THUNDER BAY - Mental health workers are going to be thinking outside of the box and focusing on solutions over problems, which officials say will have a far reaching impact on the region.
The Thunder Bay chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association received a $20,000 grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund to implement a new training program, Coaching Out of the Box.
The proposal to provide staff in Thunder Bay with the coaching training was submitted to the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund and Sharon Pitawanakwat, CEO with the Canadian Mental Health Association Thunder Bay, said they were thrilled when they learned their proposal was accepted for funding.
“It will build our skills and capacity to be better listeners, to help people have forward thinking and forward moving solutions to their own problems, to really build a culture that is built on the foundation of recovery,” she said. “We can and do recover from challenges around mental illness.”
Coaching Out of the Box was founded by Alison Hendren and provides training in coaching culture that focuses on goal setting and outcome creation. It provides the 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program, a 32-hour, three level certification course.
During the announcement on Wednesday, Hendren said via video, the Thunder Bay CMHA is the first organization in Ontario to fully embrace the training program.
“This is a big deal,” she said. “This transforms organizations. This will impact every segment of your life.”
“The more we can develop our skills and ability to do that as human beings, the better we can support others,” Pitawanakwat added. “This methodology has proven evidence of its ability to help people transform. Isn’t that what we all want, a transformational experience? We want to be our best selves whenever we can, we want to be able to live a fulfilling life despite some of the challenges we are faced with.”
The funding provided by Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund will cover the cost of training four employees, in addition to Pitawanakwat and two other staff members already certified in the 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program.
Designed as a train the trainer program, certified staff will be able to train the remaining 75 staff members at the Thunder Bay CMHA and Pitawanakwat anticipates it will be completed in one to three years.
“We will also open up the training opportunity to our community partners,” she added. “That is another farther reaching effort we can have and it will also create revenue for the agency to possibly train more people in the future.”
Pitawanakwat, who has firsthand experience with Coaching Out of the Box, said it will be very beneficial to staff and clients dealing with mental health issues because it focuses on solutions rather than problems.
“Really having a solid foundation on how we communicate with each other, how we support each other, how we feel about ourselves as individuals and as employees as part of a team and an organization,” she said. “The whole cultural piece about feeling seen, heard, and understood and being part of something bigger than ourselves is from my perspective is one of the outcomes I will be very curious to watch unfold.”
