Mes: agosto 2020

Morneau Shepell’s Mental Health Index™ improves slightly for July at a five-point decline from the pre-pandemic benchmark of 75

CHICAGO, Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – Morneau Shepell, a leading provider of total wellbeing, mental health and digital mental health services, today released its monthly Mental Health Index™ report, making July the fourth consecutive month with a negative mental health score, as feelings of isolation and financial risk continuing to be the top drivers of American employees’ mental health. While mental stress has increased compared to the prior month, the steepness of the increase has, however, been flattening.

The Mental Health Index™ score for July is -5, which measures a decline in mental health from the pre-2020 benchmark of 75, but this month’s score is a one-point improvement from the previous month. The Mental Health Index™ also tracks sub-scores against the benchmark, measuring optimism (-8.0), anxiety (-6.4), depression (-6.1), work productivity (-5.5) and isolation (-4.8). Although the sub-scores remain low, all areas saw improvement in July except for optimism, which declined slightly when compared to last month.

«While parts of the United States started to open up for business in June, some markets have had to slow down their reopening plans. The Mental Health Index™ shows the continued negative impact the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic is having on American workers’ mental health and quality of life,» said Stephen Liptrap, president and chief executive officer. «As COVID-19 cases continue to rise again, workers are starting to lose their early optimism on rebounding from the pandemic and remain very concerned about a potential second mass shutdown, similar to what happened in March.»

Anxiety levels rising across many non-White demographics
When it comes to mental health differences by race, the Mental Health Index saw anxiety scores worsen for most people of color in June during the initial awareness and response to the killing of George Floyd. July showed some signs of improvement as the dialogue on racism continued and early indication of change began. In contrast, White respondents continued to show improvement in their mental health month over month, without the same decline in June.

Overall, 74 percent of individuals surveyed believe that racism is a problem in the United States, though only 17 percent believe that racism is a problem in their workplace. When considering the results by race, 90 percent of individuals identifying as Black strongly agree or agree that racism is a problem in the United States, while 73 percent of individuals identifying as White strongly agree or agree. When asked if racism is a problem in their workplace, 33 percent of individuals identifying as Black strongly agree or agree, and only 14 percent of individuals identifying as White strongly agree or agree.

Americans divided about systemic racism in society and the workplace
One of the major issues facing American society – systemic racism – has received heightened awareness as a result from the many protests held nationwide in response to the number of recent killings of Black Americans. As more Americans begin to give meaningful thought to this issue, their outlook varies. Thirty-five (35) percent of respondents feel that systemic racism is likely to decrease in the United States, 33 percent are unsure, and 31 percent feel that systemic racism is unlikely to decrease. When it comes to their workplace, 24 percent feel that it is likely that systemic racism will decrease, 37 percent are unsure, and 39 percent feel that systemic racism is unlikely to decrease.

Companies with smaller workforces at a mental health disadvantage
July’s report reflects a strong correlation between an individual’s scores on the Mental Health Index™ and the size of the company where they are employed. People who indicate working at companies with 51-100 employees have the lowest mental health scores (-8.2), while those who report working at companies with more than 10,000 employees have the highest mental health scores (-2.4). Sole proprietors (-3.4) and those who work for companies with 2-50 employees (-5.0) scored in the middle.

«While small businesses continue to be disproportionally impacted by the pandemic over large companies, once an organization reaches more than 50 workers, that close-knit familial sentiment felt by employees begins to strain, as managers need to supervise more workers and have less time to do so,» said Paula Allen, senior vice president of research, analytics and innovation. «The fact that employees at larger organizations scored better than average suggests that the benefits and programs that many larger organizations offer are having a positive effect. It’s critical for employers of all sizes to seek ways to support their people’s health and wellbeing, now more than ever. Employee assistance programs are much more cost effective than many small- to mid-size organizations realize and they offer support that can be life changing.»

The full U.S. report includes more insight on changes to mental stress, the impact of a positive outlook on one’s emotional state of mind and variations of the Mental Health Index score by demographics, industries and regions. The full U.S. report can be found at:  https://www.morneaushepell.com/permafiles/92897/mental-health-index-report-usa-july-2020.pdf.

About the Mental Health Index™
The monthly survey by Morneau Shepell was conducted through an online survey in English from June 22 to June 30, 2020, with 5,000 respondents in the United States. All respondents reside in the United States and were employed within the last six months. The data has been statistically weighted to ensure the regional and gender composition of the sample reflect this population. The margins of error for the survey are +/- 3.2 percent, valid 19 times out of 20. The Mental Health Index™ is published monthly, beginning April 2020, and compares against benchmark data collected in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

About Morneau Shepell
Morneau Shepell is a leading provider of technology-enabled HR services that deliver an integrated approach to employee wellbeing through our cloud-based platform. Our focus is providing world-class solutions to our clients to support the mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing of their people. By improving lives, we improve business. Our approach spans services in employee and family assistance, health and wellness, recognition, pension and benefits administration, retirement consulting, actuarial and investment services. Morneau Shepell employs approximately 6,000 employees who work with some 24,000 client organizations that use our services in 162 countries. For more information, visit morneaushepell.com.

