Healthy Minds Matter: Taking Action" Workplace Health Symposium
Speaker Bios
Dr. John Yardley, President, Metrics@Work and the Managing Director of Brock University's Workplace Health Research Laboratory (WHRL)
Dr. John Yardley is concurrently President, Metrics@Work (a consulting business) and the Managing Director of Brock University's Workplace Health Research Laboratory (WHRL) an academic research laboratory. Previously, for 25 years, John was a faculty member in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, resigning as an Associate Professor in 2007.
Metrics@Work carries out consulting work and conducts applied research in the area of people management based on surveying, assessments, data mining and consulting. Prior to migrating the business to Metrics@Work, WHRL was a contract research business operating within Brock University for 7 years (from 1999-2007). Metrics@Work has 8 full time staff, and has a base of over 220 client organizations in the public and for-profit sector, ranging from over 70,000 employees to 50 employees. In the last 9 years as part of WHRL and Metrics@Work, Dr. Yardley has been a Principal Consultant to most organizations worked with but he also previously consulted for over 22 years across Canada while a faculty member and been a speaker at well over 200 seminars, workshops, and conferences in the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Canada. He is now a sought after keynote speaker at many professional and organizational conferences and meetings.
Mary Ann Baynton, MSW, RSW. Consultant
Mary Ann provides consulting services to organizations who wish to improve or address issues related to workplace mental health.
These services range from individual return to work planning, to management training, to strategies that assess and address organizational mental health risk factors. As a consultant to Mental Health Works, an initiative of the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario, Mary Ann helped to create a multiple-award winning training program. Her work has included services to the energy, communication, and industrial sectors, federal, provincial, and municipal governments, healthcare, education, and finance sectors.
Mary Ann also serves as the Program Director for the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace which is a long-term public service commitment by Great-West Life to this very important social and economic issue. Projects through the Centre are making valuable tools, resources and information publicly available through the Centre's website to all Canadians.
Mary Ann is a member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Workforce Advisory Committee.
Mary Ann holds a Master's in Social Policy and did her research on innovation and empowerment in policy implementation. In other words, her research was on why the best laid plans don't always work out and how to change those results.
She has 8 years experience as a nationally certified coach and feels many of the skills used in sports can be useful in business as well. Seeing each person as having unique talents and abilities that contribute to the team, understanding how motivation differs from person to person, and breaking down a skill in order to teach it to others are all part of what she has borrowed from sport psychology.
Her background includes 15 years in the corporate world and 6 years in the non-profit sector.
Today she speaks about managing mental health issues in the workplace, helps to return people to work where mental health issues or a history of workplace conflict was presenting an obstacle to success, and helps workplaces find solutions unique to their particular dynamic and reality.
Louise Bradley, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mental Health Commission of Canada
As Chief Operating Officer, Louise is responsible for national operations of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). Louise brings a wealth of experience in health administration and mental health to this position.
Prior to joining the Commission in February 2009, Louise was with Alberta Health Services, most recently as the Vice President and COO of Regional Mental Health, Capital Health, Edmonton. Before that she was Senior Operating Officer at the University of Alberta Hospital. Originally from Eastern Canada, Louise directed Mental Health and Forensic Services in Halifax and Corrections Health Care for Nova Scotia.
Louise is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Nursing from Dalhousie University and a Master of Science (Nursing) from Northeastern University, Boston MA. She is also a Certified Health Executive, a Surveyor with Accreditation Canada and an Associate Professor, University of Alberta, Faculty of Nursing.
Prior to joining the MHCC executive team, Louise served as a member of the MHCC's Service Systems advisory committee.
Alec Farquhar, Managing Director, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW)
Alec Farquhar is Managing Director of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers. OHCOW is a network of inter-disciplinary clinics in Ontario focusing on the detection and prevention of occupational injuries and diseases. Alec was formerly Director, Occupational Health and Safety Branch, Ontario Ministry of Labour, responsible for provincial level development of operational health and safety programs and related partnerships within the prevention system.
