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Our shared pandemic experience must lead to better understanding of mental health challenges

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewed a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency.  This series seeks to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies.

The series facilitator, Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, wraps up the series and shares his call to action for industry employees and leaders.

It was a privilege to be involved in the ICA’s “Resiliency” series of articles. As a mental healthcare professional, interviewing eight people in agencies, at various stages in their careers, on the challenges they’ve faced with mental health and resiliency proved to be both enlightening and inspiring.

From the interviews emerge some powerful stories on a challenging subject, which are so relatable because they are told by people in your own industry. Thank you to Andy Krupski, Ania Russocki, Lauren LiBetti, Rachel Hlinko, Samantha Kamiel, Phil Talledes, Eve Rémillard-Larose and Cat Wiles for having the courage to take part. It’s clear that stigma around mental health issues still exists in the agency world, and the sharing of these evocative stories is one of the best ways to combat stigma in any setting.

It’s useful to situate some of the issues raised in the interviews within the context of how the pandemic has impacted mental health in Canada overall. Mental wellbeing indicators have fallen significantly below pre-pandemic levels, and have been so for 12-plus consecutive months now, according to The Mental Health Index (MHI) from LifeWorks. Nearly half (45%) of Canadians feel the need for mental health support, according to its April 2021 Canadian report, which also records an overall MHI score of -11, a decline from the pre-pandemic base level of zero. Key issues identified in the April report relate to depression (-12.5), followed by work productivity (-11.8), anxiety (-11.6), and isolation (-11.5).

Bringing this back to the agency world, the ICA’s own mental health research correlates strongly with these overall findings. Not only are 61% of employees “pandemic fatigued,” they are also experiencing issues around work pressures during lockdowns, with one participant saying: “Permission to leave my camera off occasionally would make a world of difference. There are very hard days that would be easier with just the occasional allowance of privacy.” The report also shows that agencies, and their leaders, could do a better job in bridging the gap with people who are feeling vulnerable – while 47.9% say that they “always or usually feel that they can be authentic and vulnerable with their agency leadership,” it’s concerning that 21.4% of respondents indicated that they could “rarely or never” be authentic and vulnerable with leadership.

Suffice to say that, after more than 12 months, we’ve arrived at a place where employees are feeling mentally exhausted, agencies and their leaders continue to be stretched thin, and as a result, the creative, strategic brains that drive the marketing industry are more challenged than ever.

But if we examine the stories shared over the course of this series we can, perhaps, begin to uncover some collective wisdom that can help employees and agencies bounce back stronger, together.

First, I think it’s important to acknowledge the dual responsibility that exists around this issue. Like any aspect of our health, we all have a responsibility to do what we can to look after our mental health and wellbeing. At the same time, there is an organizational responsibility as well. If creative, strategic, brains are what power this industry, then agencies should also be proactively looking after the brain health of their employees too. By the same token, each of us can and should be learning how to look after our own mental health as a key area of skill for the future of a brain-based economy.

Focusing on individual strategies, what’s apparent from the series of articles is that each person had their own set of practices and strategies to support their mental wellbeing and resilience, with a few common themes”

  • Self-awareness is critical to building your resilience. Understanding what impacts your mental health, what works to help you recover, and what you can do proactively is important because it’s all very unique to each individual.
  • Therapy works. Many of our participants talked openly about their experience seeking professional help. But it doesn’t always “click” the first time, so being open to finding the right fit is key.
  • As the world around us changes, we need to be mindful that our needs may change as well. We heard many stories of people “evolving” their toolbox, re-evaluating ways in which they’d managed stress, anxiety, or their mood in the past and either returning to old tools, or seeking out new ones.
  • To the point above, be open to trying new things – therapy, hobbies, exercise, journaling, and gratitude all emerged as routes towards mental wellbeing. Experiment and find what works for you.

Looking at organizational strategies, both leaders and less senior staff provided insight on how agencies can better support their employees around mental health and wellbeing:

  • Businesses, including agencies, need to be more human-centred in the ways in which they design and deliver work. Recognizing that we bring our whole selves to work and ensuring that a workplace can accommodate the different realities we’re living in is becoming more important.
  • Leadership skills will need to be re-thought, with a strong focus on the attributes some may have once thought of as “soft.” Empathy, building quality relationships, and cultivating authenticity should be considered as important for leaders as the ability to craft a brilliant pitch.
  • The pandemic, and its aftermath, provides an opportunity for organizations to fundamentally rethink the assumptions they have about work and how it gets done. We know from best-practices like Canada’s National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety that what creates the conditions for mental health at work are the processes, structures, and systems we work within. In this regard, let’s not go back to normal. Let’s go back to better.

Above all, the pandemic has given us all a visceral, common understanding of what it means to experience a challenge with our mental health. As we move toward a post-pandemic world, let’s use that understanding to create workplaces that are more compassionate, supportive, safe, and ultimately, human.

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Cossette, Juniper Park\TBWA, Momentum WW, Pigeon Brands, Sid Lee, The Hive and Weber Shandwick are members of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Embracing life’s imperfections improves mental well-being

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency.  This series seeks to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies.

