Mental Health and Wellness - Caslpo - College of audiologists and speech-language pathologists of Ontario

Mental Health and Wellness Resources

This page provides helpful information on how your well-being affects your professional practice as a CASLPO registrant. Information and resources are provided for your consideration.

Remember, patient care begins with self-care.

Self-care is vital to patient care.

We recognize that audiologists and speech-language pathologists, like many others, are regularly dealing with occupational stress, psychological fatigue, workplace and interprofessional challenges, or managing personal health and financial issues.

As an AUD or SLP, you may often be involved in emotionally challenging work that requires you to spend more time one-on-one with patients and their circles of support (e.g., caregivers, family, parents). Taken together, these factors can have an impact on your well-being and can lead to burnout.

Healthcare workers are susceptible to burnout as it occurs more often in people-oriented professions that have a high level of patient-facing contact.¹ Burnout can include feelings of reduced personal accomplishment, depersonalization, and emotional exhaustion.^1,5 There is a relationship between high levels of burnout among health professionals and worsening patient safety.² When unaddressed, burnout can result in reduced productivity, mental fatigue, absenteeism, high turnover, clinical errors, and low quality of service.^2,3,6

Your well-being matters.

It's important to pause and reflect on whether you feel your physical or mental health is impacting the care you are providing. If it is, it might be time to seek professional help.

Your health and wellness can affect the care you provide to your patients.

Check-in with yourself: "How is my well-being?"

Ask yourself:

What are the stressors in my life right now?
How can I manage these stressors effectively?
Am I taking care of myself physically, mentally, and emotionally?
Do my current stress management techniques work for me?

Strategies for managing stress:

Look into mindfulness interventions. You can access a variety of information, including free apps, podcasts or other tools to help with developing mindfulness practices like deep breathing, daily meditation or journaling.
Build your social connections and supports. Evidence suggests that social connection improves our well-being and life expectancy.⁴
Develop stronger links with colleagues for mutual support. For example, consider working with your colleagues to plan a self-care education session that can be offered over lunch.
Sign up for workshops to learn strategies for stress management.
Make changes to support the work/life balance you need.
Adopt habits to promote sleep hygiene, balanced nutrition and regular exercise.
Engage in an activity that you enjoy each day, even if just for 5 or 10 minutes.
Inquire about counseling and therapy offered through a health insurance plan.

Helpful resources:

You may also seek counselling, therapy, or speak with a primary care provider to get additional support recommendations.

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)	Information to help people with concerns and questions about mental health and well-being, including resources and self-test tools.
ECHO Ontario Mental Health	(With CAMH and University of Toronto) - Virtual training and capacity building to support healthcare providers in delivering evidence-based mental health and addictions care in their local communities.
Ontario Ministry of Health	Tools and resources to support mental health. Includes links for children, youth, and Indigenous communities.
ConnexOntario	Ontario-based information for people experiencing problems with gambling, drugs, alcohol, or mental health. System navigation specialists answer calls, emails or web chat requests 24/7.
Bounceback Ontario	Free skill-building program managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) designed to help adults and youth 15+ manage low mood, depression, anxiety, stress or worry.
Ontario Caregiver Organization	Information and support for caregivers.
9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline	Connect to a trained responder to receive trauma-informed support.
211 Ontario	Quick and confidentially connect with community and social resources across the province.
Breaking Free	Confidential wellness and recovery support program for alcohol and drugs
Mental health support: get help - Canada.ca	Government of Canada Mental Health Support
Canadian Mental Health Association	Services and support for mental health and addictions.
Canadian Psychological Association	Tips on finding a psychologist.
Togetherall	Access to resources and a peer-to-peer mental health support community available online, 24/7.
Good2Talk	Free confidential support services for post-secondary students in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Remember, patient care begins with self-care.

It's important to take care of yourself and prioritize your health and well-being.

Works cited

1. Brito-Marcelino et al. (2020). Burnout syndrome in speech-language pathologists and audiologists: a review. Rev Bras Med Trab, 18(2):217-222.

2. de Lima Garcia et al. (2019 ). Influence of Burnout on Patient Safety: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Medicina, 55, 553.

3. Johnson et al. (2018 ). Mental healthcare staff well-being and burnout: A narrative review of trends, causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions. Int J Ment. Health Nurs., 27(1):20-32.

4. Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. (2023). U.S Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community.

5. Society, A. T. (2016). What is Burnout Syndrome? Am J Respir Crit Car Med Vol. 194, P1-P2.

6. Williams et al. (2018). More pain than gain: Effort-reward imbalance, burnout, and withdrawal intentions withing a university student population. Journal of Educational Psychology, 378-394.