Prior to that, Alec was Director, Ontario Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA), Ministry of Labour. Alec is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Alec has also worked as a community legal worker and staff lawyer in community legal clinics serving injured workers and as senior policy advisor to the Chair of the Workers' Compensation Board. He has chaired or presented at numerous health and safety and workers' compensation conferences and learning events.
Angela Coke, Associate Deputy Minister, HROntario, Ministry of Government Services
On July 9, 2008, Angela Coke was appointed as Associate Deputy Minister, HROntario, Ministry of Government Services. Angela is responsible for Ontario Public Service enterprise human resource management and corporate policy, HR service delivery, employee relations, the Centre for Leadership and Learning, and modernization.
From May 2006 to July 2008, Angela Coke was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Modernization Division in the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.
In 2005, Angela led the OPS Youth and Young Professionals Strategy development project for the Centre for Leadership and Human Resource Management.
Between 1999-2005, she held a number of senior management positions at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care including: Lead Internal Transformation Project; Acting Executive Director, Corporate Services and Organizational Development Division; Director, Corporate Management Branch; Director, Business Improvement Office, and Manager, Business Transformation Projects.
Prior to that she held a number of senior management positions in the Communications Services Branch, Management Board Secretariat. She also worked in the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Skills Development, and the Ministry of Housing.
Before joining the Ontario Public Service, she worked for the Jamaican Consulate General in Toronto.
Angela has a BA in English from York University, Toronto.
Janet O'Grady, Director, Centre for Employee Health, Safety and Wellness
Janet joined the Employee Relations Division in April 2007 as the Director, Centre for Employee Health, Safety and Wellness. As the leader of the Centre, Janet's mandate is to develop and deliver programs and services that promote health, safety and wellness within the Ontario Government; to facilitate compliance with related legislation, policies and best practices; and to foster effective relationships between the workplace parties as well as other stakeholders. Areas of responsibility include: workplace discrimination and harassment prevention, management and advisory services; employment accommodation and return-to-work case management; WSI claims management; occupational health & safety program development and services; support to emergency management and business continuity; and wellness program development and delivery.
Previously, Janet was the Human Resources Director for the Ministry of the Environment leading teams responsible for developing effective human resources and change management solutions and providing customer-focussed services to support organizational effectiveness and achievement of business goals. Past roles during her 20-year career in the Ontario public service included assignments with the Centre for Leadership, and the HR branches of the former Management Board Secretariat and the Ministry of the Attorney General. Janet holds a BA (Hons) from Carleton University and MBA from the University of Toronto.
Janet Carr, Public Health Nurse, Ottawa Public Health & Ontario Healthy Workplace Coalition (OHWC) Co-Chair
Janet Carr is a public health nurse in the Healthy Ottawa @ Work Program at Ottawa Public Health. She has a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from Queen's University and is completing her graduate degree in the Master of Health Studies program. Janet has over 20 years experience in assisting large and small businesses to develop healthy workplaces, and has presented at many local, provincial, and national conferences on a variety of workplace health topics.
In the past, she has worked as a consultant with the Program Training and Consultation Centre, providing smoking cessation training to health professionals across the province. Janet has also participated on The Health Communication Unit review panel and advisory committee for the development of the Recommended and Promising Practices for Situational Assessment Tools Catalogue.
Janet is currently Co-Chair of the Ontario Healthy Workplace Coalition (OHWC), as well as a member of the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council, and the Eastern Ontario Client Service Health and Safety Council. In the past two years, she has provided leadership to the OHWC in establishing its governance structure; building linkages with key partners; and focusing on communication, advocacy, capacity building, and resource integration.
Janet believes that the OHWC has great potential to create healthy and safe workplaces in Ontario, if it has strong leadership and the continued participation of public, private, and not-for-profit organizations from all economic sectors. With the support and commitment of workplace health stakeholders, she is confident that the OHWC will achieve its vision of comprehensive workplace health across the province!
Judy Kerling, Healthy Workplace Specialist, Region of Peel & Ontario Healthy Workplace Coalition (OHWC) Co-Chair
Judy has worked as the Healthy Workplace Specialist, for the Region of Peel since 2003. Prior to this position, she has worked in public health, in accounting and volunteer management roles at Best Start Health Coalition of Peel, and earlier in her career, in the hospital sector.