In this interview Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Cat Wiles, chief strategy officer for Cossette in Toronto, about her own experience of mental health issues and her determination to encourage the industry to implement better programs and structures to help its people build resiliency.

Cat Wiles is open about having faced the “black dog” of mental health issues, but she’s also very clear in terms of providing insight and practical advice for leaders in the industry if they’re serious about addressing this in their workplace.

Before arriving in Toronto to work for Cossette in 2019, Wiles honed her skills at agencies in London, including VCCP, where she was Head of Planning. It was while in London that she experienced her most recent, and significant, mental health episode following the birth of her second son some four-and-a-half years ago. Wiles says there were “several triggers”, and that six weeks after his birth “bang, my fuse went”.

She adds: “In my darkest moments I realized I’d completely lost myself. I didn’t have a sense of who I was anymore. I felt like I didn’t have any real meaning in my life – despite having a newborn and a gorgeous six-and-a-half-year-old son. Depression is like a thief that comes in and robs you of your identity, making it feel impossible to access who you were and pull that back.”

Help came in the form of therapy – Wiles talks about “really investing in myself” through a psychiatrist, and a CBT psychologist. She says a couple of years of talk therapy had a very positive effect: “It’s given me the skills, tools and techniques to better weather the storm, but most importantly the objectivity to understand my own illness and what’s happening.”

A big theme turned out to be perfectionism. As Wiles puts it: “There’s so much pressure in society on women to be perfect. It’s a phenomenon that affects women far more than men. Not just in terms of how you look, but also how you show up – ‘don’t be aggressive, be a mother hen, be empathetic, be bold – but not too bold’.

She says: “I realized that my pursuit of perfect was getting in the way of me growing – I was spending way too much time and energy trying to be someone I wasn’t. That’s one of the deep ironies of mental health.” Wiles speaks about spending years trying to operate like the stereotypical, lone wolf planner: “But I don’t think like that or do my best work when I work like that. I’m an extrovert and get my best ideas from sharing and collaborating. It wasn’t until I broke that I realized I couldn’t keep on trying to be someone I’m not. And that it’s ok to approach things differently to everyone else. My confidence has grown from letting go of perfect.”

To illustrate the point about putting herself back together, Wiles holds up a Japanese Kintsugi bowl – a gift from a friend (Kintsugi is an art form involving piecing back together broken pieces of pottery with gold as a metaphor for the benefits of embracing life’s imperfections): “I’m really proud of my scars and they make me a more compassionate person. I think I’ve got more empathy and that makes me better at my job. I’m a better leader having gone through this. My lived experience means I’m able to spot the signs and help others who are starting to struggle with their mental wellbeing.”

A Kintsugi bowl

Which brings us neatly to the broader issue of leadership on mental health issues in the industry. Wiles believes that there’s an issue with too much talk and insufficient action and is determined to work to help change that. She says: “Agencies are a breeding ground for perfectionists, and from my lived experience that’s not great. We’re a breeding ground for it because we attract people who are competitive and highly intelligent.”

“It’s important for people to be resilient, to be able to push through fear, and continue when others have given up or stopped. But in our industry there isn’t any limit to how much you can push yourself, many people see ‘going harder and faster’ as a badge of honour. This is why it’s so important that agencies recognize their part in making sure that there are safeguards in place to prevent their people from burning out. They need to move beyond lip service.”

Back in London she helped the APG build a program to tackle the challenges around mental wellbeing in the industry. The organisation conducted research about how advertising planners were feeling and “the results were damning”. Out of this, Wiles and her colleagues engaged senior strategy leaders about “The Right to Disconnect” in a bid to improve wellbeing for Planners across London.

But what do agencies in Canada need to do now to tackle mental wellbeing and resiliency? Wiles is a big advocate of Mental Health First Aid training: “We’ve got the whole leadership team at Cossette in Toronto booked in to be trained to be Mental Health First Aiders. They are learning how to understand it and how to talk about it in a way that helps our people. I think of it as having a toolbox that you can draw from, but you only get good at it by learning more and practising it.”

She adds: “All leadership teams need to be trained in this. It’s a systemic problem within both our industry and society, so we should all be leaning in. It can’t just be a case of ‘we’ve got a couple of Mental Health First Aiders trained in HR and you can go and see them’. This is not a side issue. People across each department and the leadership team must be trained. But honestly, this is only step one.”

Then, more fundamentally, Wiles calls for cultural and systemic change: “We need to think more actively about the cultures we’re creating. There’s a different way, a better way, and a lot comes down to not just tackling the symptom which is the stress, the anxiety, the mental health challenges, but looking at the system that’s created this. You need to really start by looking within and asking the right questions: ‘does my organisation have a meeting culture? Has it got meetings about meetings? Are we doing more ‘busy’ work than meaningful work? It’s so important to really interrogate that because until you do, you’re only dealing with a visible symptom instead of big, systemic issues within the agency. And honestly it is not sustainable.”

Wiles talks about changing some of the fundamentals of how the industry machine works – citing, for instance, McKinsey’s analysis of why work places would be better off monitoring the damaging effects of presenteeism rather than absenteeism on productivity: “We need to lead more fearlessly, challenge more of the sacred cows, and not be afraid to tear things down and start again. If we can’t do it after a pandemic, it’s never going to happen.”

