STUDENT SUPPORT LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE
Questions and Answers for Regional Offices
Student Support Leadership Initiative
General
Q1.
What is the purpose of the Student Support Leadership initiative?
A.
The Student Support Leadership (SSL) initiative is designed to foster leadership
within and across school boards/authorities, agencies that provide child and
youth mental health programs and services, and other community partners to
establish or enhance local partnerships and protocols that will better meet the
needs of students and families through collaborative planning, coordination and
referrals. The first year of the next phase (Phase Two) of the SSL initiative will
require the participation of relevant partners from the health sector, and will
continue to empower system leaders and build on past successes.
Q2.
Who is participating in this initiative?
A.
School boards/authorities are being asked to continue to participate, along with
those agencies who have been part of the SSL initiative to date. In 2010-111,
Clusters are expected to invite appropriate health sector partners such as
Community Health Centres (CHCs), hospitals that offer Child and Youth Mental
Health (CYMH) services, Family Health Teams (FHTs), and addiction service
providers to participate. Clusters are also encouraged to invite representation
from Section 23 education programs.
Q3.
Why has the Health Sector become involved with the Student Support
Leadership Initiative in Phase Two?
A.
The health sector (e.g. FHTs, CHCs, hospitals that provide child and youth
mental health services and youth addiction programs) has joined the SSL
initiative in Phase Two to help extend partnerships and enhance the coordination
of services for children and youth with potential mental health needs.
Q4.
How will school boards/authorities, child and youth mental health
agencies, community agencies and health partners benefit from SSL?
A.
SSL has supported and will continue to support the building or enhancing of
effective and sustainable partnerships between school boards/authorities, child
and youth mental health agencies, community agencies, and health sector
1
2010-11 refers to the school year and is from August 31st, 2010 to August 31st, 2011.
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STUDENT SUPPORT LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE
Questions and Answers for Regional Offices
partners. This will enable shared ownership and engage all partners in
collaborative planning and coordination of services that will more effectively meet
the needs of students and families in their communities. Such local partnerships
will enable school boards/authorities, child and youth mental health agencies,
community agencies, and the health sector to:
 Share expertise and best-practices;
 Improve decision-making through collaborative planning mechanisms;
 Establish and/or enhance referral mechanisms;
 Increase knowledge of services and supports for students and families;
 Improve a student’s and family/caregiver’s ability to understand, navigate
and use the services and supports available to them;
 Maximize local resources; and
 Improve service outcomes for students using mental health supports.
Q5.
What are Family Health Teams and Community Health Centres?
A.
FHTs are an approach to primary health care that brings together different health
care providers to co-ordinate the highest possible quality of care for the patient.
FHTs bring together various interdisciplinary health care providers to co-ordinate
the enhanced quality of care for patients enrolled to physicians that are affiliated
with a FHT or employed by a FHT. FHTs consist of physicians working with
other providers, such as nurses, nurse practitioners, dieticians, mental health
workers, social workers, pharmacists, educators and others.
CHCs are non-profit, community-governed organizations that provide primary
health care, health promotion and community development services, using
interdisciplinary teams of health providers. These teams can include physicians,
nurse practitioners, dieticians, health promoters, counsellors and others.
Services are designed to meet the specific needs of a defined community. In
most cases, CHCs serve priority populations – communities who have
traditionally faced barriers accessing health services and programs. In addition,
CHCs provide a variety of health promotion and illness prevention services which
focus on addressing and raising awareness of the broader social determinants of
health such as employment, education, environment, isolation, social exclusion
and poverty.
Q6.
How does SSL align with current policies and/or strategies of the Ministry
of Education, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Ministry
of Health and Long-Term Care?
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Questions and Answers for Regional Offices
A.
The SSL initiative was developed in response to changes to the safe schools
provisions of the Education Act and related Policy/Program Memoranda that
came into effect February 1, 2008. As part of the government’s Safe School
Strategy, school boards are being encouraged to form partnerships with
community agencies to provide non-academic supports that promote positive
student behaviour, and address the non-academic needs of students. In
addition, school boards are encouraged to utilize prevention and intervention
strategies which foster a positive school climate that supports academic
achievement for all students. Community agencies can be useful partners in
carrying out these strategies.
This initiative also aligns with A Shared Responsibility: Ontario’s Policy for Child
and Youth Mental Health (Framework), which was released in November 2006.
This Framework sets the strategic direction for change and improvement in child
and youth mental health in the province, and aims to foster collaboration among
all child- and youth-serving sectors and the broader community who share
responsibility for the healthy development of Ontario’s children and youth. It
encourages collaborative partnerships that work to provide children, youth and
their families with access to a flexible continuum of timely and appropriate
services and supports within their own cultural, environmental and community
context.
In addition, the SSL initiative aligns with the development of the 10-year Mental
Health and Addictions Strategy aimed at promoting mental health, preventing
mental illness and addictions problems and improving access to, integration and
quality of services.
Q7.
What role will the regional staff of the Ministries of Education and Children
and Youth Services play in the implementation of SSL
A.
The regional staff of the Ministries of Education and Children and Youth Services
will jointly and actively support school boards/authorities and community
agencies in their region at key planning Cluster meetings by addressing their
questions and issues. Clusters are expected to engage their Regional Offices so
they can support the Clusters in their planning process. Further information
regarding roles and responsibilities across the three ministries is in development
for completion by summer 2010.
Leadership
Q8.
Why is leadership a focal point of this initiative?
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Questions and Answers for Regional Offices
A.
Research indicates that the most effective approaches to improving outcomes for
students, families/caregivers and schools are integrated approaches that target
reducing both academic and non-academic barriers to learning. Leadership is
one of several key success factors essential to building or enhancing an
integrated approach to service delivery.
School boards, child and youth mental health agencies, community agencies,
and health partners demonstrate leadership when they take the initiative to work
together in order to enhance communication between their sectors,
collaboratively plan and coordinate services that will effectively meet the needs of
students in their communities.
Clusters
Q9.
What is a Cluster and what is its purpose?
A.
Beginning in the first year of the next phase of the SSL initiative, a Cluster will
consist of school boards, child and youth mental health agencies, community
agencies and relevant health partners within a geographic area working together
to establish or enhance local partnerships to better meet local student needs
through collaborative planning, coordination and referrals.
Q10. For the purpose of this initiative how is a community agency defined?
A.
For the purposes of the SSL initiative, a community agency is any agency or
organization that provides local services or supports to meet the needs of
children, youth and their families or caregivers in a specific community or region.
Funding
Q11. How much funding has the government allocated to this initiative?
A.
The government will continue to fund the SSL initiative for three more years at $3
million per year beginning in 2010-11. This funding is part of the government’s
Safe Schools Strategy.
Q12. What do the Clusters have to do to receive the money for this year (201011)?
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Questions and Answers for Regional Offices
A.
Each Cluster will be required to submit their 2010-11 plan based on the 2010-11
Planning Template approved by the Ministries of Education, Children and Youth
Services, and Health and Long-Term Care.
Q13. Can funding provided through the Student Support Leadership Initiative be
used toward the provision of direct services to students and/or their
families?
A.
No. These funds are not intended to support the provision of direct services.
Funding allocated to Clusters for SSL is intended to build and enhance the
leadership necessary to develop local partnerships, processes and protocols in
order to improve coordination between schools, school boards, community
agencies and the health sector. The ministries will be providing further details on
expectations in 2010-11 Provincial Guidelines.
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