As a Healthy Workplace Specialist, she remains committed to the goals of workplace health and value the impact on workplace productivity and our wellbeing. Having implemented numerous wellness strategies, her current focus is on corporate projects related to workplace health, including the current application to the NQI Healthy Workplace Award.
Judy has had the pleasure of serving and representing the OHWC as Co-Chair since the last election in 2007. With the start of our new membership data base, as an employer representative, she would like to connect with as many workplaces as possible, so she can hear what issues and challenges workplaces are facing. This in turn, would help ensure the OHWC strategies remain relevant to our workplaces. Judy believes in the vision for healthier workplaces in Ontario and feels that the OHWC can make a difference.
Rosalie Moscoe, RHN, RNCP, Professional Speaker
Rosalie Moscoe, RHN, RNCP, professional speaker, is a graduate of Centennial College's post graduate, Workplace Wellness & Health Promotion Program and holds Level 1 in Health Canada's Workplace Health System. A former instructor at Centennial College on A Wellness Approach to Stress Management, she delivers various stress relief, wellness and nutritional programs and keynote addresses for organizations internationally. Author of print and e-book, Frazzled Hurried Woman! Your Stress Relief Guide to Thriving... Not Merely Surviving, in 2003, Ms. Moscoe appeared on the front page of the National Post for her work on the “hurried woman”.
A graduate of The Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, she also works as a Registered Nutritional Consultant, giving one to one nutritional consulting to patients of five Toronto medical doctors helping to build mental and physical health. Ms. Moscoe is a board member and Vice Chair of The International Schizophrenia Foundation (ISF) www.orthomed.org and was part of a film documentary entitled Masks of Madness, Science of Healing, narrated by Margo Kidder.
Formerly, she was a performer and singer for children, having recorded five children's albums, and was nominated for two Juno awards. Visit www.healthinharmony.com for articles and more information.
Norma Gibson-MacDonald, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)
Norma Gibson-MacDonald is Manager, General Health and Safety Services at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) where she is responsible for an interdisciplinary team creating information resources critical to the Canadian workplace health and safety community. Norma's work at CCOHS has included managing electronic directories of resources, legislation and studies in environmental and workplace health and safety. Norma represents CCOHS on the Canadian Healthy Workplace Council and directs the work of CCOHS in collaboration with NQI for Canada's Healthy Workplace Month activities.
Currently Norma chairs the Resource Integration Sub-committee of the OHWC and would like to continue the work undertaken by this group in 2008. The main focus has been to find partnerships and funding to develop a much-needed clearinghouse of workplace health information and best practices in Ontario. The sub-committee is also taking responsibility for content of two sections of the OHWC: key workplace health links and events.
Shaun Baylis, Senior Consultant, Human Solutions
Shaun Baylis is currently a Sr. Consultant with Human Solutions (EFAP). He was the president and CEO of Baylis & Associates, one of the leading Employee and Family Assistance Program providers in Canada. He holds a Masters and Bachelor Degree in Social Work, he has served on the steering committee of the Ontario Healthy Workplace Coalition, Health Policy Committee with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, participated in the Economic Mental Health Roundtable, and volunteered his services at Ground Zero after the tragedy of September 11th.
Shaun's passion for workplace health is rooted in 1985 when he made the transition from a counseling firm, to the provision of EFAP, an employee benefit aimed at improving their mental, emotional and overall health and wellbeing. He is recognized leader in the work-life and well-being of organizational development and workplace culture. He has successfully aided companies to implement practical solutions in the areas such as leadership, engagement, wellness, addiction, short-term disability and mental health. The combination of both Shaun's clinical and professional experience enables him to understand the benefits of workplace wellness from a business perspective as well as an individual perspective. He is called upon to be a key note speaker on subject matter of Effective Leadership (from a 'command and control' to 'coach and collaborator'), The Authentic Collaborative Workplace Culture, and the Engagement Factor of Multi-Generational Diversity.
