Social Workers

Untitled Slide

• Working Together for Kids’ Mental Health is a program that helps interevene in children and youth mental health issues
• The Ontario Child and Youth Telepsychiatry Program provides provides clinical consultations

School Mental Health Assist

• The Aligned and Integrated Model (AIM) for School Mental Health and Well-Being is a tiered approach, which involves educators who "welcome, include, understand, promote, and partner to enhance the well-being of ALL students." (https://smh-assist.ca/wp-content/uploads/InfoSheets-Supporting-Minds-MH-Cla...)
• Teachers can help build the well-being of students struggling with mental health and can not only intervene but can help prevent it

Reduce Stigma

• Teachers have the ability to bring awareness and take shame out of mental health issues by talking about it from an early age
• Students need adults who care, show concern, who they can trust and who will listen to them. Not all students have parents who can do this for them. Teachers have a great opportunity to be this person. Caring adults make themselves available to students, listen attentively, and reflect meaningfully on the concerns students raise, sometimes offering advice for students to consider.
• If we as teachers truly get to know our students, we will also see warning signs of when they need help

Signs of Anxiety at School

• Need to be perfect
• Worries about tests/exams
• anxiety about finishing tasks on time
• Fear of public speaking or other social situations

When I first started teachers college, I didn't understand how important it was to build relationships with students. I now know that providing a safe, welcoming atmosphere for all students is so crucial to their emotional health, mental health and academic performance. There is still so much stigma and shame surrounding metal health, and I believe we need to do a better job as educators to take the time and discuss it and teach it through the curriculum to help normalize it. Great relationships with our students also lets teachers potentially intervene with a student who might be struggling.

I know how important this is, and logistically how it works. In my experience, sometimes the teacher can help, but sometimes they can't. My questions are, how do you help someone who doesn't want to be helped? Who won't talk to you and shuts you out? How do you support someone and encourage them when they have no self worth? Is even grade 5 too late to reverse the damage that's been done to a person mind? How do we cope when there is no support from parents? What if the parents are suffering with mental health issues? What role does social media and technology play in this?

Facts

• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among teens
• 70% of mental health problems begin in adolescence
• 1.2 million children and adolescence are affected by mental illness
• less than 20% receive proper treatment
• by 2030 WHO says Mental Illness will be the leading cause of disability

It's our job to foster and take care of our own mental health and also our students mental health.We may be the first to see warning signs.

Resources
Government of Ontario, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. (n.d.). Open Minds, Healthy Minds - Ministry Reports - Publications - Public Information
MOHLTC. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/common/ministry/publications/reports/mental_...
SMH INFO SHEET - smh-assist.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smh-assist.ca/wp-content/uploads/Info-Sheets-Supporting-Minds-Anxie...
Supporting Minds: An Educators Guide to Promoting ... (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/SupportingMinds.pdf
Supporting Students' Mental Health - Professional Advisory: Ontario College of Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/mental-health