HOW CAN EDUCATORS BE
FIRST RESPONDERS?
Presented by:
Catherine Bancroft, MSW, RSW
Coordinator of Mental Health and Wellbeing
Toronto District School Board
Table of Contents
• Mental Health Literacy
• The Role of Educators in Mental Health
Literacy
• Identify Symptoms Early and Refer
• The Link with Mental Health Distress
and Trauma
Table of Contents
• Symptoms as Adaptations
• The Link between Oppression(s),
Trauma and Mental Health
• Social Emotional Literacy
• Linking Social Emotional Literacy and
Academics
TDSB Board Strategic Directions
•
Identify Disadvantage and Intervene Early
•
Make Every School an Effective school
•
Build Leadership within a Culture of
Adaptability, Openness and Resilience
•
Form Effective Relationships and
Partnerships
•
Build Environmentally Sustainable Schools
that Inspire Teaching and Learning
Mental Health for All
• There is No Health without Mental
Health
• Mental Health for ALL
MENTAL HEALTH
LITERACY
Created by:
Ian Manion
Despina Papadopoulos
Kathy Short
Stigma
63% of youth indicated that
embarrassment, fear, peer pressure,
and/or stigma are the major barriers to
young people seeking help for mental
health problems.
Others would not recognize if they had a
problem (19%) or would not know where
to get help (12%).
Davidson & Manion, 1996
Levels of Literacy
Mental Health
Awareness
Strategies for providing basic
mental health information,
tailored for different
audiences
Mental Health
Literacy
Mental Health
Expertise
Strategies for ensuring
Strategies for ensuring that
deeper working knowledge
MH professionals possess
for those who have a role in the skills and knowledge to
supporting child and youth effectively provide evidencemental health
based MH promotion,
prevention, and intervention
The right information, to the right people,
in the right way, at the right time
Ontario Ministry of Education
Why Child and Youth Mental Health?
• It’s very common (13-25%)
• Not everyone gets help (only 1 in 6 access services)
• 70% of adults with a mental illness indicate that it
started before they were 18 (50% before 14)
• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in ages
16-24 (Statistics Canada, 2002)
• If one mental health disorder is present, more than
likely there will be other problems present (45% have
more than 1)
Mental Health Is A Continuum
Mental
health
Mental health
problem
• Strengths
• Stresses at
school, home
and/or work
• Resiliency
• Attachment
Mental illness /
disorder
•Internalizing
(mood/anxiety
disorders)
•Externalizing
•Psychoses
•Substance use
The Stress Curve
Area
Of
Best
Performance
Stress
Ear Ache
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pain (inside)
Dizzy
Hard to concentrate
Irritable
Can’t sleep
No appetite
Stay home
Less social
Physical symptoms
Go for help right away
Psych Ache









?
(Peggy Austen, 2005)
Signs and Symptoms
 Look for changes (behaviours, appearance, mood)
• School performance, (concentration, motivation)
• Interactions with friends and family
• Extreme mood swings and/or emotional outbursts of anger and
rage
• Eating and sleeping
• Dealing with authority
• Risk taking behaviour
• not doing the things he or she used to enjoy
• damaging other people's property
• worrying constantly
• obsessed with his or her weight
• lacking energy or motivation
• Aggression to others or self
When To Be Concerned?
 May be signs of an underlying mental health disorder
if they are:
• intense;
• persist over long periods of time;
• inappropriate for the child's age; and
• interfere with the child's life.
Identify Symptoms Early and Refer



Identify early signs of mental health distress/concern
Refer to TDSB Team Members:
Professional Support Services Staff
Guidance
SST Team Meetings
Work as a team to find appropriate Mental Health
Expertise Support
What is the link with Trauma?
 A definition of Trauma
“ A unique individual experience, associated with an
event or enduring conditions, in which:
• The individual’s ability to integrate the experience is
overwhelmed
• The individual experiences a threat to one’s emotional,
mental, or physical self or bodily injury.
Adapted from L.A. Pearlman and K. Saakvitne
Types of Trauma include
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Emotional/Verbal abuse
Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Witnessing abuse – secondary
Death
Divorce/Separation
Political/War
Neglect – attachment disruptions
Suicide/Parasuicidal
Symptoms as Adaptations
• Severe stress reactions can elicit a range of reactions
from humans
• Symptoms are normal human adaptations
• People are not symptoms
• Common stress reactions include:
- Physical
- Cognitive
- Emotional
- Existential
6 Realms Affected by Traumatic Events
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Feelings
Judgment
Beliefs
Frame of reference
Memory & Perception
Body/Brain
Pearlman
The Pain of Trauma
HOPELESSNESS
HIGH
EMOTIONALITY
DEFENSES
PAIN
DEFENSES
DEFENSES
ANXIETY
DEFENSES
DEPRESSION
EMOTIONAL
CONSTRUCTION
BODY
RESPONSES
Zlodre, Natalie
Protective Factors
 Problem solving, life &
communication skills
 Access to other caring &
supportive adults
 Sociability
 Pro-social peers
 A sense of belonging
(school, community)
 Appropriate discipline,
limit setting & structure
 Secure attachment to
positive parent/family
 Opportunities to develop
self-esteem
 Resilient Personality
 A healthy lifestyle
Social Emotional Literacy
 Social and emotional learning is the process by which
social and emotional literacy is achieved
 Social and emotional literacy is complementary to
reading literacy.
–Social and emotional literacy is NOT the intelligence
quotient (IQ) or academic achievement.
 Social and emotional literacy is acquired.
–Social and emotional literacy is NOT personality or
character traits.
Dodge, Kenneth
Components of Social Emotional Literacy
 Emotional Competence
–Emotion knowledge and expression, emotional and
behavioral regulation, empathy/perspective taking
 Social Competence
–Understanding social cues, conflict resolution/social
problem solving, prosocial and cooperative behavior
 Self-Regulation/Executive Functions
–Attention and impulse control, working memory and
planning skills, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility
Dodge, Kenneth
New Developmental Science Findings
1. Academic and social and emotional literacy
independently predict success in important life
outcomes.
2. Social literacy is acquired:
 in family, peer, cultural experiences beginning at birth; or
 directly through intervention.
3. Early social and emotional literacy development has
major cascading effects.
Dodge, Kenneth
A Developmental Framework for Social and Emotional Literacy
Dodge, Kenneth
Ways to Promote Social Emotional Literacy
Dodge, Kenneth
Linking Social and Emotional Literacy and Academics
 Social-emotional and mental health problems and poor
academic gains co-occur.
 Programs that intentionally target both are likely to
maximize positive outcomes.
 Skills tied to social and emotional literacy are universal
and developmental.
 Effective instruction reaches its limits when children face
substantial social-emotional problems.
 Addressing SEL could enhance the effect of an academic
intervention.
Jones, Stephanie
“School systems are not
responsible for meeting
every need of their students.
But when the need directly
affects learning, the school
must meet the challenge.”
Carnagie Council Task Force on
Education of Young
Adolescents, 1989
Working together, we will contribute to the
creation of caring and supportive
environments that maximize learning and
well-being and strengthen young people,
families, schools, and communities…