University of Fredericton launches online course to enhance resiliency, help students cope with stress
FREDERICTON, May 16, 2017 /CNW/ - According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, more than a quarter of Canadians perceive work-related stress to be highi. When demands on individuals exceed their personal resources, they become more susceptible to the negative impacts of stress, and it can severely inhibit performance.
To address the growing need for skills and strategies that help individuals to better manage stress, the University of Fredericton is pleased to be launching a new, fully online course called Enhancing Workplace Resiliency. Designed by Dr. Joti Samra and Dr. Rakesh Jetly, the Enhancing Workplace Resiliency course will help students to learn effective coping mechanisms and strategies that lead to more productive, healthier, and well-balanced lives, both inside and outside of the workplace.
"The two existing streams of training for psychological health and safety in the workplace at UFred are directed towards those looking at organizational strategies, and those in managerial roles supporting employees respectively," said Dr. Samra. "This third stream is focused on the individual worker, and what I see this will do is help to provide practical, implementable strategies that can help enhance one's overall sense of psychological health and wellness."
Enhancing Workplace Resiliency was developed for UFred by leading experts in the field. Developers included Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych., Program Lead for the Centre for Psychological Health Sciences at UFred and a national leader and innovator in psychological health and wellness, and Dr. Rakesh Jetly, M.D., NATO's first research chair in military mental health and national and international speaker on post-traumatic stress disorder and operational psychiatry. The program is an extension of the psychological health and safety programs already being offered at UFred, where psychological health and safety in the workplace is being integrated into core occupational health and safety (OHS) studies as well.
"The reality of modern-day life is that it can be overwhelming; the pace of it, the pressures to succeed, the constant access to technology and communication, it's a challenge." said Dr. Jetly, "Having the tools to cope with these types of stress is a must for everyone."
The program consists of six modules that are designed to help students learn to build mental resilience and learn about concepts such as behavioural action, realistic thinking, the significance of sleep, exercise and diet, relaxation and stress management, and positive psychology. The course interactive and applied, providing students with many opportunities to take the concepts they are learning and use them in real-life scenarios.
"We recognize the role that psychological health and safety needs to have within the broader OHS context," said Sheri McKillop, Acting Dean of the School of Occupational Health and Safety at UFred, "Augmenting its presence in OHS education is a step towards our goal of helping our students to create holistically healthy and safe workplaces."
UFred is now actively taking enrolments for the Enhancing Workplace Resiliency program. More information about the program can be found by visiting http://getstarted.ufred.ca/EWR-CNW
About the University of Fredericton
The University of Fredericton (UFred) is a fully online Canadian University headquartered in Fredericton, New Brunswick. UFred offers certificate, diploma, and degree programs that emphasize leadership development and lifelong learning for upwardly mobile professionals.
UFred is home to a Centre for Psychological Health and Safety, where the Enhancing Workplace Resiliency course can be found. More information on the course, and on course developers Dr. Samra and Dr. Jetly, can be found at http://getstarted.ufred.ca/EWR-CNW
i Informing the Future: Mental Health Indicators for Canada. (2015). Retrieved May 16, 2017, from http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/Informing%252520the%252520Future%252520-%252520Mental%252520Health%252520Indicators%252520for%252520Canada_0.pdf
SOURCE University of Fredericton
Sarah Chiasson, Marketing and Communications Manager, University of Fredericton, 1-506-454-6232 ext. 224, [email protected]
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