Sandy Naiman has conquered the workplace.

“I’ve gone in and been accepted on my terms,” she says.

Naiman began her thirty-year career at the Toronto Sun in 1977. She is an award-winning journalist who currently writes her “Coming Out Crazy” blog for the Toronto Star. Naiman is also a part-time professor at Seneca College in Toronto.

The Sun knew about her history of mental illness when they hired her but decided to give her a chance. “They didn’t know what mental illness meant, but they knew that I had talent.”

Naiman has unipolar mood disorder, which is characterized by high energy and a vulnerability to mania. While at the Sun, Naiman says she was hospitalized for mania eleven times.

She relates one of her earlier experiences when she worried about work: “I spoke to my mother about this and she called my editor and said, ‘Is there any chance that Sandy’s going to lose her job?’ He laughed and said, ‘No way. When Sandy’s well, she does the job of two people.’”

According to Health Canada, one in five Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime. And roughly 1 million Canadians live with a severe and persistent mental illness.

“Every community is touched. Every workplace is touched,” says Anthony Wilson-Smith, Vice-President, Communications at Canada Post and one of the senior executives responsible for the creation and launch of the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health. Wilson-Smith says when he visits mail depots and post offices, Canada Post employees often come forward to share their mental health stories.

But not all workplaces are as accepting of employees’ mental illnesses as The Sun or Canada Post. A 2004 British study shows that less than 40 per cent of employers would consider hiring someone with a mental health problem.

Mental illnesses or disorders have no single, definitive cause. While genetics and biology play a role, so can social and environmental factors such as stress and a lack of support. Mental illnesses can also develop from situations of trauma or abuse.

Symptoms of mental illness include a change in mood, thinking, or behaviour and can significantly affect how a person functions. Mental illnesses exist on a spectrum, meaning there are varying degrees of severity, where the symptoms and behaviour differ from person to person.