Chair of the Mental Health Committee's Message
The theme of SPARK this month is financial wellness, now generally understood to be as important as physical and mental wellness to our overall well-being. It’s about more than having money in the bank. Financial wellness means feeling in control of your finances, being able to handle a financial setback, and being on track to achieve your financial and life goals (including having a plan for retirement). Aspects of wellness, whether physical, mental or financial, are interrelated and complementary. One impacts the other. Personal finances are cited by Canadians today as one of the biggest sources of stress, right up there with workload and personal relationships. Taking care of your financial wellness can positively impact both your mental and physical wellness.
As members of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) we are in a unique position to have a positive impact on all aspects of wellness – financial, mental and physical. After all, we proudly exist to protect Canadians’ financial well-being. Many of our members also make strong contributions to mental and physical health through the disability products and services they provide. And all of us can have a positive impact on our employees’ financial, mental and physical health as responsible and caring employers through our workplace practices, programs and benefits.
Having just wrapped up October’s Mental Health Awareness Month and entering November’s Financial Literacy Month, I encourage you to consider how you personally can impact both the financial and mental well-being of your employees, your customers, your personal and social networks. And I hope some of the success stories, tips and resources we highlight in this newsletter will provide the spark you need to act.
Our committee wishes you an upcoming holiday season full of wellness. As you wrap up your 2018 goals and begin to think about 2019, we encourage you to consider how you can make a personal contribution to more health and well-being for yourself, your family, the people you work with and the customers you support. Everyone can make a difference.