Our Areas of Expertise

Mental Health Inclusion

An Exclusive Partnership with Dr. Komal Bhasin

Prioritize Mental Health Inclusion in Your Organization

At its core, mental health inclusion is about creating workplaces where we normalize discussing mental health challenges and work to interrupt the stigma and biases attached to mental health issues. When we do this, we create organizational cultures that are better able to support all team members’ wellness, which can have a direct impact on team contentment, engagement, belonging, and performance.

We Embed Intersectionality in All of Our Mental Health Programming

We apply an intersectional lens to all of our mental health inclusion programming, which not only facilitates a more sophisticated understanding of mental health challenges, but spotlights the differing impact of mental health on equity-seeking professionals. This nuanced approach allows teams to build greater capacity for holding meaningful and inclusive mental health conversations.

Why Choose bci for Your Mental Health Inclusion Training

bci has an exclusive partnership with Dr. Komal Bhasin to curate and deliver targeted mental health inclusion programming for bci clients.

Our bespoke training breaks down challenging concepts for any audience, and helps you to expertly navigate the relationship between personal health and organizational policies. Our suite of programming includes both foundational sessions and targeted, in-depth explorations of mental health inclusion that will allow your organization to foster, support and prioritize personal well-being within your teams.

Dr. Komal Bhasin

she/her

Senior DEI Consultant
Mental Health Expert-in-Residence

Our Mental Health Inclusion Programming

1

Foundations of Mental Health Inclusion

Exploring mental health inclusion and the stigma attached to discussing mental health challenges in the workplace

2

Burnout Prevention

Uncovering what burnout is and how individuals, organizations and leaders can prevent its emergence

3

Cultivating Psychological Safety and Belonging

Delving into the key role psychological safety plays in creating thriving team cultures and how to make this happen

4

Inclusive Mental Health Conversations

Leveraging best practices in language and frameworks for holding supportive and inclusive conversations around mental health

5

Intersectional Mental Health Inclusion

Addressing the unique mental health considerations for People of Color and Indigenous Peoples, given the complex intersection between mental health and racism

6

Mental Health Resilience

Exploring tools and strategies individuals can use to manage stress and cultivate well-being through self-care

Integrate Inclusive Mental Health Strategies Into Your Organizational Culture

At bci, we offer advisory services and expert guidance to organizations on how to embed mental health inclusion concepts within your processes and practices.

We can help you build the necessary infrastructure that reflects best practices in this space, in order to foster an open dialogue around mental health and wellness within your organization.

Did You Know?

Neutral language is key when discussing mental health.

One of the biases around mental health, particularly in the U.S. and Canada, is that we presume that we can label others — that it’s okay for us to choose the label we then apply to others. We foreground our perceptions and judgments over people’s personal preferences on how they want to be referred to and how they want to identify.

One of the best ways that we can foreground the person and not their illness, as well as recognize who the expert is and who has the most knowledge around their own mental health, is the very neutral language around experience.

So for example, rather than saying, “Neena has depression,” instead we might say, “Neena is a person with lived experience of depression.” The word “experience” can be really powerful.

All of bci’s mental health inclusion training can be offered in a webinar or virtual workshop format.

Komal brings deep knowledge of mental health practice and organizational culture, shared through a critical intersectional lens while skillfully translating concepts into key takeaway messages and actions. We appreciated Komal’s authentic communication style, and how she took care to learn about strategic wellness and equity work underway at our organization, helping to contextualize learning for leaders in a meaningful way.

Lori Whelan

Consultant Leadership & Organizational Development, Unity Health Toronto

Mental Health Inclusion Resources

TIP SHEET​

Supporting Collective Mental Health & Wellbeing During Challenging Times

TIP SHEET

“What Language Do I Use?”: Holding Inclusive Mental Health Conversations

ARTICLE

Beating Burnout: Dr Komal Bhasin On The 5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout

by Authority Magazine

E-GUIDE

How to ask staff R U OK?

by R U OK

What Is The Difference Between Stress and Burnout?

Inclusive Language for Mental Health Discussions

Interested in building a more inclusive workplace?

Don’t hesitate to contact us to learn how we can help, or subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest DEI insights in your inbox every month.

Dr. Komal Bhasin, MSW, MHSc, DocSocSci

Komal is bci’s Senior DEI Consultant and Mental Health Expert-in-Residence and an accomplished DEI facilitator, coach, and strategist. Komal has over 20 years of experience in providing strategic and advisory guidance and program development across a range of sectors, with a particular concentration in mental health and racial inclusion. Komal is also the founder of Insayva Inc., a social enterprise focused on providing accessible DEI and health equity support to charities and non-profit organizations.

Komal has extensive experience in creating and delivering programming in a range of DEI areas, including unconscious bias, cultural competence, mental health inclusion, psychological safety, and allyship. She is passionate about driving transformational change in workplaces and has worked closely with bci clients — corporations, professional services firms, health care providers, and educational institutions — to embed cultures of DEI within their organizations.

Komal has provided one-on-one inclusion coaching to hundreds of senior leaders and brings a unique approach that is informed by her background as a therapist. She is able to expertly handle sensitive conversations and situations and works with leaders to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to advance racial/ethnocultural, gender, and mental health-related equity across teams and organizations. Komal also offers a performance coaching program designed specifically for BIPOC leaders. This program aims to help BIPOC leaders harness their place, position, and identity to thrive in the workplace and beyond. Komal is a qualified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).

As bci’s Mental Health Expert-in-Residence, Komal offers tremendous expertise around workplace mental health. As a doctoral trained mental health clinician, certified health executive, and registered social worker, Komal has assisted organizations looking to advance employee mental health inclusion and well-being through offering programming on inclusive dialogue, anti-stigma, burnout prevention, psychological safety, resilience, and self-care. Komal is committed to advancing mental health and wellness across the life course; she currently serves on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario and previously served on the board of Children’s Mental Health Ontario and the YMCA of Greater Toronto.

When Komal is not working, you’ll find her painting, cooking or snuggling with her cat.