to provide attendees with a deeper understanding of stress and how it can impact our lives. As part of the workshop, participants have the opportunity to explore their own stressors and consider strategies for managing them.
To help participants cope with stress, the workshop provides a list of 15 tips. The workshop also includes a resource-sharing component, where attendees learn about additional support and resources that are available to help manage stress.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand common signs of stress
- Identify signs & symptoms of stress in myself
- Be mindful of ways to help with stress
- Understand the importance of setting boundaries
Fee: $800
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
Dealing with Transitions: Re-entry into Shared Workspaces
90 minutes
The pandemic has introduced changes in the way we work and is forcing workplaces to develop policies and procedures to support employees into new ways of working. Whether you are exploring the adoption of a hybrid model, or executing a plan for Returning to the workplace, a transition for employees is inevitable and in your future. Travelling through this unchartered territory can create feelings of uncertainty for all involved. In this webinar, participants will gain insight into the struggles employees may be experiencing, and learn strategies for planning psychologically healthy and safe transitions.
This is a companion workshop to Embracing Mental Health: Flourishing in the Workplace and can only be completed following Flourishing in the Workplace.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the impact of stigmatizing language and beliefs
- Examine the experience of transition and impact on Mental Health
- Explore common feelings and emotions employees may experience when returning to shared workspaces and/or when working in hybrid models
- Identify strategies for fostering psychologically healthy and safe transitions
- Learn principles for positive mental health, and how to lead with compassion
Fee: $800
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
Embracing Mental Health: Flourishing in the Workplace
90 minutes
This workshop provides an awareness of mental health and its impact on workplace culture. We discuss common issues and explore the impact of stigmatizing language and beliefs on mental health in the workplace and how to respond and help.
Target Audience: Everyone
Learning Outcomes:
- Illustrate the importance of mental health to overall health, and list at least three ways mental health can impact the workplace.
- Describe what it means to flourish in the workplace and identify three factors that can influence flourishing.
- Determine how various forms of inequity can combine to create unique challenges and disadvantages in the workplace and explore what workplaces can do to negate these challenges
Fee: $800
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
Face to face: Understanding Mental illness
180 minutes
This workshop is aimed at providing participants with a better understanding of mental health and the factors that can impact it. This session focuses on helping participants spot and challenge assumptions they may have about mental illness. Topics such as distress and psychosis, and provided skill-building exercises to help attendees learn how to support someone who is experiencing mental health challenges. Overall, the goal of the workshop it to promote a greater understanding and empathy for those dealing with mental illness in their workplace.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the various factors that impact mental health
- Develop the ability to identify and recognize assumptions
- Assess for people in distress or experiencing psychosis
- Effectively support someone experiencing a mental health challenge
Fee: $1,400
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
Mental Health and Hybrid Work
90 minutes
Working from home has become the norm and this workshop addresses the psychological issues that may arise when our work routine has shifted so significantly. This workshop will also address how to take care of our mental health at home and how to build a healthy space in which to work.
Learning Outcomes:
- Describe the importance of balancing personal and work life at home.
- Identify signs and combat symptoms of burnout, isolation, and loneliness.
- Recognize the signs of zoom fatigue and identify strategies to prevent it.
Fee: $800
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
This is a companion workshop to Embracing Mental Health: Flourishing in the Workplace and can only be completed following Flourishing in the Workplace.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
90 minutes
This workshop is aimed to provide an overview of mental health and illness, as well as the various factors that can impact mental health. The workshop also introduced the concept of well-being, which includes five key areas: emotional, physical, social, financial, and occupational.
In order to support people in seeking help for their mental health, the workshop explores some of the barriers that can prevent people from reaching out for support. In addition to discussing the benefits of a mentally healthy workplace, the workshop also highlighted a number of professional resources that are available to individuals seeking support for their mental health.
Learning Outcomes:
- Defining Mental Health and Mental Illness
- Understanding the impacts of Mental Illness
- Identify various types of well being
- Develop skills to take care of our own wellbeing
Fee: $800
Email workshops@cmhato.org to book.
safeTALK
4 hours
SafeTALK, from LivingWorks, is a half-day alertness training that prepares anyone 15 or older, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper. Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die, but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. safeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations and take action by connecting them with life-saving intervention resources, such as caregivers trained in ASIST. safeTALK-trained helpers are an important part of suicide-safer communities, working alongside intervention resources to identify and avert suicide risks
Learning Outcomes:
- Recognize and respond to invitations for help.
- Understand the principles of suicide alertness.
- Understand the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen, and KeepSafe) of suicide intervention.
- Understand the importance of seeking immediate help from suicide first aid resources.
Email workshops@cmhato.org for fee and to book.