headversity Joins Forces with Respect Group to Bolster its Preventative Mental Health Solutions

The company will offer employers comprehensive solutions that combine mental health and resilience upskilling with interactive certification courses headversity, a leading provider of preventative mental health training technology for employers, today announced it has acquired Respect Group Incorporated (Respect), which offers interactive training courses aimed at preventing bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination (BAHD). The two organizations will provide comprehensive tools and training needed to create psychologically safe work environments and ultimately establish a more resilient, inclusive workforce.

Respect joins headversity as a market leader in building an inclusive, safe and respectful work culture, offering online certification training solutions that have upskilled more than 2.1 million leaders across North America. By adding Respect’s solutions to headversity’s preventative assistance platform (PRE.A.P.), the combined brand will provide employers with a comprehensive solution that blends mental health and resilience upskilling with interactive certification courses – empowering them to build and maintain cultures of mental wellbeing and respect.

“We founded Respect almost 20 years ago to eliminate BAHD by inspiring a global culture of respect,” said Sheldon Kennedy, co-founder of Respect and former NHL hockey player. “We are proud of the company we have built and the customers we have served, and look forward to this next chapter in our story with headversity.” headversity’s PRE.A.P. tackles this problem head-on. The platform offers micro-training experiences and daily practices that can be utilized at work with colleagues or at home with family. The training focuses on preventing employees from reaching the stage of crisis and has been proven to be effective when used as little as five minutes per week. headversity has impacted the lives of more than three million employees across organizations of all sizes, including the Denver Broncos, Shell, the Detroit Pistons and London Drugs. This customer base will expand with Respect’s network, which includes various organizations such as the NHL, MNP and Hockey Canada.

According to an AllVoices survey, 44 per cent of employees have experienced harassment at work, which has a direct impact on their mental wellbeing. Mental health issues not only take a toll on the employee, but also on their employer: the World Health Organization estimates that anxiety and depression cost the global economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity.

“Poor mental health is plaguing our workforce – creating problems for our people that in turn create problems for the businesses they work for,” said Dr. Ryan Todd, CEO of headversity. “Respect and headversity share an aligned mission and culture, and we are thrilled to come together to accelerate the path toward a more resilient and inclusive workforce.”

“On behalf of the full Respect team, we’re excited to bring the power of our collective offering to even more people to create more impact and culture change,” said Wayne McNeil, co-founder of Respect. “Sheldon and I look forward to joining headversity to help more organizations create psychologically safe, resilient and respectful environments.”