Focusing on Children's Mental Health (Professional Services)

About one in five Ontario children and youth faces a mental health challenge. These young people deal with issues such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,   depression, mood disorders, schizophrenia, and eating  disorders. When they come into our classrooms  they bring these issues with them. Children and youth  mental health is  recognized as a  growing concern faced daily by educators as they work to  meet  the needs of their students. It is  an issue we at  provincial  office hear loudly and clearly expressed  by ETFO  members and local leaders. Your voices are not alone. Increasingly a  variety of  concerned individuals and groups are  shedding light on this topic.

ETFO is  pleased to  be an inaugural member of  the  Coalition for  Children and Youth Mental Health, a group that believes that fostering social and emotional health as  part  of  healthy child development must be a priority in Ontario schools and a priority for integrated public policy in the province. The  coalition  is  made up  of  a  wide range of  stakeholders from diverse sectors including  the  Association of  Chief Psychologists with Ontario School Boards,  Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario Association  of   Social  Workers,  Ontario   Public School Boards’ Association, Parents for Children’s Mental Health, and many more.

The coalition’s  work focuses on

• Mental health literacy and wellness: Advocating for funding and support for an effective mental health  literacy program and promoting mental health literacy and wellness  in children and youth
• Integration, not fragmentation: Promoting collaboration and a multisectoral  approach to ensure access to timely, integrated, responsive,  and equitable  mental health services for children and youth across Ontario
• Integrated public policy: Developing a strategic and integrated public policy that will positively transform  children and youth mental health, taking into account the social determinants of health
• Partnerships: Building a network of provincial  partners dedicated to children and youth mental health to ensure aligned priorities and efforts for sustained change to mental health services
• Student and parent voice: Ensuring that the wisdom and experiences of students and parents provide a vital voice in the work of the coalition.

(See the coalition’s website http://www.opsba.org/index.php?q=advocacy_and_action/coalition_for_children_youth_mental_health)

In  June 2011,  the  coalition sponsored  a  Summit on Children and Youth Mental Health. The response reflected  the needs we see in the system, with over 500 representatives  from across sectors coming together to focus on this important issue.

The coalition will  review feedback from the  summit and continue to advocate with ministries of education, child and youth services, and health and long-term care to keep the issue of children and youth mental health on the front burner.

Building capacity in schools

Educators  welcomed  the joint June 22 media conference  by the ministries of child and youth services, education, and health and long-term care. The Ontario government’s  document  Open Minds,Healthy Minds: Ontario’s Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions  Strategy was released and an investment in mental health was announced.  The first three years of the strategy will focus on children and youth. According to Open Minds, Healthy Minds, the government is committed to building school-based capacity, and specifically to

• implementing mental health literacy and cross-sectoral training on  early identification and intervention for educators
• implementing programs through schools and community-based agencies to enable early identification and referral for treatment
• enhancing mental health resources in schools.

As well, the government has committed to

• developing a resource guide and website to provide educators with information on early signs of child and youth mental health  issues and preventative actions they can take
• helping schools provide appropriate mental health programs and services and providing support for mental health literacy training for all educators
• hiring teams of mental health workers and nurses in schools to provide direct services to children and youth with mental health issues.

The creation of mental health resources is, of course, welcome news for educators. ETFO members  see day in and day out the impact of mental health issues on students, their peers, families, and the school community  as a whole. With extensive waiting lists for access to school board counsellors, child and youth workers, and other board support staff one might hope that community-based  resources  would be more readily available. Unfortunately, that is often not the case: extensive case loads and waiting lists are also the norm for families and their children waiting to receive community-based services and care.

Teachers‘  experiences
Teachers   face  the  ever-increasing demands of student achievement and deal with the myriad of needs of  the  individuals in  their care. The emotion they most often express when talking about student mental health issues is  frustration. They want to do the best for their students, and they express their  concern when they  feel  they  are not able to support students with mental health issues as well as they would like.  Teachers  also express    significant    concerns  over  the   impact these issues can have on their class as a whole, their  own stress levels  and working conditions, and on the entire school community.

While we eagerly await the release of mental health resources to  assist  educators, there are some good  resources available to  help teachers today. One of the most teacher-friendly  resources is the Web-based  The ABCs of  Mental Health –  A Teacher  Resource covering  the  ages  three  to 14   (http://www.brocku.ca/teacherresource/ABC/). Drawing  on  information  from  expert  advisors, the materials  respond  to teachers’ most pressing concerns about children’s and adolescents’ mental health and behaviour  problems  in the classroom. It  provides  prevention  and  early  intervention strategies to promote learning and mental health and helps teachers understand behaviours that are appropriate  for different ages and stages of development,   behaviours  that   require  further consideration, and  behaviours that  are  serious enough to refer to a mental  health specialist.

It  is  still  too  soon to  see what the  actual rollout of  the government’s  mental health strategy  will  look   like   and to  determine what the impact will be for ETFO members.  However,  given the  increasing concerns   expressed by  members regarding  mental  health issues, the government’s focus  on  children and youth  mental   health  is most welcome.