This growing concern is why SWITCH BC, with our partners, is committed to improving psychological health and safety in the workplace. Just like physical safety, psychological safety is essential – it’s a priority for workplace wellbeing. Psychological health is a person’s mental and emotional wellbeing. Psychological safety is being free from harm or threats to that wellbeing. In psychologically safe workplaces, people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and share ideas without fear of judgment or negative consequences. This leads to many benefits for workers, workplaces, and communities.
Our work focuses on preventing mental health injuries and illnesses, and promoting and protecting the mental health of people working in B.C.’s health sector. Our approach aligns with existing standards, regulations, and agreements, and puts worker voice at the centre to drive meaningful changes.
Benefits of the PHS Program
What We Are Doing: Practical Resources and Strategic Learning
The Psychological Health and Safety program supports a coordinated provincewide approach to improve the wellbeing of over 330,000 individuals working in healthcare. This program provides resources, practical tools, and support for workers, leaders, and organizations to enhance psychological health and safety in their workplaces.
The program has four key components:
- Measurement and Evaluation Framework
- JOHSC Resources
- Community of Practice
- Trust Initiative
Measurement and Evaluation Framework
This framework will establish a baseline of the current state of psychological health and safety in healthcare workplaces, and track progress in implementing the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z1003-13, the national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace.
By measuring key data, this initiative will help organizations plan and evaluate their efforts, ensuring that improvements are both targeted and impactful. The framework includes three key projects:
Baseline: Assessing the current state of psychological health and safety in healthcare workplaces.
Implementation and Evaluation: Creating a standardized approach to psychological health and safety implementation and evaluation, alongside the development of helpful tools and resources.
Measurement: Establishing a consistent method for tracking and improving psychological health and safety, with tools and resources to support ongoing progress.
JOHSC Resources
Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees (JOHSCs) play a critical role in preventing workplace injuries and fostering a culture of safety. This initiative provides committees across the province with standard, accessible, and practical tools and resources to support psychologically healthy and safe workplaces and help them fulfil their duties and functions.
We’re working closely with our partners to develop and refine these resources so they’re evidence-informed and aligned with best practices. Once tested, we’ll share these resources widely to all JOHSCs, and update them regularly to keep them relevant and effective.
COLLABORATION COUNTER
All SWITCH BC initiatives are collaborations. Hundreds of hours have been invested by our partners to ensure the Psychological Health and Safety program’s initiatives and projects are designed to improve psychological health and safety in B.C. healthcare workplaces.
Organizations represented in the Community of Practice
Trust Initiative survey participants
Collaborators on program initiatives and projects
Community of Practice
With members from more than 20 organizations, this collaborative group meets monthly to share best practices, participate in strategic learning, and provide consultation and recommendations on key topics.
SWITCH BC is committed to providing accessible learning and hosts annual professional development opportunities for Community of Practice members. In 2024, Mary Ann Baynton, a renowned workplace relations specialist and co-chair of the Technical Committee for the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, led a series of workshops on leadership and creating mentally healthy workplaces.
The activities and insights shared by the Community of Practice help inspire our work and inform strategies to improve psychological health and safety in B.C.’s healthcare system.
Trust Initiative
Trust is an essential element of a psychologically healthy and safe workplace. The Trust Initiative is a collaborative research project between the University of Victoria School of Nursing, Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, and SWITCH BC. It explores how health care workers perceive trust in the B.C. healthcare system, with a particular focus on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted trust levels.
More than 950 health care workers participated in a survey from November 2024 to February 2025. In summer 2025, the researchers will host focus groups to further explore the results. The findings will help shape recommendations to strengthen health care worker trust and create more psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.
Program Progress Milestones
WHAT’S NEXT
In 2025-2026, we will continue to refine and expand the program’s four key components. This includes developing provincial processes for measurement, evaluation, and resource-sharing across health organizations, as well as supporting tools and services for sustainment. We will also create new education and training resources for JOHSCs and share insights and recommendations related to workplace culture, recruitment, and retention. Resources will be available starting in summer 2025.