This is a powerful point because, when it comes to creating healthy working environments, we need to get to the root causes, which are often systems and structures that lead to people’s stress and anxiety. In a similar way to a Kintsugi bowl, many people’s lives have broken and fallen apart in the wake of the pandemic. But it’s inspiring to think that, like Cat Wiles, we can choose how to piece things back together in a way that, as she puts it, “changes and transforms into something far more beautiful.”

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Cossette is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Taking digital marketing skills to Indigenous communities during National Indigenous History Month and beyond

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June is Canada’s National Indigenous History month and June 21st National Indigenous Peoples Day. Darian Kovacs, the founding partner of Jelly Digital Marketing, describes the positive impact of a new training course designed to encourage greater numbers of Indigenous people into digital marketing.

I happen to be Indigenous, and I’m all too aware about the twin crises of residential schools in Canada and the ongoing issue with high levels of opioid dependency in communities. But we can do something positive – at Jelly Digital Marketing we’re running a partnership with the different nations, the 263 Indigenous communities across Canada, to provide training to help people find jobs in “new collar” work.

We’ve teamed with a range of partners to encourage Indigenous people into digital marketing while still living in communities. Enabling them to remain with their family but make some good money (the average salary of a digital marketing specialist in Canada is $50,793 per year, according to a report by Payscale). The partners working to bring our Jelly Academy training to Indigenous communities include the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Businesses, Google, Facebook and Hootsuite (providing certifications), Shopify (providing stores), and Best Buy, which will ensure that anyone Indigenous needing a laptop or a cell phone will receive them.

We’ve brought the training to Indigenous communities to address two problems. First, that Indigenous people are experiencing the horrible emotional and physical ripple effect of the residential schools, which has really affected people to the point of alcoholism and drug overdoses – there’s a systemic dysfunction around many communities that is really devastating. And, so often, there’s no leg up or out. The second aspect to this, is that many people in these communities don’t have the access or connections to digital marketing skills and resources. We’re going in as an Indigenous organisation and saying “we’re also Indigenous, you can learn these skills and break the cycle. Or, if you’re an Indigenous business owner looking to sell more products, you’ll be gaining the skills and tools to achieve that.”

Digital advertising, PR, SEO and social media are the four main areas of focus. We’ve developed four schools, one for each specialism, at the Jelly Academy – like in Harry Potter – so that people can learn online over six weeks and, at the end, will receive certification. Google’s going to get you certified, Hootsuite’s going to get you certified, Facebook’s going to get you certified, to ensure people use those skills to get a job in the industry, infusing the digital marketing talent pool with Indigenous people.

Agency and marketing departments need this infusion because growth in digital jobs outpaces the economy by four to one each year, and the demand for experienced digital marketers grew 92% in just five years. As an agency, when we’re looking to hire someone with SEO skills, we’re really limited. Any candidate has been able to self-proclaim that they’re a “ninja”, an “expert” or “guru”, the three grossest terms in the world. But, in the last couple of years the bar, in the form of amazing certifications, has been created and there’s now an accountability to quality. And it means that the teaching style has to be based on really practical stuff – it can’t be theory, it has to be really pragmatic.

For hiring agencies, not only are we bringing more people into the market who are hireable, we’re also providing an injection of “bar certified” digital marketers who are Indigenous. That’s extra special because it provides access to these incredible people who grew up appreciating the importance of story which is so central to digital marketing – we love stories, our whole tradition is based around them.

In terms of growth, the Canadian government has been really supportive with grants that cover 60% to 100% of our tuition, and if they don’t cover it we have scholarships for Indigenous people. We also have scholarships for women because there really need to be more in SEO, and other areas of digital marketing, so that it doesn’t continue to be a big dude fest.

Rising numbers of Indigenous nations have become involved, and it’s become this quiet movement that is gaining momentum. Our first pilot was with the Métis nation six months ago, and we’re now national – 40 Indigenous people have completed the course so far, with a new cohort of 50 about to join the Academy.

Over the next five years this will make a real impact because, talking to other agency owners, it’s clear that they want options for good quality digital marketers that aren’t all white. Diverse people who can bring incredible perspectives about being Black, or Chinese, or Indigenous to the marketing industry. It’s already clear that, after six weeks of training, people get good paying, high quality jobs, where they can stay in their community and, thanks to Best Buy, have access to really good tech tools. And that’s such positive news during National Indigenous History Month.

Jelly Marketing is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Managing your work/life unbalance

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency. 

This eight-week series seeks to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies.

In this interview Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Eve Rémillard-Larose, Co-Managing Partner, Sid Lee Toronto. Her story relates to experiences of becoming a parent, and motherhood specifically, in the advertising business and how she developed resiliency strategies to create a very deliberate work/life “unbalance.”

Eve Rémillard-Larose has worked at Sid Lee for 15 years, starting in Montreal. Ten years ago she moved to be part of the team that launched the agency’s Toronto base, and is still there: “After two years of start-up mode I realized I was nowhere near done with this project,” she says.

As a mother of three children, all under four, one newborn, she is keen to provide a point of view on the challenges that come with motherhood. Part of which has involved leaving the agency to care for her children on maternity leave.

