Strengthening
Organizational
Conditions
Communicating and
Collaborating with
Partners
Supporting Mental
Health and Wellbeing
Identifying children
at risk and
Intervening Early
Building Capacity
Implementing
Evidence Based
Programing and
Support
DSB Ontario North East
Mental Health Strategy
2013-2016
DSB Ontario North East
Mental Health Strategy 2013-2016
Mission:
• Together we create safe, inclusive, caring and
supportive environments that enhance as well as
promote mental health and well-being.
Vision:
• DSB Ontario North East believes that mental
health is key to student success and well-being.
STRATEGY OBJECTIVES
• Increase awareness that student engagement
and achievement is contingent upon student
mental health and well-being.
• Deliver school-based mental health and wellbeing programs.
• Integrate service delivery within a caring, safe,
inclusive and supportive environment.
• Involve all stakeholders from teachers to
students, parents, senior administration and
support staff, as well as community partners.
BACKGROUND
Our strategy was
developed to
improve the
mental health and
well-being of
students within the
board and includes
three core
elements:
1
2
3
• Organizational
Conditions
• Capacity Building
• School Mental
Health Programming
and Support
Core Elements of Strategy –
Organizational Conditions
Embed strategy in
BIPSA
Clarifying Mental
Health Team roles
and structures
Performance
Indicators for
Mental Health Team
Alignment with
Ontario’s Mental
Health and
Addictions Strategy
Mental Health and
Addictions survey
Mental Health
Strategy
Mental Health
Vision
Suicide protocols,
guidelines and
templates
Communication
Strategy
Organizational
Conditions
Community
Partnerships
Core Elements of Strategy –
Capacity Building
Mental Health Awareness
Basic mental health
information, tailored for
different school board
audiences
ALL
Mental Health Literacy
Mental Health Expertise
Deeper working knowledge
Skills and knowledge for
for those who have a direct
SMH professionals to
role in supporting student
effectively provide
mental health (creating
evidence-based promotion,
mentally healthy schools &
prevention, and
classrooms, recognizing
intervention
early signs of difficulty)
SOME
FEW
 Capacity Building is not an event! It is an iterative deepening of
knowledge that is embedded in school board life. It takes time.
Core Elements of Strategy –
School Mental Health Programming and Support
This element incorporates a tiered framework of intervention
Tier 1 We can promote mental health and well-being for
all students
Tier 2 We can help identify some students as at risk for
developing problems, and provide targeted skillbuilding and referral to mental health supports
Tier 3 With help from other board and community
professionals, we can help identify and support the
few students who require intensive mental health
intervention beyond what schools can provide
Core Elements of Strategy –
School Mental Health Programming and Support
For All: Universal Mental Health
Promotion
• Support positive mental health for all
students in our day-to-day work
• Be caring adults in our students’ lives
• Use research-based school & classroom
strategies that promote positive mental
health (ex. Restorative Practices)
• Focus on problems such as bullying,
playground conflict, stress, nutrition, etc.
• Integrate social emotional learning (SEL)
strategies to teach core competencies
Visit the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) http://casel.org/
Core Elements of Strategy –
School Mental Health Programming and Support
For Some: Additional Classroom Support
Learn to identify “at-risk” students and provide them with
targeted classroom strategies for problems such as:
–
–
–
–
–
anxiety
temper tantrums
aggression
sadness, pessimism or negativity
defiance or other conduct issues
Consult with your School Mental Health Team and/or
see Supporting Minds for ideas!
Core Elements of Strategy –
School Mental Health Programming and Support
For Few: Intensive Services
• Schools are ideally suited to identify students
requiring intensive mental health services
• Once identified, the Mental Health Team can provide
monitoring and liaison services that triangulate
students with the school and community service
agencies.
Clinical intervention for
students with mental illness will
occur largely in partnership with
community and health settings.
Our Mental Health Team will
provide the liaison service that
triangulates the student with
Tier 3
the school and our partners
School Mental Health
Programming and Support –
Think in Tiers
Few
Tier 2 - Some
(Targeted prevention)
Tier 1 - All
(caring classrooms, mental health
promotion, social-emotional learning
instruction, stigma reduction)
Our focus is to create mentally
healthy environments for
students and to build skills
amongst students who are
vulnerable through prevention
programming delivered
collaboratively by teachers and
our Mental Health Team
System of Care
Community
Intervention
Clinical Intervention
Prevention
Prevention
Mental Health Promotion
Promotion
School Districts
DSB ONTARIO NORTH EAST Mental Health and Addictions
Steering Committee Members
Jo-Anne Plaunt
Superintendent of Education
Denise Plante-Dupuis
Mental Health Leader
Joanne Marsh-Peters
District Special Education Resource Teacher / Parent
Sabrina Swann
District Social Worker and ABA Coordinator
Paul Langis
Secondary School Principal
Lynn McNaughton
Vice-Principal Student Success and Curriculum – Elementary
School
Susi Johanson
Secondary School Principal / Parent
Keri Shepherdson
Elementary School Principal / Equity and Inclusivity / Parent
Jamie Davey
Aboriginal Youth Liaison Officer
Sue Holmes
Human Resources / Parent
Lana Kershaw
Child and Youth Worker
Dennis Draves
Trustee
THANK YOU!
• We hope that you found this a useful
introduction to our Mental Health Strategy. A
full version can be found on our website under
the Mental Health and Well-being tab.
• Should you have questions, your Mental Health
Leader is available to provide ongoing support
and leadership to your school team.