Each year approximately 31,000 Canadian workers are recognized as sustaining a permanent impairment as a result of a workplace injury – 15,000 in Ontario alone, according to WSIB data. The upcoming session in the Bancroft Institute’s Policy & Research Discussion series will focus on a critical issue for many injured workers with permanent disability – mental health and coping. 
Keynote speaker is Fergal O’Hagan, associate professor in the Dept. of Psychology at Trent University, whose work is dedicated to finding ways to help people adapt and heal so they can get back to work. A participant in the Research and Action on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI) project, Dr O’Hagan was lead author of the major 2012 study “Mental Health Status of Ontario Injured Workers with Permanent Impairment” (Canadian journal of public health v.103(4): 303-308) which found injured workers following a work injury to be at greater risk of depression, sleep problems and medication abuse than the general population.
The session will address implications for return to work, income recovery, access to health services and rehabilitation inside and outside the workers’ compensation system. The agenda also includes injured workers’ presentations, panel response and general discussion.
When: Tuesday, May 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Where: Friend’s House, 60 Lowther Ave, Toronto M5R 1C7 on Tuesday
RSVP appreciated: BancroftInstitute@gmail.com The event is free, with a suggested donation of $10 for waged attendees. Tokens are available for the unwaged. Please make this a scent-free event.
- Bancroft Institute for Studies on Workers’ Compensation and Work Injury is a collaborative of injured workers, advocates and academics. Its goals are to address the needs and concerns of injured workers in Ontario and across Canada through community-engaged research activities; to promote education and research on workers’ compensation and injured worker experiences; and to inform legislation, policies, programs and practices.