CERIC is pleased to announce funding for Setting the Compass: A Career Service Training Manual for Supporting Mental Health Clients, a web-based training manual for career development professionals that will improve employment and educational outcomes for people living with mental health issues. Career professionals are a critical resource in supporting clients in meeting their full employment potential.

An earlier CERIC-funded project Charting the Course: Mapping the Career Practitioner Role in Supporting People with Mental Health Challenges identified the following as some of the main challenges faced by individuals with mental health challenges:

•  Increasing number of people disclosing mental illness as a factor in their employment

•  Clients with mental illnesses feel that career service workers do not have the knowledge and skills they need to help them

• Stigma and discrimination against individuals with a mental illness creates a barrier to accessing services

Employment is a critical part of social inclusion. People living with mental illness face the highest unemployment rate of any disability group.

Training materials will be developed drawing on expert advice from leading organizations and by building on best practices in mental health, peer support, recovery and employment.

Project partners in the toolkit development include: CERIC, Nova Scotia Career Development Association, Canadian Mental Health Association – National, Psychosocial Rehabilitation Canada, Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace, Mental Health Commission of Canada (approval pending), and the Healthy Minds Cooperative and Nova Scotia Certified Peer Support Specialist Program.

CERIC provides funding for research as well as learning projects in career development. This project supports research in one of CERIC’s key Professional Development & Ongoing Learning priority areas: impact of disability and/or mental health issues on career development.