NSGEU Pleased to Announce New Office of Workplace Mental Health for Civil Service Members

“I am very pleased to announce a joint initiative with the Public Service Commission (PSC) – a new Office of Workplace Mental Health for our Civil Service members,” says Jason MacLean, President of the Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union (NSGEU).

“As a union, we support our members who are having mental health issues at work,” says MacLean. “We recognize how important it is to have someone on your side, who will help you when you need it. This is why we are so pleased to partner with the Employer, the Public Service Commission, in the establishment of this three-year pilot project, a new Office of Workplace Mental Health which will help our members navigate the mental health system to find support when they need it.”

“The NSGEU has been a leader in pushing for better mental health support in the workplace and as a part of the overall provincial health care envelope,” says MacLean. “Early on, we saw the importance of addressing workplace mental health as a union and developed our own program called NSGEU Bully-Free Workplaces Program, which our Board has been sponsoring since 2010. We are always looking for new partnerships that will improve the support for our members and are very excited to be part of this new initiative with the PSC.”

The NSGEU would like to acknowledge the particular contributions of the Long Term Disability (LTD) Board of Trustees, PSC Commissioner, Laura Lee Langley, NSGEU Executive Director, Robin MacLean, and retired Executive Director at the Department of Natural Resources, Brian Gilbert.

The NSGEU and the PSC have both, as organizations, adopted the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) set out by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

The Office of Workplace Mental Health will have an annual budget of approximately $1.3 million, funded through the Employment Insurance premium rebate that the Province receives from Service Canada.

There are five new positions being posted today. For any of our Civil Service members who are interested in applying – here are the details:

The available positions are three-year temporary assignments and are internal opportunities, open only to current Nova Scotia government (civil service) employees, both union and non-union. The Director is Carolyn Campbell who led the PSC in the adoption of “The Standard”.

The positions include:

*            Navigator, Workplace Mental Health (2)

*           Research and Statistical Specialist, Workplace Mental Health (1)

*           Communications Advisor, Workplace Mental Health (1)

*           Office Manager, Workplace Mental Health (1)

For job descriptions or to apply, please visit: https://jobs.novascotia.ca/ under the Current Nova Scotia Government employees section of the website.