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SOURCE Morneau Shepell Inc.

GENEVA, Ohio, Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — When Baltimore-based investment firm AXXELLA, LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Ocean, acquired SPIRE Institute and Academy in 2019, its strategic plan included expanding the mega-facility near Lake Erie in five major areas: athletics, academics, events, recreation and facilities. Construction of SPIRE Village is well underway, and the owners are continuing with their plans by upgrading resident housing.

SPIRE Village consists of five 2,300 sq. ft. homes built specifically for SPIRE Academy student athletes, with each home having six bedrooms. Each bedroom accommodates two twin beds, a nightstand, wardrobe, two study tables with chairs and a shared six-drawer chest. The student lounge has a big screen TV, a couch, chairs and a dining room table with chairs for house meetings. There are three student bathrooms and a washer and dryer. Picnic tables and some outdoor sports equipment will be placed in between the houses.

Well insulated, outfitted with sprinkler systems and equipped with LED lighting, each house is heated by natural gas and is fully air conditioned. Each student room has its own unique entry key. All buildings are handicapped accessible.

A house parent who is fully trained in safety and COVID-19 precautions will occupy a one-bedroom apartment in each building, complete with kitchen, dining/living area and full bath. Residents will attend weekly meetings designed around personal growth topics jointly hosted by the house parent and a student who lives in the house. In addition to intra-Village competitions for fun and prizes, there will be activities planned where all houses work together on internal and external community projects.

«Everything we do at SPIRE is meant to help our students discover their power and their potential,» said SPIRE Co-managing Director Rich Odell. «The interdisciplinary and experiential options we offer to the student athletes who live on SPIRE’s campus provide multiple ways to help them develop powerful, creative insights—about themselves and others. Our new student housing in SPIRE Village helps create an environment where individuals can not only excel academically but master life’s necessary personal skills so they stand out in their sport or passion and in life in general.»

SOURCE SPIRE IA (Institute and Academy)

MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Acumen Solutions today announced it has been named Americas Premier Partner of the Year by MuleSoft, provider of the world’s #1 integration and API platform. Acumen Solutions was recognized for having the greatest market impact in Salesforce’s FY20 based on ACV and practice development in the Americas and its significant contributions to empowering customers. Acumen Solutions provides customers with expertise and best practices as they realize the power of API-led connectivity to deliver truly connected customer experiences, faster.

According to the Connectivity Benchmark Report, the average enterprise has data in nearly 900 applications and only one-third are integrated, leading to disconnected customer experiences across channels. Partners like Acumen Solutions are trusted advisors that enable customers to accelerate their digital transformation and deliver connected experiences. MuleSoft partners align against business outcomes, deliver MuleSoft technology, templates and best practices and enable organizations to develop a Center of Enablement that empowers a self-service approach to integration – dramatically increasing the clock speed of business.

As a Salesforce Platinum Partner, Acumen Solutions helps IT shift its focus to adding flexibility and scalability to its integration infrastructure and orchestrations using MuleSoft’s robust cloud and on-premise integration platforms.

«We are proud to be recognized by MuleSoft as the Americas Premier Partner of the Year,» said Eric Pearsall, managing director of global services at Acumen Solutions. «This award highlights our mutual success in the market over the last year and we look forward to continuing to help our clients achieve their goals on the MuleSoft platform for many years to come.»

Leading organizations in the MuleSoft Partner Program provide consulting and services for MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform™, the world’s #1 integration and API platform. With skills and expertise that leverage API-led connectivity, MuleSoft partners help customers to unlock business capabilities and build application networks that accelerate the speed of IT delivery, increase organizational agility, and enable innovation at scale.

«MuleSoft partners serve as trusted advisors, helping customers adapt to unprecedented change and meet their biggest, most challenging digital transformation projects. Our award winners lead the growing MuleSoft partner ecosystem by prioritizing customer success, leading innovation and growth, and establishing industry best practices that drive the cultural change needed to accelerate digital transformation,» said Brent Hayward, senior vice president of global channels and alliances, MuleSoft. «We look forward to the continued growth of the MuleSoft partner ecosystem and are proud to celebrate the success of our partners as they drive the adoption of application networks and help customers realize new connected experiences.»

