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Osgoode’s Certificate in Workplace Mental Health Law ‘more timely’ than ever

October 20, 2025

OsgoodePD

3 Min Read

Everyone wins when employers take workplace mental health seriously, according to Lauren Bernardi.

Bernardi, the co-program director for the Osgoode Certificate in Workplace Mental Health Law, says she has witnessed a marked growth in the understanding and awareness of psychological issues in workplaces ever since the program launched, almost a decade ago.

“When you focus on the psychological safety and wellness of your staff, it drives productivity, improves retention and cuts down on absenteeism and presenteeism,” says Bernardi, a workplace investigator and Managing Partner at Bernardi Human Resource Law LLP in Mississauga. “It’s a win-win situation where employees, employers and unions are all aligned towards the same goal.”

She explains that the inspiration for the program came in the middle of the 2010s after a series of landmark amendments to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. First, the province’s Bill 168 introduced requirements for risk assessments and policies regarding workplace violence and harassments, before the follow-up Bill 132 mandated employers to conduct investigations into incidents of alleged workplace harassment, including sexual harassment.

Around the same time, organizations and businesses country-wide began embracing a voluntary National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Standards Association and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec. Bernardi’s firm was one of 40 employers that took part in a pilot study looking into the implementation of the guidelines, tools and resources that make up the standard.

More recently, she says the challenges of life during the era of Covid-19 – including pandemic-related stress and isolation, as well as remote and hybrid working arrangements – have helped keep workplace mental health at the top of the employment law agenda.  

“The program feels more timely each year we’ve done it,” Bernardi says.

Across four intensive, one-day modules in November, attendees will delve into the laws bearing on mental health issues in the workplace, led by a multi-disciplinary faculty with many years of experience in a wide variety of workplaces.

But the program is much more than a review of the applicable law, Bernardi’s law firm colleague and co-Program Director Brian Gottheil says.

“We want to go beyond the law, so we don’t just have lawyers providing the legal perspectives. We also have speakers on substance abuse, addiction and occupational health nursing who can cover the medical issues and give their perspectives,” he says. “Then we look at practical solutions and what ideas employers can take away with them.”

Throughout the workplace mental health law program, Gottheil says faculty are focussed on maximizing interaction, making heavy use of the case studies and practical exercises that have become a hallmark of Osgoode Certificate programs.

For example, during the module on accommodation of mental health disabilities, attendees explore conflicts by participating in a mock mediation based on a set scenario.

“A third of the people will take up the role of the mediator, a third represent the employee, a third represent the employer and we see how these cases can play out in practice,” Gottheil says. “It’s always a very popular part of the program.”

Meanwhile, the fourth and final module focuses entirely on the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, including practical and legally sound approaches to its implementation in attendees’ own workplaces.

According to Bernardi, the online program attracts lawyers from both sides of the employment law bar, as well as mediators, human resources professionals and trade union representatives from across the country.

“These issues transcend any set of legislation in a particular jurisdiction,” she says. “We get a really diverse cross-section of participants, which is great, because then we can all learn from each other.”

Want to learn more about the Osgoode Certificate in Workplace Mental Health Law?