Speaker Name: Dr Charl Els
Session Description:
Mental illness and addiction are common and treatable health conditions. However, despite significant progress having been made over the past two decades, a significant gap continues to exist in the identification and treatment of these conditions. The existing system which relies predominantly on expert caregivers is unlikely to meet the ever-growing demand. Instead, there exists a pool of utilizable resources in the workplace that can be trained to recognize the signs of mental illness and addiction. By empowering the workplace to identify these conditions, to intervene early, and to offer access to evidence-based support, augmented by workplace policies and practices, the workplace can become a conduit to recovery.
The Recovery-Friendly Workplace (RFW) has been demonstrated to reduce absenteeism, limit healthcare cost, and lower staff turn-over, with subsequent savings on training and recruitment cost. RFW has been shown to increase productivity, employee engagement, and loyalty. Further, it improves workplace safety, helps mitigate occupational risk, reduces stigma, and improves employee well-being through early identification and systemic methods of supporting recovery.
Through a series of guidance documents funded by the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE), we’ve identified policies, practices, and tools to wake up this sleeping giant.
Over 60% of Canadians are gainfully employed, spending the majority of their waking hours at work. There currently exists no single comparable opportunity with this level of potential for scalable, safe, and effective interventions to support recovery from mental illness and addiction. RFW’s lay a path to create a workplace culture centered in health, wellness, and support for long-term recovery.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, particpants will be able to:
- Identify the workplace as a salient conduit to recovery;
- Recognize approaches to establish a recovery-friendly workplace; and,
- Apply select policies and practices to facilitate recovery.
References:
1. Els C, Durnin-Goodman M, Farnan, P. et al. Recovery-Friendly Workplaces: Recommendations for Employers, Employees, and the Occupational Medicine Community. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 7, 252 (2025).
2. Gerdes R, Jackson TD, Roberts R, et al. Associations Between Employment and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Reviews. J Occup Rehabil (2026).
3. Noga AA, Robb I, Stewart-Patterson R, et al. Facilitating Recovery for Mobile/Rotational Workers Working in Remote Locations. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 7, 266 (2025).
BIO
Dr. Charl Els is a fellowship-trained psychiatrist, addiction specialist, occupational physician. He serves as a clinical professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry and the Dept. of Medicine at the UofA. Els practices psychiatry in a military setting, and also conducts civil forensic assessments.
Els has authored and co-authored publications in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the Lancet and the Cochrane library. He is the Editor and co-author of the Health Canada-funded textbook, Disease Interrupted.
The research presented here was is funded by the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, and he is also funded by WCB Alberta.
Els is a recipient of a 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal recognizing his contribution to mental health and addiction.