Shannex is seeking a solution that provides mental health support for those on leave and a mental health promotion solution that helps all employees to increase their resilience and provide tools to better manage stress.
Shannex is posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the desired outcomes. Shannex and CAN Health reserves the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must have its headquarters in Canada and/or the majority (>50%) of the company owned by Canadians and/or significant economic impact to Canada including a high Canadian job creation potential, >70% of contract value to Canada (for distributors of a non-Canadian solution), independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors), current presence (office(s) and client(s)) and can benefit from the CAN Health Network. Priority will be given to companies that meet all eligibility criteria.
For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/
Problem Statement: Employees in Canada, especially those in the healthcare industry, are facing higher rates of mental-health related illness. The rise in mental health related illness is resulting in lost time at work which is negatively impacting employees, coworkers, and organizations as a whole.
Objectives: Shannex is seeking a mental health resilience tool to increase the resilience of their staff and help them better manage stress. The ideal solution would offer online resilience training, and 1:1 coaching sessions to support employee mental health wellness.
Essential (mandatory) outcomes
The proposed solution must:
- Increase resilience scores of employees who complete the program
- Reduce rate of employee leave due to mental health issues
- Increased satisfaction among managers and ability specialists to support employees with mental illness related leave
Additional outcomes
N/A
The maximum duration for a project resulting from this Challenge is: 6 months
Shannex offers Retirement Living, Care at Home and Nursing Home services across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario. Shannex started in 1988 with the purchase of a single nursing home in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Since then, Shannex has expanded to nearly 50 locations. Shannex has a philosophy of communicating with residents, ensuring they are comfortable and happy with their living space. They strive to be compassionate, professional, honest, and safe to ensure all residents are treated fairly during their stay.
Like many healthcare organizations, Shannex workers are experiencing immense mental health concerns. These mental health concerns often result in workers going on leave, worsening staff shortages, and amplifying further mental health concerns in employees. At Shannex, each year they have 200-250 employees going on leave due to mental health challenges causing financial strain on the employees, relationship strain within the organization and increased workloads on remaining staff. There is evidence to suggest that mental health resilience tools can help employees increase engagement at work, help improve psychological safety and manage stress. In addition, within Nova Scotia, there exist very few mental health professionals to help manage these mental health issues. Having an online tool with individualized coaching and care plans is essential to alleviate mental health concerns in communities such as Nova Scotia and more broadly across Canada.
