Carleton President to Receive 2021 Transformational Leader Award for Mental Health
Carleton University President Benoit-Antoine Bacon will be honoured with the Transformational Leader Award at the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health’s 2021 Inspiration Awards on March 4.
Past winners include author and advocate Margaret Trudeau, retired general Roméo Dallaire, former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson and Olympic skater Elizabeth Manley.
“The stigma around mental health issues remains strong and keeps people from getting the help they need and deserve,’’ says Bacon. “It is our shared responsibility to break that stigma.”
Another Inspiration Award will go to Carleton sociology master’s student Charlotte Smith, who will be presented with the Personal Leader Award for overcoming homelessness and addiction to help others through her research and volunteer work.
Bacon frequently uses his platform as a senior leader to speak credibly and compassionately about his own mental health journey. He set the tone for openness when he was formally installed as president during a Convocation ceremony in November 2018, when he told the audience about his life’s journey.
A year later, at the Excellence Canada Summit in Toronto, Carleton became the first post-secondary institution in the country to reach Gold Level certification in Mental Health at Work, and the university’s Students and Enrolment division earned Bronze Level certification in Excellence, Innovation and Wellness. Bacon’s keynote address at the summit was entitled, My ongoing journey towards resilience, purpose and gratitude.
Carleton received these distinctions thanks to several ongoing efforts, including the Student Mental Health Framework 2.0, a robust Healthy Workplace program and the university’s holistic approach to supporting workplace mental health.
These priorities have gained new emphasis during the COVID-19 pandemic, with mental wellness being challenged in many ways.
For more information about the awards, please go to: https://www.theroyal.ca/get-involved/fundraising-events/inspiration-awards.
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