She says that this raised questions in her own mind about her professional role: “Going on maternity leave made me truly understand that I am not indispensable. The business continued to move forward successfully, which made me happy, but at the same time this was the biggest lesson in humility that I’ve had in my whole life.”

Rémillard-Larose has taken maternity leave each time a baby was born but on reduced terms under the full 12 months available in Canada. First it was six months, then five months, and now four months on her current maternity leave. She also manages the situation by returning to work part-time initially to reacclimatize. “Some people say ‘you’re so intense, you’re only taking six months’, the subtext being that I must be getting pressure. But there’s no pressure from the organization, I love being a mother and I love managing Sid Lee Toronto, I am at my best when I can do both, which is why the progressive return has been great for me.”

But in terms of leaving work, and coming back, seeing that things keep going, what was that like? Rémillard-Larose shared that it takes humility to leave work, to know that your team will be okay without you and realize that it’s not necessary to be a back-seat driver. “Being a good leader means I have trust in my team and they know my intent. That’s how I know they’ll make great decisions.”

Did she find it difficult to reimagine her role within Sid Lee once she returned? “Work was, is and has always been a big part of my life. But becoming a mother and going on maternity leave put things in perspective. Seeing the business continue to successfully operate without me made me realize that I can delegate more or that sometimes things will have to wait a few weeks to get done. I also believe there is no such thing as a work/life balance. You have to manage your own work/life unbalance, which is in constant flux. There are some weeks where I am more focused on work, some weeks where I am more focused on the family and some weeks where somehow it seems like a nice “balance.” Regardless of where the “balance” stands at any given moment, it is important for me and my husband to be comfortable with it and most often we’re aligned. Fortunately, we share responsibilities and support one another in parenting. Something he says I am really good at is to be completely focused on work and/or family when I need to be. For example, if I’m on vacation, I turn my email and slack applications off, trusting that the team back at the office will manage whatever situation comes their way.”

Quote: I think it is time we recognize that parenthood is not only on women and all parents should be recognized for those two roles they have in their life.

Given her position of leadership within the industry, does she see a clear difference between the way people view mothers as compared to other parents? “I may have five people during the week saying, ‘you’re still at the office, you missed your kid’s dinner, you are travelling so much, I don’t know how you do it’. I appreciate the concern but at the same time I always wonder if there’s a subtext and I am being judged as a mom because I’m putting work ahead of my kids at that moment. I’ve had many discussions with my male colleagues over the years, who are all fathers, and none of them are getting these questions. I think it is time we recognize that parenthood is not only on women and all parents should be recognized for the two roles they have in their life.”

The pandemic has highlighted the need to recognize each individual’s experiences outside work. As a senior leader with the ability to influence a work environment for many people, how does she advise creating safe work environments that encourage people to be their “whole selves?” She says: “As managers we have to be open to having difficult, sometimes deeply personal, conversations. We have to train our managers on how to have these conversations and make it safe for our employees to open up and share more about their personal lives.”

And, in terms of her own motherhood journey, what has she learned to build and support her own resilience? “I’ve always been fairly confident but I’ve had to go deep in that well at some moments, reminding myself of what I’ve accomplished and that I can do it again. At the same time, it’s important to ask for help. I’m not the best at this but asking at work or in your personal life is really important to manage that unbalance. You can’t do it all by yourself.”

Finally, she says it’s vital that parents make time for themselves. Finding moments to take a walk, read a book or just talk to friends “where I’m not a wife or mother, or leader of an agency, I’m just Eve. If you want to show up as your best self at work, and with your kids, you need that Me time.”

This emphasizes the importance of introducing time and stillness when it comes to building resilience because these moments encourage recharging and renewal. To be resilient you need to make time for these things because otherwise there’s a constant battery drain and being resilient becomes an exercise in frustration.

Quote: Let’s open up a conversation about what it means to be a parent in our industry and what different parents want to see as there’s no one-size solution.

Rémillard-Larose ends our conversation with a call to action for parents in advertising: “I don’t think we talk enough about the realities of parenthood in today’s business world, we might all be a bit afraid of being judged. Let’s open up a conversation about what it means to be a parent in our industry and what different parents want to see as there’s no one-size solution.”

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Sid Lee is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Helping others benefits your own mental health

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency. The series is intended to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies. Here Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Phil Talledes, Senior Studio Artist at Juniper Park\TBWA, about how he adopted successful strategies including an emphasis on physical wellbeing and fitness to address mental health issues including stress and anxiety.

Phil Talledes began his career in advertising 16 years ago. He declares that he’s thriving, with the business providing him with many opportunities and experiences. He feels fortunate and happy in both his work and family life.

However, he openly says it wasn’t always this way. Talledes has faced some difficult personal and professional challenges along the way, including bereavement, that resulted in mental health issues.

Talledes explains how his father’s diagnosis with colon cancer four years ago led to detrimental changes in his own mental health and behaviour. He says that he carried with him a series of “what ifs?” relating to the year before the diagnosis, when his wife, a personal trainer, mentioned his father looking unwell but he didn’t act on this. Following his father’s subsequent death, Talledes says: “I carried that into my day-to-day at work.”.

