Corporate Training for Workplaces Where Recovery Is Possible
Move beyond awareness campaigns and wellness slogans. Build a culture where people can struggle, ask for help, and still belong.
Rooted in Recovery helps organizations respond realistically and compassionately to addiction, mental health, and burnout at work. We operate where people, performance, and pressure collide—translating clinical insight and lived experience into practical tools leaders and teams can use every day.
Our trainings are built for high-responsibility, high-pressure environments: corporate teams, social service organizations, creative industries, unions, and workplaces where people carry a lot on their shoulders.
Why Recovery Belongs in Your Workplace
Addiction and mental health challenges do not stay at home when people come to work. They show up as absenteeism, presenteeism, conflict, errors in judgment, and quiet disengagement. They also show up as loyalty, courage, and people trying to hold everything together for as long as they can.
Our approach treats recovery as a shared responsibility. We help organizations create conditions where people can be honest earlier, access support sooner, and return to work in ways that are sustainable — for them and for the organization.
When workplaces are recovery-informed,you see:
- Earlier, more honest conversations about risk and stress
- Clearer pathways to support, treatment, and accommodation
- Stronger, more consistent leadership responses
- Reduced burnout and turnover over time
How We Work with Organizations
Every organization has a different starting point. We partner with you to shape training around your context, goals, and constraints.
Formats:
- 60–90 minute workshops
- Half-day and full-day trainings
- Multi-session learning series for leaders and staff
- Executive and HR-focused briefings
- Custom sessions aligned with policy changes, critical incidents, or broader wellness strategies
All sessions can be delivered virtually or in person. Our work is confidential, discreet, and grounded in real-world experience, not theory alone.
Training Streams
Our training is organized around the realities of work, not idealized versions of it. Each stream reflects the pressures people are already carrying and focuses on skills, insight, and language that can actually be used in day-to-day practice. Sessions can be delivered individually or combined into a pathway that fits the pace and capacity of your organization.
1. Everyday Mental Health at Work
Who this is for: All staff
Flourishing at Work
This session looks at mental health through a practical lens. Instead of chasing an abstract idea of “wellness,” participants explore what it means to function well enough, consistently, in demanding roles—and how to support that in small, realistic ways.
Working with Stress
A grounded exploration of stress as a normal response to pressure, workload, and change. Participants learn how stress shows up for them and identify practical ways to reduce harm rather than eliminate stress entirely.
Psychological Safety in Real Workplaces
An accessible look at how workplace culture, communication, and expectations affect mental health. The focus is on what people at all levels can influence, even when larger systems are slow to change.
Mental Wellness in Practice
Participants step back from one-size-fits-all self-care advice and develop a personal approach to mental wellness that fits their role, energy, and life outside of work.
Mental Health in Hybrid and Remote Roles
This session addresses the less visible impacts of remote and hybrid work, including isolation, blurred boundaries, and fatigue, and explores practical ways teams can stay connected and functional.
Harm Reduction at Work
A straightforward, non-moralizing conversation about substance use and addiction in workplace contexts. The focus is on realistic responses, safety, and support—not fear, discipline, or assumptions.
2. Emotional Labour, Trauma, and Empathy
Who this is for: Helping roles, client-facing staff, and leaders
Understanding Trauma at Work
Participants learn how trauma affects behaviour, decision-making, and relationships, and how everyday interactions can either reduce harm or unintentionally increase it.
Empathic Strain
This session names the toll of caring work honestly. Participants explore how repeated exposure to distress affects them over time and learn practical ways to recognize early warning signs and recover before burnout takes hold.
3. Inclusion, Accommodation, and Stigma
Who this is for: All staff (with tailored versions for leaders)
Mental Health Accommodation in Practice
A clear discussion of what accommodation actually looks like at work. Participants explore responsibilities, limits, and how to have respectful conversations when needs and operational realities collide.
