To support Mental Health Week (new window), our Prairie Region put in two initiatives to designed to address burnout from both staff and clients.

The first initiative is to help alleviate burnout, mental stress, and fatigue during the job search process for clients. Learning the skill sets of that process is hard, and can be taxing for people with disabilities, so our Prairie Office brought in some large colouring posters for whenever clients need a mental brain break and step back from the intense work of learning employment skills and digital skills. (There’s also one available for staff).

Prairie Region staff also took part in a brain break team-building exercise called the Office Olympics yesterday. Organized by the office’s wellness committee, the office split into two teams — Team Broken Crayons and the Hula Hammers — and competed against each other for an hour and a half. In the end, Team Broken Crayons took home gold, while the Hula Hammers took silver.

Mental health is an important issue for Prairie Regional Manager Nikki Langdon, who has often shared her experience with mental illness.