Canada is in the midst of a mental health crisis. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, at least 1 in 5 Canadians will personally experience a mental health problem or illness this year. 

Suicide is a leading cause of death among men and women, from adolescence to middle age. By age 40, 50% of our population will have, or have had, a mental illness. 

Never has demand been higher for skilled mental health counselors, clinicians, advocates, and organizers. We need support at every level, from grassroots community mental health organizations to policy makers and clinical practitioners. 

The use of arbitration is on the rise. More and more employers require workers to sign mandatory arbitration agreements, keeping conflicts like employment discrimination and wrongful termination out of the courts. We're also seeing a major uptick in intellectual property and technology disputes handled through arbitration.

Kat Bellamano teaches the accredited Arbitration training course at Kompass Professional Development. She has been working in the field of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for 17 years.

It could easily be argued that absolutely everyone can benefit from a quality community mental health course. With skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety and suicide across the globe, it seems obvious that mental health education and resources should be a top priority for us all. 

Training session with the Red Cross on earthquake first aid and disaster response

By definition, emergencies are sudden and unexpected events we don’t usually see coming. No matter how prepared we are, it is impossible to control every variable and predict every outcome.

However, with the right tools and systems, it is certainly possible to identify likely threats and develop response strategies that minimize impact. 

This is the role of an emergency manager. Emergency managers analyze risk to forecast, prepare for, and recover from disaster situations. 

What’s the first thing you should do when someone is experiencing a panic attack? What if you suspect someone is at risk of harming themselves? How should you approach them? 

“HR today sits smack-dab in the middle of the most compelling competitive battleground in business, where companies deploy and fight over that most valuable of resources—workforce talent.”  - Harvard Business Review

Mahmoud Shoblaq, instructor for the Emergency and Disaster Management certificate at Kompass Professional Development

We don't usually think much about how we'd handle a major emergency until the emergency strikes. The sudden and totally destabilizing onslaught of COVID-19 is an excellent example.

Mediation is often described as both an art and a science. A science because the practice is governed by a clear framework, with concrete technical components and legal boundaries. 

An art because skilled mediators draw on a variety of less tangible assets, like intuition, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and a gift for cultivating trust amidst tension and hostility. 

Human resources management (HRM) has a much larger role in business than most people realize. When you think about HR, what comes to mind?