This grief also coincided with an arduous time at work, with Talledes frustrated at an apparent lack of progress: “I was almost resentful towards my perceived limitations and not progressing the way I thought I should be. I was putting up walls and shutting off everyone around me. I started to question, do I need to change my environment, move on?”

A friend in the office sat down with Talledes and warned him that his negative energy was palpable, and it was obvious to others that he was unhappy. This prompted an in-depth conversation with his new boss, which became a positive turning point: “I was looking at my career at that time with a ‘me’, not a ‘we’, mindset. Change was a contributing factor to that – I don’t do well with sudden change.”

To an extent that issue is true of us all. Humans do pretty well with some level of change in their lives but then surprise is something that we continuously struggle with. Talledes was faced with a number of issues here, primarily guilt and resentment, which are common themes that can impact performance in the workplace. He adds: “With those around me, in the workplace and at home, I was very distant. I took a step back and realized I was becoming the type of person I don’t like being around, and I realized I needed to do what I could to change this because it wasn’t good for my mental health, my career, or my family.”

It’s one thing being sufficiently self-aware to realize there’s a problem, but another to take action and make a change. Phil soul-searched for how he could shift from being an individual contributor to a team contributor. What could he offer? He found the answer not in his work skills, but in his personal passion – physical fitness.

He created a new role for himself ‘Coach Phil’, as he set out to motivate his peers to acknowledge and improve their health and wellness. Phil started by joining the agency’s weekly staff all-staff meetings and posting weekly challenges on the agency’s intranet, Workplace. He led by example, filming himself and his family completing challenges, often TikTok-style for both inspiration and levity. It quickly caught on, and his agency mates would tag each other to pay the activity forward.

Meanwhile, the pandemic had just begun, and the epidemic of sedentary days quickly set in. Talledes’ wellness message was needed.  As ‘Coach Phil’, he champions the importance of movement while working from home – from standing, to walking, to working out. He’s created teams that serve as accountability buddies, and cheerleaders. “It’s allowed everyone participating to not only be more active, but also more social. Working from home, we miss that social interaction that was inherent to our office culture.”

The impact Phil has had on the wellness of his peers can be epitomized by a message a colleague shared on a recent all-agency video: “I love the encouragement from you Phil! I will continue to track myself and be accountable to this group. Thanks to this group I’ve increased my goals and I am meeting the new ones!”

Being “seen” is critical to mental health. So, in addition to the “Virtual Team Challenges” and “Wellness Wednesday’s”, Talledes created the podcast series, “Spotlight”, where he shines a light on the little-known talents and passions of people at the agency. “The beautiful result is that, in this moment of isolation, we are getting to know one another deeper than we did when we were in the office,” he beams.

Talledes says that stepping into the role of Coach Phil “has opened doors I didn’t think were possible and allowed me to establish relationships with people in the office who I had never even spoken with before. It’s created a healthy atmosphere, not just for myself but everyone involved.”

There are some important themes here. Not least the idea that through supporting others you can gain inherent benefits to your own wellbeing. And conversely, that sometimes, by continuing to focus on ourselves, we miss opportunities for growth.

Talledes admits that his newfound passion at work has also helped him to address lingering feelings around the death of his father: “The need to help others also stems from me not being able to help my Dad. I feel like if I can add some positivity and help somebody else improve their well-being then I’ve succeeded. My previous failure has become my current success.”  

Talledes adds that he’s been fortunate in being able to spend more time with his wife and two sons during the past year: “Extended family time has really allowed me to be more grounded in my mental health, and really reconnect with them and become more resilient in dealing with stress.” Furthermore, his role teaching students at Centennial College in Toronto has also enabled him to give something back to young people who are starting out – a positive factor even when classes have been virtual during lockdowns.

He becomes emotional when considering a final thought, the advice he’d give to his former self 16-years ago when starting out in advertising: “There will be all these surprises that are out of your control, but at the end of the day, it’s all going to be OK. I have told several kids I teach, ‘it’s going to be OK’. I’ve faced insecurities, troubles, restrictions, and barriers but I’m good. I love where I am, I’m doing what I love. A friend and mentor of mine once told me ‘make sure you leave the industry better than you found it.’  I hope I can do just that.”

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Juniper Park\TBWA is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Establishing boundaries creates the space to recharge

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency. The series is intended to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies. Here Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Samantha Kamiel, Digital Strategist at Momentum Worldwide, about her successful strategies for building resiliency in the wake of poor mental health and her belief that industry leaders could do more to help their people.

Samantha Kamiel has worked in the advertising business for close to seven years now. While loving the demands and challenges of the industry, Kamiel has chosen to speak because mental health has been a focus of hers for years and she wants to pass on some of the practical techniques she’s developed to build resiliency.

Kamiel describes advertising as a pressure cooker business: “The agency industry has been built on delivering good work, often with very tight deadlines, and the first people who get sidelined are employees because the work comes first. Paired with that, if we don’t have strong leadership advocating for their people, it can be very difficult to feel you have a voice. Especially in regards to mental health.”

“Looking back at my mental health journey, I wasn’t recognizing the signs that I wasn’t doing well. I was very focused on the negative. I think it’s important to take the time to recognize how I’m feeling and what I need in those moments. Even celebrate small wins!”

