Millennials – those employees in their mid-20s and 30s – are contributing to a pro-active conversation on workplace health in general – one more oriented toward preventative medicine, positive mental health and well-being

Last summer, when Starbucks began hearing from employees at five forums across the country, the company didn’t expect mental health to become the top talking point. The forums were targeted to staff between the ages of 18 and 24, and, hosted by the company executives, were an invitation to discuss youth issues. But in each city, their employees kept bringing it up – not only struggles with depression and anxiety, but grief, work-life balance, care-giving stress.  Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…

This man has found a wonderful way to help people through their darkest times. It starts with tea.

Inside a library in a depressed seaside town in Northern England is a room converted into a cafe designed to look like a grandmother’s homey living room. On any given day, there might be an elderly woman playing Scrabble with a man in his 20s. There might be a homeless man making coffee for a mother whose daughter recently died. Seated on the vintage-looking couches and armchairs there will be strangers sharing stories, offering counsel and friendship.  Read the rest of this article at The Washington Post…

Shelters are full, more women are homeless and Metro Vancouver’s homeless population is on track for continued growth, according to a new report

In “No Vacancy: Affordability & Homelessness in Vancouver,” researchers from Union Gospel Mission and the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. at the University of Victoria found that tightening vacancy rates, rising rents and social housing shortages are pushing people onto and keeping people on the streets.  Read the rest of this article at The Vancouver Sun…

Prince William and Kate wrap up #RoyalVisitCanada focusing on youth, mental health https://t.co/2p2LupVV3y pic.twitter.com/cwnfIAOpSB

— TorontoStar (@TorontoStar) October 1, 2016

Stress has become the soul-sucking virus of the modern age. So a recent large-scale Ontario study should come as no surprise: Teenagers are also becoming infected in growing numbers

In August, the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reported that one in three Ontario teens suffers from “moderate-to-serious psychological distress. Close to 30 per cent reported “elevated stress.” And the number of kids saying they felt nervous or overwhelmed either “most” or “all of the time” had jumped significantly since the last time the survey was taken, only two years earlier. What, then, are parents to do with that information?  Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…