Mental Health at Work Isn’t Just About You. It’s About Your Culture.

We talk a lot about mental health in the workplace.  And while these conversations are important, they often focus on the individual: how someone could build their resilience, manage their stress, or ask for accommodation. The problem with this approach is that it implies the problem is you. What people report experiencing at work — […]

Why Wellbeing at Work Is an Organizational Problem — Not an Individual One

In most workplaces “wellbeing” means something like: the individual employee is coping adequately with the conditions of their work. Wellbeing at work isn’t just a nice-to-have or a soft priority.  Canadian organizations are facing a growing crisis of disconnection which affects the bottom line. The Scale of the Problem: Burnout and Disconnection in Canadian Workplaces […]

Some Thoughts on Leaving Academia

Possibilities on The Other Side I get a lot of questions from folks considering leaving academia about what work will be like on The Other Side.  The crux of what they seem to be asking is: “Will I continue to be independent?  Will I have agency?” When I was contemplating leaving, these were some of […]

Why writing in one sitting can overwhelm you

(but you have options!) Imagine trying to cook a full-course meal in one go—without prepping ingredients, measuring anything, or even turning on the stove first. Overwhelming, right? The same can be said for writing.    Maybe you know that writing is an awesome and powerful thing, but you also kind of dread it.  And maybe you […]

Burnout is not an individual problem: it’s cultural

The way we think and talk about burnout needs to change.  As individuals we feel it.  And we often think the solutions need to be individual too (more resilience training, anyone?).  But it will take a cultural shift to really address burnout, and create sustainable workplaces that are integrated and even connected parts within our […]