She says these indicators can be as straightforward as recognizing that you’re not sleeping well, and also urges people in the industry to be kind to themselves and cut back on the “negative self-talk”: “If someone gives you feedback and notice you’re blaming yourself right after, I would say that’s a sign that you’re struggling. It’s time to take a step back and reassess what your needs are.”

Kamiel is spot on with these observations – sleep is a very tangible indicator of how healthy you are, and frequent, unhelpful self-criticism can be a sign that your mental health needs attention.

Kamiel’s own solution was to combine seeing a therapist with being more active outside of work – taking more exercise and hobby classes. When it comes to therapy, Kamiel recommends a kind of “speed dating” approach to find the right counsellor for your needs: “I met with three and told them all I was seeing other therapists, and then found the one I connected the most with. I would recommend that to anyone starting therapy because you truly need someone that you connect with. I needed someone who could deal with my short-term goals and long-term goals – immediate intervention to address the negative thoughts and long-term tactics to change my approach to triggering moments.”

She adds that the exercise and other hobby classes outside work also played a key role in improving things: “It’s an excuse to leave work, that sounds ridiculous but it’s positive to be able to say “I have a class, I’ve got to go’. No-one stops you, not even yourself.”

Kamiel explains that we’re all a work in progress but what would be helpful from the workplace is communication. “It starts with leadership. Our leaders can be advocates for us, having open communication is essential, someone you can build trust with so you’re truly working as a team.”

Quote: Having open communication is essential, someone you can go to and feel you’re part of a conversation.

When we’re feeling particularly critical, she recommends an approach of being “curious rather than self-blaming.” Examining whether your self-criticism is truly reflective of your abilities or even rational is a helpful practice for anyone. She adds: “Physically writing things down allows your brain to look at things in a more holistic way.”

Kamiel makes an important point here – understanding how cognitive skills can make you better at work, and learning how to deconstruct your own perceptions of yourself can help you make more informed decisions: “Being able to step back and not take it so personally has really helped me in my career,” she adds.

On a wider, industry level, there’s been so much disruption. While change can be unsettling perhaps it also presents an opportunity to do things differently, to make sure that good mental health is an important part of workplace consideration?

Which brings us to the current work pressures due to the pandemic. Pre-COVID, Kamiel took some proactive steps to improve her mental health. Has this helped at all in the past year? “The boundaries of work/life balance were already blurred but working from home has really exaggerated that. You’ve got your laptop with you at all times, people know we’re sitting at home and possibly online, so that’s been really tough. It’s been a year without office chats, quick catchups at people’s desks. So, it’s been a huge change and setting boundaries is something we’re all working on.”

“Being more understanding when people are going through a hard time – not looking at them as weak. People just need recuperation time to get back to where they were. I’ve seen a lot more understanding in the pandemic, of what we’re going through, and I hope that will continue,” Kamiel says.

And, if she could look back and give her younger self some key advice to stay well? “Negative self-talk doesn’t help you, it’s not proactive and doesn’t get us ahead. Have sympathy for yourself more than self-criticism and get into some hobbies outside work to release that energy. Have fun, relax and enjoy time outside of work!”

Kamiel’s story highlights that alongside the need for more space for creativity, understanding and empathy, people working in advertising need both internal and external support in order to lead to better management around mental health.

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Momentum Worldwide is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

How the 2021 Federal Budget plans to support Canada’s Cultural, Arts and Recreation industries.

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The 2021 Federal Budget announced last week, included provisions to support and sustain the arts, entertainment and recreational industries, during the coming months and into the recovery phase ahead.

Employment in the arts, entertainment and recreation industries in Canada has fallen more than in any other sector in the past year, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. The government says its plan is designed to support economic recovery, restoring and creating jobs in these sectors, drawing visitors to towns and cities across the country, and unleashing spending that stimulates local economies. The 2021 Federal Budget earmarks $300-million over two years to Canadian Heritage to create a recovery fund to combat that drop in employment, and support the recovery of these industries.

Here’s an overview of the travel, arts, entertainment and recreation-related funding that the Budget plans to provide:

  • $300 million over two years to Canadian Heritage to establish a Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture, Heritage, and Sport Sectors.
  • $100 million to Destination Canada for marketing campaigns to encourage and help Canadians and other visitors discover and explore the country.
  • $49.6 million over three years to Canadian Heritage for the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and the Celebration and Commemoration Program.
  • $70 million over three years to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Music Fund. This includes up to $50 million to help the live music sector, including music venues, weather the pandemic as well as investments in TV and film.

“The budget also allocates $60 million over three years specifically to increase diverse voices in Canadian TV and film, and to give a range of people opportunities to build skills and experience. This funding is important because it directly invests in diversity, and shows a greater commitment to telling stories from a wide range of perspectives.”

Menaka Raman-Wilms Globe Reporter, Ottawa Bureau

  • $15 million to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund to help arts and heritage institutions upgrade their facilities to meet public health guidelines.
  • $17.2 million to the National Arts Centre to address financial pressures caused by COVID 19 and to ensure the NAC will continue to support artists and celebrate Canadian culture.
  • $6 million over two years to the National Arts Centre to support collaborations with equity deserving groups to help relaunch the performing arts sector.
  • $40-million over two years to support the Canadian book industry, the majority of which is geared toward helping bookstores boost and develop online sales.
How the 2021 Federal Budget plans to support Canada’s Cultural, Arts and Recreation industries.

