WCB Nova Scotia is proud to introduce a suite of resources for Nova Scotians found in this newly launched Psychological Health and Safety Resource Centre. 

We have adapted a suite of resources that will be helpful to Nova Scotians as we work to prevent and manage gradual onset psychological injury, courtesy of our colleagues at WorkSafe Saskatchewan, who are at the leading edge of psychological injury prevention in Canada.

Use these resources to help you to build and maintain a psychologically safer workplace in your organization.

What you'll find in the Resource Centre

Workplace Psychological Health and Safety: A closer look at the National Standard for Psychological Safety at Work, and the 13 psycho-social factors that support positive mental health.

Psychologically Safe Leadership: This section outlines the five domains that comprise psychologically safe leadership and provides valuable insights and action plans for leaders.

Tools and Resources:  From new assessment tools to discounted educational resources and more, the Resource Centre provides practical solutions to support ongoing mental health initiatives.

Video introduction to gradual onset psychological injury

A great addition to any toolbox talk, this brief video provides a summary on what a gradual onset psychological injury is, and what it isn't, while explaining how the WCB is getting ready to provide a new service experience for both workers and employers in September.

We've spent a lot of time listening and learning about what you need from the WCB to be better supported and prepared when the legislation to expand coverage to gradual onset psychological injury becomes effective in September.

Here are some of the things we've heard you say and how we're responding:

Write better letters. Our correspondence and decision templates are getting an upgrade. They will be written in plain language and with a trauma-informed lens.

Help keep workers working. Research shows that staying connected to the workplace is a key element to helping workers recover from injury. Our team will work with employers on strategies to provide accommodations to keep skilled and experienced people part of your organization's valuable workforce.

Ensure access to care. WCB is establishing partnerships with vendors to ensure access to mental health diagnoses. We will have more to share soon, as the ink dries on contracts later this month.

Improve service. We are taking this request to heart. Our entire end-to-end service experience for workers and employers with GPI inquiries and claims has been built from the ground up, with the customer at the centre of all we do.

As part of our commitment to improved service, the WCB has established new service level agreements so the people we serve know what they can expect from us, and hold us accountable. These agreements include:

• 80% same-day return phone calls
• 80% same-day needs assessment
• 80% decision letters within three weeks
• Bi-weekly case conference meetings (if needed) with workers/employers/service providers

It's all part of the new GPI service experience we are building for Nova Scotians.