Brandi Heather

The estimated cost of poor mental health in Canadian workplaces is at least $50 billion dollars annually and the number of workers unable to work due to poor mental health is $500,000 /per week (Mental Health Commission Canada, 2021). In a post-pandemic world, those statistics are rising. Brandi Heather’s humorous and engaging talk demonstrates a clear connection between how people feel at work and building a workplace where people want to be. Brandi shares the parallels between her journey as a woman living with mental illness and building a healthy, resilient workplace culture. This keynote will leave you laughing and informed about how poor mental health, chronic stress, and anxiety can have on your personal and professional performance and what to do about it. Discover that when we address mental health, we simultaneously address engagement, productivity, retention, and recruitment – mental health and wellness is a thread in everything we want for our businesses, schools and communities. Brandi’s high-energy, high-impact keynote leaves the audience with actionable strategies and inspirational discussions that last long after your event ends.

This workshop will provide you with inspiring and strategic tools for creating workplace environments that ignite belonging, innovation and growth in a post-pandemic workplace. When people feel overwhelmed, vulnerable and anxious they are less likely to connect, collaborate and come up with innovative ideas and solutions. Brandi leads you through three eye-opening steps to help you to promote inclusion and innovation in your organization: Brave Me: How to uncover the diverse strengths and talents of people the people we work with and for Brave Us: How to share those strengths and talents with others and consider different perspectives. Brave Business: Discover how the first two steps affect customer service, retention and recruitment This energizing workshop is full of ah-ha moments and practical ways to get your team moving together creatively.

Work can be hard, don’t forget to play! Play is Brandi Heather’s signature strategy for thriving personally and professionally. Our skills for fearless determination, curiosity, and resilience are skills first learned “in play”. Play is not silliness, it’s science. Play is as variable as people themselves. Find out how being “in play” can: Reduce chronic stress and burnout Ignite your imagination and creativity Make you laugh Improve your mental and physical wellness Reduce turnover Improve retention Discover what it means for you and your team to be “in play” now and in the future. Let Therapeutic Play and Inclusion Specialist Brandi Heather help get you in the game and “in play”.

The caring community is ready to get back “in play”, reenergized, reconnected, and resilient. What we want most for our clients is what we first need to give our human services professionals, educators, healthcare workers, and front-line staff. EVERYTHING flows through them! If we want our clients to feel: • Cared for • Competent to make their own decisions and learning strategies • Courageous enough to try new things, fall down and get back up • Collaborative and safe to communicate their needs and their voice • Creative enough to imagine outside their wildest expectations then we need to also give this back to the people who practice and heal them every day. This keynote addresses the power of play to improve the mental and physical health of educators and healthcare professionals starting from the inside out. In this high-impact, inspiring keynote educators identify and utilize their play strengths and personalities to: • RECOGNIZE the barriers to feeling cared for, competent, courageous, collaborative and creative in education • IDENTIFY methods for connecting their play strengths and personalities to a practice that supports both the student’s and the practitioner’s physical, social and emotional needs. • ILLUSTRATE the connection between being “in play” and workplace culture, wellness, communication and collaboration. • ILLUSTRATE that play is a foundational part of mental health and self care for educators. Play is one of the first things we remove when we feel overwhelmed, uncertain and anxious. Play cannot exist in fear, and it is one of our greatest tools for healing and igniting the extraordinary potential of every person. Brandi infuses every word with her captivating personality, experience as an educator and humour that leaves the audience inspired and empowered to return to play.