While Canada is continuing to face the pandemic’s many challenges, hope is building that this year represents the pathway to recovery. And, as vaccine rollout is accelerating, Canadian consumers, and the many marketers who need to connect with them, are beginning to plan ahead for what’s next. With economic indicators and consumer sentiment showing remarkable resilience, and predicting a release of pent up demand from Canadian consumers, desperate to travel and businesses ready to spend, later this year.

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2021 Federal Budget highlights
Bank of Canada sees strong consumer optimism

For more information on the economic outlook, explore Report on Business’s Economy section and our extensive coverage of the 2021 Federal Budget in our site.

Marketing effectively during the pandemic’s many challenges has been vital in keeping brands connected to Canadian businesses and their customers. And, as we all get ready for what’s ahead, more than ever, marketers can strategically, tactically and creatively guide the way.

Connect with your Globe representative to access more of our valuable insights and perspective, and to help determine the strongest plan for what Canadian business audiences need from you now, and during the recovery phase.

Honest talk and lots of listening builds the boundaries for better mental health

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency. The series is intended to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies. Here Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Rachel Hlinko, Director, Integrated Media Strategy at Weber Shandwick, about her approach to building resiliency in the wake of poor mental health and hears her advice for leaders looking to create a more supportive environment for their people.

Rachel Hlinko holds a senior role developing strategy plans and building the media profiles of her clients at Weber Shandwick Canada. To reach this point she’s faced her own depression, mental health issues running deep throughout her family, and a series of traumatic experiences including the loss of a baby.

But she’s become a huge advocate of speaking about her personal feelings and talking openly about the mental health issues she’s experienced. This approach forms part of a resiliency strategy based around the fundamentals of building and respecting boundaries, reaching self-awareness, and growing a healthy support network around her.

The idea of establishing boundaries came from Hlinko’s first boss, the owner of a coffee shop where she worked as a teenager. Alongside Hlinko’s then step-mother and her sister, this mentor formed a vital early support network: “They taught me the importance of establishing boundaries and identifying what I needed to know about what I could take on, and what I couldn’t and how mental health has both a mental and physical impact on you.’”

Hlinko says that self-awareness is important in terms of understanding emotional triggers, situations or responses from others that can put us in a negative emotional state and contribute to the development of depression or anxiety: “The more you become self-aware the healthier you will become and the easier it will become to navigate. As I’ve grown up and had more experiences it’s been easier to know what my triggers are and what the outcome could possibly be.”

Quote: Mental health is more than just navigating traumatic situations…it’s knowing how much you can take and having conversations to establish a threshold.

Once you understand your own triggers, you are then able to put appropriate boundaries in place to either prevent those situations or minimize their impact. She adds: “My boundaries started with four walls and then turned into something more elaborate based on my lived experiences. Now in my 30s I feel I can have conversations with people that are really hard – to tell them what I need or don’t need, or when I need them, because I started with this when I was so young, and I welcome them having that conversation with me because they need to respect their boundaries as well.”

Hlinko says that this approach, alongside a tailored treatment plan, has helped her move towards better mental health: “Mental health is more than just navigating traumatic situations. You can experience smaller situations like negative feedback that can compound. So, it’s knowing how much you can take and having conversations to establish a threshold.”

In practical terms, what has helped Hlinko become more self-aware? Is it down to good practices, relationships, people or therapy? “For me, it’s people. One is having people you feel comfortable with being open to your vulnerability. Then, two, having people who don’t know you at all and you can go to and have those unbiased conversations. Having that third party, who I don’t know but will listen, is important because they remove the relationship value.”

Hlinko emphasises the importance of having different people around her for support – “it can’t just be family and friends and it for sure can’t be one person.” Which leads to her third resiliency strategy – a network of support. Something that will resonate with many people in the workplace right now due to the pandemic and associated pressures. Hlinko urges young people in the industry to seek out like-minded individuals: “You need to find your team, your people. You don’t have to open up to someone about all your personal experiences but you need to find a level of comfort with the team because a client can be really mean, a member of the media can be really mean, but if you come back to the team, the core group, and say ‘this happened’ and the response you get is ‘that sucks’, that means something. But if you come back to the team and they say ‘did you do that? did you do this?’ and all of a sudden, it’s your fault because somebody was rude to you then that’s not a healthy dynamic. I stayed for a long time at those agencies I’ve had that support with, and I have travelled with those people because I know I have that safe spot with them.”

Quote: There was a period where I felt my voice didn't help the situation and listening was really key.

Being aware of external influences or societal context can also help you to be more intelligent about respecting others’ boundaries. Hlinko says that following a difficult year characterised not only by the pandemic but also the turbulence around anti-racism movements, attempts by employers and leaders to build empathy among people in the workplace can only be a positive thing. Weber Shandwick, for instance, ran a series of “listening sessions” in order for people to better understand others: “There was a period where I felt my voice didn’t help the situation and listening was really key. The listening sessions helped me understand what allyship looks like and I don’t think I’d have transitioned from just listening to listening and speaking without that deeper context of people telling stories to say ‘please do this, this is how we’re feeling, this is how you could do things differently.’”