To learn more about the MuleSoft Partner Program visit: https://www.mulesoft.com/partner/acumensolutions

About Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform™ is the world’s #1 integration and API platform. It uniquely allows organizations to use API-led connectivity to unlock their data, empower their business with productized APIs, and create connected experiences, faster. Anypoint Platform is the only solution that offers a single, unified platform for iPaaS and full lifecycle API management, both on-premises and in the cloud.

About Acumen Solutions
Clients choose Acumen Solutions for one simple reason: our experience delivers success. Joining forces with our clients, our team of strategists, subject matter experts, and engineers solve problems that can’t be fixed by technology alone. As a Top 10 Partner of Salesforce, Fortune 500 companies trust us to build solutions that grow revenue and strengthen customer relationships. Our groundbreaking solutions for government and not for profit clients streamline operations and improve productivity. We apply the same expertise to our unparalleled social responsibility program, generating sustainable impact across our local communities. To learn more, visit http://www.acumensolutions.com, or follow us on Twitter @AcumenSolutions.

MuleSoft is a registered trademark of MuleSoft, Inc., a Salesforce company. All other marks are those of respective owners.

SOURCE Acumen Solutions

NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — «The Laws of Happiness,» first published in Japan in 2004, the new edited English version will be published on August 28, 2020 by World Teacher and Happy Science founder Ryuho Okawa. «The Laws of Happiness» represents the «Four Principles of Happiness» which Okawa suggests that all people regardless of their religious or spiritual background should practice in order to pursue true happiness which continues from this world to the next. It is a work in which, as the title suggests, the nature of human happiness is explored at length in a practical and spiritual manner.

Okawa states outright at the beginning of the book that happiness is a decision rather than a quality dependent upon environmental factors. No objective or fixed circumstances can guarantee happiness, and instead happiness is a feeling that is innately generated. Part of the process of learning to be happy exists in accordance with learning from one’s experiences and embracing the reality that each person is given their own «workbook» of problems to which they alone have the answers.

The balance of maintaining happiness along the path of progress in life is explored at length in this work. Okawa states that the seed of unhappiness exists in moments of happiness; in other words, where there are good and successful times, challenging times will inevitably follow as life proceeds onwards. To become aware of this fact during the happy moments is a key to self-improvement whereby one’s weaknesses can be recognized and strengthened in preparation for the future as a means to preventing future unhappiness; all of this requires that one be willing to shed their old self as life progresses. Shortcomings are a positive indication that there is still room for growth all throughout the lifespan.

There are inevitable changes that will occur for all people throughout their life, and adaptations must be made. For example, while younger people benefit from having high energy, they also may suffer from a lack of knowledge and wisdom; as a person ages, they will have less energy but more knowledge, and it is such that changes need not be a source of unhappiness provided one can embrace the opposite strengths that come with ageing. Another example is that a person who is very spiritual benefits from developing practical and worldly insights: whatever the greatest strength a person possesses, they can benefit from developing that which is the opposite of it, and such can be a source of happiness.

Okawa provides a teaching that throughout life each person will gradually see the world through two different eyes: the differentiating eye and the eye of equality. The differentiating eye learns to distinguish the differences between all people and other living things, while the eye of equality learns to see the beauty in that which is common to all things. The former of these allows for the recognition of the individual purposes and roles of all things in the world, while the latter of these allows for the development of compassion and empathy; the continuous development and refinement of these two forms of vision, which Okawa states are the manner in which God views the world, are a key to the path of enlightenment.

There is an extensive discussion in the book concerning finding happiness in work, which is something that many people struggle with. While it is ideal that one works in the area that one is most passionate about, such is not always possible, and when it is not, a change of attitude can bring about happiness even in less than ideal work situations. It is possible, given the limitless potential of humans, to always be working towards improvement in the area of one’s work. Such is accomplished by a combination of factors, and Okawa provides the practical advice of reading to obtain new information, writing one’s thoughts to sort them out, listening to other people in order to learn their thoughts, and thinking in such a manner that one’s thoughts become increasingly developed. Okawa likewise provides several excellent methods for generating and developing new ideas into realities, and emphasizes that ideas which endeavor to contribute toward the collective tend to manifest greater success.

Okawa presents «The Four Principles of Human Happiness,» which are the practice of overcoming suffering through love, wisdom, self-reflection and progress; these may be understood as a contemporary version of Buddhist teachings on enlightenment that are suitable for all modern people. These are explored at depth and with considerable insight that touches upon a combination of spiritual, psychological and environmental factors that impact all people in some way. Some key points include all people want to be loved, no person is 100% perfect, self-reflection is the easiest method to combat negative spiritual influences, and that because one’s thoughts become one’s reality, it is beneficial to concentrate upon positive thoughts in order to manifest a happy life. Ultimately, it is stated that humans benefit the most from seeking the kind of happiness that leads to the happiness of others.

