Innovative research looks at employment for people with mental illnesses

NEW WESTMINSTER – The Province and Fraser Health are partnering to test a new and innovative way for people living with severe mental illness to find long-term employment that fits their needs.

To make this happen, the Province is providing Fraser Health with $1.6 million to carry out a research project called Thinking Skills at Work. In partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association, this three-year project will combine a new treatment with an existing service to help patients get back into the workforce. The project is based out of Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.

Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) is a promising new treatment that enhances thinking skills in people with severe mental illnesses. It is designed to improve neurocognitive abilities such as attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning and functioning with a goal of improved functioning.

This funding will allow Fraser Health to assess the effects of CRT when it is combined with Individual Placement and Support (IPS), an existing service that adds an employment counsellor to a patient's mental health treatment team to help them find paid work. As part of this project, IPS employment counsellors will join local chambers of commerce and boards of trade to create community connections through job fairs and service clubs to find employment opportunities for patients.

The treatment plan for CRT will focus on cognitive areas that are impeding patients' progress to successful employment. For example, to improve memory, patients will be taught to group information to better retain it. Other examples may include using structured problem-solving and planning methods to compensate for executive dysfunctions, using day planners, and modifying work spaces to reduce distractions.

The combination of CRT with IPS will be tested with a group of 120 current patients from 10 Fraser Health Mental Health and Substance Use Centres. The patients live with severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Those patients will be randomly assigned to either a test group or a control group, with the test group receiving CRT and IPS and the control group receiving IPS only. This will allow Fraser Health to assess the effectiveness of CRT and IPS and find out if this new combination of support services can make a positive, lasting impact in the lives of clients, and help them reach their goals of independence through meaningful employment.

A final report on the effectiveness of CRT and IPS is expected to be complete by February 2020 and will be shared with government and other stakeholders. Results will be based on cognitive functioning and employment, including hours worked and wages and the information, will allow mental-health experts to better treat patients and help them find employment.

Funding for the project is provided through the Research and Innovation stream of the Ministry's Community and Employer Partnerships program.

Research and Innovation projects are part of the Employment Program of British Columbia's Community and Employer Partnerships, which fund projects that increase employability and share labour market information.

Community and Employer Partnerships are featured in B.C.'s Skills for Jobs Blueprint and provide more support to people who are struggling to gain a foothold in the job market. It helps build stronger partnerships with industry and labour to connect British Columbians with classroom and on-the-job training, while making it easier for employers to hire the skilled workers they need – when and where they need them.