Finally, does she have advice for other leaders within the agency world to play a more active role in supporting mental health and resilience? “Be an active listener, understand the role you play for junior people – as a senior person, you are innately hard to approach despite seeming approachable. And then be the person advocating for resources. You’re the person that can create the change be it big or small.”

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Weber Shandwick is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Evolve your mental health toolbox

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Many people within the agency and marketing sectors are facing a tough time due to the ongoing pandemic. To provide support, the ICA is interviewing a range of people at all levels within the industry who have overcome mental health challenges and built resiliency. The series seeks to remove the stigma around mental health where it exists, and to provide help where it’s needed through relatable stories and strategies. In this interview Jordan Friesen, Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy, talks to Lauren LiBetti, Senior Strategist, Executive Projects, Sid Lee. He set out to discover LiBetti’s story, what she’s faced and learned in terms of mental health, and how she has evolved her resiliency strategies in the face of the pandemic.

Speaking with Lauren LiBetti a powerful story of resilience soon emerges. Yes, she’s faced her own specific mental health challenges in terms of a diagnosis of a general anxiety disorder but her experience also shows how resiliency strategies can really benefit people living through testing times.

LiBetti is open about being an anxious person by nature and talks about how, in the past seven or eight years, she evolved a “toolbox” of strategies that helped her to manage this anxiety: “Journaling has always been my space. When I go to the journal, even if I don’t feel I have anything to say, it includes thoughts I wasn’t even aware I was having, and it’s great to be able to process them. That’s how I can tell the state of my mental health.”

In addition, she finds exercise and meditation useful in taking her out of her anxiety and rooting herself in the moment. Even something as straightforward as washing her hands, a key activity during the pandemic, works for her: “Taking me out of my head and back into my body makes such a difference for me.”

Yet, in the past year, LiBetti found that her toolbox was no longer that effective in managing her anxiety. What happened, and how did she evolve her strategies? “COVID put me in this ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response for an extended period of time and I was struggling,” she admits.

LiBetti explains that her family lives in the US and her father became ill, necessitating travel, which increased her sense of fear and anxiety. What stands out in her response is being open to change, accepting that the things which worked in the past were no longer sufficient. This is a positive approach recognising that, as our bodies and our minds grow, we need new things to keep us healthy.

So what have been the positives, the wins? She says: “A couple of years ago I’d get frustrated with how much I worried about things, why I couldn’t relax and enjoy what’s in front of me. Over the past year I’ve accepted anxiety is part of me and worked out how to harness it to make my life better. I’ve been able to see when being anxious and worrying is warranted, and then find opportunities when it’s best to let it go, personally and professionally.”

COVID also unlocked a past trauma dating back to her early twenties. At the time, LiBetti decided not to address this through therapy because she says she saw it as admitting to a weakness, and didn’t think it would bring value. The experience also triggered her “fight, flight or freeze” mode for a time. This past year, in an effort to evolve her resiliency toolkit, LiBetti opted for therapy: “I decided to speak to a therapist and worked on processing the trauma and it’s been the best decision I’ve made.”

The key takeaways in the past year for LiBetti are, number one, learning that worry for the sake of worry isn’t helpful unless you can turn it into a positive action. To do your best or to let it go. And, number two, develop the understanding that other people, friends and family, are resilient too, and the chances are they’ll find their own way through it without the need for constant anxiety on her part. After all, if you’re serving others all the time, who is helping you?

With this in mind, thinking about people across the advertising and media industry who may be struggling to bounce back from what’s happened in the past year, does she have any advice or encouragement? “Start small. I’d encourage people to the best of their ability to shut things down. Even if it’s just for an evening, actually turn off the notifications, the social media, and the music, and just sit with yourself or go for a walk. Start there and see what comes up. If you give yourself space to slow down, listen to your body and your mind, it will talk to you and tell you things you had an inkling were going on and then you have an idea of how to move forward.”

Making space both for your body and your brain to tell you what they need seems like a great way forward after such an intense and traumatic year.

Jordan Friesen is a registered Occupational Therapist and Principal Consultant at Mindset Mental Health Strategy. He uses his skills as a consultant to assist organizations who want to take progressive action to support the mental health of their workforce as a competitive advantage and business imperative for the future of work.

Sid Lee is a member of the Institute of Communication Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.

Cannes Lions Live wants to help the world build back better

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Cannes Lions Live wants to help the world build back better

The awards that benchmark global creative excellence are back. Cannes Lions has honoured creativity since 1954, celebrating the moments, the movements, the milestones and the legacies that have driven this industry forward. 

This year, Cannes Lions is a virtual event where you can access inspiring content, immersive experiences, and the global premiere and broadcast of the Cannes Lions Awards, celebrating the work that will make history. 

The Globe and Mail is proud to be Canada’s official representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and to promote Canadian talent and expertise to the world. The winners of The Globe’s Young Lions competition will be competing virtually in the print, digital, film, media, marketers categories from May 24 to June 15.

Join us in wishing them all the best as they represent Canada on this global stage. You can explore their winning work in our Cannes Lions site.

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