These CPAs are using their skills to confront mental health stigma
In the spring of 2005, Michel Rodrigue, a public affairs consultant in Toronto, was in the midst of a three-week intensive executive program at Queen’s University when he got a shocking call from back home. A close friend had died by suicide, leaving behind a wife and two young daughters. The tragic loss and revelation that his friend had been silently and secretly struggling with mental illness caught Rodrigue completely off guard. “He had a loving family and a wonderful network of friends,” he says. “It was heart-wrenching for all of us, and an eye-opener for me. I didn’t realize the extent of the impact of suicide loss on an entire community until that impact hit mine.”
Rodrigue’s friend was one of 3,743 Canadians to die by suicide in 2005—the ninth leading cause of death that year, behind Alzheimer’s and ahead of kidney disease. Mental illness has long been considered the most important risk factor in instances of suicide, affecting Canadians from every walk of life. Research has also shown that depression is the most common mental illness in those cases, with approximately 60 per cent suffering from the condition.
Many of those deaths come as a surprise to family and friends, and much of that has to do with long-held stigmas regarding mental illness and its role in a broad range of harmful impacts, including mood disorders like depression, and substance use disorders involving alcohol or pharmaceutical drugs (30 per cent of people diagnosed with a mental illness will experience a substance use disorder in their lifetime). These societal stigmas are rooted in deep-seated fears and misconceptions around the nature of mental health and the causes of mental illness, as well as cultural norms that perpetuate discrimination and marginalization towards individuals experiencing mental illness. “In the past, our societies had an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude about mental illness, typically isolating people who lived with mental illness in hospitals or asylums,” says Rodrigue. “Even in 2005, I realized that many people didn’t talk about it and didn’t seek help because we were all too ashamed to do it. Since no one was talking about it, many of us were also simply ignorant about mental illness.”
In 2006, the prevailing stigma surrounding mental health prompted the release of "Out of the Shadows at Last," a landmark 308-page report commissioned by the Canadian Senate. The report examined the shortcomings of mental health and addiction services in Canada, while also outlining recommendations to overcome the pervasive stigmas associated with mental illness. The report also underscored a significant barrier to care: a staggering 72 per cent of individuals with mental health issues received no treatment within the course of a given year. Senator Michael Kirby's tireless advocacy efforts spearheaded the publication, ultimately culminating in the establishment of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) in 2007, with Kirby assuming the role of its inaugural Chair.
In 2012, as part of its mandate to improve mental health care service and access for all Canadians, the MHCC embarked on the process of creating a national standard of psychological health and safety within the workplace. Chuck Bruce, a CPA based in St. John’s, was one of the business and community leaders invited to join the national standard technical committee. Bruce, whose background was primarily in wealth management and pension administration, first got involved in the mental health sector in the early 2000s during his tenure as CEO of an insurance plan in Nova Scotia. “I saw that mental illness was a considerable cost in the plan, and I realized that I had little to no knowledge in this topic,” he says. Bruce took the initiative to learn more about mental illness and its significant impact on workplaces by consulting with mental health experts in his community. Those connections and curiosity led him to volunteer as a board member with the Canadian Mental Health Association, a non-profit advocacy organization, and later, as chair of its Nova Scotia division.
In assessing why many employees were absent from work on short or long-term disability, Bruce realized that employers often didn’t understand or recognize the prevalence of mental illness. “Employee leave is often presented as physical illness by the employee,” he says. Working with mental health experts, Bruce aimed to spread awareness of best practices and helpful resources to support employee reintegration to the workplace. “Instances of employers who were able to successfully reintegrate workers returning from mental illness-related leaves of absence were few and far between,” he says.
His successful efforts on that front brought him to the attention of the newly created MHCC, which drafted him into its workforce advisory committee and, eventually, the Canadian Standards Association national standard technical committee. The committee’s ambitious goal was the creation of a comprehensive framework that provided organizations with free implementation tools and resources to promote mental health, boost productivity and employee retention, and optimize risk management. Launched in 2013, the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace was the first of its kind in the world and has since been emulated by other G7 and G20 countries. Since 2019, Bruce has been chair of the MHCC, overseeing a research project documenting the implementation of the workplace national standard over the past 11 years.
As for Rodrigue, in 2015, he was seeking a career change after a four-year stint as chief information officer of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) in Ottawa. Memories of the loss of his friend 10 years earlier still lingered, as did his desire to prevent those tragedies from affecting other families and communities. “That’s when an opportunity to work with the MHCC came up,” he recalls. “I wasn’t a physician and I didn’t have experience in the mental health space, but I wanted to use my communication and organizational skills to help experts find solutions.” Starting off as vice president of operations, Rodrigue then took on a role as vice president of external affairs and finally, as president and CEO in 2021.
In supporting the MHCC’s mandate, Bruce and Rodrigue have both utilized their financial skills as CPAs to engage organizations across the country on the merits of devoting more resources to mental health and mental health literacy. “Our aim is to show that mental health should not be recognized as an expense. Instead, it should be viewed as an investment in the company’s people,” says Bruce. To help make that argument, Rodrigue regularly cites a 2019 Deloitte Canada study that found that companies with mental health programs in place for one year had a median annual return on investment of $1.62 for every dollar spent. For organizations with programs in place for three or more years, the return soared to $2.18 for each dollar invested. “There’s a cost to doing nothing about mental health: that relates to legal exposure, absenteeism, high turnover rates, grievances in a unionized environment, workplace injury and subsequent illness,” adds Bruce. “Traditionally, CPAs are valued as long-term thinkers and we can really speak with authority on the tangible value of long-term thinking when it comes to mental health investments.”
