The charter

Eight principles.One signature.

A short declaration of what ethical, psychologically safe, biopsychosocial disability management requires. Signing it is how you add your name.

Approved7 July 2026, by the founding boardExecutedSigned by every directorStatusFinal and board-approved. Open to read and open to sign.

One person alone at a long table at dusk, reading, the city beyond the glass behind them

02What this is

Not a manifesto. Not a pledge to us.

The charter is the founding statement of what good disability management requires. It is short on purpose, because a standard nobody finishes reading sets nothing.

The eight principles were approved by the founding board on 7 July 2026 and signed by every director. Signing is how you add your name to them.

To sign is to stand for these principles. For an individual, that is the whole of it. For an organization, signing also means acting.

03Why this exists

Why this exists.

Successful and sustainable return to work depends on the interaction of health, workplace conditions, psychologically safe practices, and effective disability management. Disability is biopsychosocial: the team, the supervisor, and team-level psychological safety shape recovery as much as diagnosis.

For too long, return to work has been treated as a medical and administrative problem, and the people inside it have too often been harmed by the very process meant to help them.

Effective disability management also informs prevention: identifying and addressing the workplace conditions that contribute to psychological injury, while protecting individual confidentiality. Early, supportive, psychologically safe intervention improves outcomes and reduces the risk of prolonged disability.

The Alliance exists to set a better standard, and to build the community of people and institutions willing to meet it. We prescribe first. We name what good looks like, on the evidence, and we invite the field to lead. We are pro-standard, not anti-anyone. The organizations already moving toward this model are who we build with.

The standard

The standard, in eight principles.

Eight in the board-approved text, each beside a workplace of the kind it governs, because a standard that only pictures an office is not a national one.

Two workers either side of a lowered fabrication bench, ear defenders on

01of 8

Disability is biopsychosocial.

What happens at work shapes recovery as much as what happens in the body. Diagnosis is not destiny.

Fabrication

A produce-room crew gathered at a steel bench as a supervisor speaks

02of 8

Psychological safety is not optional.

An unsafe team halts healing and causes preventable secondary harm. Psychological safety matters across the whole return-to-work process, including leadership, organizational culture, and every institutional interaction, not the immediate team alone. It is assessed before a return, not discovered after one fails.

Food processing, before open

Four workers talking beside a telehandler and a stack of lumber on a framed site

03of 8

The workplace and the supervisor are the real predictors.

They decide return outcomes more than diagnosis or claim duration, so they are supported first, not blamed last.

Construction, ground deck

Two hospital staff in scrubs talking in a bright corridor

04of 8

Disability management must be ethical.

Decisions are ethical, evidence-informed, transparent, and impartial, never manipulation, never adversarial toward the person, and they respect the dignity, rights, and lived experience of every individual.

Hospital corridor

Two colleagues at a desk, one a wheelchair user, working over a drawing together

05of 8

A claimant is a person, not a file.

The process owes dignity, and must never become a source of harm itself. Trust, meaning fairness, transparency, consistency, and respectful communication, is itself a therapeutic factor in return to work.

Office

Three care staff at a handover station, shot from down the corridor

06of 8

Competence is a duty.

Enough qualified, trained case managers and supervisors, competent in disability management, psychological safety, trauma-informed practice, communication, and ethical decision-making. No one manages a recovery they are not equipped to handle.

Long-term care, handover

A warehouse worker alone on a bench with a coffee, breath visible in the cold

07of 8

Disability management is trauma-informed.

Many people entering disability management carry workplace bullying, harassment, discrimination, violence, moral injury, institutional betrayal, or cumulative trauma. Processes recognize how psychological injury and institutional responses shape recovery, trust, and participation, and every interaction avoids re-traumatization while supporting recovery and dignity.

Warehouse, before dawn

Two paramedics with coffees checking in at the open garage door

08of 8

Recovery is a shared responsibility.

Sustainable return to work is achieved through collaboration among the worker, the employer, supervisors, healthcare providers, and disability professionals. No one carries recovery alone.

Paramedic service

How you sign

Sign as an individual. Commit as an organization.

Individuals · founding signatories

Sign the charter.

WhoPractitioners, clinicians, return-to-work specialists, advocates, and the people the system has affected.What you getYour name on the charter as a Founding Signatory, the standard, the evidence resource, and signatory updates. Public listing is your choice, not a condition.The costNothing. Individuals are never asked to pay to sign. Not now, not later.

Organizations · committed signatories

The bar is higher, and it has to be. A name is not enough. A committed signatory agrees to act:

01Adopt the charter principles by a public statement of commitment.

02Name an internal sponsor accountable for that commitment.

03Assess the workplace and its psychological safety as part of return-to-work decisions, and report on that in good faith.

WhoInsurers, third-party administrators, disability-management firms, and employers already moving toward a biopsychosocial, psychologically safe model.What you getListing as a committed signatory. Early access to the standard.Why the bar existsIt keeps the designation meaningful, and it protects the Alliance and everyone signing in good faith from charter-washing. Signing for cover is not available here.How to commitCommitting is a conversation, not a form. Start it whenever you are ready and we will walk you through what the commitment involves. We collect no organization details until there is a real commitment to act on.partnerships@napsdm.ca

Recognition is neutral. The Alliance endorses no organization's products or services over another's, and applies the same published criteria to all.

Signing is open

Add your name.

The eight principles above are what you are signing.

Who has signed

Practitioners, clinicians, supervisors, advocates, and the people the system has affected.

70: signatories
65: distinct roles
7: provinces and territories

Read the register of founding signatories

Transit colleagues talking at the open door of a bus in the garage

Pro-standard, not anti-insurer

Not blame. A standard.

Some carriers have already moved toward this model. They are not the problem, they are the proof, and they are who we build with. Signing is how they show the standard is achievable, and how the line between reform and the status quo gets drawn.

If you need support right now, you do not have to wait for any of this.

If you are in immediate danger, call 911. To talk to someone now, call or text 9-8-8, Canada’s Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time, in English or French.

Provincial and territorial crisis lines, including Indigenous-specific lines, are on our crisis page.

911If you are in immediate danger 9-8-8Call any time, in English or French 9-8-8Text any time, in English or French

All crisis lines, including Indigenous-specific lines