An extensive introduction to Happy Science is provided toward the end of «The Laws of Happiness» and provides an overview of the history and progress of this new religion. It may be stated that «The Laws of Happiness» as a whole is an introduction to the type of limitless, positive and happy thinking that is characteristic of Happy Science. Many of the teachings provided in this work are akin to a modern approach to Buddhist, Christian and other spiritual teachings, and are accessible to all people in the world regardless of their religious background. In a world where all humans desire to be happy and most people struggle to achieve or maintain a state of happiness, «The Laws of Happiness» provides the answers that many are looking for.

«The Laws of Happiness» is available for pre-order at all major bookstores nationwide and online retailers, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

IRH Press USA

SOURCE Ryuho Okawa

–   Washington State operation grows by about 30%

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – Chemistree Technology Inc. (CSE: CHM and CHM.wt) (US OTCQB: CHMJF) (the «Company» or «Chemistree») is pleased to announce that the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board («WSLCB») has approved the Company’s expanded facility in Sedro Woolley for cultivation and processing operations.  The expansion increases the size of the cultivation area by approximately 30%.

Chemistree commenced construction of the additional grow room in early March, but progress was delayed by the statewide restrictions brought-on by the Covid-19 pandemic.  Management is pleased that the project was completed safely and expeditiously by all the contractors and sub-trades involved; always, keeping workers protected.  The expanded space will now be turned over to the licensee, Sugarleaf for planting and active cannabis operations.

Travis Royce, Sugarleaf’s General Manager stated «Due to our phenomenal crew and practices, our biggest hindrance since day one has been lack of material and growing space. With the WSLCB’s final approval, we now can put our product in more consumers’ hands while simultaneously strengthening our existing client relationships and opening new ones. This is an enormous moment for the Sugarleaf brand and we would absolutely not be in this position without the guidance and support from Chemistree.»

Chemistree President Karl Kottmeier commented, «We have worked together with Sugarleaf to meet their requests for more operating space. I am most grateful that our team has been able to hand over a turnkey expansion customized to their specifications in the midst of a global pandemic.  Washington State is a mature market in the US cannabis industry – and having a larger footprint will benefit Sugarleaf, its retailers and customers for years to come.»

About Chemistree Technology Inc.
Chemistree Technology Inc. is an investment company dedicated to the U.S. cannabis sector, endeavoring to provide turn-key solutions for the regulated cannabis industry.  The Company’s corporate strategy is to acquire and develop vertically integrated cannabis assets and to invest in other cannabis-related opportunities, leveraging management’s decades of expertise in the cannabis industry and corporate finance.

For more information, visit www.Chemistree.ca.

Advisory
The Company wishes to inform shareholders that there are significant legal restrictions and regulations that govern the cannabis industry in both Canada and the United States.

Cannabis-related Practices or Activities are Illegal Under U.S. Federal Laws
The concepts of «medical cannabis» and «recreational cannabis» do not exist under U.S. federal law. The Federal Controlled Substances Act classifies «marihuana» as a Schedule I drug. Under U.S. federal law, a Schedule I drug or substance has a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use in the United States, and a lack of safety for the use of the drug under medical supervision. As such, cannabis related practices or activities, including without limitation, the manufacture, importation, possession, use or distribution of cannabis are illegal under U.S. federal law. Strict compliance with state laws with respect to cannabis will neither absolve the Company of liability under U.S. federal law, nor will it provide a defence to any federal proceeding which may be brought against the Company. Enforcement of U.S. federal laws will be a significant risk to the business of the Company and any such proceedings brought against the Company may adversely affect the Company’s operations and financial performance.

Further information regarding the legal status of cannabis related activities and associated risk factors, including, but not limited to, risk of enforcement actions, risks that third-party service providers, such as banking or financial institutions cease providing services to the Company, and the risk that Company may not be able to distribute profits, if any, from U.S. operations up to the Company, are included in the Prospectus, the Company’s annual information form and other documents incorporated by reference therein and in the Company’s Form 2A listing statement filed with the CSE and available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

«Karl Kottmeier» 
President

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release includes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as «anticipate», «believe», «plan», «estimate», «expect», «budget», «scheduled» and «intend», statements that an action or event «may», «might», «could», «should», or «will» be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements with respect to the expansion and reconfiguration of the Sedro Woolley facility, including the expected increase in the size of the cultivation area, the streamlining of pre- and post-production facilities.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risks identified in the Company’s reports and filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law.

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SOURCE Chemistree Technology Inc.