While the financial argument is a key incentive, Bruce and Rodrigue also have a deep understanding that organizational culture changes regarding mental health require an impetus from the top. “One of the fundamental things I’ve learned over the last nine years working in mental health is that leadership matters,” says Rodrigue, who points to the unique role that CPAs play within their organizations and business communities to potentially drive cultural change. From small and mid-sized organizations to multinational conglomerates, the nature of a CPA’s position means they tend to be involved in nearly every aspect of a company: human resources, finance, compliance and assurance, risk management, strategic decision-making, and more. With a thorough understanding of the needs and abilities of different facets of an organization, CPAs naturally become adept at delegating responsibilities to individuals best equipped to assume them.
Several of the MHCC’s evidenced-based courses and programs are built on careful consultation with mental health experts and individuals with lived experiences of mental illness. Managers are taught how to manage a situation where a staff member may experience mental health issues and guide them to mental health professionals. An outstanding success story in this regard is the widespread adoption of the MHCC’s Mental Health First Aid course, which has trained more than 750,000 Canadians.
A crucial distinction between Mental Health First Aid and physical first aid, Bruce explains, is that managers do not treat a mental health issue directly, as one might apply a bandage to a physical wound. “If I'm trained in Mental Health First Aid, it's not for me as a manager to look you in the eyes and make a diagnosis and offer a treatment plan,” says Bruce. “First and foremost, it’s centred on respect for the individual in distress. Once that relationship of trust is established, managers are educated in how to effectively respond to someone experiencing difficulties and promoting available services and resources they can utilize.” This approach cultivates a different and more effective type of leadership: instead of attempting to resolve an individual’s mental health issues directly (which can be fraught with risks due to lack of appropriate expertise and the manager-employee power dynamic), managers are empathetic facilitators focused on non-judgmentally supporting the individual’s long-term well-being.
Today, Bruce and Rodrigue are both encouraged by the fact that Canada has come a long way in reducing stigmas associated with mental illness, although they’re keenly aware that those stigmas haven’t been banished quite yet. In the aftermath of the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety have also remained troublingly high. “Each and every week, more than 500,000 people in Canada miss work due to a mental health problem,” says Rodrigue. “Lost productivity due to mental health costs the Canadian economy more than $50 billion a year.” Amongst Canadians, mental health issues account for 30 to 40 per cent of short-term disability claims, and 30 per cent of long-term disability claims. However, the statistic that troubles Rodrigue the most is that one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness in any given year. “That number should really shock us into action,” he says.
By harnessing CPAs’ financial and leadership abilities, Bruce and Rodrigue believe the profession has a vital role to play in galvanizing Canadian society to robustly address mental health and spread awareness—whether that’s within a CPA’s own organization, through volunteering, or via a career focused on mental health.
The profession is already setting an example by taking significant steps in supporting the mental health of CPAs. All Big Four firms in Canada have implemented employee assistance programs, while EY and Deloitte lead the way in annual mental health coverage to the tune of $5,000 and $4,000 respectively for all employees and dependents (the numbers total $3,000 for KPMG and $2,500 for PwC). Another notable instance of the profession’s increased emphasis on mental health is KPMG Canada’s appointment of Denis Trottier as its chief mental health officer in 2017—the first position of its kind nationwide.
Growing up in a tiny northern Ontario town where mental health was not talked about, Trottier silently battled depression for years before overcoming the stigma by seeking help and receiving treatment. Nowadays, Trottier is in high demand as a speaker, traveling across the country to exchange ideas with KPMG’s clients and C-suite executives on developing new mental health resources and improving awareness of underutilized existing supports. For instance, KPMG’s employment and family assistance program, which averages close to 15 per cent utilization annually, compared to a 10 per cent average for professional services firms.
Last October, Trottier also delivered a keynote speech about the importance of recognizing mental health at the highest levels of company structures to 2,000 young leaders at the One Young World Summit in Belfast. “COVID-19 has moved the dial so fast in this space with the increased adoption of technological tools and hybrid work weeks, but it’s the new generation that’s really driving this transformation,” he says. “After personally experiencing the stigmas around mental health, it’s encouraging to see young professionals prioritizing their mental health and not being afraid to demand adequate mental health benefits and practices from employers.”
Trottier sees his role, along with other CPAs, as that of ambassadors who can help clients and corporate Canada develop a culture where people can talk about mental health at work and recognize that an organization's greatest assets are its people. “The professional services world has always had a client-first approach geared towards billable hours, deliverables and meeting deadlines,” he says. “But if we angle that approach towards a people-first mindset, caring for your people leads to people caring for their colleagues, clients, families, and of course, themselves.”
For CPAs considering volunteer work in mental health, Bruce recommends taking inspiration from his career path: he balances his position as chair with the MHCC with his role as CEO of Provident10, the administrator of Newfoundland and Labrador’s public service pension plan. “Mental health organizations, from grassroots initiatives to the national level, require the guidance and assistance that CPAs can provide,” he says. “If mental health is something you’re passionate about, lend some of your time to that cause. I haven’t cured one person and I don’t intend to, but working in mental health for the past 22 years has been fulfilling both personally and professionally for me. Looking back, it’s been the highlight of my career.”
Rodrigue is also grateful for the fulfillment he’s experienced during his nine years with the MHCC, particularly when he receives poignant reminders of the positive impacts of his efforts. “We have first responders, police and firefighters, who have shared with us that our programming has saved their lives or a colleague’s life,” he says. “I am incredibly proud of the contribution to society that I'm able to make every day here, but there’s still a lot of work to do before we reach a point where everyone in Canada can access mental health services when and where they need them. We're unfortunately not there at this point, but that goal keeps me motivated to keep coming to work.”
Rodrigue is confident that other CPAs will find a career in mental health equally motivating. “Creating better mental health outcomes for people who live in Canada is a difficult yet important responsibility, and CPAs never shy away from those big challenges.”