Mental Health, Equity, and Access
This session connects mental wellbeing with everyday experiences of power, access, and exclusion. The focus is on how systems—not just individuals—shape stress and burnout.
Reducing Mental Health Stigma
Participants examine how language, assumptions, and silence shape workplace culture, and what concrete actions reduce stigma rather than simply talking about it.
4. Burnout, Recovery, and Leadership
Who this is for: Managers, supervisors, and leaders
Burnout and Recovery
A practical look at burnout as a predictable outcome of sustained pressure rather than personal weakness. Participants explore how burnout develops, how recovery actually happens, and what supports long-term sustainability.
Leading for Sustainability
An in-depth session for leaders focused on supporting staff through mental health and addiction challenges while also setting boundaries, managing expectations, and modelling realistic work practices.
5. Documentation Skills
Who this is for: Social service professionals, case managers, supervisors, and leaders
Documentation and Case Notes That Hold Up
Documentation is not a neutral task. It shapes decisions, affects access to services, and often follows people for years. This workshop focuses on writing case notes that are clear, accurate, ethical, and defensible—without losing sight of the human being behind the file.
Participants work through real examples to strengthen their ability to document work in a way that protects clients, workers, and organizations, while aligning with professional and legal expectations.
By the end of the session, participants will be better able to:
* Understand their legal and ethical obligations around documentation, including privacy requirements
* Write notes that clearly separate observation from interpretation
* Use language that reflects dignity, fairness, and accuracy
* Choose appropriate documentation formats depending on context
* Communicate effectively with other professionals through concise, usable records
The emphasis throughout is on clarity, consistency, and professionalism—not perfection.
Case Management Through a Recovery Lens
This training reframes case management as more than monitoring risk or compliance. Participants explore how to organize their work around recovery, stability, and long-term functioning.
The focus includes:
* Supporting people’s goals without losing sight of safety and accountability
* Coordinating services in complex systems
* Balancing organizational requirements with person-centred practice
* Working collaboratively rather than carrying responsibility alone
6. Peer Led Recovery
12 Step Recovery: A Practical Orientation for clinicians, counsellors, and case managers.
This session provides a clear, plain-language overview of 12-step recovery for organizations that support people in recovery.
Participants learn:
* How 12-step programs are structured and why they matter to many people
* How to support recovery without crossing professional boundaries
* How basic awareness can improve communication, accommodation, and return-to-work planning
Outcomes You Can Expect
Organizations that partner with Rooted in Recovery typically report:
- Greater confidence among leaders and HR when managing complex people issues
- Earlier and more appropriate referrals to support and treatment
- Clearer, more consistent responses to substance use and mental health concerns
- Documentation and case practices that are clearer, safer, and more aligned with values
- Strengthened cultures where people feel safer speaking up, seeking help, and staying engaged
Ready to Talk?
If you’re ready to move beyond one-off wellness talks and build a more resilient, recovery-informed workplace, we’d be glad to connect.
Meet Brandon Vecchiola
Brandon Vecchiola is a corporate trainer, service provider, and program manager who has spent more than 15 years working at the intersection of addiction, mental health, and organizational life.
A Canadian Armed Forces veteran, former addiction counsellor, and experienced program leader, he has supported individuals, families, and teams across Ontario through clinical services, recovery coaching, and large-scale education initiatives.
Brandon currently leads outreach and training for several organizations, delivering psychological resilience education to first responders, corporate workplaces, and community workers. Through Rooted in Recovery, he brings this experience into the corporate and creative sectors, helping organizations respond more effectively to substance use, operational stress, and burnout at work.
Known for his clear, grounded teaching style, Brandon combines evidence-informed content with stories drawn from military service, front-line counselling, and recovery work. His sessions help leaders, HR professionals, and teams have more honest conversations, make better decisions under pressure, and build cultures where people can struggle, seek support, and continue to contribute.
Brandon Elliot Vecchiola
King’s at Western University
King’s Scholar ’21
Canadian Army, Retired.
Text/Call: (506) 440-3645
